Fried Clams and Pine Mouth

So we have a big food confession : we LOVE LOVE LOVE fried clams. 

The little nuggets of deep fried funky bellies and chewy necks rise a craving in the two of us that leads to adventures off the beaten track in search of places that serve the best, the most, the lauded. We understand how people find these little guys disgusting and gross--they are deep fried sacks of full of seafood funk with some kind of chewy bit attached. But we'll drive miles and pay excruciating prices just to satisfy our craving.

We were utterly psyched on a recent visit to the Cape to discover that there were a wealth of fried seafood joints that had "The Best of..." attached to themselves. Unfortunately three days before we were to make our pilgrimage to try the best clams the Cape had to offer sudden tragedy struck Luke - he had gotten (came down with??) the DREADED PINE MOUTH!

PINE MOUTH???? You might be asking yourself "what is this ridiculous thing??" Let us relate Luke's experience.... One Friday morning Luke woke up and realized that anything he ate tasted so horribly bitter and terrible that he couldn't complete eating it. Thinking that maybe he had just had one to many Campari and grapefruits the night before, he went about his day. Saturday morning he woke up with the same taste in his mouth and fearing that his palette would be a barren bitter wasteland forever (gasp!). And so he consulted the most knowledgable thing he knew: Google. After entering "bitter mouth" into the search engine he came to realize that he had come down with the infliction known as pine mouth. This strange condition was some reaction to pine nuts from China that seemed to happen at random to many people across the globe (listen to the story at npr  http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/07/02/128273771/pinenuts-may-be-to-blame-for-that-bitter-atertaste ). Realizing that he had consumed pine nuts in the past few days he was one of the unlucky people to be inflicted with the random curse of PINE MOUTH ( and then continued to say it a lot. It's kind of fun to say ....pine mouth )------> Go ahead, SAY IT!!

                                           

With high hopes the pine mouth would subside right in time for the fried clam feast we stopped at the place said to have some of the best clams on our way to Provincetown : Kreme n' Cone. Weird name, we know...but boy did they deliver! The morsels were plump, lightly coated in batter and tasted fresh as ever. Although Michele felt absolutely horrible for Luke given that eating fried clams are a passion they share: she got twice as many when Luke realized the pine mouth ruined the delectable flavor. With an average cost of $20/pint there was NO WAY even one would be wasted. (and of course we didn't order less than a pint even knowing Luke may not be able to eat them)!

I'm not sure where/when in life we both acquired such high standards for fried clams..but we have yet to taste THE BEST. The search continues and probably will not end anytime soon. 

Here are a list of where to find some of the most memorable fried treats to date ... please feel free to share any suggestions as we know there are plenty of other regions we have yet to explore!

Carrie's Restaurant- Providence R.I

Flo's Clamshack- Newport R.I

Horton's - East Providence R.I

Kreme n' Cone- West Dennis M.A

The Clam Shack- Kennebunkport M.E

Monahan's - Narragansett R.I

Flawless Banana Bread!

If you've got some rotten bananas hangin' round the kitchen catching the eye of some very hungry (and very annoying) fruit flies.....check your pantry for these supplies and wow your friends and loved ones with this fool proof and ultra tasty quick bread! 

What you'll need:

1 c. sugar

1 stick butter (room temp)

2 large eggs

3 ripe bananas ( I choose to use atleast 4)

1 tbl. milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

*pre-heat oven to 325' and grease your loaf pan

*cream together butter and sugar & add eggs in one at a time, beating well

*in small bowl, mash bananas with fork & add in milk + cinnamon

*in separate bowl, add remaining dry ingredients

*add banana mixture to creamed mixture until blended-then add in dry ingredients until flour is completely dissolved

*pour into prepared pan,cook about an hour(check with toothpick) and let cool for 15 minutes (if you can wait!!)

I prefer to add LOADS of walnuts -and sometimes dark chocolate chips- to my mixture, and I'm sure you could really add whatever your heart desires..pepitas or raisins seem like good choices as well!

p.s. sorry to all you vegans out there for missing out on this deliciousness!!!!

THE BOUNTY OF SUMMER

CSA MADNESS!!!

Arriving in our CSA from Big Train Farm this week was the most luscious array of heirlooms- covering the entire spectrum of the rainbow. Although the bounty mainly consisted of deliciously plump tomatoes ranging from purple to yellow, there were a few accompaniments such as Delicata squash, shallots-a-plenty and one amazing looking watermelon. During our summer hiatus we gave up on blogging and put on our thinking caps and oven mitts in order to make full use of the just a few too many pounds of local organic produce we were blessed to have on our table each week.

We know, we know....."but documentation of this would have made for some good blog posts". 

We admit it. There's just no good excuse here. We know next year to get a half share as opposed to a whole so we have time to write.

http://www.golocalprov.com/lifestyle/grow-local-big-train-farm-tomatoes/ (Check out this local write-up discussing the tomatoes we have been blessed with this month!)