Meatloaf, Beach Condos, and Julia Child

One of the dinners we had in Newport has inspired me to a new challenge. Okay, so maybe the martini helped a bit too, but with any luck not too much....Sundays at our house,from here on out, shall now be known as Meatloaf Sundays, at least until I discover my favorite recipe. I shall try a new concoction each week, hopefully from recipies and not just out of my head, until I find one that I myself am proud to serve and actually enjoy eating. To this date, I tend to find my meatloaves to be quite tragic affairs, not to mention less than appetizing in appearances. So far, my mom has the one to beat, according to Noah and the rest of the kids anyway. I have to say I like it too. Jeff tries to be kind and tells me that all of my meatloaf attempts have been eatible, if not yummy, but I know better. Everyone shall be allowed their favorite, but the experiment shall continue until I find MY favorite. So if you hate meatloaf, avoid our house on Sunday nights.

My other new obsession is with the teensy, tiny little travel cabins that we stumbled upon repeatedly on our drive on Cape Cod. These things were amazing. Some of them, you could tell, had not been inhabited for decades. Others were apparently rented out and had people living in them and careing for them year round(think window boxes and Christmas wreaths on doors). Some were no bigger than a cracker box, literally about 10x10 if that. Others were a little bigger, with room for a kitchenette and maybe a 1/2 bath or so. Some were arranged in a semi circle and others seemed to be scattered randomly so that no one could see in anyone elses front door. Some were brick, others were just wood, others had the clapboard siding, still another set was painted bright primary colors with white trim, one blue, one red, one green, one yellow, but all with the same white trim.  Some even had adorable dutch doors! What cracked me up was that most often than not, they were referred to as Condominiums!!! I would tend to want to write it as condoMINIums.  Hee hee!

 Anyway, of course I didn't get to take many pictures as there were none around where we got out to eat or at the very end of the peninsula where we got out to take a picture. The ones pictured above tend to look more like military housing and are huge compared to many of the others we saw, but I think I am going to do some research on these little boogers. I wonder how they are set up inside, especially the smaller ones? Do they have plumbing? I never noticed bath houses or bbqs set up for cleaning and cooking elsewhere. How much fun would it be to own a few and manage them as summer rentals? I would have a blast decorating each one differently. Maybe giving them names and themes. Some were so small that you could easily have fit three or four of them on a flat bed truck to transport them to this side of the country. I know there are some that are similar up in Hoodsport on the Hood Canal, as my sister-in-law stayed in some for our wedding.  If there is no coffee table book on these little gems, there should be.

And thirdly, Julia Child is my hero. Just finished her book My Life in France and I want to be her when I grow up. Only maybe not so tall.....