Good Morning Gloucester

News from Passports Restaurant

Big things are happening this winter and spring at Gloucester’s favorite lunch, dinner and soon to be brunch spot on Main Street.

Check it out:

BREAKING NEWS: Chef Jeremy is back in the Hizzous.  After an over four-year hiatus, Jeremy Guyotte is back behind the line at Passports. Fans of Jeremy will appreciate the culinary genius that he adds to Chef Eric Lorden’s kitchen.  Be prepared for this dynamic duo to bring a new and exciting shakeup to the Passports’ specials menus.

And, speaking of Chef Eric, he has recently completed his sommelier certification, enhancing Passports’ position as the most inventive wine centric eatery in town.  In fact, keep an eye out for new signage celebrating a brand refresh to “Passports Eatery and Wine Bar”. And, don’t forget about our monthly Wine Dinners. $50pp for 4 paired plates, plus tax and gratuity.  Our next one is Wednesday, February 27th at 7pm. 

Weekend hungry horrors? Introducing brunch at Passports. Starting Saturday, February 29th and featuring riffs on Passports faves like egg stuffed breakfast popovers, an assortment of benedicts with house made hollandaise, chicken and waffles, prosecco and Natalie’s juice mimosas and Tokyo Mary’s made with sake, brunch at Passports will be the place to be Saturdays and Sundays from 10-2.

Seven days of good eats: Passports will, once again, be open for lunch and dinner on Mondays starting March 2, 2020.

Catering needs? From intimate cocktail parties to full fledge seated dinners, Passports can cater your private event. Elegant events to backyard BBQs, we do that. 

Passports Eatery and Wine Bar is located at 110 Main Street in Gloucester, MA 01930. Call for reservations, catering and takeout at 978-281-3680

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Special thanks to Melissa Cox for the images!

If your Massachusetts Registration is expiring in April 2020 now is a great time to show your love for Cape Ann and order a Cape Ann Special License Plate to support the Cape Ann Community Foundation and it’s grants yearly, to Cape Ann nonprofits and education programs. You can order a Cape Ann License Plate by going to Lovecapeann.com and clicking on “order a plate”.

You will the need to provide the following information:
* Date of Birth
* Driver’s License Number
* Last Name
* Last Four # of SSN

Then select the Cape Ann License Plate from the plate choices. You will the need the following:
* Your current vehicle registration number
and expiration date
* Email
* Credit Card
Once you have completed the transaction you will see a form with your new plate number on it that you can print out. You will receive your new Cape Ann License Plate, new registration and sticker in the mail in 8 to 10 days.

PLEASE NOTE:
* If you current registration expires within 2
weeks, you will not be able to order a
Cape Ann special plate online.
* Company owned and leased vehicles
can’t order special plates online. These
requests must be processed in person at
an RMV Service Center.

Ordering a Cape Ann License Plate makes a tremendous difference to the Cape Ann Community. The Cape Ann Community Foundation has awarded $39,000 in the last three years. We hope that you will be part of the power of giving by ordering a plate at Lovecapeann.com. You will be a Cape Ann Hero!

As I mentioned, a movie was being filmed on Crane Estate when I visited this week, but they kindly allowed me in to take the drive around I had planned on. Even in the dead of winter, this place is pretty spectacular. I have a Trustee membership, so access is free until March 31 and I thought that seemed like a pretty good deal. Maybe you will too.

I was happy to see the statues all wrapped up against potential winter damage. Here’s some additional information on the Grand Allée. 

CAPE ANN SYMPHONY PRESENTS

MOZART, HAYDN, BRAHMS& LEWIN FOR MARCHCONCERT

Sunday, March 22, 2020: 2:00 PM InManchester-by-the-Sea, MA

Mozart, Haydn, Brahms & Lewin features legendary composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, and Johannes Brahms; and guest artist Grammy winning virtuoso pianist Michael Lewin. The internationally acclaimed pianist has played in over 30 countries and commands a repertoire of over 40 piano concertos. Mr. Lewin joins CAS to play Brahms’ powerful Piano Concerto No. 1. The concert also includes Mozart’s joyous Marriage of Figaro Overture and Haydn’s delightfulSymphony No. 101 “The Clock.” The Cape Ann Symphony March concert featuringMozart, Haydn, Brahms & Lewin is Sunday, March 22 at 2:00 pm at Manchester-Essex High School auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Concert ticket prices are: Adult/$43.00;Senior Citizens/$38.00; Students (of any age)/$15.00; and Youth (Age 12 and Under)/$5.00. For tickets and further information call 978-281-0543 or Visit www.capeannsymphony.org

A question often asked – do bird feeders help or hurt birds? A thoughtful analysis from Cornell:

Cornell All About Birds

By Emma Greig

“…There are some clear benefits of feed­ing birds. We know that some regular feeder visitors, such as Northern Cardi­nals, are doing very well, because their populations are growing and ranges expanding. But supplementary feeding has also been associated with negative impacts such as disease transmission, deaths from window strikes (when birds fly away from a feeder and into a house), and increased predation pressures (such as Cooper’s Hawks feeding themselves by feasting on feeder birds). Can we rec­oncile these disparate consequences of bird feeding and determine if feeding is actually harmful on a broad scale?”

Read more here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/analysis-do-bird-feeders-help-or-hurt-birds/

I thought I’d visit Crane Beach and Crane Estate yesterday since it was such a pretty day. I hadn’t been there in a while and wasn’t sure what to expect during school vacation week. To my surprise, I ran right smack into movie filming. The “home base” was the beach parking lot and it was pretty busy but they let me in to take a drive-around. It appears vacation programs are planned around the filming. I couldn’t find out what was being filmed but perhaps one of our readers know?

Charlotte and I attended a wonderfully informative program about owls today at the Wenham Museum. The presentation was lead by Julie and Jim of Wingmasters, a raptor rehabilitation organization devoted not only to rehabilitating wildlife but also to educating the public.

In attendance were a beautiful Barred Owl, magnificent male and female Great Horned Owls, an Eastern Screech Owl (gray morph), a stunning Barn Owl, the tiniest owl you will probably never see, but is definitely about, a Saw-whet Owl, and a gorgeous Peregrine Falcon.

All the birds at the presentation were at one time injured. Most of the wildlife Jim and Julie rescue can be returned to their habitats but some will never. A wing may be too badly broken to fly, an eye permanently injured, or in the case of the diminutive Saw-whet, it is developing cataracts.

Charlotte loved the program and was all she could talk about on the return trip home. We are usually looking at owls and eagles far off in the distance or through my camera’s lens so this was thrilling for her to see them up close.

I took many photos but unfortunately am still without my computer and won’t have it back until Monday, at the earliest. It’s extremely stressful not being able to work, along with the fact that I am in the midst of launching our Monarch film. I don’t know how you feel but I think it extraordinary how tied to our computers we have become and I have come to fully realize that this week. From design projects, to film and photo projects, to lecture programs, they are all wholly dependent on a perfectly functioning computer. For reasons I don’t want to get into here, I am going to have to learn several new challenging software programs. Argh! One thing that can be accomplished this week though is continuing to work on a film script, which I am writing longhand! And knitting many hats this week 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8zPWIlH6dN/