October in Cape Cod

I can't believe its Thanksgiving already...

All of my favorite food blogs are filled with Turkey and traditional dishes which is all fine and well. However, I have prepared more than my share of Turkey in my lifetime -- over 200! -- (that story is for another post) and I am now less than fond of the whole shebang. So here is a little rewind to October, when I experienced some beautiful Cape Cod in the fall.

Each year in October, one of the vendors that I subscribe to in the riveting world of financial research hosts an annual conference in Chatham at the Chatham Bars Inn, one of the most picturesque places I have ever been.

Since my East Coast experiences have largely centered on this place and the city of Boston alone, it makes sense that I hold it somewhat dear despite quirks that I would gripe about elsewhere. As you can see, the hotel is beautiful, right on the beach. Each time, I have been fortunate enough to have a cottage on the water, though this year the pack of elephants upstairs made the experience a bit less than tranquil.

Each year there is also an option to participate in an activity. While the militant individualist in me balks at this sort of thing, it really is a nice opportunity in a casual setting to share common interests with the other attendees. Instead of touring as I did last year, I opted to take part in a cooking class. It turns out that instead of a class, it was more of a competition to make chowder...a competition with helpful tips. My team consisted of two sponsoring company reps in addition to the wife of another attendee. We were shown ingredients of all kinds (and were given access to anything we thought of in the interim) and given a base list of recipes for traditional, red, and vegetarian chowders.

We were also instructed on the dispatching of lobsters, one of the primary ingredients in just about everything at the Inn (including the delicious lobster roll above that I ate while waiting to check in). Apparently some folks believe that if you soothe the lobster before killing it, it is both more humane and the meat tastes better. The chef assured us that lobsters didn't feel much pain (he seemed to have as much reverence for lobster as I do for turkey) and took care of them for us despite the lesson.

Our team came in last sadly, due to under-salting which I take some blame for. I love salt and I generally think most things are under-salted. I did not speak up when I should have, thinking I would offend other sensibilities. Later, the chef salted the chowder for us to show us just how cowardly we had been and told us we would have scored a lot better had we just seasoned the stuff correctly. However, it was a wonderful time and our chowder really was quite beautiful. After a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc isn't everything?