Kappa Weekend in Nantucket

38 girls, lobsters, fudge, no booze and no boys!!!

Kappa weekend in ACK

July 4th on Heather Lane (1st Annual)

After the rainiest June of all time on Nantucket, the skies cleared for the first annual Heather Lane 4th of July bash.

Family and friends from all over the country came to celebrate Independence Day with a beach BBQ and a beautiful lobster dinner on the lawn.

The highlights of the menu included my marinated beef tips, crispy sausages, lobster, corn, fried clams, apple pie a la mode, and an American flag cake.

Topping the night off, an amazing fireworks display appeared, and we watched it from the best view on the island!!

Dave Matthews Band Fenway Park... AMAZING!!!!

Nantucket and the beginning of Summer

Hi,

So the Summer season on Nantucket has begun. Yesterday was the first day I really noticed it starting to get busy. Enjoy Nantucket is looking good for the Summer. We will be super busy. I have come to realize that being a good person, with a good product and taking it one client at a time is how to grow a business.

What's new with Enjoy Nantucket and Ben and Jenny...

While at Canyon Ranch in Miami, Jenny realized she needs to do what she loves and what she is good at. So she renewed her personal training certificate, got the proper insurance and she will begin training some of our clients. Who wouldn't want Jenny yelling at them while running down the beach (me)?!?!  But really she is passionate about fitness and knows what she is doing... Look at her, she is most in shape person I know. Actually, she is in the gym right now while I am sitting on my ass as usual. Oh, if you want to buy a house out here she can help you with that as well.. she is getting good at that.

Other things going on: The baby equipment business is booooming. We have so many orders and I feel super comfortable about every client and their happiness in our products and our service. We are priced fairly and have chosen the best quality and safest products available. Again, in business quality and service are super important. Especially, on Nantucket with clients who are used to haveing only the "the best."

As far as catering.. I would say I have about 1000 people I have planned to cook for this summer adding all the parties together. With a few huge events that I am producing.  That number will easily double as the last minute parties come in. I am excited for the events to begin. We have done a bunch of smaller events and our first big party is next weekend. I will let you know how it goes and keep updating this (hopefully) as the summer goes on..

St. Thomas with the Biltz Family

Drive on the left side of the road up the steepest hills and the curviest streets with no guardrail and finally, you get to the house. Oh, and then pull over and enter the code to get in the gate, where you have to drive up the steepest driveway I have ever seen.

But the view from this beautiful house was INCREDIBLE…St Thomas with the Biltz family.

How do you like your sweet tea. SWEET. And not sugar coated. But, damn sweet HEAD!!!!

Accompanying Tim and Kelly blitz was their daughter Lisa and her Husband Will and their friend John with his wife Meredith. Oh… and Jenny and I. It was the 8 of us in St Thomas at the house that took 30 minutes to get to, but it sure was beautiful…and most importantly the grill worked perfect.

The first night was Will and Lisa’s first wedding anniversary. Not knowing that until our arrival, Jenny and I were excited to make it special, but we were a little unprepared. We made a baked brie in puff pastry and cut out the number one and baked it on top. To keep with the theme, we made cupcakes with a number one on them as well. The menu included Caesar Salad and crab mashed potatoes with grilled beef tenderloin and sautéed corn.

Other food highlights of the week:
Panko crusted grouper
Homemade onion dip
Fajita night
Sushi at the Rtiz
Prosciutto wrapped asparagus
Burger night
Key lime soup
Hangover crab cakes

Great people, delicious food, a beautiful view and huge iguanas…St Thomas with the Biltz family.

The night before St. Thomas (Pizza at Picco)

I love pizza, but Jenny usually advises me to avoid it. The night before we left for St. Thomas I was lucky enough to eat at a place called Picco on the South End of Boston with good friends Marc, Lisa, Jason, and my beautiful wife. It was a celebration for Jenny who had just passed her Florida Real Estate exam.

Pico is a new age rustic pizza/ice cream restaurant with this slogan: “If you don’t like your pizza crispy go somewhere else.” They create pizzas with bold ingredients and distinguishable flavors while the same goes for their home made ice cream. The beer is hand selected from small breweries around the country. They have a friendly staff that includes our waitress who immediately felt more like an old friend.  The 5 of us foodies split 3 pizzas and came close to finishing them. 

ALSATIAN our version of France’s tarte flambé sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, sour cream, bacon & gruyere

RED PEPPER, ARUGULA & GOAT CHEESE PIZZA 
chopped tomatoes, salsa verde & arugula salad tossed with aged balsamic vinaigrette

MUSHROOM SPECIAL

They came out crispy, hot, and had tons of flavor. I could tell they use the best possible ingredients and know how to utilize flavor combinations. The same goes for their ice cream.

The sampler cost $6, contained 3 delicious flavors, and was well worth it. We ordered 3 samplers that consisted of chocolate peanut butter swirl, coffee, raspberry chip, malted chip, caramel swirl, dark chocolate sorbet. When they were gone our nice waitress brought out some mini oatmeal cookies and chocolate chip marienge as a gift. 

I left Picco very, very happy, which is not always the case because I tend to be picky in restaurants. The pizza and ice cream were amazing, the service was amazing, and it was nice to catch up with old friends. I feel like it is a good value at Picco and that remains very important to me. A $5 salad is worth $5, and $6 for a variety of three whole scoops of ice cream is worth $6. 

http://www.piccorestaurant.com/about.htm

At this moment Jenny and I are in mid air half way to St Thomas for work. We are about to take the Biltz family on a culinary adventure in paradise. I will keep you posted throughout their trip.

Alaska and The Iditarod

The Iditarod Trail's Finger Lake Checkpoint

and

The Winter Lake Lodge

Videos Below

It was day 4 of the Iditarod and all the mushers had made their way through Rainy pass and were heading toward McGrath. For Alice’s airplane to get though Rainy Pass the weather needs to cooperate and on this day it did not. So our travels took us to the last Iditarod checkpoint before the pass called Finger Lake.

On the shores of Finger Lake sits the Winter Lake Lodge. www.withinthewild.com

The Winter Lake Lodge is only accessible by an airplane with skis or floats. It is a culinary destination for people who love the outdoors and love food. We did not get to eat anything except for a chocolate chip cookie (which was amazing), but chef Kristin has won the best chef in America award, while her daughter, the sous chef at the lodge, has worked at the French Laundry in Napa. The aroma from the kitchen made me wish we could stay for dinner but the snow was starting to fall so we had get going or sleep there overnight.