Vacation in the company of food.

Well I don't know about you but for me one of the best parts of a vacation is enjoying the different foods of the region I visit. And so I had my heart set on some fresh oysters when I went to Maryland. My first outing was to the ocean for a bit of wave jumping. We arrived at the beach and my first glimpse was a mass of white sand with a long line of sun tents and people. Unlike our Midwest beaches, everyone had a front row seat to the ocean and the single line of human sun worshipers went on forever. As we joined the line at the crest of the sand I saw the large waves rolling into shore. Maria ran into the ocean and waves jumping with delight as they tried to sweep her back to shore. I was not so brave. Was it innate fear or was all this swirling making me dizzy. The waves crashed to the shore then rolled back out to sea leaving my frozen feet sinking in the sand. By now Jude had joined Maria and they were both frolicking in the waves. I decided to take it slow and stay close to the beach. I thought it might be better to sit in the waves as they came to shore. BIG MISTAKE! As quickly as I got to my knees a large wave crashed into my upper body and rolled me towards the beach and a truckload of sand filled my swimsuit. Struggling to stand I'm sure all the people on the shore laughingly realized I was a tourist. Jude and Maria came to see if I was OK and I, for the first time, accused them of trying to kill me.
     However, they redeemed themselves when we went for dinner and I had oysters. The oysters were local even though my hosts had told me they were only in season in the months with an R. The table side oyster shucker explained that although oysters are bigger in the months with R's they are available all year around. Sometimes they are milky, off season, but these ones were looking good. So I had to indulge!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Friends in the company of food.

     I visited my friend Jude last week in Maryland. She lives in Salisbury.  I am as clueless as it gets apparently because this is a very nice resort destination. Beaches everywhere, water everywhere, boats everywhere and lots and lots of people. And then there is me? I arrive in this Mecca of summer fun with one purpose in mind. Spending time with a dear friend and her daughter, my godchild, for a few days. Maria, my godchild, took a day off of work on Friday and stayed the weekend too, to spend it with me, I was honored. But then she and Jude tried to kill me..... Just kidding but so the vacation went.

      This was the first time I saw Jude's new nest. It was awesome; so her. In the backyard was a fire pit and Jude decided to cook our lunch here to practice open fire cooking in preparation for camping with her granddaughter Dylan. I would be the guinea pig. And so early on a Friday morning Jude stokes twigs and branches to make a fire only the former explores could truly appreciate. The temperature hovered around 90 degrees as the fire roared. I remained indoors with the air conditioning and offered to soak the corn on the cob for pit roasting. What a good friend I am. Jude also has a nice garden in her back yard and she picked some yellow and green zucchini squash, and green peppers for lunch also. I cut up some onions, potatoes, squash and green peppers sprinkled them with olive oil and wrapped them in foil for roasting. Well, if the chicken ever cooked we would have a well balanced lunch. Jude continued to add wood to the fire and the lidded cast iron roaster began to sizzle. A bit of fresh rosemary from the garden was added to the pot for flavor. Although it seemed like it took forever, Jude had started early enough that the chicken was ready just in time for lunch when Maria arrived. We threw the soaked corn on the cob on the fire first and then the vegetables last because they cook quickly. Voila, lunch was ready and quite delicious. Next off to the beach where Jude and Maria tried to kill me the first time during my trip.