Old Lyme Seafood and piping plover chicks

Completely remiss is updating on the Great Lobster Roll Quest. What? You thought I gave up? Never!

So, last weekend was jam packed. It was Connecticut Trails weekend, or something like that (Lobster roll? Where's the lobster roll? Yes, I'm getting there.) and I had two hikes, one shad bake, a lobster roll, lots of people to talk to, and a concert to hit. And a house showing. Yes.

The hikes were great. Short-ish, easy jaunts, designed for older folks and kids, and what the heck, let a few middle-aged adults in for giggles. ...There is an awful lot of natural wonder out in this neck of the woods, something easy to miss because it's not dramatic like the cliffs of Dover, but outrageously beautiful in its own way. In Old Lyme, there's a sweet place called Griswold Point Preserve. Mostly private property, there are spots that are preserved for that most fragile of ecosystems, the sand spit.

Piping plover in particular like this area, semi-protected in a sparsely populated area, and here, they can nest relatively undisturbed. I should just say, piping plover chicks are very cute. They are golf ball sized balls of fluff, on the thinnest of stick legs, running around like wind-up toys.

Also, there are terns, which are like large hummingbirds that dive for minnow sized fish along the edges of the sand spit. Harder to get a good picture of these guys, but they have an intensity of purpose - and laser-sharp eyesight - that I admire.

OK, lobster roll! Post hike, what better thing to eat than a hot lobster roll (when you're on a hot lobster roll quest)? Yes. Well, just up the road from the Griswold Point area there are two places you can get lobster rolls next door to each other. One of them was specifically pointed out to me and described as follows: "their food is bad." OK. That was easy.

So I went to Old Lyme Seafood. Side of the road fish market, catering to those loony Lymies (this might be the least densely populated coastal town in Connecticut, home of the Lyme disease carrying deer tick), the place had a lobster tank and the friendliest counter people ever. They all waved hello to me when I walked in. That's always nice. For the record, because it bears saying over and over and over again: warm, friendly people are the best.

 
The lobster roll was tail and claw meat, sweet and buttered, with a well-toasted bun. It was pretty good. Very solid. No lemon, a dry-ish cole slaw and chips. All for around $15. It was very much good, middle of the pack.

Yes, I know. The most exciting description of a lobster roll ever. What can I say?


I was, however, quite inspired by the local Shad Bake at the Connecticut River Museum. There's a very nice sense of history, watching the shad get nailed onto oak boards with pieces of salt pork, then roasted around a fire pit, much as it was a hundred years ago. I asked where the shad came from and one of the bake masters pointed to the Connecticut River behind me. Fresh!!

Fillets planked before cooking

Roasting!

Takes a lot of experience to bone shad.  Very fine boned fish.

Burning off the drippings at the end.

"Ate Too Much."

Bonus baby plover chicks:

The concert later was hot, kickin' bluegrass performed by the band Della Mae - extremely good music! Kick-ass musicians.

Great weekend. Good times with good people!