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RI: Mackerel Cove
On our way home from Enn, we took a slight detour to go to a beach on Mackerel Cove. As it turned out, this was the only time that we actually made it to a beach during our vacation. Oh, well. We still had plenty of fun just relaxing at the house and other places.
RI: Point Judith Lighthouse
After we ate at Champlin’s, we took a very short detour on the way home to the Point Judith lighthouse. After a little confusion about whether we were allowed on the grounds, because it is an active Coast Guard aid for navigation, we walked around for a little bit to work off a bit of our meal.
This is actually the third lighthouse to sit on this spot. The first one (built in 1810) was destroyed by a hurricane in 1815. The second version was updated, read replaced, in 1856. And this tower was automated in 1954.
Being a geek, I found the material testing section as interesting as the rest of the place. They had a whole slough of different materials mounted on panels that faced the ocean. I’m assuming that they were testing how they stood up to the sun, surf, wind, saltwater, etc. You know, the outdoors.
RI: Port of Galilee
A quick apology first. Since I was just learning how to use my new toy, there was a bit of a screw up. Somewhere along the way, the camera got switched to manual focus and I didn’t realize it for a day and a half, so there are a bunch of pictures that I’m really less than satisfied with. Please bear with me, we’ll get to better ones soon.
The whole dream of the Rhode Island vacation started with an invitation from our friend Dave’s parents. They have a beach house that they were kind enough to open to Dave and some of his Seminary friends for a week. Through a couple of iterations of who was interested and available, our group came out to be Dave, myself and Lindz, and Matt and Janessa.
Our first day in Little Rhodie, we went over to the Port of Galilee for some seafood lunch. There is a restaurant that Dave’s family goes to all the time that is about a 20 mile drive from the house (or about 10 miles as a crow would fly). Champlin’s Seafood is located right on the inlet from the ocean to one of the many saltwater ponds in the area.
They have a great working relationship with the fishing boats that use the Point Judith Pond as a harbor. Many dock right outside of the building. One touch that I thought was really cool is that they have the names of the fishing boats that they buy from on the life preservers hanging up around the building. Besides the restaurant, they also sell a large variety of fresh seafood.

This is one of the fishing boats that supply Champlin’s. The photo was taken from my seat where I ate the first of many unbelievable seafood meals.
Their menu has a selection that any seafood lover would drool at the mere mention of a quarter of the items. I would highly recommend at least looking over the menu before you go. That way, you aren’t staring slack-jawed at the menu board trying to make a decision while people are waiting for you. They have a full bar, so if you would like a homemade bloody mary, a beer, or just a soda, they have your thirst taken care of as well. I should warn you that you should be prepared to spend a bit of money. It’s not excessively expensive, but it isn’t cheap either. I really should clarify that a bit: the quality to cost ratio is unbelievable, but it’s not someplace most people can afford to go more than once or twice a month. Yeah, I feel better with that description.
Dave bought a half-dozen clam cakes to share around the table. Think of a doughy (in a good sense) crab cake and substitute in some clams. They were really good.
Lindz and I went a little wild with our order. Based on Dave’s recommendation, I went with the deep fried whole-bellied clams. In hindsight, I should have gotten them a la carte, and shared Lindz’s fries and slaw. Whole bellies are whole soft shell clams as opposed to clam strips which are sliced hard shell clams. The whole bellies that I ate had a nice mild clam flavor with a sweet undertone. You didn’t need tarter sauce or anything to accompany them. I’ll put it another way for you. I kept eating them after I was stuffed halfway through my meal. Hands down, they were the second best clams that I have ever eaten. Lindz ordered a lobster roll dinner for herself. I think she still has the lobster bug from when we ate at Cosmos. Ha ha! Lobster bug, get it? I’m so punny! I did swipe a bite and it was really good. Perfectly cooked and oh, so tasty. Speaking of Cosmos, that is the reason why I got a 1/2 pint of their lobster bisque. This was good, but it wasn’t quite as good as the one at Cosmos. Significantly cheaper, but still slightly disappointing. I shouldn’t be complaining because it’s still far better than you can find most anywhere.

Lower left: whole belly clam dinner. Upper right: lobster roll dinner. Bottom right: 1/2 pint of lobster bisque. Upper left-ish: 2 cherrystone clams
Finally, I saw that they had raw cherrystone clams on the menu. I’ve never heard of, much less had clams on the half shell before. So I ordered two of them. I figured I’d offer Lindz one and if she declined, then I could eat both of them! But, she was feeling adventurous that day and decided to try one. Which still made me happy. Janessa kindly documented our experience.
If I was still hungry and we didn’t already spend a healthy wad of cash, I would have happily gone back and ordered a baker’s dozen. They were everything that people tell you that good shellfish should taste like. Slightly sweet and a bit like a fresh ocean. These are the clams that claim the #1 slot in the best that I have ever tasted. Lindz even liked them.
