Category Archives: Peregrinations

A pleasant dinner last night at Oran Mor, with an ’05 Turley Zinfandel at a surprisingly good price. I had octopus followed by duck! Then, back at the ranch, an 1870 Madeira with a cigar on the terrace.

We’ll lounge on the lawn today, have lunch, then head back for the ferry and the mainland. We only spend a long week here every August, but it’s somehow like we’ve never left. It’s interesting to be able to visit the same places each year while also trying a variety of new destinations.

The photos below are a typical scene as I walked from Cold Noses, where I bought the dogs some treats, over to the restaurant where I had already parked and was meeting Maria.

The dockside scene, near the ferry.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

I just finished Chapter 7 in The Consulting Bible, it’s 8 am, and there’s a strong breeze coming at me across the bay. The U.S. and marine flags, on the pole of the private property adjoining the inn, look like billboards, stiff in the breeze.

There isn’t a cloud in sight, the sky is baby blue with a crisp horizon against the cerulean sea. All I hear is the creaking of the bobbing boats down by the water, and the wind riffling through the vegetation—not a motor, not a voice.

On the way to dinner last night at Sfoglia, which was wonderful, rich Italian with, of course, a Bulgarian waiter out of central casting who’s going to Barcelona after the season, we impulsively ducked down a side road out near the inn. The two-lane asphalt turned into two-lane dirt, and then a single lane where the vegetation brushed the car, which was simply following two tire tracks. (This had to be the only Bentley ever to take the route.)

We were rewarded at the cul-de-sac with a beach that jutted like Jay Leno’s chin into the bay, where a single brown labrador romped in the water with a couple lounging in chairs watching him. On the other side, five fisherman were trying their luck from the beach. In 15 years we had never found this spot. (I remember once taking our SL down a dirt track in Martha’s Vineyard, to find 40 parking spots—39 SUVs and us—at the finest beach on that island.)

No seals yesterday, but small shore birds, larger than sandpipers but smaller than gulls, dove vertically 20 yards off shore, for all the world like Stukas, apparently after large schools of fish. They hit the water so hard I was sured they’d be stunned, but they only thing they were was fed.

Off to breakfast and the beach. This is our last full day here. It’s wonderful to visit places where your dreams are faithfully reproduced.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

Great evening at The Club Car in town, eel followed by sweetbreads, with a nice Puligny Montrechet. When I asked the host for a different table, not so close to the lively bar, he kindly provided a four-top at the other side of our restaurant. And who appears there as our waiter, but our former car service driver from years ago, who has since been to Bangkok and now works the summers on Nantucket! If we had taken the first table we probably wouldn’t have even seen him in the busy restaurant.

Some photos should be appearing here later today. The weather has turned much more favorable and this looks like a second, consecutive beach day. The beach was “crowded” yesterday, with about 8 people! We saw seals zooming like submarines past us toward the point. Seagulls were providing air cover, probably looking for fish remains the seals didn’t devour.

I turned the car’s lights off for a few seconds as we stopped on the serpentine stretch leading out here after dinner. I haven’t been enveloped in such total darkness (we couldn’t see the front of the car) since I was lost in the Norwegian woods when I was 17. (Yes, that’s a true story.)

I’m going to be heading for rehab once we return, since I’ve become addicted to turkey hash at breakfast.

It’s 8 am, I’m waiting for Maria to awake, writing from the terrace, morning dew requiring that I clean the computer screen. Meanwhile, I’ve finished another chapter in The Consulting Bible, posted my morning advice on Twitter, answered all my email (including a potential $20,000 referral for a keynote), and checked the latest postings on AlansForums.com. And her I am, finishing this.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

We dined at The Galley last night, usually a sunset over the beach, but far too overcast. Outstanding Wahoo followed by lobster. Great “people watching” place. Traffic seems far lighter than prior years, the drive back to the inn now almost vacant of cars.

Much nicer morning as I write this from the terrace at 8:30, Wall Street Journal and New York Times already delivered! (When there’s no fog, the planes get here earlier.) I’d like to try for the beach today.

Last night I smoked the largest cigar I’ve ever tried, with the champagne the inn so kindly provided for our August anniversary. It was a Tatuaje accompanied by a Vueve Clicquot. Call me Gatsby. Is that a green light……?

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

We’ve been dining at the Pearl in Nantucket since it opened 11 years ago, Asian fusion in an upscale atmosphere. (It’s much easer to park these days on the cobblestones, because the crowds are smaller and the Ferraris had only 4 inches of clearance!) I had a wonderful, rare big-eye tuna with Japanese cold noodles. The drive back on winding roads with the top down, pretty much deserted, is always a treat, but the canopy of stars didn’t develop because of the overcast hovering over the island.

I’m sitting out on our terrace this morning, looking at the bay, just finished the next segment of my newest book, The Consulting Bible,due out early next year from Wiley. McGraw-Hill tells me that Million Dollar Speakingshould be out in September since I beat the submission deadline by so much.

