Lewes Farmers Market & The Starboard

 To "Cathect" is a deeply psychological state of being.  It describes one's emotional investment.  It is what happens when one moves from one house to another, one state ( of being ) to another, from Dewey Beach to Lewes!

  With great excitement I attended the Opening Day Lewes Historical Society's Farmers Market!  Was I in Provence?  The offerings were that good!  

  By 8:45 AM the stands had lines, and the throngs were catheticing: milling, hugging, talking, smiling.  New to town, I immediately met up with two friends and made a new one too!

 I surveyed the stands, asked questions and worked out my food foraging strategy.  I can now find my weekend fish at the market without slogging it out on Rte 1!!!!!  Cheap entertainment is to peak in on the on-site kids story-hour.

More than convenience, I was hit hard, recognizing the throngs as so familiar, so Dewey Beach?

Yes, get over it Lewes: the Farmers Market is the Dewey Beach's Starboard equivalent!

Be there or be square! Not show up on a holiday weekend?  You are in trouble and will be found out!

Be SEEN! Be in the know!

The milling masses in line for their covetable consumables!

Yes, all of the above is the signature for the beyond successful Lewes Farmers Market and The Starboard!

Beach Blessings,

  

Formal Party gets you into The Starboard!

A Summer House Formal Party at the beach? It was all I could do to grab an outfit and work it! The outfit's inspiration was a to-the-max 1980's black beaded collar!

The Lion's Club venue was almost too fancy for us! We lived up to the challenge.

The party always segues to another venue. This time around it would be The Starboard.

Lines, lines, lines: there was NO WAY I was going to wait in line.

Wanna get into The Starboard without a VIP Pass? Formal Wear! is The Pass! The Bouncer hailed us in!

*When you are next at The Starboard and you want to see what truly drives the beat: step into the DJ Booth. Coming of Age Primal Ritual! Look up! Stars? Uh, no. Close! Look again! Only females are invited!

I was invited to Join The Club!

Beach Blessings,

The Consensus: Starboard, The Cove, Nalus, North Beach

The "Until Death 'Till We Part-y Summer House Group" have decades together of group parties; they know each other very well. Yet, I am equally amazed and not that at the end of every party, or even a Saturday Happy Hour, there is a "Group Grope Consensus" as to where The Group will grope and end the evening. Labor Day weekend Saturday we all piled into The Starboard, and on Sunday evening we piled into The Cove.

We know what we enjoy, and know what live music is playing where, and at what venue. The GROUP always picks out the most FUN choice.

This is how it works. Saturday at "The Party" mid-way thru everyone starts to say, OK, see you later @ XXX, right? And thus it gets repeated, and indeed half the party does end up at the agreed location.

The Summer House Group even has it's own "real-estate" at each bar; in particular, The Starboard! Packed sardine-full as always, there we were, packed into our own little can-bar space. One party member, not knowing the above, came in with a mylar-baloon from the party as if to say "find me". Yet, somehow among the thousands he found our space.

Beach Blessings,

Hands Across The Sand: Sat 26th, 11 AM, Dewey Beach!

An international protest coming to our little Dewey Beach this Saturday, June 26th at 11 AM?!!! But where will it be??? Maybe the Lifesaving Station?

It is called, "Hands Across The Sand"; an international group protest against off- shore oil drilling and promoting clean energy.

The idea is to hold hands forming a human-line, thus drawing a line in the sand as a visual protest........ but in Dewey Beach who is awake and dressed at 11 AM?

The protest would do better as a Starboard, 11 PM tipsy-conga line!

Ah, Hands Across America! What year was it? 1980's hyper-something...... the above brings back the memory of seeing the fleshy human chains on bridges as I drove from Wash DC to PA.

I can not wait to report back on this!

*I was at Cape Henlpen State Park and missed the action!

Small Kitchen Stories: Warm Cottage: Running of The Lamb

My Dewey Beach Daze has come late in life; after 20 years of marriage and 1 kid. 

 I missed the 'Till Death Dewey Party- Debauchery Years of street Toga parties of 100's, when Police gave fines for "excessive blender... Marguerita... noise", or would march in and cut the cords of bad-ass speaker systems.

Never having done the beer thing in college or later, or now...... My Dewey buds instruct that special drinking events require special pre-drinking meals.... the better to get thru the bar event!  Pre-requisite: a bit heavy and fatty.

Ah, perhaps the Biggest and Silliest Drinking Event of the Season is: The Starboard's Running of The Bull!  Hours and Hours of Drinking "to prepare" for running with the crowd on the beach alongside the cutest Bull ever! ( I gave him pets and kisses ).  

( Shop at The Giant Foods, Rte One, the night before the event.  Morning of, does not work as the drinking starts in the AM!)

Thus I present: 

Running with The Bull, er Lamb.... umm-yuumm, Bull, uh, whatever.

Olive Oil

Ground Lamb, 1 lb

One Tub of Pre-cooked Rice, Lundberg Brand, micro-waved for 60 seconds

Tomatoes, 2 chopped

Green Olives, Pitted, ~ 1/3 cup chopped

Onion, 1 chopped

Garlic, 2 cloves, chopped

Parsley, Flat Leaf, minced, ~ 1/3 bunch

Mushrooms, ~ 8 chopped

Red Wine, 1/2 cup

Marjoram, Dillweed to taste

Mustard, 1 tablespoon

In a nice big saute pan , add a very small ladle of olive oil and heat up.  Add in the onion, garlic, and mushrooms and let them get some nice color.  Then add in the ground Lamb and let that brown up.  Then add in everything else, except the wine.  Turn up the heat to high and stir and stir until a fair amount of moisture comes off.  Then add in the wine and stir some more.