As far as seating options go, you can either sit inside (it’s really spacious) or out on the deck (a bit more limited). It was a gorgeous day, and the place wasn’t busy, so ours was an easy choice: the deck. I would suggest going there for lunch or an afternoon snack because I heard that around supper time, the line can get up to a hundred feet long or more.
One of my stated goals for this trip was to eat myself stupid with really good seafood. This place fulfilled that dream and then some. It also set the bar unbelievable high for the rest of the trip.
The other side of Julia Child
Today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday. I’m sure practically every other food blog has some mention of her today, and well, I’m no different. What peer pressure? Like most Americans, I grew up watching The French Chef in some form or another. Julia’s TV career covered almost 40 years so it’s not surprising at how many people count her as a cooking influence. But what endears her to me goes deeper that just her culinary style and expertise.
In addition to being a foodie, I am a history buff as well. Particularly with the early/mid 20th Century. And even more specifically, World War II. So when I found out that Julia worked for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), my respect for her grew in leaps and bounds. She mainly worked as a secret researcher, but it was for General William Donovan, the head of the OSS. In the latter war years, she was stationed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and China where she dealt with classified communications. In between those stints, she worked in Emergency Rescue Equipment Section developing shark repellent. Finally, I should mention that the OSS was the precursor to the CIA. Yes, Julia Child is that cool.
The other thing that I love about Julia is that she stood 6′ 1″. There is really no significance to this other than that I see her as a kindred spirit who has bumped their heads more than is healthy.
RI: Eastbound
Finally getting around to writing about the Rhode Island vacation. I’m just going to ease into it with our drive out east. Not a whole lot to talk about. It was two days, 1400 miles, and a lot of tolls and interstates. Traveling this way covers a lot of ground quickly, but the view is definitely lacking.
Next post: the Port of Galilee.
Culinary Slumming
Pretty much out of nowhere, I got the overwhelming urge to have some chili dogs. Instead of doing it properly by making the chili, etc, I completely went with the slothful route. I picked up a can of chili, some hotdogs, and buns at the grocery store. It was a mindless heat, assemble, and eat. But, man, it was exactly what I needed. I should add that I did go through the strenuous effort to dice some onion to throw on top. It was taxing, but worth it.
My 100th Post
As I’ve been getting nearer and nearer to my 100th post, I have been trying to figure out what would be a good one? A retrospective? Too early. The Rhode Island trip? Too long. I have to break that up into quite a few posts. A dish that I’ve cooked? Maybe, but which one? Someplace that we ate? Again, maybe, but still which one? Then I stumbled across the perfect idea.
Lindz and I were going up north to visit Grandma Bert after the Rhode Island trip. As usual, we stopped off at the Burger King in Ramsey, just off of US10. For some reason, we decided to go in and order food instead of going through the drive-thru. While waiting for our food to come up (which took way too long compared with the service that I’ve gotten at other BK’s including that one), I noticed a sign on one of the tables advertising a new dessert.
And that, my loyal followers, is my 100th post.
Brunch at Longfellow Grill
A friend of ours was up in the Cities from Iowa. So a bunch of us got together at the Longfellow Grill on Lake St.
I had the Szechwan Beef Salad. It had beef strips, greens, carrots, fried wonton strips, sesame seeds, and a sweet peanut sauce. On the side was served a piece of cornbread. Longfellows definitely earned bonus points for having chopsticks with the salad when they brought it out. Yes, I used them to eat it too. The beef was tender and very flavorful. The greens were fresh but the salad was overdressed. I liked the dressing but it got really sweet towards the end. I liked the fried wontons in place of croutons, it fit with the theme of the salad. The cornbread stole the show though. It was moist. I cannot stress that enough, it was borderline dripping. It tasted like one of the main ingredients was creamed corn. Not the canned stuff either. I’m talking the stuff that is made by some hillbilly’s great-grandmother in the backwoods of the South and then smuggled over the Mason-Dixon line and sold to the highest bidder on the black market type of creamed corn. Yeah. It was that good.
Lindz had the biscuits and gravy. This choice surprised no one. Pretty much by default, she always gets biscuits and gravy no matter where we go. I would venture that it is her favorite dish. I didn’t try any of it because I was still trying to finish off my own plate. You can’t tell from the pictures, but the servings were very large. Okay, I’m going to qualify that a bit. The servings didn’t look large when they were sitting in front of you, but you noticed it after eating for ten minutes straight and not being able to see any difference in the quantity of the food still in front of you.
As with most of the places I write about here, if you get the chance you should go and eat there. You will be happier person afterwards. Probably will want to slip into a food coma, but happier nonetheless.