Went all the way down to the edge of the dock this morning, strong winds, white caps, boats bobbing, had to hold my hat in my hand. Invigorating. Life is grand.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

After a martini with some stuffed blue cheese olives on the side in the bar, we ambled into Toppers and our regular table. (Toppers is named after the dog who held sway here long ago.)

Some shrimp and lobster cakes followed by an outstanding soft shell crab, tempura style, but with a very delicate hand, all of this accompanied by a ’97 Chateau L’Evangile Pomerol. (I’ve never been a fan of “matching” wines to food. I like outstanding food and outstanding wine, despite color or origins.)

The inn is about 80 percent occupied, but the parking lot is nearly empty. Most people are picked up or use cabs, which is a hike from town.

At breakfast this morning, with nine tables occupied out on the veranda, six of them contained couples or families reading and ignoring each other. Only three of the tables were engaged in conversation! We’re married for 42 years and still talk to each other!

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

We’re back, left at 6 am this morning, beat the GPS estimate to Hyannis by 35 minutes, and sailed on the ferry Eagle to Nantucket. Drove off and over to the Wauwinet. We immediately Gatsbied by having Kobe beef and short rib burgers with truffle fries on the lawn, with a Wauwinitini (a touch and slice of peach). James, the head porter is back from Jamaica after a two-year absence. Immigration gave him trouble after 18 years of continuous seasonal work here, and it took this long to straighten it out. My tax dollars at work. Most of the faces are the same, and I head for Mitch behind the bar in a few hours for my customary martini prior to dinner tonight at Toppers. (For the wine enthusiasts: Last night we ate at Providence Prime, one of my favorite steak places in New England, and we had a Berenger Private Reserved 2005 Cabernet, which was rather stunning. If you’re ever in Providence, go there and mention my name.)

A long line of impressive sail and power craft passed the ferry on the way into the harbor. Photos to follow.

Weather today is great, but the week is supposed to be problematic. My reports will continue.

Our car is lost in a sea of SUVs awaiting the ferry. The various craft passing us as we enter the harbor in Nantucket.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

Made it home all the way from Cape May in about 5:40. Major accidents closed the southbound Merritt Parkway in Connecticut (we were going north) but then slowed everything else. After two detours with our GPS, we finally got by the pasta al dente that passes for highway in New Haven. (Connecticut is, I believe, the wealthiest state per capita, yet it has the absolute worst roads and worst cell phone coverage I know of.)

We had seven consecutive days of glorious weather, perhaps our best ever. We’ve decided to make changes next year: We’ll either rent a different condo location, or rent a house on the beach. We’re also going to change some restaurants. Friday night at the Ebbit Room was adequate but not outstanding. We think our former favorites are getting a bit tired, so it’s time to change things around.

The Jersey shore resorts are clearly suffering. You can see a big crowd on the Wildwood boardwalk in a photo I’ve posted below, but the rides were not well populated, the fast food joints were mostly empty, and virtually no one was playing the games. There are “vacancy” signs everywhere in the middle of the summer. We’re in the midst of a slow-but-sure recovery, but it’s not accelerating still more because consumer spending (even at luxury levels) has become very conservative, I think because people don’t know whom to trust any more. But the market had a ferociously good week last week. Now is the time to get bargains.

In another three weeks, we’re off to Nantucket, aka: God’s Country.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

We went to The Pier Restaurant last night and had a wonderful meal. My daughter prefers white wine, so we had a Far Niente ’05 Chardonnay. Very nice and kept on ice, something rare these days. When we left, at about 7:30, the restaurant was only 20% filled, which was once unthinkable. Nor was the beach all that crowded today (which is fine with me) and we had our sixth consecutive day of outstanding weather, albeit with a wind that prevented my reading the papers at the beach. Tonight we go to The Blue Pig and our daughter and grandchildren will then head back to New York. Both girls ran into the ocean this year a little ways, so we’re quite pleased with their carrying on five generations of family tradition at the Jersey Shore.

I won the second highest award at the arcade playing “Deal or No Deal,” 200 tickets!

I have moved up from whack-a-mole to whack-a-gator, having to push an 8-year-old amateur out of the way.

Here’s what I’ve learned on this summer vacation:

• Sea gulls are attracted by packaging. They can tell food by the container or bag, and pursue the opportunity. Tell me again why consultants can’t find buyers?
• If you can fit more than six letters on the rear of your pants and I can read them at 20 yards, you shouldn’t be wearing messages on your rear end.
• I can recognize already the 14-year-old girls who will become prom queens, fall in with the wrong crowd, marry big men on campus, and ruin their lives.
• It’s ostensibly for the kids, but the truth is that adults just love to dig huge holes on the beach.
• Dolphins play great games, especially when they leap in the wakes of passing boats.
• The most depressing people I see are the guys with metal detectors out on the beach at 6 am.
• A beach house from which you have to drive a mile and park to get to the beach is not a “beach house.”
• I spend 7-8 hours on the beach each day, of which 15 minutes are on the phone and 20 minutes on email. I will make over $60,000 this week doing that. Why is it that people are so inflexible that they can’t return a phone call or an email if they’re on vacation?!

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.