I've been playing hookeyGone fishin'...
M.I.A. (missing in action)
I went off to the seashore and and I left my camera home no less :(
I was visiting my friend, Vicki in Cape May, New Jersey,
who owns The Merion Inn.
The Inn has been winning and dining folks and all-round general whooping it up
since 1885!
It's a restaurant, not an "inn"
but you feel like you should put on your Gibson Girl hat and gloves
when you enter the premises - it's very Victorian.
And their Strawberry Shortcake is nothing to sniff at either!
But the sole purpose of my little hiatus, my MISSION was to have the
STEAMED CLAMS of my childhood...
I nearly drove Vicki mad with my constant blather,
WHERE ARE THE G-D STEAMED CLAMS in this G-D adorable town!?
We did have so-called "steamed" Little neck clams
and on a floating skooner too,
at the Lobster Net or Lobster Nest or some such place...
And I had clams on the half shell there too - they were Little necks,
NOT CHERRY STONES! :(
At The Merion Inn I ate nothing but CLAMS CASINO 2 nights in a row,
which are the best clams casino I've ever had.
No one in all of Cape May has any idea what STEAMERS are either :(
They are NOT Quahogs! Grrrrrrrrr
As soon as we hit town last night I made a B-line for first my camera. And then to Black Pearl on 37 West 26th Street (NYC!)
to have a mess of STEAMED CLAMS, served with their broth and drawn butter.
I had half a dozen CHERRYSTONE CLAMS too just for good measure.
Then I headed home to recover from achieving MY MISSION at last !
Oh, by the way, did I mention they do have macaroOns in Cape May?
AND very beautiful beaches...
The Inn has been winning and dining folks and all-round general whooping it upsince 1885!
It's a restaurant, not an "inn"but you feel like you should put on your Gibson Girl hat and gloves
when you enter the premises - it's very Victorian.
And their Strawberry Shortcake is nothing to sniff at either!But the sole purpose of my little hiatus, my MISSION was to have the
STEAMED CLAMS of my childhood...
I nearly drove Vicki mad with my constant blather,
WHERE ARE THE G-D STEAMED CLAMS in this G-D adorable town!?
We did have so-called "steamed" Little neck clams
and on a floating skooner too,
at the Lobster Net or Lobster Nest or some such place...
And I had clams on the half shell there too - they were Little necks,
NOT CHERRY STONES! :(
At The Merion Inn I ate nothing but CLAMS CASINO 2 nights in a row,
which are the best clams casino I've ever had.
No one in all of Cape May has any idea what STEAMERS are either :(
They are NOT Quahogs! Grrrrrrrrr
As soon as we hit town last night I made a B-line for first my camera. And then to Black Pearl on 37 West 26th Street (NYC!)to have a mess of STEAMED CLAMS, served with their broth and drawn butter.
I had half a dozen CHERRYSTONE CLAMS too just for good measure.Then I headed home to recover from achieving MY MISSION at last !
Oh, by the way, did I mention they do have macaroOns in Cape May?AND very beautiful beaches...
I highly reccommend visiting.
Just be sure and eat your steamers before you leave home :)
Steamed clams? I don't think I've ever had them. I'll take your word for it, I think!...Cape May is lovely--glad you had a respite--looks like a beautiful spot.
ReplyDeleteIpswich Clams I think are steamers...
ReplyDeleteOr maybe not.
Maybe that's FRIED clams..
I love anything CLAMMY except hot weather...
the girl from New England
OMG!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE steamers!!!
But I think you get them in New England unless I'm mistaken...
Still I understand your plight totally - I'm always looking for something that isn't there and missing what is! :)
Annie
Did you by any chance get to
ReplyDeleteUNIQUELY YOURS
in Cape May?
It's heaven for the Victorian-obsessed!
NOT TO BE MISSED thought they have NO steamed clams I'm afraid..
what a lovely place you ran off to!
