My Summer Non-Vacation Part II, Lunch in the North End and Saint Agrippina's Festival

It’s been a long hot summer here in Nova Anglia.  Still, we have not had the drought experienced by our countrymen and women in the South.  Moi, I have been enjoying it.  We could go into a ten-snowstorm winter as payback 2011-2012.  Count your blessings.  

Family members met at Rabias on Salem Street in the North End last Sunday.  It is one of my sisters’ favorite restaurants.  One thing I like about it is, you can be as obnoxious as you want and they can’t throw you out through the glass window.  In the sultry summer days, the front is taken out.

Of course, I am of an age that such behavior has ceased.

Really, one does not go to Rabias to act up.  It is the cucina that is the draw.  I much enjoyed the Ravioli d’Aragosta.  It’s has a lobster filling and a champagne rose sauce and caviar.  Chef Boyardee, eat your heart out.

I did get to taste my sister’s Gnocchi Con Pesto and it was superb.  My son got Powered Up Pasta from the specials menu and it is not well named.  It would better be called a big seafood platter with a great sauce and adequate pasta.

My wife got the Carbonara.  It was tasty, but the pasta was underdone.

Everybody enjoyed the deserts.

One cavil, the servers hovered a bit too much.  It has been explained to me as a trick of the trade.  The day was a bit slow and the staff did not want to be sent home.

Rabias is lovely and though the service was a bit overdone, it did not materially hurt the experience.  A warm day in the North End in a restaurant open to the street is enjoyable in most circumstances.

Then out into the street.  Sunday in the North End in summer means a feast.  The camaraderie and theater of the feast might be the main reason folks of Italian descent never give over to secular humanism.  Reason is nice, but to get together with paisans and have a life is bella.

Of course, the people who spawned Aquinas know something of ratio.

We enjoyed the bands and the statue of Saint Agrippina di Mineo.  Then again, we were tourists.  I know people from Brimfield who vacation during the big weekends.  So I wonder if some residents have feast fatigue?  Then again, there may be competitive juices flowing.  After all, there will be another feast in a week and maybe the Saint So and So Society might want to husband its support for their team.

Just so you know, Saint Agrippina was a virgin martyr beheaded for her steadfast faith during the reign of Emperor Valerian.  As poetic justice, Valerian was captured by the Persians and his head used as a mounting block by the Shah.

Too much of a good thing in hot weather means dehydration.  We stopped into the Cheese Shop because of the proffered Italian ices.   The cool relief of the concoction was pleasant, but regretted right away.  There were samples of soppressata on the counter.  Had I not had the ice, there might have been an embarrassment if I could not resist over sampling and it would have been necessary to take home a few pounds.  Maybe that would not have been a problem?

My Summer Non-Vacation, A Day Trip to Cape Ann

I don't really have a summer vacation, but did take some day trips.  The one below is an excursion to Cape Ann that appeared on Page 26 in the July issue of the Sturbridge Times Magazine.

The pictures were taken by Edith Jacobs who was also our guide.

A day away at the other Cape, to Rockport on Cape Ann

Upon arriving in Rockport, the salt sea air refreshingly lets you know, you are not in Central Massachusetts. The Bay State’s other Cape, Cape Ann, isn’t as large as the one named after a fish. The beaches are not as wide. Charming it is though, more so, maybe due to the smaller area. To get from one end to the other does not require a major highway.

The most well known part of Rock- port is Bearskin neck. It is a haven of artists and galleries. This is understand- able, as the view of the harbor scene from the back of most shops would make any artist want to set up an easel. There is the famous Motif #1, a red fishing shack with colorful buoys hanging on the side. It is the most painted subject in the US.

Bearskin neck has more than the visual arts. Look out into the sea, there are a lot of buoys like those on motif #1. They mark submerged lobster pots. On the neck is Roy Moore Lobster Co., in business since 1918. There are worse breakfasts than lobster with drawn butter. 

On the walk back from the neck, our guide led us down small side streets that leave the tourist behind, such as Doyle’s Cove Road and Old Harbor Road. She showed us moorings for all kinds of small boats at the town owned wharf. Don’t expect to bring your yacht up here tomorrow and claim one. A town native friend had to wait 24 years for a parking spot for his lobster boat. 

As we walked back through town, we passed the Shalin Liu Performance Center on Main Street. It is an edifice that is out of place yet fits in. It is out of place because it is new construction in a town of old structures. It fits in because it ap- pears to be in harmony with the other buildings. The acoustics are marvelous, but that would be so in most halls built to such a purpose. This hall has a huge window fronting on a lovely view of the harbor.

There is in Rockport, for some, well, or many, an obsession to create beautiful spaces. There are gardens in public places and in private yards. Every year, the garden club holds a tour where the public can see exquisite plots that have been lovingly pre- pared. This year it will be held in early July

Corinne Waring lives on the shore and has one of the gardens featured in a past tour. Horticulture by the sea poses its own challenges. A recent storm had killed part of a tree with the salt spray. There are ad- vantages such as access to abundant seaweed that is as good a fertilizer as any commercial product. Corinne drags it from the shore and makes beautiful flowers.

Our next destination would be Halibut Point State Park. Despite the name, fish had nothing to do with it. Halibut Point is a corruption of Haul About Point where ships would tack to round Cape Ann. The first part of our walk was through a narrow path bordered by thick brush. It had the flavor of a maze that one could be lost in forever.

It was not to be. We would emerge into an area of large rocks down to the sea. Amongst them were numerous tidal pools. It took a bit of agility to jump from rock to rock, but not Olympic level. A boat that crashed aground here would break up in an instant. Looking up from the beach was an enormous pile of rock in regular shapes. Part of the reservation is a series of quarries. That pile of rocks is stone that did not be- come part of wharfs or buildings. It did not look stable, but as people were on it and nothing happened, it must have been okay.

All that hiking builds an appetite. It was a short drive to “Lobsta Land” in Gloucester. In spite of the name and its homage to the local patois, we were there for something different. Our guide swore by the coconut battered shrimp. They were large and covered in panko coconut batter with a Thai salad and honey-ginger dip- ping sauce.

Our guide would not let us leave without the seafood chowder (or chowdah) experience. The Causeway Restau- rant in Gloucester has the Cape Ann rep for that soup, and it was chunky with fish. The long line meant it would be wise to order take out. We dined in the shadow of the fa- mous fisherman’s statue on Gloucester Harbor.

Not everything in Cape Ann is ocean-themed. There is the curious Paper House at 52 Pigeon Hill Street in Rock- port. Wood frame and floor, but all else is paper. Built in 1922 out of newspaper and still standing. Walls and fur- niture are all newsprint. The builder was an engineer who probably just wanted to see if he could do it, or maybe he was just an extreme recycler.

We were not done indulging ourselves. Our last stop was the Cape Ann Brew- ing Company. There must be an ordinance across the peninsula that you must have a view of the sea in any commercial establishment. Whether porter, pale ale or the honey pilsner, it all complemented the declining light.

Sadly, the declining light meant it was getting time to leave. Home to Western Central Massachusetts, but we’ll make that 105-mile trip to the North Shore again. Cape traffic isn’t all that bad, if you pick the right one.