The Chips are Down

We Texas girls tend to approach foreign (aka “outside the Lone Star State”) barbecue with some suspicion. With all due respect, what can a bunch of Yankees possibly know about mesquite ‘que? When it comes to chowder and all tastes fishy, we’ll grant their superior skills. But BBQ? Hmmmmm. So it was with some trepidation that we popped open this bag of chips for tasting.

They’re good. The company describes them as having a “robust barbecue flavor” but we found them to be on the mild side. Perhaps “robust” is a little less “robust” north of the Mason-Dixon line? These are not the chips to give you a tongue-tingling barbecue experience, but they are tasty. The sweetness and mesquite flavor are nicely balanced. You could eat them with a mild (turkey, maybe?) sandwich and not overpower the rest of the meal. Not my favorite, but not bad at all.

Our final flavor was Parmesan & Roasted Garlic. Excellent pairing of flavors! These would be good out of hand or with pretty much anything. The sweetness of roasted garlic added to the subtle flavor of parmesan cheese…yummy. I’ll buy these again someday.

We didn’t make it to the Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno flavor (it was a small bag, but we just couldn’t eat any more) and ended up using some of the small bags of chips to pad various glass pieces for the trip home. (Which doesn’t mean those crumbs won’t end up as coating for a nice piece of baked fish in the near future.)

Of all the chips we tried, none were bad, some were outstanding, and my favorite was the Robust Russet…unless I have a juicy burger at hand, then it would be Sea Salt & Cracked Pepper. But honestly, I don’t think I need to eat potato chips any time soon.

Gone but not forgotten

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Chip Review: Robust Russet

I knew I was forgetting something last night. Yesterday’s Cape Cod Potato Chip flavor was Robust Russet, which happens to be the variety we saw being bagged on our tour. The company describes them this way:

“Our Russet is a chestnut colored chip with a robust potato flavor. But don’t worry – they’re not burnt. Their unique color is a result of the naturally forming sugars in a Russet potato. Enjoy!”

We gave them a 9 out 10. Not oily, just the right amount of salt, and tasting deliciously of potato. These are dangerous chips—the kind you could sit down with after a long chorus rehearsal just long enough to watch Cake Boss and realize with a start that it’s almost midnight and the chips are all gone. Not that I’ve done that myself, you understand . . . I’m just hypothesizing here.

Oh and in other news: the untold dangers of smoking. Vikki went out this morning for an early (like 4:40 am early) smoke and locked herself out of our suite, wearing, um, well, she was pretty much decently covered. Rosemary and I were both sound asleep—wearing earplugs, no less!—so it took about 40 minutes of knocking before anyone heard her. Be warned, children: Smoking is bad for your dignity as well as your health.

P.S. The Cape Code Potato Chip Factory has a fantastic Web site, with an online tour, tourist info about the Cape, and more. It’s a great way to entertain yourself and it’s calorie free.

P.P.S. Note the lighthouse on the bag. Then go look at the Nauset Light picture in yesterday’s post. Uh-huh. That’s it.

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Chip Thrills & Chatham

Today we decided to do something educational…like a factory tour. This being Cape Cod, the nearest factory was the Cape Cod Potato Chip Company. Well darn. We had to go.

I’d show you pictures, but they STRONGLY warn against taking pictures on the tour. They don’t even sell tour pics. But you can watch the tour here: http://www.capecodchips.com/visitors/factorytour.aspx

Naturally, they have a gift shop. Naturally, they have new flavors for sale there. Naturally we had to try them ALL.

Just the NEW flavors, I promise!

We estimate we’ll have to consume a bag a day, since we probably won’t have room for them in our carry on bags. Consider it our contribution to science. Reviews will be forthcoming. So far we’ve tried the Sea Salt & Pepper and Five Cheese flavors. The SS&P flavor has a bit of a bite to it, but would be fantastic with a burger. The Chese one is good, but after a while the cheese flavor seems to subside.

Snacks in hand, we set off for our next stop, which deserves a post of its own–and will get one shortly. Then we decided to find a lighthouse and headed for Chatham. Along the way we stopped here for . . .

It was a long walk, but the flowers were lovely

. . . admired these:

Friends with lake houses, take note!

and this . . .

Local wildlife

Then learned we were in a local hot spot for lobster rolls. This, btw, is a lobster roll:

O.M.G.

Big chunks of lobster in a light mayo sauce with a few herbs on a buttery, buttery bun.

Sorry about the lack of manicure

SO good. So very, very good.

But never mind, we had a lighthouse to see! Fortunately we have Lee, the Aussie guy in the GPS unit. UNfortunately, Lee has no clue where the Chatham light is. He thought he did, mind you, but when he said “arriving at Chatham Light, on left” we were in front of somebody’s house. So we chunked Lee in the glove box and found the light on our own–not without several scenic detours, but what the heck.

Chatham Light

And as a bonus, we saw seals by the seashore. (Try saying that five times fast!) They were too far away for a picture, but there were a bunch of them. (Herd? Pod? School? Bark? What does one call a mess of seals?) We fed quarters into the big viewfinder things and saw them gambol in the waves.

Afterwards, we toured the town on foot, shopping our way up and down the street. There’s a Ben Franklin in Chatham! I haven’t seen one of those since my childhood. And we saw this:

Which just goes to show that perception is everything. Where I’m from, what they call here the “rebellion” is known as the “War of Northern Aggression”. But maybe that explains the yard ornament at this place:

Note the cannon by the porch

Now I perceive it’s time to stop this post and move on. After all, I have potato chips to eat.

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