# Aw, clam up!



## Cooking Goddess (Sep 26, 2014)

Who woulda thunk?  Northeast Ohio is the clambake capital of the country...in September and October. <That link takes you to an interesting article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer explaining why clams rule during autumns.

When we lived back home, we could always find a clambake somewhere. Our first neighborhood had someone every September who was willing to host a 'bake at their house. Not always the same neighbor, but it pretty much rotated between four families between three streets. We'd all chip in; sometimes the host the heavy lifting (with neighbors' help), and sometimes we'd all kick in a bit extra so we could hire Euclid Fish to do the work.

If the neighborhood 'bake ended up on a day you already had plans, no problem. You could find a clambake or ten at a restaurant almost any weekend in September or October. One restaurant was normally closed on Mondays, but in season they would offer themselves up for a private 'bake Himself's office arranged one, and it was open to friends and family of employees. SIL loved lobster and clams, her hubby not so much. He stayed home with their daughter, and she tagged along with us. First came the clambroth. Next the servings of clams. Then a bowl of chowder, followed by the chicken/corn/potatoes/optional lobster, PLUS a side of spaghetti with clam sauce. At this point my dear SIL pipes up with "what's for dessert? Clam meringue pie?". Himself says it was the first time his sister got him to spew. 

After living in MA for a couple years, and enjoying the conviviality of our neighborhood and our annual summer Block Party, I suggested we do a clam bake in September. Everyone looked at me as if I had two heads! I guess when you live by clams, the idea of a 'bake is too ordinary.


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## buckytom (Sep 26, 2014)

people in massatoothsets are always more against things than they are for things.

they can't help it.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 26, 2014)

They weren't against clambakes. It's just that the season up here is earlier, something like August. After all, a lot of the 'bakes are shore dinners, cooked on a beach and eaten while sitting on the sand. Little tough to do in Octobrrrrrr.  In OH, clambakes are the things of sitting around the wood fire and drinking adult beverages to stay warm. I know it's false thinking that alcohol keeps you warm, but tell that to some of my former neighbors.


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## buckytom (Sep 26, 2014)

no, they just do things their way. clams aren't any better or worse this time of year. 

they're just busy practicing their scowl and making sure their horns and highbeams work as all of the people who live south of them drive  up to see the trees change.


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## Andy M. (Sep 26, 2014)

buckytom said:


> no, they just do things their way. clams aren't any better or worse this time of year.
> 
> they're just busy practicing their scowl and making sure their horns and highbeams work as all of the people who live south of them drive  up to see the trees change.




Clambakes in NE are beach events.  Thus, done in the summer.  This is not a commentary on the correctness or lack thereof of having a clambake in the Fall.

We're a parochial crowd.  Go look at your own trees.

Our trees don't change, the leaves do.


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## buckytom (Sep 26, 2014)

Andy M. said:


> Clambakes in NE are beach events. Thus, done in the summer.


 

both weeks?


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## Andy M. (Sep 26, 2014)

buckytom said:


> both weeks?



Unless it rains.


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## Addie (Sep 27, 2014)

Andy M. said:


> Clambakes in NE are beach events.  Thus, done in the summer.  This is not a commentary on the correctness or lack thereof of having a clambake in the Fall.
> 
> We're a parochial crowd.  Go look at your own trees.
> 
> Our trees don't change, the leaves do.



bt, we have clammers that work all through the winter, so we have clams available all year round. Unless there is a Red Tide. We don't need a clam bake. But I will admit, they are fun. 

I just looked out the front door to my building and the tree whose *leaves change *to a beautiful red in the Fall, was still there, just like it has been for the past 15 years. The only change is every Spring it gets new leaves.


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## jennyema (Sep 27, 2014)

Clambake at your house?  How do you do that?

Clambake for me is a beach event.


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## buckytom (Sep 27, 2014)

so, _no one_ in new england has a clam bake anywhere but the beach?

where you have to get a permit for a fire, and then it's only allowed on certain beaches in restricted areas?

ok.


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## Andy M. (Sep 27, 2014)

buckytom said:


> so, _no one_ in new england has a clam bake anywhere but the beach?
> 
> where you have to get a permit for a fire, and then it's only allowed on certain beaches in restricted areas?
> 
> ok.




Actually, we have Clambake Beach.  It's a long flat beach that is reserved only for clambake use.  You have to make reservations well in advance.  No surfers, sunbathers or anything else.  It's only open two weeks a year (unless it rains).


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## buckytom (Sep 27, 2014)

lol. god would never make it rain there during the summer. that would really just be unfair.

you guys get those great white sharks, though.

i remember bringing my boogie board on a vacation to kennebunkport, once.

the guy at the hotel laughed when he saw me unloading it from the car, and asked what i had planned to use it for.

the next day we went down to the beach and didn't see a wave higher than 6 inches.

then i went into the water and as i got to about ankle deep, my feet turned purple and my testicles retracted up to my adams apple.


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## FrankZ (Sep 27, 2014)

buckytom said:


> then i went into the water and as i got to about ankle deep, my feet turned purple and my testicles retracted up to my adams apple.



I "swam" in Lake Erie once.  In the middle of summer.  I didn't get warm for days.


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## Dawgluver (Sep 27, 2014)

FrankZ said:


> I "swam" in Lake Erie once.  In the middle of summer.  I didn't get warm for days.




