Beach Eats....What do you bring?

[shroomgirl]

Aaaaa the aroma of Central Grocery is reminisent of a polecat.It just so happens I have a coupla jars of Central Grocery olive salad with muff recipes on them....Genoa salami, Ham, swiss or provolone, mortadella topped with olive salad on an Italian bread.
Ingrediant list off the jar of olive salad...olives, celery, cauliflower, carrots, sweet peppers, onions, capers parsley, pepperocini, vegetable oil, olive oil, vinegar, salt garlic and spices. olives are large green cracked and soft black heavy on the green. Oily, stinky, lucious....

My beach is more like Mo. parks, streams, creeks, and hills....I adore an herb fougasse with tapenade, feta, chopped artichokes, grilled zucchini, red onions, red peppers, chopped tomatoes, basalmic and olive oil all smushed together. I cooked for a Farm Picnic yesterday (Joan Gussow was in town)....fresh tomatoes (heirloom brandywines, arkansas travelers, sungold, etc...) caponata on a crouton with chevre!!!! to good. herb jasmine rice salad with sauteed shiitakes, corn and black bean salad, fingerling haricot verte French potato salad, peach crisp, lamb brats, watermelon, assorted artisan breads.....um think that's it. All Missouri grown.

I like taking alot of vegetarian (non-mayo) foods with any meats separate into the woods....
Personally I'm not a sand girl, but when I was 16 and surfing in LA meatball subs were the food of the beach.

[Suzanne]

Before I actually answer the What do you bring to the beach? question, I've got to add my 2 cents to the muffalletta discussion: YUMMMMMMMMM. When I've gone through NO on the train, I've always tried to hit Central Grocery and buy a whole one. It lasts me a couple of days, it's so big. That is, if I can stop myself from eating it all at once.

Now: I usually just bring fruit, and water. How boring. But we only stay a few hours at a time. When I was a kid, we'd stay by Lake Ronkonkoma all day, and have simple stuff like sandwiches and fruit and cupcakes and lemonade. Then stop on the way home to get bagels and bialies and lox (the REAL thing, not that tasteless Nova), and other "appetizing" (herring, baked salmon, smoked whitefish).

But I have a funny beach-food story, as related to me by hubby Paul: last week we spent part of our vacation on Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, MA. Literally across the street from the beach, but ... Anyway, one afternoon he went out to jog on the beach, and noticed a seagull with a small bag of chips in its beak. Then he saw another seagull poking around in a beachbag on an empty blanket, and pulling out a large bag of chips. Apparently the birds had knocked over the beachbag and were rooting around in it for food -- which they took away, still sealed in the bags!

[Shimmer]

Sparkling cider (if one does not drink wine)
Thin crackers
Gourmet cheese
Smoked salmon and tuna, purchased somewhere along the beach
Chocolate truffles

A calm night

A warm blanket

A beautiful sunset

Of course, that was when I lived on the west coast

~~Shimmer~~

[ChefClayCollins]

Here's my checklist for the Beach:

-Wife
-Dog
-Blanket
-Throw toy (for the dog!)
-Good bottle of wine
-Club crackers
-Genoa salami
-Cheddar cheese
-Pocket knife (to cut the......)

My wife and I try and go a couple of times a year and this seems to be the easiest recipe for success for us.

[shugga]

When we were kids, we used to have to lug tables, coolers, pots and pans etc. to the beach or picnic area. I swore I would never do that! I bring some frozen water bottles, and maybe some cheese and crackers. I'll go up on the boardwalk and get some vinegar fries, sausage and peppers or clams on the half shell, and of course a Kohlers ice cream.

[Shimmer]

Wow, where I used to go to the beach, the only thing up above the sand was trees and more sand! No boardwalk!

~~Shimmer~~