Beach Days

Since coming back from California, I've actually been out of NYC quite a bit to the surrounding areas. Walking around the East Village yesterday, it felt like I hadn't been in Manhattan for months!

Much of my time recently has been out in Long Island for work. I did manage to have some fun on the side, though, including my first real trip to an East Coast beach. I can't count the times at Coney Island, since I never took a step off the boardwalk. I also don't consider the time I put my feet in the water off the coast of Savannah as a day by the ocean. No, my recent trip to Jones Beach, with the lovely company of RFC, was my inaugural beach day after three years of living in NYC. (I admit it, I was a being a teensy bit of a snob, thinking those first few years that a NY beach could never compare to one in CA, so what was the point. I have since changed my tune.) It wasn't too crowded, the atmosphere was festive, and the water wasn't too cold, once you got a little push in (thanks sweetie!).

And what do you do after a day at the beach in Long Island? Well, if you are one of RFC's gang, you head over to All American and get burgers, fries and onion rings and eat it all in your car. The only tables available are the few right outside. I had heard so much about this experience that it was very much built up in my mind. But no worries, it did not disappoint at all. Everything was filled with greasy, tasty goodness. I haven't eaten fast food burgers in a long time, so I thought the food was vaguely like In-n-Out. As a native southern Californian, I love In-n-Out, but do they have onion rings? Nope. I was a happy cat after the meal and to top it all off was an ice cream chipwich from the shop across the parking lot.

I was also lucky enough to be invited down to the Jersey Shore for a couple days. The weather was perfect on Long Beach Island and I got to spend time with G. and her family, including her two adorable children. The beach was crowded but it was very cool to look down our street one way and see the beach and then look down the other way and see the water again. Grandma very nicely babysat one night and we went into Ship Bottom, one of the little communities on the island, for dinner. G.'s friends led us to Ship Bottom Shellfish. It's a tiny place with a takeout case and about 12 tables if you want to eat in. After sharing a bottle of wine out on the porch (BYOB without the corkage fee) we were seated in a cozy booth. Out the window a lightening storm provided the evening entertainment. I had softshell crab for the first time ever. It was lightly breaded and fried. G. said it was the best she had ever eaten mainly because you couldn't tell there was a shell at all. We split crab cakes that had so much crabmeat, they barely held together. And the tartar sauce was lighter than I am used to and very lemony. Yum!

(Sour cherries are in season! Time to make another pie!)
K.

All American Hamburger Drive-in
4286 Merrick Road
Massapequa
Long Island, New York

Ship Bottom Shellfish
1721 Long Beach Boulevard
Ship Bottom
Long Beach Island, New Jersey