Pumpkins Everywhere!

I’m a big Halloween fan. Our family really gets in the spirit and perhaps overdoes spooky season a bit. I’ve talked about starting a tiny-but-very-frightening haunted house for years. But… we’re South Shore. We live by the beach. We love summer. So when I stopped at Dunkin’ this week and ordered the S’mores Cold Brew off their video board menu and was met with, “oh sorry, we just switched out the S’mores for Pumpkin,” I both sighed and squealed. Conflicted. Oh well, the smell of dead leaves is coming… and so is this week’s Newsletter. Welcome and thank you for coming back!

The South Shore Dish That Won $10,000…

… can be found at Scarlet Oak in Hingham. We went there this week for dinner and the overall experience was impressive. Our waitress knew every little detail of every little thing on every menu. She was genuinely helpful, excellent service. And the food and drink were all impressive, including the Seared 10K Tuna - an impressive dish of mega-fresh seared tuna served over a delicious traditional homemade fried rice. It’s a combination you’d probably never dream up - but - Chef Steve did dream this dish up, he entered it in a cooking comp, and it won him $10,000. Thus, the Seared 10K Tuna was born.

Special shoutout to Sean the bartender, who you’ll see in the video below. While I was running around shooting things with my camera Sean walked up, the bar between us, and said “sorry to ruin your shot but…” I thought he was going to ask me not to film, he continued “I just wanted to say that I thought I couldn’t love your videos anymore until your Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty comment” (referring to a wrestling reference I made in a previous KAIZEN video). It makes me feel so good to hear from people when I’m out. Thank you Sean.

Here comes the video so you can pop your eyes on that award winning 10K Tuna:

3 THINGS! - Cool Stuff Going on this Weekend on the South Shore

OPENING WEEKEND AT KING RICHARD’S FAIRE -Unfortunately there will be no turkey legs this year because they’re all constantly hiding in my backyard. But they’re eating the ticks so that’s ok. - Get all the info HERE. Carver, MA

ANNUAL SPINDLES CAR SHOW - 2024 AUTOFEST at Marshfield Fair Grounds, Sunday 9a-3p - All makes & models, race cars, food, music, vendors, swap meet, and more! ($10/Kids 12 and under FREE)

OPEN BARNYARD AT WEIR RIVER FARM - 140 Turkey Hill Lane Hingham - $5 for members, $10 for non-members. Get details on open barnyard HERE.

Kristin’s Sweet Treat Recipe o’ the Week:

My wife Kristin makes some of the best sweet treats I’ve ever tasted. So every week we’ll feature one of the recipes she’s trying and loving. If you try one of these recipes let us know what you think. Kristin would love to hear!

This week it’s…

PEACH COBBLER, featuring more of those fresh local peaches from The Fruity - they’ve been amazing this season!

Now if you’ve been keeping tabs on Kristin’s Sweet Treats you might be screaming at your computer screen “she already did peach cobbler!!!” First off, if you’re one of our early birds who read this newsletter at 5:30am on Saturday I hope you sleep alone screaming like that and secondly, those were peach cobbler bars. This is the OG. And quite frankly possibly my #1 very favorite dessert that Kristin makes. Sometimes when she makes this I have it as dinner with a side of broccoli AND for dessert. Kristin got this recipe from Preppy Kitchen.

It’s sweet and syrupy. It’s cakey. And where those two things meet, that’s the real magic. Throw a scoop of your favorite ice cream on there and cancel all the plans, you’re staying in!!

3 Questions with…

Shannon Burke!! Shannon and her husband Kevin are South Shore hot sauce royalty. They are the co-owners and co-founders of Burke’s Hot Sauce, which goes on practically everything in our house. They’re wonderful humans, great members of the South Shore community, and they make some damn good hot sauces. It’s time for 3 spicy hot questions with Shannon Burke of Burke’s Hot Sauce!

1). What got your curiosity going to try making hot Sauce?

We have always been hot sauce connoisseurs. When we initially met it was something that we bonded over. Kevin enjoys the science aspects of experimenting with food and over the past decade he has homebrewed, crafted hot sauce, sourdough and even grew coffee beans from which he roasted into a cup of coffee. Soon after moving to the suburbs of the South Shore, Kevin’s interest grew in growing hot peppers from seedlings and experimenting with fermentation. When we started experimenting with hot sauce recipes, and sharing them with friends and family, it was the perfect catalyst combined with Shannon’s drive to start a business.

Do you remember your first batch?

Our first season we grew mostly habaneros, which we love so most of our sauces are habanero based.  Habanero is a relatively hot pepper for most, but we’ve finessed the heat with flavor, so that it can be enjoyed with your everyday foods.

2). What variety of Burke’s Hot Sauce is your best seller? Is there any new varieties you’re working on that are exciting that you can drop any hints about?

Our best seller can fluctuate depending on the type of event or audience we are selling to. In the past year, Verde Serrano has been loved by many palates for its savory flavors and tamed heat, but with our launch of Black Garlic Cayenne, there is likely a new crown to take the throne. People love its sweet and savory umami heat that’s delicious on its own or used in a variety of dishes.

Yes, we have a few new varieties up our sleeve that will likely not be released until next year. Hints include something whimsical, local and creative.

3). The Fermentary Taproom has been open about a year in Hanover. How are things going there?

The Fermentary has been the ultimate venue for us to welcome the local community to share our love of heat. We have served over 150 varieties of locally crafted beer, a wide variety of all natural wines and an array of zero proof beverages. We’ve served an assortment of savory snacks, local bites and treats for the kiddos to locally made items, pop up events, private events and live music – we’ve shared so many experiences with our local community in our first year and it’s only the beginning. We excited for many more memories and experiences that the future has in store! Cheers!!

Thank you Shannon! We couldn’t love Burke’s Hot Sauce more. And thank you for being friends of South Shore Stuff since way back. We love to see you grow. Check out Burke’s Hot Sauce here!

We Love That Ferry

I sometimes forget about the ferry to Boston. It’s such a cool way to have a day trip to Boston. My girls go back this Tuesday so I decided to soak up some of our remaining summer time together by shipping off to Boston and hoofing it to the North End with my daughter Chloe.

I love getting into Boston to reconnect with the city and feel its energy. It’s been a little longer than I should wait between visits, I need to keep that ferry top of mind - it’s so awesome.

We hit Carmelina’s in the North End and it was as good as you’d imagine a North End Italian restaurant to be. They’ve been open since 2012 and I think you could pleasurably eat the wallpaper at this point. It’s been slow cooking.

Also: We love you girls so so much. Love, mom & dad

Yooooo! It’s almost time to gooooo! But first, a reallllllyyyy pretty picture to say goodbye with. Every week I go through a folder of South Shore photos that Jennifer Lynne Photography keeps for us. And every week I love choosing the front door to start with and the goodbye pic to close with. There’s something about this week’s goodbye photo which Jennifer captured that I just love. The lines, the light, the clouds, the solo seagull. Doesn’t it remind you of that time you were on the beach - or your special place - and you just happened to be there during one of those really beautiful moments? You look around and realize you’re pretty much alone and that this beautiful moment, in this space and moment in time is yours. We’re blessed to get those moments on the South Shore. There’s a lot of us here… but you can still find those special solo moments. Enjoy your weekend and let’s meet back up next Saturday morning. Thanks for being great! ❤️