The Hydrangeas of Nantucket

Nantucket has some of the most beautiful flowers I have ever seen, especially the hydrangeas. The bloom in multiple colors and can range in color from pink, blue, purple, white, and my favorite mixture of multiple colors.

The hydrangeas can come in many different sizes and shapes, my favorites are the cones and lace caps. The lace caps look a bit like Queen Anne's lace with surrounded by beautiful hydrangea blossoms.

Nantucket Day 1... Will Travel for Lobster

We made it to Nantucket! After hours traveling in a cab, a train, and then the nice big airplane, we had to endure 45 minutes of this 9 seater plane. It was not fun nor was did it give you the sense of calm comfort that I like to have when flying. As I mentioned, I am horribly claustrophobic... so knowing that i was going to get on this itty bitty baby of a plane, wow, this is the crazy stuff nightmares are born of; I had been made aware how small this plane would be weeks ago, so I had a lot to look forward too.

Of course, on a small plane like this the rules are different than a normal (large) plane. First they must know your weight, no lying about it! Also you are seated not with your travel partner, but by how they blance the weight. With my bag stored in the left wing, gripping tightly to my brown starbucks bag, my phone and my camera, I boarded this small, tight, itty bitty plane in tears and some hysterical breathing. I know that I am safer in the sky, most of the time, but that is not what gets me though wishing that we were able to get the hell of the little plane! I sat behind the pilot, and Josh sat in front, shotgun. In a last ditch effort, I handed Josh my camera, I knew I wouldn't be able to get any pictures taken since I was breathing into a paper bag, so this picture of Josh was taken by me after we landed and most people were off the plane.

We made it to the beautiful island of Nantucket and for the next few days this is where we are living, the Wild Rose Cottage. As the only one in my family who hasn't been here before, everyone has told me about what to expect, what they do everyday, etc. So let me tell you what is what... there is a small town with beautiful shops, the roads are a combination of paved, brick, cobblestone and dirt/sand. The roads and sidewalks are small and very uneven, you have to watch what you are walking on instead of looking around and seeing the sights, everyone has tripped a time or two. It is a larger island that I thought it would be, but everything here is very packed in, tightly. They have a very small year-round population, but a full high school. There are many beautiful beaches, each different from the next. Some have pebbly sand and others have soft, white-ish sand, all of the beaches I have been to have rocks and pebbles but no real shells have been see anywhere but the stores.

This is a picture taken from one of the beaches last year, the same beach we camped out on last night until dark, hoping to get more great pictures. I have been wanting to take pictures like this, but there were no clouds and I don't know what I got yet, I haven't been able to download all of my pictures yet. The one thing I have gotten alot of pictures of is ... wait for it... lobster!

A bad picture but great food! I will be home early on Tuesday, so be ready for lots more pictures and stories of me on the small plane, I still have to live through the return trip on anther itty bitty plane!

"Coulda, Woulda, Shouda"

This past Friday my dad and I met up with our friends, Anita and Howard for Jasmine Thai. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Indianapolis, the food is amazing and the atmosphere is so very cool. We started out with Thai iced coffee and Thai iced tea (orange), I am not a coffee drinker, I prefer tea, but this coffee is not bitter, but sweet and cool and delicious. We skipped appetizers and ordered so much food. We all had our favorites and Dad and I had been planning what to eat all day. 

Dinner started with one of my new favorites Tom Tom Yum soup with lemongrass, straw mushrooms, and shrimp. Then came Pad Thai, a stir fried noodle dish with tofu, peanuts, chicken and bean sprouts and Masaman Curry, a brown curry with potatoes, beef, carrots and pineapple.  It is a mildly spicy dish and you can request each dish as spicy as you wish.

We also ate a Thai omelet with peas, ground meat, carrots all tucked into the omelet with a red sauce.  This is my dad's favorite. It is a such a great flavor, so unique and so delicious,  all in an omelet. Anita also had really good papaya salad with Green and orange papaya with tomatoes and carrots and nuts with lime.  It was so fresh and similar to a sweet coleslaw. 

Dessert was the perfect end to a great meal. I have only had dessert at Jasmine Thai once but it has always been great. We all shared sweet coconut sticky rice with mango and sesame seeds. We also ate fried bananas in phylo dough with ice cream and toasted coconut.

Dinner was so good and we still had a show to go to, Patti LuPone in "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" at Clows Memorial Hall in Indianapolis.  Ok, I am sorry to admit, I didn't know who Patti LuPone was before seeing her in concert.  I really was surprised to see and recognize her from Will and Grace, Ugly Betty and other TV shows I have watched.  The Will and Grace episode is "Bully Wolly", where Jack is trying to get Patti LuPone's hair sample for his  growing collection of famous women's hair.  The concert was wonderful and I am so glad we went. We al enjoyed the concert and everyones favorite song was Medowlark from The Bakers Wife.

Anita, Howard, and Dad before the concert. We all had a great time. The concert was the hit of the evening, after dinner. Patti LuPone's music is available at ITunes.