Vacation Food

I’m back! My vacation was not as restful as it could have been. We put about 700 miles on the Xterra just traveling around to see everyone in NJ and PA. Ridiculous!! Now my truck isn’t feeling well. I think it needs a break. A parking brake actually. Apparently when the dealer was fixing my rear brakes, they either cut the line for the parking brake or adjusted it wrong. Now it doesn’t work at all, which is not making me happy since I am due for inspection in September. It never ends! Madness! I’m also not paying for them to fix something they screwed up. I’ve got to take a stand!

On to discussing the food enjoyed while on vacation. The first food of the trip was our standard lunch of McDonald’s. I know it’s disgusting, but there is just something SO good about it. I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. That’s just about the only items on the menu that I can eat and not feel sick after eating them. Anthony ordered the McChicken and McDouble. Those are the only items he ever orders. $1 menu all the way! Once in NJ my mom wanted to take us to this really popular pizza place, Pete & Elda’s in Neptune. It was jam packed. Anthony and I figured it had to be good with so many people there. The place did not disappoint. They have an eating challenge. You have to finish a XXLG pizza by yourself and you get a free t-shirt. This pizza is thin crust and when I say thin I mean THIN!! It was super yummy!! Anthony said the crust’s taste reminded him of popcorn. We both ordered XXLG’s but neither of us finished. I only ate half and Anthony ate one piece more then me. I had also ordered (and shared with my mom) mussels in marinara. Mussels Marinara is one of my favorite things to eat in NJ, besides the pizza pie. I’m sure they sell it other places, but I’ve only seen it once in Rochester. Anyway I must say this dinner was delicious!!

The next night we were invited to eat a small cookout at my brother-in-laws house. The cookout included hamburgers, hot dogs, tomato salad, pasta salad, and corn. It was your typical American cook out. The corn smelled very good, but I can’t eat corn unless I want to pay for it later. We also had cold leftover pizza from the night before for lunch and it was still great! My beer choices while away were not the best, MillerLite the first and 2^nd nights. It seemed fitting since it was the only beer I frequently drank while living in NJ.

The following day was a great time. We went to Pt. Pleasant to hang out on the beach and then walk the boards. Awesome! I miss that so much. It was pretty hot that day somewhere in the 90’s. So we didn’t sit on the beach very long, just long enough to get the feel for it again. Then we walked around the boardwalk. Anthony and I just really wanted some clams. I would have preferred them raw (or so I thought, read tomorrow’s post to find out more), but we ended up having them steamed since that’s the only way Anthony would eat them. We ate at Martell’s Tiki Bar. If you are from NJ and frequent the beaches, you know Martell’s. We had a dozen steamed clams for appetizer and then Anthony had a burger and I had a blackened Mahi sandwich. Yum. If I can have seafood over anything else I always will. After going into Jenk’s Funhouse and running around Jenk’s Arcade, we needed a snack. I knew just what I wanted and that was a twist cone from Kohr’s. I got a vanilla and chocolate twist and Anthony got a peanut butter and chocolate twist. Having Kohr’s again really made me miss the beach. That night was another get together with food: roast beef with mushrooms and sauce, ham, pasta salad, potato salad, tomato salad, etc. My drinks were a little bit better this day: Corona, Blue Moon, and Cosmopolitan’s!

Next day we went out for breakfast. I don’t eat eggs straight up, so I ordered 3 pancakes, pork roll, and home fries. Oh pork roll, my how I miss you! There is nothing like it in the world. Everyone needs to try it at least once, because you don't know what you are missing! YUM!! Later this day we went to a picnic at a lake in PA. More standard cook out type foods: hamburgers, sausage, bbq chicken, potato salad, tomatoes, baked beans, corn, etc. My uncle brought salmon he caught in Alaska and smoked it and served it with cream cheese. Seriously good!! Smoked Salmon is the number one way I like to eat salmon. Corona was the drink of choice at this get together.

That’s pretty much the extent of my vacation eating. When we got home Sunday we popped a California Pizza Kitchen frozen White Pizza in the oven. It actually wasn’t too bad. It has spinach, garlic, and a couple of different cheeses on it. The pizza had a lot of flavor for what it was. Then we shared TastyKake Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes for dessert Sunday. We picked up a package before we left Jersey. They really are quite delectable! Overall it was pretty good eating while we were away. The only thing missing was Rita’s Water Ice. There never was an opportunity to stop and get some. I’m very sad. I don’t know when the next chance will be for us to get some Rita’s.

It’s good to be back! I was starting to miss writing this little blog. I’m excited for this weeks upcoming dinner’s: Grilled Clams with Salt Potatoes and Bruschetta (Anthony’s night to cook), Curried Cauliflower Soup, Black Bean Lasagna, Stir-Fried Beef with Orange and Ginger, and a night out at Rohrbach’s for Brewtopia. This should be a good week!

I also bought two new frozen meals to try for lunch. One is a Veggie Masala, I can’t remember what brand it is and one is a Kashi meal with coconut chicken. Someone had recommended I try Organic Bistro and I really want to. I just have to work up the gumption to spend over $6 on a frozen meal. The ideal eats for lunch would be leftovers from dinner, but sometimes I just don’t want to cook THAT much food. Also, not everything I cook tastes good enough, to be eaten again.

Then the other item on the to-do list this week is poaching an egg. I’m really excited to try this, but I think I’ll wait until the weekend. This might take awhile!