There Are No Friends at Auctions

alternately known as:

My Mother Couldn’t Believe I Could Eat 14 Potatoes in One Seating

It was a shortened weekend at the lake. Since we had the opportunity to go to dinner with our friends the Gosselins (Jack and Stephanie) at our newest favorite restaurant, the Still River Cafe on Friday evening we didn’t get out until Saturday morning.

The Still River Cafe is now a favorite—the favorite—because of the setting, the food, and the service. It is a prix-fixe (fixed price) three course meal with an appetizer, entree, and dessert. All of the vegetables are grown on-site and the choices are interesting and wonderfully prepared. One of the reasons to eat out at a restaurant is to experience food you would not normally have at home; either in type or preparation and in some cases both. Since we like to cook we had both on this occasion.

For the first course I had olive brined thinly sliced pickled beef tongue, pea shoots, cerignola olive puree, crispy crème fraiche. Cheri had North Ashford Farm Spring Pea Gazpacho, house made lemon ricotta, prosciutto crisp, pistachio oil. Stephanie had vichyssoise made with garlic and a local green vegetable (I waivered on having this myself) and Jack went with a simple garden salad—not always as adventurous as the rest of us, but it did include twelve farm baby greens, baby arugula, toasted pumpkin seeds, shaved fennel, goat feta .

The main course brought an American version of Kobe Beef prime rib—think of beef cattle pampered since birth with diet and exercise to create a tender and tasty (at least to us carnivores) piece of meat—to Stephanie. Jack had the Rhode Island Stripped Bass that received rave reviews. I took the opportunity to have a trio of duck served in three ways—a leg of duck confit, duck liver pate with crisp wedges, and sliced duck breast on a bed of local vegetables. Cheri had the most unique (at least for us New Englanders) entree—Karen, you and Anna may not want to read the rest of this paragraph. She had what the menu called Rabbit “Olivier” which consisted of a poached saddle of rabbit medallions with baby carrots, a leek filled crepe, roasted stuffed leg and chilled rillette of rabbit. Cheri also pointed out the irony of having baby carrots with rabbit for dinner, a nice twist. We all shared a little of each other’s plates so we could have the full experience.

Desserts were chocolate, fruit sorbets, and blueberry shortcake. We also washed it down with some great coffee and tea.

The next morning we got up at a reasonable hour and packed to head for the cottage. After many cups of coffee and some time working the crossword puzzle we got on the road. I called Dad and let him know that we would pick him up around noon and we seemed to hit the schedule okay, even with some traffic delays on I-495 and a quick stop at the grocery store. We were then on to the cottage and a nice afternoon at the lake.

We started out in some Adirondack chairs, next to the beach with our magazines. The sun was bright and warm, but we moved over into the shade to be comfortable as we enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon. Cheri soon joined us only she didn’t nap…she only sat around looking good at the beach Later in the afternoon the sun crossed the yardarm (somewhere) and we had a brief cocktail time, which included a favorite summer libation. It almost makes you feel cooler just looking at it…the effect of sipping it was just as good. We were soon joined by Nana and Papa and had an enjoyable afternoon sitting by the Lake.

Of course it wasn’t too long until you had both a before and after shot. I attribute these positions to the ‘Lake Effect’ which causes relaxation and possible sleep induction to the unwary. As usual at the Cottage we got the grill going in the late afternoon and I found another piece of meat to first sear and then slowly cook. Besides some beef tenderloin I also found some sea scallops begging to be put a part of the meal. To keep them happy I squirted the juice of a lime over them, sprinkled some mixed seasoning on them and set them aside to become content…we only want to eat happy food. The meat was on the grill for about an hour (after first searing) and when I took it off to let the juices re-enter the meat I put the scallops, on double-skewers, on the grill. Add a broccoli-raisin salad, carrots, and a cold rice salad and a meal was made.

Of course it was during this meal that Papa shared with us the time his mother (Grammy Fenton) couldn’t believe he could eat fourteen potatoes at one time. Papa did share that he has yet to be filled up and besides…they were small potatoes.

 

 

It was a quiet evening and after such a filling meal it we settled in to watch the Red Sox game for the evening. I did light a beach fire, but the combination of mosquitoes, full bellies and Red Sox kept people from the beach.  That didn’t keep me from trying a couple of pictures with my new gorilla tripod to show the fire at the beach and then later the moonlight over the lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning most of us took our time getting up.  The plan for the day was to enjoy a French-toast with berries casserole that Cheri had made ahead for breakfast and then head over to the Old Fashion Fair put on by the Andover Historical Society at Potter’s Place.

We did wander around a little before the auction.  Dad and I watched a blacksmith for some time as he worked on making candle holders with a heart shaped hanger out of raw iron bars.  Cheri also spent some time talking with a fellow knitter who was spinning her own wool. During the auction Papa was busy moving items around, holding them up for others to view and helping out the auctioneer.  We only bid on a few things and ended up with a new bureau for Sarah’s Room—also known as the Guest Room—and a couple of nice plant stands with marble tops.

Arriving at the Auction area you could see Papa already stationed as a worker near the storage area for the auction items.  Of course that is his pickup in the foreground so it wouldn’t be too much of a carry to get any items won into transportation. The lady spinning did say she started out simply knitting…then she progressed to hand spun wool…then spinning her own…now she has her own sheep—sound familiar?  Should I be nervous about needing a barn? After the auction we headed back to the cottage to pack up and try to get an early start on the trip home.  I did take some time to show Dad how to make a blog.  He has been sending an E-mail to Valleydale friends about his ‘doings’ while in New Hampshire and he thought this might be a better way to send the updates.

We got on the road around 4 p.m. and took back roads from Dad’s house down to Hooksett which let us miss the backed up traffic we saw on I-93 earlier while driving to Loudon.  It was a very relaxing adventure.  To see all of the pictures from the weekend click on the photo below.

Andover Auction 2009