Stocking the Pantry: Beach Season!

My Beach Rule: NO ROUTE 1 ERRANDS!

Today's goal: get the non-perishables together for the entire Beach Season!

Having been traumatized by last and this year's Winter, my own food pantry yielded up the season's groceries!

Only a few special "Beachy Shack Only" items need to be purchased: special salad dressings, herb teas, and instant rice!

And Vodka, my friend reminds me!

Oh, Beachy Shack: we will be together soon!

xoxo,

What Would Venus Wear 2011?!

Whew...... my beach clothes shopping for 2011 season is nearly done. Luckily it was only a filling-in job of worn out items.

The Delaware sun is hell on clothing fibers. The tee shirts and bathing suits last only a season or two.

The bars and house parties do their damage on cute outfits. It is nearly impossible to avoid spilled beer and last Summer a new cute top left the party with candle wax splatters. Thus I shop looking to pay no more than $15.00 per item!

So what won my cash?

Kohl's did the work for clearance priced tee-shirts and tanks, cute-going-out tops with ruffles and sequins, and a $10.00 crazy funky-punky-girly 40's-ish dress!

LL Bean Outlet yielded up the bathing suits. The LL Bean check-out lady who has helped me for 10 years gave me the news that the outlet closes in April 2011. I told her I was going straight to my vehicle to cry; which I did. LL Bean: You Broke My Heart.

Next on the list: hats and sandals.

Beach Blessings,

Happy New Year Dewey Beach!

I always promise myself to be in Dewey Beach for the New Year; yet business requires me elsewhere.

If I was there I'd already be at the best and most fun house party in town, and on New Year's Day Weekend I'd be participating in the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count; a Pelagic Boat Trip!

Yet, my New Year never starts January 1st. I consider myself lucky as I count Two Starts to the New Year; Late Spring Beach Cottage Opening and Early Fall Rosh Ha Shonah

( translates to Head of The New Year).

Yet, oddly Rosh Ha Shonah signals the beginning of the end of my New Beach Season!

A New Year! A New Beach Season and all that implies! New swimsuits and sandals,

renewing and making new friendships, beach fun that never gets tagged as old.

When the sunlight hits my beachy cottage bedroom window, I awaken to a new day, two new tides to greet, and new shorebirds to protect, new Hawks to count.

Each Beach Day is a New Year in itself.

Every Sunset is the New Year's Eve for the Celebration to Continue to the Next Beach Day, and the next........ and the next!

Dewey Beach: every Day is a New Year's Celebration!

Happy New Year's Dewey Beach!

Mayor Diane's Holiday Message

Greetings from Dewey Beach, Delaware.

Dewey is a very friendly and relaxing place where dogs are allowed on the beach.

It’s also one of the few places where you can walk from the ocean and watch the sunset on the bay. We are experiencing an especially cold period right now but hope that all of you have a warm and wonderful holiday season.


Diane Hanson
Mayor
Town of Dewey Beach

Small Kitchen Stories: Steamed Shrimp Summer Meals

How to have wonderful Summer meals for two hungry beachy folks, and not heat-up the kitchen?

*Purchase:

Steamed Spiced Shrimp, 1 Lb.

Tabbuleh Mix: I like Fantastic Foods.

Creamy Tomato Soup: Pacific Foods

Meal #1

A rather complicated Tabbuleh that started with the mix and then I added in: chopped cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, and sweet red and yellow peppers. A can of tuna, mashed, and generous amounts of crumbled Feta. Extra olive oil and lemon juice gave it a nice finish.

On the side serve the in-the-shell spiced shrimp.

A nice cut up peach slices decorated the plate.

Meal #2

Soup with Old Bay Spiced Shrimp

Peel the remaining Spiced Steamed Shrimp and chop up, coarse to fine. Throw into the soup pot with a chopped tomato, and mushrooms. Add in the package of Creamy Tomato Soup. Add in a dash of milk, dried dill-weed.

Heat up!

Serve with a big dollop of Greek Style Yogurt.

I knew this would be good...... but it was exceptionally "yummy"!

Serve dessert: cream cheese frosted brownies!

Ta Da!

Dark Star Orchestra and History Lesson:

It's never too late to Grow Up and Be a Dead Head!

I was a bit too young for the era of Dead-head-ness. But the music was around me via two older siblings.

Despite already having put in a long day, off I went to the concert with a Trance-head. He declared my outfit as a West Hollywood Hipster: I took this as a high compliment.

