Apothic Dark is Mark and Lynn's official wine of the ghostly season...

Despite a very mild and occasionally very hot Indian Summer on our part of Long Island (we just took out our window air conditioner units) we have made the transition from the very cold, very dry whites we drink during summer to the very dark, hefty reds we enjoy in the late fall and winter, particularly at the start of Halloween.  As always, we start with Apothic line of fragrant, perfume like reds.  This year we are favoring Apothic Dark which has great flavors of coffee, smoke and cranberry.  It mixes well with my Halloween and autumn reading which trends toward gothic short stories by Poe and Algernon Blackwood as well as vintage magic instruction manuals.

M&L

Wegmans saves the day for Mark and Lynn....

Lynn and I recently returned from Wilmington, NC and though we had a good time there we had rather miserable experiences driving in both directions.  The one bright spot for us was the discovery of Wegmans in Frederick, Maryland.  Lynn had been familiar with the store when she lived Upstate, NY and experienced the first rate groceries, produce, wine and so on.  The store in Frederick had a great, inexpensive wine selection (where I picked up a couple of Charles Smith reds) and, to our relief, great prepared food with Asian, Indian, Vegetarian selections and so on both hot and cold.  The staff was mostly young, attractive and competent giving an impression of being a more genial, folksy version of Whole Foods.  Unfortunately, there are no Wegman's very near us (the closest one is about 75 miles from us in NJ).  We frequently go upstate so perhaps we can stock up and enjoy the comfort and variety of this, our new favorite supermarket....

M&L

Mark and Lynn in Wilmington: The Goat and Compass Showcases Dukes Old South BBQ...

Lynn and I went to Wilmington, NC last week for festivities surrounding our son's wedding.  As with trips to the Port City (my hometown) there is a sense of nostalgia mixed with a weird sense of discovery.  The rehearsal dinner was at the Goat and Compass a place that might best be described as an upscale dive bar.  The environment is lived in with a beer centric bar.  However, there are some good wines and spirits available and an iconic portrait of King Richard III looks down with royal disapproval on the bar's patrons adding an unlikely sense of literary appreciation and an ironic counterpoint to the Panthers game on the big screen TV.

The affair was mostly a DIY affair (curated and decorated by Lynn and our daughter Elizabeth).  Duke's  Old South BBQ catered the dinner and Lynn and I were very impressed by the Duke's pulled pork which triggered in me a Proustian involuntary memory of late fall, early winter childhood memories of Game of Thrones style pig roasts in my family's backyard on Market Street  Duke's savory, sweet and smoky pork brought back those early memories to me as vividly as Proust's tea soaked cakes did to him in Remembrance of Things Past....

The 

Mark and Lynn take Jackson and Sloane to the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport...

Lynn and I enjoy visiting local museums almost as much as we enjoy visiting local eateries.  We were in Southport for a long weekend recently for our son's wedding and even though our time frame was narrow we managed to take our Grandchildren Jackson and Sloane to the North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport.   I am a native North Carolinian and the history of my state and the South is very much a part of my DNA.  So, I felt much enjoyment in Sloane and Jackson exploring the museum's broad array of memorabilia, artifacts and pirate lore.

Jackson loved the museum's vintage periscope where he spied Bald Head Island

The NC Maritime Museum communicates the romantic quality of Southern Seamanship 

Sloane takes the wheel

Mark and Lynn discover Deer Run Farms' Oriental Cauliflower...

Lynn and I enjoyed an early autumn surprise courtesy of Deer Run Farm in Brookhaven. Dear Run Farms is a reliable provider of everyday summer fare for us during the summer but more recently we have noticed Deer Run Farms has branched out from the usual Long Island summer/fall staples like corn, onions and butter crunch lettuce to include more exotic fare such as something we got from the farm's farm stand this weekend; Oriental Cauliflower.

Janet, one of the farm's owners described it as "lacy" as it was more subtle in appearance with an elegance that the suddenly more pedestrian everyday Cauliflower lacked.  We roasted it with some simple garlic powder and found it both flavorful but delicate a nice addition to our fall palette...

Saying goodbye to Summer at Captain Scott's Lobster Dock

Lynn and I are still processing some of our late summer memories and one of the best and most memorable was a labor day weekend spent going to Boston.  On our way back to Long Island we happened upon a lively Labor Day scene at Captain Scott's Lobster Dock in New London, Connecticut.  We particularly enjoyed the Oysters there being shucked for a dollar an oyster.  They were apparently indigenous to Connecticut and were very clean and sweet tasting.  On our next visit we will try to learn more about Connecticut Oysters.  In the meantime it remains a nice afternoon in our memories of this past summer....