Nantucket Highlights

As ever, I’m running around New England this summer — eating, drinking, cooking, sitting in a beach chair watching the waves (or my nieces and nephews, or the sunset, or …), hiking, swimming in glacial lakes, and staying up late on the porch with my family.

I took a week on Nantucket, and here are the some of highlights (I tried to narrow it down to 10, but it wasn’t possible):

1. Kids in sea kayaks, catching the wake from the high-speed ferry. (hy-linecruises.com)
2. Three lunches at Ropewalk. Get the crispy calamari. (theropewalk.com)
3. The chef’s table at The Pearl, with chef Liam knocking it out of the park. The wok-seared lobster is always a hit, but the noodle bowl killed me. (boardinghouse-pearl.com)
4. Drinks at The Boardinghouse. Tommmmmmmy! (boardinghouse-pearl.com)
5. Drinks at 21 Federal. The magnificent traditions of bartender Tommy B. are a ritual. (21federal.com)
6. Dinner in the sand at sunset at The Galley. Go for the chicken. (galleybeach.net)
7. Black-Eyed Susan’s for breakfast. I’ll never order anything but the corned-beef hash from now on-perfection. (black-eyedsusans.com)
8. Wauwinet for sunset, a stellar wine list, and surprisingly good deals in the gift shop. (wauwinet.com)
9. Madaket Millie’s for lunch.
10. Todd English at The Summer House and at 29 Fair Street, which is a Figs pizza outpost, too. (thesummerhouse.com)
11. Something Natural for sandwiches. (Split or get a half — these bad boys are BIG.)
12. Bartlett’s Farm for everything. Check out Donna Lee sampling fab foods, and next year their own eggs, if all goes as planned. (bartlettsfarm.com)
13. And the second-best meal I’ve had this year, Corazon del Mar. Seth and Molly are rock stars. (boardinghouse-pearl.com)

In other news, from our dear friend Tinky Weisblat:

” ‘Loving Local: Celebrating the Flavors of Massachusetts’ will take place from Sunday, August 22, through Saturday, August 28 — in other words, during Massachusetts Farmers’ Market Week. The blogathon will be hosted by In Our Grandmothers’ Kitchens, (ourgrandmotherskitchens.com), with a little help from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources and Mass Farmers’ Markets.

“We hope non-bloggers will participate as well, of course! If you’re interested in food (well, who isn’t?), please consider linking to our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/LovingLocal). We’ll keep you abreast of upcoming posts in the blogathon so you can read and comment. And when it begins you’ll have lots of yummy posts to savor!

“Funds raised during the blogathon (bloggers who participate will be encouraged to place a donation link in their posts) will go to Mass Farmers’ Markets, a nonprofit charitable organization that helps farmers’ markets throughout the Commonwealth.”