We returned a while ago from a
lovely sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard where a dear friend of ours not only lives,
but was born and bred. While the trip
was absolutely wonderful and one I would repeat again, there were a couple of
“don’t’s” – the first being not to take the ferry from New York, but rather
splurge and fly there, which you can do now direct from JFK. We were being frugal, but the ferry does not
take five hours as indicated, but closer to over six and for a weekend getaway,
it’s too much time in transport that could be better spent enjoying the
island. Furthermore, the ride over was
very bumpy and we all know what that means.
Fortunately, I didn’t get sick, but I did get terrified and when I lost
the horizon due to the darkness of night, I was left just clinging helplessly
to my seat staring ahead in the black of night praying for the voyage to
end.
Given that experience, pizza
seemed like such a poor choice for a boat snack, but there it was in all its
greasy glory right along side the hot dogs, chips and beer – staples of the
American diet. This leads me to my other
“don’t” and that is tempura-fried lobster.
Now I’m not talking about frying the actual meat, which could be a good
idea, but rather frying the whole thing shell and all. This works with soft-shelled crab – because
you can eat the shell, but you can’t eat the lobster shell or at least I
can’t. It’s messy enough to get through with
one’s little pliers and picks, but now there’s an added layer of grease and fat
to contend with. This wasn’t served on
the ferry by the way, but at an upscale eatery where we went on our second
night. I guess just plain old boiled or
baked lobster becomes pedestrian when living near the sea so this was their way
of differentiating themselves, but I’m more of a traditionalist.
Traditional is not a word I would
use to describe my friend’s father, also a long time Vineyard native. He lives in a non-traditional home with two
non-traditional pet roosters who actually come when they’re called and allow
themselves to be picked up and held. They
greeted us when we arrived and clucked and pecked around us as we visited. We took a little boat ride out to the beach
since he lives on a bay and then we each took a turn on his excavator – and
that’s not an SUV by the way, but a 10 ton machine that operates on hydraulics
used for lifting or digging dirt and moving it from one place to another. I’m still not sure exactly what the project
was that he was using it for, but it was quite fun to have a go at it.
All in all, it was a delightful
journey with delightful people and the ferry back came all too quickly, yet
still took all too long!