Adventures in Vacationland

[vettecat]

When last we met, my mother had invited me and sdavido to join her and some friends in Ogunquit, Maine for Shabbos, to celebrate his birthday. It was kind of last minute but we decided it sounded like fun, so late Thursday night we started thinking about when to go, what to take, etc. And I made him a birthday cake to take along. This was a bit of a challenge because he doesn't like chocolate. (But he does have other redeeming qualities.) :-) Fortunately I found a recipe for Classic White Cake in Baking Illustrated. I made it pareve, put apricot in the center instead of raspberry, and used a frosting I know he likes, but other than that I followed the recipe exactly... thankfully it came out very well. (I really like that cookbook!) It was tremendously popular this weekend... we have one piece left, and that's because I politely insisted he should have some to take home.

As for the actual trip... as fate would have it, we both had dentist appointments on Friday (made months ago), so we couldn't leave until afternoon. While at the office, I told my Uncle A. the dentist that we were joining my mother in Maine; he and my Aunt G. had been talking about going up there on Sunday. I told him we were sorry we wouldn't get to see them there, and we headed home to pack. Took a little longer to get organized than we'd hoped (of course) so we got on the road midafternoon. Hit a lot of traffic getting out of the city, but once we were into the outskirts it was much lighter, and the trip went by quickly.

We met my mother at the hotel, and settled into her room. She had arranged that we could have the bed and she'd sleep on a cot, which made us feel guilty, but it did make sense. There was definitely room for the three of us - nice big room, not fancy but pretty. We hid all our stuff in the closet b/c my mother's friends the G's (parents and college-age child) were joining us for dinner in the room. My mom had brought along a big hotplate, which she unplugged just before Shabbos, so we could have warm food. Dinner was very congenial.

Arrangements had been made for us to have prepaid tickets to a community theatre production of The Odd Couple, so we went there after dinner. It was a very good performance, as these things go, and we rarely go to plays so it was a nice treat. Afterwards we headed back to the room for dessert. As I mentioned, the birthday cake was very popular... half of it got eaten. :-) My mom had also brought along some other cake, not knowing then that we would be coming up. After dessert the G's went back to their room, and we read for a while, then went to sleep.

The next morning we got up early (my mother and I had a friendly debate as to whether getting up early counts as a vacation!) to meet the G's and the S's (another local family - parents and three teenage children) for breakfast. Then sdavido and I did some wandering. We spent some time at the local library, looking at books and admiring the bookshelves. :-) Then we walked to an overlook to admire the ocean view, and walked downtown (it's a small town) and did some sightseeing. After a while of this SD-'s feet were hurting - he's been having a lot of trouble lately :-( , and my leg has been bothering me as well - so we went back to the hotel, got books from the room, and sat by the pool and read for a while.

The G's and S's provided deli and such for lunch, which was eaten in a gazebo overlooking the beach. Beautiful clear day, gorgeous view... and I couldn't take a single picture. (le sigh) We ate dessert, and sat and chatted there for a while. As we were putting everything away, Uncle A. and Aunt G. wandered in. They had decided to come up early! It was amazing that they found us, and a nice treat to see them. We visited with them for a bit, but then excused ourselves as we wanted to do some more sightseeing. Wandered back downtown, and walked around until SD-'s feet started hurting again, at which point we went back to the hotel for our books, and sat and read outside until it was time for havdalah.

Saturday night, after packing the car, we went back downtown to pick up some souvenirs, and then headed back home. We got in around midnight, thoroughly exhausted. I gave SD- his final present (details on his journal if you're curious), and we went to bed.

Today I went in to the store, then we went to a barbecue at the home of some friends, then I had an Arisia meeting... now I'm working on catching up. I really should get to bed soon. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Comments

[sdavido.livejournal.com]

Well, mine was phenomenal! Excellent company and the most amazing cake anyone could ever have. Of course, I quibble with the designation "white cake"** *evil grin*, but other than that I agree in full.

**Baking Illustrated, which I fully brag was one of my better present ideas to vettecat, does indeed call it a white cake, but as it has 2 parts almond and 1 part Vanilla, I'd call it an Almond cake. Note: this is NOT bad, but to me Almond is a dominant flavoring - I don't know why, but when I taste it in something the flavor often tends to assert itself over others. Then again, that just made it a fun point to argue (almond cake or white cake)

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Glad that you enjoyed it!