Dark Star Orchestra's (DSO) 8:45 PM performance start was in favor of the time needed to recreate the concert and the gently- aging-Hippie group. 60 year old guys wore their favorite but now decades old and rotting Dead-Head tee-shirts.

DSO Perfume: Scents of weed, beer, sweat, and a rain soaked awning.

DSO's rich complex lines expand and contract astounding me. Trance Music lines came forth and I pointed these out. "No WAY" was the response!

Ah ha, so at the only 30 minute break in the 3.5 hour+ performance we made our way to the Sound Technician and talked shop. Trance-head received the history lesson of The Foundations of Trance Music courtesy the Grateful Dead's Psychedelia and Space Rock, LSD, Ken Kesey, Ram Dass, Timothy Leary..... . ETC!

Trance-head was entranced.

The evening ended with Johnny Be Good! 12:45 AM but Party ON!

DSO members slay me: when the music ends they just walk off the stage! No bows! No personal acknowledgment of their magnificent musicianship.

DSO: Live On In GLORIA!

Beach Blessings,

Sarong Time!

Sarong Time! When the Sarong is put into my beach bag, my Swimming Season begins!

I learned the Ways of The Sarong many lifetimes ago in Hawaii, and then in Fiji.

Mine is a ~ 3 yard swath of India Homespun cotton, nearly neon orange and green stripes, circa 1976! It is slightly faded but otherwise in perfect condition despite three decades of hard labor!

My Sarong goes from a beach coverup, and sometimes serves as an emergency umbrella atop my floppy hat, and then becomes my "towel" wrapping me up before and after my outdoor shower.

So this is how it works:

Keep the Sarong in your beach bag. Then once back at home base, hang it on your outdoor shower hook. Take your outdoor shower, then cover up with the Sarong. Inside the house you go do whatever until you finish getting dressed!

Remember to dry out the wet Sarong on your clothesline! Replace into your beach bag!

Towels be gone.

Sarongs Rule!

Small Kitchen Stories: Instantly Thai!

I missed out on the Friday nite Pad Thai at Scraps...... and yearned for it all weekend.

Sunday Night it was time to make a dinner that would not heat up the kitchen and would use up the "left-overs".

I had steamed broccoli and a grilled veal steak. The heck with that: I wanted a Thai theme salad!

Instantly Thai Salad

Salad Stuff:

Steamed green veggy: I had broccoli!

Cooked Fish or Shrimp, Chicken or Beef: I had Veal!

Leftover bits of cheddar cheese: I know, I know: but it worked just fine.

Chopped Sweet Red Pepper

Chopped Tomato

Chopped Scallions

Salad Dressing Ingredients:

Drew's Thai Sesame Lime Salad Dressing

Peanut Butter, Crunchy and Organic too!

Soy Sauce

Rice Vinegar

Toasted Sesame Oil

Toss all the salad stuff in a bowl. In a mixing bowl whip up together the salad dressing ingredients to taste. Start out with a big lump of peanut butter and then add in the rest.

Dress the salad and toss!

*Extra points: garnish with a handful of Oriental rice cracker snack mix!

Ta DA!

North Beach "Re-Brands"

Although we planned having Pad Thai at Scraps we ended up for dinner at North Beach. I've avoided North Beach two seasons running as the crowd was inclined towards the behavior that brings in the police.

North Beach has never been about the food. I've now lived thru at least three menu variations on fried, fried some-more and more-over fried.

North Beach is about being with your group, listening to the live music, and watching the sunset while you eat on the sandy beach.

The latest re-branded version might redeem itself. Two semi-circular bars now hold court in the main area....... I'm certain the intention is to break up a "bad crowd".

So it took forever for dinner to be served..... the fried fish sandwich was yummy and made up for the cold stack of sweet potato fries. Next time I'll order the green beans!

Ok, North Beach see you July 4th weekend for the dance party!

Happy Hour Dueling

How I love having dueling Happy Hour invites. Which one won?

I love a Happy Hour where I can attend "right off the beach" in beach togs and flip flops. I did clean up .... coverup, jewelry, lipstick, flip flops..... but I was still sandy behind the ears. The chosen Happy Hour was hosted at a home....... not a bar. Margaritas, munchee food, and friends I had not seen since Summer 2009 drew me in.

The competing Happy Hour was at a bar..... a venue that is more for a "big dinner date" than a Happy Hour. I would have had to have showered and "dressed-up". It was not going to happen.

