Cape Cod Relaxing!

Shrimp skewers: lemon zest, salt, and pepper
2 min/side

Summer vacation is finally here for me and my husband and we're celebrating our honeymoon (**cough cough one year and one month late cough cough**) in beautiful Cape Cod. I'm hoping to bring you some of the interesting tastes in the Cape. Clam strips and lobster rolls oh my! But for now, let's start closer to home. For lunch today I was tasked with making a delicious grill. Delicately backing out of the driveway in a borrowed car (my mother's SUV is rather larger than my own), my husband and I somewhat blindly made our way to the local grocery store and Mac's fish market. Choosing from the display, we picked a delicious piece of yellowfin tuna and giant shrimps. We found some of the ingredients for veggie skewers in the grocery store, but as always, I wanted something I couldn't find - walnuts and a green vegetable. So onward we drove, navigating down route 6 towards Wellfleet, with the promise of more produce markets and possibilities. Though we turned off too early, I managed to navigate our trusty ship down to the center of town, using only instinct (which usually does not serve me well) and a dream. After a long, twisty ride and 2 wrong turns, we made it to the market. Again walnuts were lacking, but lucky for me I found something even better - figs! My fave! I also found fresh zucchini which, if you've seen my other posts with pictures, is my go-to green for the summer. As a thank you to my husband (though if I'm being honest, it's really for myself) we split a homemade farmer's market oatmeal raisin cookie...big old-fashioned oats, raisins, and deliciousness.

Veggie skewers: a few min per side until
tomatoes just start to burst and other
veggies are browning/black

Bringing our bounty back to the car, we headed off to the house again, back roads and all, twisting and turning (and U-turning once more) to our quiet house where my parents and dogs waited patiently. After much prep work and about 20 minutes of my dad and Alex trying to work the charcoal grill (who needs to read directions?), my food was finally cooking away! Lots of quick-cooking skewers of peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and onions (cool grill!), the big shrimp tossed in olive oil and lemon zest (grated on a cheese grater, as there was no microplane to be found), thick tuna steak lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, pre-made calamari salad (they sell something similar at Whole Foods...but not as good!), and quickly grilled zucchini rounds. Let's also not forget an easy quinoa salad: Cook quinoa as per package instructions. Mix in a lemon dressing (1/3 C extra virgin olive oil; zest of one lemon; 3 T lemon juice; salt and pepper - whisk until mixed), figs, parmesan cheese, basil and parsley.

What started as a light lunch turned into an extravagant (but healthy!!) feast! Delish!

Premade calamari salad

Yellowfin tuna: 4 min on the first side
3 min on second side
Check if done: does it cut easily?

Zucchini rounds: on a charcoal grill, no special grill pan necessary!
Just use grill liners (my fave grill accessory)
Toss in olive oil; spread on grill; turn when dark