After my mom and I tasted wines at Truro Vineyards, it was finally time for our picnic lunch on the beach. We got to Herring Cove and learned that the wind had other plans for us though.
We sat in the car, watched the ocean and the seagulls, and enjoyed the sunshine while we snacked on the goodies we'd purchased at Main Street Wine & Gourmet and Truro Vineyards. We had Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries, Robinson Farm Hardwick Stone (a tangy, semisoft cheese made in Hardwick, Mass.), Moser Buure Weichkasli (a soft, buttery cheese), Fastachi mixed nuts, Iggy's cranberry pecan and olive rolls, and a couple of kinds of crackers. It was quite the spread. The Moser cheese was amazing on the olive rolls.
After lunch, we braved the windy beach to go stick our toes in the frigid November ocean water.
We took a drive up to Provincetown because I really wanted a malasada (Portuguese dough that's fried and coated in sugar), but sadly the Portuguese bakery where we get them was closed for the season.
We spent a little time walking around and even saw some couples getting wedding pictures done and lots of people dressed up to go to weddings. It was kind of nice thinking about weddings and knowing that I was no longer stressing out planning one.
We headed back in the direction of the Inn and stopped at the Wicked Oyster in Wellfleet to satisfy another of my Cape Cod cravings: cranberry mojitos. I can't even remember which year it was that my mom and I first found the Wicked Oyster and the amazing cranberry mojitos there, but now we always go back. The food and service has been hit or miss, but the mojitos are always spot-on.
We sat at the bar and ordered Wellfleet oysters while debating whether to get dinner.
We finally gave in and my mom ordered the grilled filet mignon with bourbon-caramel sauce and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.
I tried the duck with gnocchi, which was a special that day. It had an interesing preparation of root vegetables paired with it as well. I loved the tender duck and the crispy duck skin.
After dinner we went back to the Whale Walk Inn and watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
The next morning we skipped breakfast at the inn to get a little closer to home and stopped in Dennis at The Red Cottage Restaurant for breakfast along our route. It's one of my family's go-to breakfast spots (and a lot of other people's too; there's always a line).
We shared sausage, egg, and mushroom crepes topped with hollandaise with a side of cottage fries (potatoes, onions, tomatoes, ham, green peppers, and mushrooms topped with hollandaise); a biscuit and gravy; a cranberry-blueberry pancake; and a side of ham on the bone. Everything was delicious.
We had a perfect mother-daughter weekend, with just the right balance of shopping, eating, and relaxing. If you've never been to Cape Cod during the off-season, I'd highly recommend that you go... except that I don't want to tell too many people to go and turn the off-season crowds into the summer crowds!
Where's your weekend getaway spot?