My Happy Hour then segued into drinks at a friends ocean block home which then revived into a party when the original Happy Hour attendees "dropped-in"! Six hours later I returned to my tiny cottage.

ILDB: I Love Dewey Beach!

Friday Nite! "Scraps" for a new Routine!

Who does not know that Friday night is "Taco Toss" at "The Lighthouse"? Is it even possible to try a new routine?

Try this! Make your way around the Lighthouse deck to say hello to your buds...... then hang at "Que Pasa". The age group here is beyond the Taco Toss's mainstay of the 20- to 30 year group.

Then off to "Scraps" you go, sit out on the deck, and try the new Chef's menu of Thai offerings. Made to my exact "heat requirement", I adored the Pad Thai!

After dinner....... From the deck look up to the "Two Seas" to see if their top deck is in action. If so, you are in luck as it is usually only reserved for group functions and special events.

Walk in..... and sweetly request to hang at the deck bar as most likely you will be "crashing" the already in-progress event.

There is seating to the right of the bar where you will not be interfering with the event. The step down to this area is hardly noticeable...... so if you are looped expect a crash landing.

Enjoy the breeze and the view of the ocean and the bay!

Walk home happy!

Beach Blessings,

Bayside: the Other Half of the story

Myself and the ocean: there is no separating the two. Yet, I am now discovering my "other half": The Bay!

Summer 2009 I did time at Cape Henlopen State Park, Bayside at The Point and explored : Slaughter Beach to Prime Hook. This Summer I am continuing the trend.

Bayside is contemplative gracing the eye with an ever changing rising or falling tide shoreline. A walk yields whelks, snails, and the oddest mollusk finds.

My newest find is Breckenbridge Beach, ~ 20 minutes North of Slaughter Beach. The long sandy and reedy beach, but not boggy, is very quiet and yielded up swimming turtles, Red Knots, American Oyster Catchers, and the seasonal mix of shorebirds.

Behind the beach the marsh is rife with Rails and Red Wing Blackbird calls.

Just now I "Googled" for this location and it came up empty handed! Is this a "Secret Beach" known only to locals?

Beach Blessings,

Dogs Rule at Dewey Beach but not at Cape Henlopen State Park

Dogs and Dewey Beach is a match made in " Until Death-Dewey Part in Heaven" but not at Cape Henlopen State Park.

Dewey Beach dogs know the lifeguard warning and final whistle and many then just walk themselves up the street to the beach to meet up with their owner!

Cape Henlopen State Park (CHSP) is not a dog destination.

Only the paved trails that parallel the paved roads, and the "Ocean Surf Fishing Beach" are allowed for leashed dogs. Nowhere are unleashed dogs allowed.

A doggie- day at CHSP destination thus is only the above and no dog should suffer time in a locked hot car while the owner plays elsewhere.

If your dog ducks into the Federally Protected Bird Preserve, "The Point" and a Park Watch Volunteer informs you that your dog is not allowed, and if a Federally Protected Endangered Species bird is killed earning you a $25,000 fine: follow the advice and leave the restricted area.

If you and your doggie want a fun time: Dewey Beach is the best choice.

Labra -Doodle play time groups and "Grey Hounds Reach The Beach " events are where the action is; later you can hang out at a cafe with a beer in hand while doggie slurps your icecream.

Dewey Beach Dogs and Big Fish

How sweet is it to walk the beach and greet Dewey's local's dogs who remember me from the previous season!

As I headed to the Life Saving Station a sandy and wet golden retriever ran over to me and stole off my hand my pink Nike glove!!! Doggie was just saying "hi, welcome back" and wanted social-time. I did ask for my glove back...... then I noticed the dog's owner as one of my beach buds!

We finished our walk together....... later off we went to Big Fish to meet up with another friend for dinner.

This is why I Love Dewey Beach!

Beach Blessings,

Rusty Rudder Jam Fest

I could not help myself, I just had to drop in on the Rusty Rudder's Jam Fest!

I was there Friday night, only one hour, but it was worth the 40 minute round trip of walking to and fro!

Fondly I call the inside "Club Rudder"...... and found "Analog Anthem" working mayhem on Southern Rock.  

 I sat in front of Stage 2 which was just setting up for "Fiddle Foxx".  Only two guys, no percussion to be found, and only  a keyboard, a fiddle and a banjo set up.  Yet, I had a feeling that this would prove the band performance of the night! 

 I was correct!

