We drove out to Provincetown, or P-Town as it is known. It was gearing up for the big 4th of July holiday, but it was not too crowded on the 2nd. My main objective was to get some malasadas from the Portuguese Bakery on Commercial Street. Laura recalls malasadas from Hawaii. Perhaps the closest thing to a malasada is a beignet from Café du Mode in the Big Easy. These are bigger. Better. They make 1,000 a day about now, and summer hasn’t kicked in yet, fried in 450-degree oil, so it can get hot making them in this tiny bakery. They have so many good things to eat, but you really need to start with the maladsadas and have two if your willpower can permit you to stop there. They cost $2.09 each. Buy ten and get one free.

A painter was beginning a still life of the bakery counter, a place that is anything but still. Abigail McBride is actually from Annapolis, but is showing her recent work at the Egeli Gallery in Provincetown (www.egeligallery.com). Her promotional postcard says she’s an American impressionist. Her business card says “artist.” (www.mcbridegallery.com). I watched her using her brush and palette knife as she brought out the creamy yellow walls and began on the steely gray cash register. This isn’t going to be your ordinary bowl of fruit. I told her that her photograph would be posted at www.yourverynextstep.com.