Seeing Brittany? Cape Ann, Massachusetts

Confession: I have never been to the Brittany region of France, but from the photos I've seen, it looks very much like the coast around the towns and villages surrounding Boston. I've visited the area regularly to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew, who live in one of the towns along the South Shore. We always pick a day to visit a small town or two. On this most recent visit, we went to Rockport, Massachusetts, which is on Cape Ann near Gloucester. (Gloucester, you may recall, is the port from which the doomed fishermen of A Perfect Storm set sail.) I'm sure there are tons of visitors in the summer, but we were there in early November.

I love the waterfront geography here--the rocky shores, the little houses all clustered together.

I love the look of weathered wood.

Another day, my brother had to do some business in New Bedford, and I have an old friend who lives there, so while he was busy she and I caught up. New Bedford is a major port and has a large Portuguese and Portuguese-American population. Of course, for me, that means good food. My brother and I went to lunch at Antonio's, where I had the "Chicken Algarvia," kind of a Portuguese-style paella--rice with tomato broth and filled with chicken, shrimp, and clams. When it came out, I gasped--it could've served 10 people easily.

Of course we brought it home.