We live in Montague, Massachusetts, so we were tickled with the idea of vacationing near another Montague. This Montague is larger than ours. Two grocery stores, hardware and liquor stores, and several restaurants. This is where we did our grocery shopping.
Montague is on a branch of the Confederation Trail, an extensive rail trail that runs nearly 170 miles from Tignish to Elmira. There are multiple branches to small towns where long distance walkers and bicyclists can find restaurants and accommodations. In Montague, the trail runs alongside the Montague River pictured above.
I have baking in my blood. My maternal great-grandfather and his sister were bakers in Ireland, and he continued his craft after emigration to the United States. I love freshly baked breads-who doesn’t? During our vacation, I enjoyed purchasing bilingual ingredients to make these cream biscuits one morning.
I had one bread failure from accidentally turning off the oven after preheating. The loaf rose and then collapsed. Determined to redeem myself, I baked another loaf several days later. I did miss my bread knife. The knives in rental kitchens are always dull.
We discovered several “home cooking” style restaurants. I wrote about Home Plate in an earlier post. We joined our friend Louise, her friend Beth, and her cousin Leo at local favorite Harbourview Restaurant. I had the award-winning seafood chowder and Ed had pan-fried scallops with mashed potatoes and peas. Later in our trip, we ate at Our Family Traditions in Tignish. Again, the sides were mashed potatoes and peas. So, I guess that is a P-E-I thing?
Local fiddlers provided a different style of home cooking. The night before the Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival, we headed to Hillcrest United Church to see Fiddlers’ Sons with guest fiddler Cynthia MacLeod. The church pews were jam-packed. Cynthia is a lively performer with “crackerjack” fiddling skills. Her albums, including Crackerjack, are available for download at Bandcamp.
Here is a pandemic era virtual concert that features Cynthia with Brent Chaisson. More about the Chaisson Family in my next blog post!
For Her Home 