Butternut Squash: pre-chopped: this is in a clear plastic container with all the other fresh veggys.

Butter, 1 Tablespoon.

 Place in a dish with a small amount of water.  Cover and microwave for ~ 7 minutes.  Drain.  Mash.  Add in a big pat of butter and mash again.

Ta DA!

Halloween @ Lewes and Dewey

Halloween weekend is when I close up the cottage for Winter.  Close Up.  Retreat into Winter, the cold, The Mountain, My Work. 

Underground I go for 6 months, down into Hades, Pluto's Domain.  ( Not to worry, G-D Willing and with Demeter's Blessing: In May, like Persephone, The Goddess of the Beach Returns To Dewey Beach with Spring on her heels! )

How fitting that Halloween marks my last days at the Beach In The Sun...... still building my sand castle and not wanting to come in from play and take that 6 months Winter's Nap.

After Hawk Watch and  closing up chores I did a Halloween Trick or Treat drive thru of the Historic section of Lewes.  Next year I will walk it!  

So-spooky Lewes which gets this vibe honestly, considering it's maritime and early-America settler history... condensed into the tiny town.... with the Cape May-Lewes Ferry's paved-over-parking lot of the Unknown Sailors Grave, neighborhood graveyards and Victorian homes everywhere.... is genuinely spooky for Trick or Treaters.  The homes with  the vast porches were filled with decorations and festive hauntings.  

Then off I went to Bethany Blues to meet up friends for dinner.  Loads of fun watching the staff in costume.  Our favorite: The Cereal/Serial Killer..... cereal box with a knife dripping blood!

Then it was time to run home... put on our costumes and attend Dewey's 8-Bar Halloween Crawl.

My crawl started and ended at The Starboard. Jimmi Smooth and The Hit Time played our favorite party tunes.  Jimmi looks even younger than seen at the September Town Party!  This guy is aging in reverse along with his energy level to match!

Costume trends: this year there was not one "French Maid" and such, but a decided "Law Enforcement" theme: policemen, fire chiefs, helmets and badges galore!  

Dewey Beach has a One Million Dollar annual budget for Law Enforcement!  Do the costumes speak to this????

Back at the cottage my costume was packed away for another year.

Next year, I'll dress as Persephone! Or Pluto???!  I'm working on my costume now.

Spooky Beach Blessings,

Starboard: I get it, I got Religion!

Who does not love Monty and "Toastie" of The Starboard? A more generous business you can not find!  They freely donate to the Town of Dewey Beach for funds to charity, events, lifeguards, and the police force.

What is not to love about Sunday nights with Jimi Smooth or wild-crazy-silly events, such as my personal favorite, The Running of The Bull!!!!  Halloween at The Starboard is beyond hilarious!

Until this past weekend, I will admit that I "did not get it".  I did not UNDERSTAND The Starboard's appeal.  As in stand in a line for 30 minutes to get in? FOR WHAT????

My sensual nature requires a bar with lots of tactile and sensual expression.  I adore the Rehoboth's Finn's for it's sweetly cozy warm woods and copper topped bar.  The bar's sweet and salty oyster display, 6 varieties offered, makes it's way to my nose along with wafts of some fine ales.   The Starboard has none of this. 

Nor does The Starboard benefit from a bay-view location!  In fact, once in the The Starboard.... almost no outside views are afforded.

Thus I always struggled to Understand The Starboard.

This past weekend...... I got The Starboard Religion.  I had the Classic Dewey Beach Staboard experience...... and now I understand it, and LOVE IT! 

 I Love Dewey Beach and The Starboard are now synonymous!  

Ha!  I dare anyone to say the above after they have closed down their evening there!

My Ah-HA-I GOT-IT-MOMENT was Sunday Night before Labor Day Monday.

~ 10:30 PM, I promised friends I'd meet up there.  Truly, I just wanted to go home and sleep, sleep, sleep.  I had had a fun day!

I arrived there near to 11PM.  I left at 1:15AM!!!!

How do you make your way in???  Sardine-Can-Style-al-la-Ricochet-Rabbit....!  After an hour standing with friends......... I finally found my group at the bar with real estate good enough to "slot me in".  I was pronounced " YOUR IN!".

 I am not known to drink.  5 sips of ale or 1 sip of vodka make me ill.  But I can do whiskey and bourbon ;-)  My Daddy taught me :-) Thanks, Dad!

My girlfriend insisted I have SOMETHING so I did shots of Maker's Mark.

Then I turned around...... and started watching..... really seeing The Starboard for the first time..... thru my Maker's Mark eyes.

There was not anything to be seen except people.  I finally got it.  The patrons are The Decor! The Patrons are IT!

I had a wonderful view of 20 something's women all in their Summer House coordianted cowboy hats, in white outfits, deep cleavages and bare midriffs.  

The Dewey Beach "Cowgirls'!  They held court.  They laughed and sang.  They ruled, like 1,000% totally and then some.  The guys did not have a chance.

Oh yeah, and I got a little drunken attention too ;-)

The Starboard RULES when it is the most packed.  That is when to stand in line for 30 minutes for your evening's fun.

Beach Blessings,