Cape Cod Rock Hopper

How who remembered it and Broiled Buttered Oysters

     Memories are funny things, many are how we wish to remember them and not how they really are or were at the time.
    For instance, how come the cottage or camp that we as kids grew up going to was just the biggest and best thing that was this side of the canal. In reality the square footage was equal to or smaller then the three bedrooms in our modest, mid-west split level house. And this included the kitchenette, no bath tub and the only shower was outside, WAY COOL. The parent's view: of this could be, here we are 4 -5 people in a tiny 2 bedroom cottage with not enough hot water to bath three kids with sticky salt water and sand all over them. What in the world were we thinking.
    Wow, Dad took me fishing at this lake and we got to spend all morning in a boat while I got to fish. Dad help me get on these really creepy worm things with pinchers, but I did get to catch some fish that we could take home and have for lunch. It was really neat and I had a really fun time.  The Dad's view: great I had to get up  at an unGodly hour on my vacation to take the kid fishing in a pond that really I wasn't sure the fish were really edible to eat. The boat we were let was a row boat, so guess who to job of rowing, ya you guessed it, and how had to bate those hooks, do you know how many times I got pricked by those stupid pinchers those things have. And who in the world thought to us worms that have pinchers? Oh ya, did we really have to take those small fish home, guess who got to clean them, you got it again me. What in the world was I thinking about.
    Hey Mom, with you go with me to check out the play ground. I hear its really big and has lots of things to play on. Its not to far I think, and you can take you knitting, I wont bother you and you can just sit and watch me play, please please please. A Mom view: Ok son, the play ground is all the way in the back of the park, but that's Ok, I don't mind the walk, and walk and walk. And were was I suppose to site, and knit, there were no chairs, and no tables to sit at, Ok and all the play gound stuff mounted to 3 swings, a wobbly merry-go-round thing and a teeter taughter. So who pushed who on the swing and who tried to helped you with the merry-go-round. I didn't mind, but what was here that we didn't have at home close by.
    Let's got to the north side of the Cape and lets go drive along 6A, its really cool and the little shops are fun to go into. There are all kinds of things to see and do and I/we wont complain at all. The parents remember: how much longer do we have to stay in the car, when's the next shop, I have to go potty, why is Daddy made at that car in front of us and why are they driving so slow.
    Ok, yesterday the cottages were big and today we can't figure out how we all fit in that place without killing each other. The fishing trips as kids were wonderful experiences, today we want a charter that does all the work for us, and those playgrounds although small could entertain us for hours, today we barely know how to play any more.
    We used to think playing an inexpensive par 3 and pretending to be Jack Nicholas, Arnold Palmer or Lee Trevino, was the world especially on the Cape as the big name golfers got to travel and so did we. Today can you find a par three any more, you know the one like SeaView used to be like. We used to dream of working in a light house and being the one would sound the horn or bell to call for the rescue to help people. Today we look around and wonder how to modernize that old thing and wonder how they ever lasted a summer in that small keepers house let alone the cold drafty winters.
    Those days when we were kids were so simple, so at ease, so relaxing, then we grew up and our eyes got foggy with what wasn't or what isn't. Sometimes we should take a step back and go back and be a kid and not worry about how big the cottage really was, do we really need the 5 bedroom house with maid service and eating out every night. Do we have to spend so much on our toys and games and miss the simple pleasures that are still right under our noses. Can we slow down a little and enjoy just driving along route 6A  or many other back roads of the Cape just exploring what is there. Sometimes we think things always have to get bigger or cost more to get better. When all we need to do is see with child eyes again and just relax and enjoy our times on the Cape like we did the first years we set foot on those sandy beaches.
        What are your memories that need to be revisited, what memories need to be relived, to help us enjoy life a little more, and remember how special the Cape really can be. And until that day, someone keep the lamp in the light house lit until I can find my way back to Old Cape Cod.

    This weeks recipe was to have come from the hand written recipes that have come with my wife from her Mother. Some of you will remember, some will check up on me and others of you, ok you really don't care, but will say "hey didn't do a recipe like this once before?" The answer to that is yes. So what was that recipe: Quick Scalloped Oysters that I posted 7-19-07. In fact the more I looked at what I was going to do today and that recipe they resembled each other so much and what I was going to do today was so outdated to what any normal person would do in the kitchen today I decided to dump it. So instead I did a little research and decided to get back to basics and found a recipe that again I tweaked and bettered to my own tastes and feel much quicker and easier for the modern cook. So without any further delay,
     The recipe of the week is: Broiled Buttered Oysters

•         1    pint        oysters (fresh are best)
•         2    oz           bacon ( a couple strips or you can use a slab)
•         2    Tbsp      butter
•         1/3    cup     chopped green onions or scallions
•         1    each       lemon (the juice of)
•         1    tsp          Old Bay Seasoning
•                               Ground Black Pepper
•                               Sea Salt (Hickory Smoked if you have it)(Salt Optional)

   
        Place oysters in a shallow baking pan (be sure no shells or sandy grit gets in the pan). In a skillet, saute the bacon in the butter until bacon until crispy and remove bacon and crumble, put on side. In skillet with bacon and butter renderings add chopped onions (or scallions) and lemon juice, along with Old Bay Seasoning Pour half the rendering over the oysters and sprinkle the crumbled bacon on top. Add a grind or two of black pepper and a light pinch of Hickory Smoked Sea Salt. Place baking pan with oysters under the broiler and bast a couple times with remaining bacon rendering until oysters are done, (watch for edges to begin to curl). (Don't over cook as oysters will become rubbery.) Service hot.