We rented wave runners on Lake Huron when we were in Michigan.  Thankfully, I was used to driving snowmobiles, it translated well.  Other family members weren't so lucky.  Dang, that water's cold.


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## Andy M. (Sep 27, 2014)

buckytom said:


> lol. god would never make it rain there during the summer. that would really just be unfair.
> 
> you guys get those great white sharks, though.
> 
> ...



From the north coast of Cape Cod northward, the water is useful for growing seafood, not for people.  Seek the south side of Cape Cod for water you can stay in for more than an instant.  The Gulf Stream warms it nicely.


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## Addie (Sep 27, 2014)

For here in Mass., the water temp can range from 48ºF. to 65ºF. in the summer. Right now it is starting on the decline. The end of summer swimming is nearing. I still see swimmers though at the beach up the street from me. The beach is in a little cove protected except for a Nor'easter. Only once on my life have I ever seen Boston Harbor freeze over. You have to remember, this is not the Caribbean.


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## buckytom (Sep 27, 2014)

i doubt bahston hahbuh could freeze over even if it were 30 below.

"oh i love that dirty water.... boston, you're my home".


actually, i've heard it's cleaned up a lot, much like the hudson river.


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## Addie (Sep 27, 2014)

buckytom said:


> i doubt bahston hahbuh could freeze over even if it were 30 below.
> 
> "oh i love that dirty water.... boston, you're my home".
> 
> ...



It has been cleaned up. Now you can actually swim in it. And the Charles River was worse than the Harbor. Big kids now swim there. But if you get in the wrong place, you can find yourself out in the harbor on the way to Europe. The current in the river is very strong.


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## Addie (Sep 27, 2014)

jennyema said:


> Clambake at your house?  How do you do that?
> 
> Clambake for me is a beach event.



My sister and I used to go to the clam bakes they had at the Chelsea Yacht Club. Waaay to much food. I used to take home all the lobster shells and make a seafood stock for clam chowder. 

One time my daughter who has one of those burners that they use for turkey frying, used it for a clam bake at her house in the backyard. That big pan can hold a lot of seafood. My niece did the same thing when her youngest graduated from college with his Doctorate in Ministry. Quite an accomplish since he did it all in 4.5 years. All her kids are geniuses. Her daughter has her Masters with three engineering degrees. She started her college career while she was in H.S.


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## buckytom (Sep 27, 2014)

ya see! i told ya so.  i knew they all didn't just have clam bakes on the beach. it took a while, but they let their guard down.

lol.

people from new england just want you to believe the crap they make up so you stay away.


look, look, they're all scowling at me now.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 29, 2014)

jennyema said:


> Clambake at your house?  How do you do that?
> 
> Clambake for me is a beach event.


It's one thing to have it as a beach event when the entire eastern shore of your state IS a beach! But you have to get creative when we live in OH. Besides, from what Andy said, it sounds like you are limited to a specific area during a specific time period. Either that, or you do it when you want, where you want, and make sure you have a look-out keeping watch for the police!

If you have it at a home/lodge/metropark picnic shelter you can have it when you want on (mostly) your own terms. No alcohol allowed in the public parks. Since we held it annually at a residence we could start when we wanted, party as late as we wanted, and drink on-premise. I suppose if we had really wanted to cook those babies in the sand someone would have trucked in 3 tons of sand. After all, the street we live  on now did just that for our "Beach Party" block party one year. After all, the kids needed to be able to build sand castles! Seriously, there was a huge pile of sand in the cul-de-sac that had no homes in it.


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## buckytom (Sep 29, 2014)

did the town or developer know?  




Cooking Goddess said:


> Either that, or you do it when you want, where you want, and make sure you have a look-out keeping watch for the police!.



nevermind...


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 29, 2014)

FrankZ said:


> I "swam" in Lake Erie once.  In the middle of summer.  I didn't get warm for days.


How warm is the water in the Chesapeake Bay? I remember there were a few summers when we still lived in OH that the lake temperature reached the upper 70s. That is measured about 3 miles out at the water intake "crib" for Cleveland's water supply. In July, 2012, the temperature was measured at 80. The water at the beaches is even warmer.

The first time I camped in New England was an August. Our first night was in CT, at Hammonasset Beach. My intentions were to take a quick dip in Long Island sound in the morning in lieu of a shower. Whoo! That water was snappy-cold!


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## buckytom (Sep 29, 2014)

so _that's_ how ladies describe submerging their private parts in freezing water...

cool.


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## Cooking Goddess (Sep 29, 2014)

Don't get your knickers in a twist, bt. I didn't go any deeper than the ankles.


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## buckytom (Sep 29, 2014)

oh, i thought i'd made a breakthrough in understanding anatomy.

nevermind.


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## FrankZ (Sep 29, 2014)

Cooking Goddess said:


> How warm is the water in the Chesapeake Bay? I remember there were a few summers when we still lived in OH that the lake temperature reached the upper 70s. That is measured about 3 miles out at the water intake "crib" for Cleveland's water supply. In July, 2012, the temperature was measured at 80. The water at the beaches is even warmer.
> 
> The first time I camped in New England was an August. Our first night was in CT, at Hammonasset Beach. My intentions were to take a quick dip in Long Island sound in the morning in lieu of a shower. Whoo! That water was snappy-cold!



The bay gets into he 80s in the summer.  

When I swam in Lake Erie it was at Edgewater Park.


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