Summer Travel in New England: Nauset Beach & Harwich Treasure Chest, Cape Cod

In this edition of Summer Travel in New England, I am going to share with you my second most favorite place to completely unwind and a great recipe to take with you to that place. But first, some back story….

This is my friend Alicia.

Alicia is awesome for a number of reasons:

1. She is in the Roller Derby. Told ya, awesome.
2. She shaved her head for charity
3. She raves about my cooking and even remakes my recipes (this makes me unendingly happy)

With boyfriend Eamon (a super talented tattoo artist), they make up one of our very favorite couples. A few years back A&E started to invite us out to Harwich for some super fun Cape weekends. And also introduced us to one of the most beautiful beaches in the Cape, Nauset Beach.

The reason I love Nauset is that on top of being a beautifully pristine beach with pretty good-sized waves, this beach is also “user-friendly”. The parking is close, Liam’s Clam Shack is there, and you only have to walk about a 100 yards from the main stairs to have absolute peace and quiet.

That’s right folks, here’s the secret of Cape beaches….if you don’t sit on top of the stairs down, you can get away from the crowds. Shocking, I know.

And yes, I am kicking myself for not having pictures of said beach right now. I guess I am always just enjoying myself too much to bother!

After leaving a day at Nauset Beach (which is very, very hard to do!), this area of the Cape has another surprise in store for you….The Harwich Dump. That’s right, the dump. But this is not an ordinary dump, this is the Harwich Treasure Chest!

The Treasure Chest is a magical place where you can drop off things that you want to throw away, but others may get use of. You know, the whole “one man’s trash” deal… You can find everything from records, to cookbooks, to bicycles, to furniture to….

…like I said, everything! I walked away with a pretty cool cookbook, while another friend took home a board game and a dress. This place is pretty neat indeed.

Our day was not devoid of food, of course! I had forgotten to bring my favorite beach treat, Combos, so I found these delicious vitals:

We all know how much I love pickles, so these Lay’s Dill Pickle Potato Chips were a great snack! In S. Africa Dill Pickle chips are as common as BBQ is here, so it is about time USA caught up with that trend!

And another reason we love Alicia, she made us this fabulous pasta salad to nibble on at the beach. Packed in individual ziplock baggies with our names on them, it was quite perfect!

Read Part 1 of Summer Travel in New England

Read Part 2 of Summer Travel in New England

Read Part 3 of Summer Travel in New England

Beach Ready Pasta Salad Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 package spiral pasta (prepared per box instructions)
• 1 package elbow pasta (prepared per box instructions)
• 1 jar roasted red peppers (chopped)
• 1 cucumber (peeled and chopped)
• 1 box grape tomatoes (halved)
• 1/2 lb asparagus (Prepared to your liking. I usually saute them in EVOO for about 3 minutes. Cut into bite sized pieces)
• 1 can garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 small red onion (chopped)
• Peperoncini (quantity of your liking – chopped)
• Feta cheese
• 2/3 cup Olive Oil
• 1.5 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• Dried oregano
• Salt
• Pepper

Directions:

• Combine pasta, veggies and cheese in a large bowl. Add any extra veggies you would like
• Mix well
• In a separate container, mix oil, vinegar, sugar and spices to your taste
• Shake dressing well
• Coat salad until moist, but not drowning in dressing
• Cover and refrigerate overnight, reserving remaining dressing
• Taste before serving and add more dressing as needed