ReplyDeleteAntispation sometimes isn't what it's cracked up to be...Got my chuckles this morning. You did good for forgetting your camera. The Back Porch looks like my kind of place to go. Very charming. So does Main. At least..even if it was at home..You got your camera & clams in the end. And I bet you had fun looking for them in all the right places. Makes you appreaciate what's in your own backyard. ;-)
ReplyDeleteCris in OR
Clams Casino YUM.
ReplyDeleteYour friends establishment looks wonderful. You know the most colorful people! I've never been to Cape May. I heard it is beautiful!
I'll have to pass on the "Steamers"
ReplyDeleteBut I could really go for the victorian town of Cape May!
And The Merion Inn too!
Ah, steamers ! We used to buy them by the bushel and steam them in huge narrow pots. Then we would drink the broth !!!! dip those babies in butter and life just doesn't get any better !
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the Jersey shore and I suggest you hunt down those cherrystones a little further north around Lavelette or Seaside Heights. Order some steamed corn on the cob , a tomato salad and (forgive me, but it pairs so well) a beer ! Now that would be a lovely still life to paint !!!!
PAINT DIVA!
ReplyDeleteYou hit me where it hurts!
A diva after my own heart who understands the ways of the STEAMER CLAM...oh my
We used to go crabbing too in a row boat and then steam those and eat them on top of the newspaper tableclothes...
AH...The good ole days...
It sounds pretty.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to Cape May, and always heard from my sisters how nice it is. Sometime I'll have to get there!
Glad you got a mini-vacation--
I missed you yesterday, but was glad you got some "Carol time!"
i'm hungry...steamers...yum...missed you while i was gone...blessings, rebecca
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us along! What a holiday. The stawberry shortcake, the stroll along the beach, and metting your friend. Delightful!
ReplyDeleteFabulous
ReplyDeleteIt looks divine.
Thanks for all that you share!
How wonderful! You got away to the beach. I love steamers. We eat them all the time esp at the SF apt. I can buy the freshest clams just a block away.I'm not fond of clams or mussels on the half shell.
ReplyDeleteBut steamed with garlic WOW
I just came home from eating out on the town with my longtime highschool girlfriend... and found myself hungry again just reading about your steamers and strawberry shortcake!!! Yummmmm!!!
ReplyDeleteOh Carol,
ReplyDeleteI had to check twice, to make sure it was your blog I was looking at! Even missing out on the steamers (what a low-down!), you managed to have a great moment, or twentytwo, from what I gather from your reporting and those lovely illustrations (leaving for camera at work, and still posting an illustrated blog post, wow!!!).
You managed to make me long for Cape May (loved to take the Ferry from Lewis Beach) and Rehoboth, and the whole East Coast (once we drove from Ocean City, Md, all the way to Ocean City, NJ, because I insisted we find some Italian style fishing village *laugh*). I had steamed crabs on newspapers for the first time during my first pregnancy, when I could hardly eat anything from nausea, but I managed to eat more than half a dozen of those crabs .... and pan-fried soft-shell crab sandwiches: where are they when I want one? Nada here in Vienna. *sniff*
Oh Merisi!
ReplyDeleteHow you stir in me memories of...
Ocean City..
Surf City...
Beach Haven...
The lands of my long, lost innocent childhood!
And plates and plates of clams on the half-shell eaten enroute to these divinely, gritty places...
To Hell with Proust's madelaine I say!
Crabs on newspaper!
Nothing like it...
*sniff sniff*
I'd put my Gibson Girl clothes on for that!!!
ReplyDeleteI'll be in Cape May for two days in September: I'll try to stop by the Merion Inn. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe Back Porch, the other pix, make me think it would be my kinda place; I'd feel very at home there, I think. Olde-worlde. Beach. Class. Clams? I only know clam chowder, and that was a long time ago. They look a bit like what we call pippies. The strawberry shortcake certainly sets my heart aflutter. ;~)
ReplyDelete