Fiddle Foxx must have deep folk and classic roots to pull-off their gig which is outside edgy abstract forms of Hip Hop and Rap wound tight to World Rhythms.

Part of the trick was the vocals used as  percussion sounds! The sound system did it justice!

When Fiddle Foxx offered up Rap to Bosa Nova rhythms the crowd went insane!  The musicians waiting for their slots gathered tight about the stage and the kitchen employees poked their astonished heads around the doorway.

  An unexpected thrilling live music performance: This is when I love Dewey Beach the most!

Beach Blessings,

Cottage Opening: De-Winterizing

De-Winterizing! 

        Yes, my brain is still de-Winterizing from the December thru March's ordeals.  Winter is serious stuff. 

 Summer is the opposite. Thus the start of my Summer celebrations starts officially with, "The Call".

This is how it goes.  I make a date for the De-Winterization with Service Today ( they are The Best!), and make certain the key to the cottage is "available" (as in not lost). 

 I request, no DEMAND my FAVORITE Plumber!!!!!  He knows the place inside and out and then some.

  Then I wait anxiously for "The Day" and the follow-up phone call.

  Hallelujahs rang out when my Favorite Plumber called and announced, " You are Good to GO!"

  No boring blog this to list all the challenging events of  dealing with a 1960's Three-Season Beachy-Cottage.  So imagine my sigh of relief with the above good news!

Dewey Beach!  Beach Season starts NOW! 

 Make Some NOISE!!!!!!!

Ta DA!

Venus Finds her "Cute Beachy Tops"

I laid out all my new clothes for beach-time and saw two missing items: cute-going out tops and tee-shirts.

Yes, I have a PILE of faded ragged tee-shirts...... and yes I am constantly on the hunt for them...... yet I am always short on these.  

I am not about to pay huge $$$$ for a tee-shirt yet I am so fussy as to the cut and fabric feel.  Oh, and the tee should dress up easily!

Thanks to Kohl's, I found a huge stack of soft thin cotton ones with a feminine cut and faded-out water-color patterns.  I bought five!  I am determined to throw out every last one of my yuccky ones......... do you believe me?  Will I succeed?!  OK, one or two old ones will be kept for gardening and Cape Henlopen Trail Days!

Also at Kohl's I found the fun "out at nite tops".  From top to bottom, narrow ridges of tiny ruffles of stretchy material, looking like fish-scales, with graphic prints on a faded background is artful, fun, and make me look like a Mermaid-at-Studio 54!  I bought two!

I have already a selection of soft knit ballet skirts for all of the above!!!

Ta DA! 

 

Cottage Opening: Preparations!

Since I have the objective of not wasting a minute of beach time running Route 1 errands, for weeks I have been gathering the beachy-cottage "must haves" to last until October 31st!

I've gathered the basic items for the laundry, outdoor shower, bathroom, and the kitchen.  I've not yet shopped for the basic pantry items.   I'll do that the week before opening.

I've shopped for the entire season's needs of lip balms and sunscreen!  A fortune!

I collected the season's worth of skin care creams and lotions, and cosmetics.

I collected the hair demands: shampoos and hair pins/clips and such.

I've shopped for swimsuits, clothes, and jewelry, ...... but my new beach hat hunt still eludes me.  I'm after "Slogger" hats, the soft-woven ones...... but my usual stores this season refuse to re-stock!!!!!

This week I also set the dates for the De-Winterizing, for Spring Cleaning, and Spring Lawn Clean-up!

Last season's arrival was a bit upsetting as the refrigerator had died...... and woah, did it take some doing to make the replacement.  Three weekends without a refrigerator, living out a cooler with melting ice, is not something I want to repeat.

I'm ready Beach-Cottage!  I'll be there soon!

Beach Blessings,

Beachy-Life and Handbag Logistics!

Oooh, the Summer Handbag Logistics! 

 I've worked it out, but I am always eyeing "street solutions"!

I travel to the cottage with my "everyday" favorite which holds a house and more.

Once at the cottage: out come the selections.  I'm very form follows function....... but the bag has to please and amuse the eye, and be a pleasure to feel and hold.

The vintage-y, almost-preppy flat-bottom straw basket gets tons of use for day-time errand shopping.  It holds my sunglasses, thrown in keys and small wallet, lip balm, and my notepad and pen. 

My minimal-design, smooth-straw, tiny wristlet gets play for fun nights out.  Key here is that it does not need to hold my bulky sunglass case!  The wrist strap can covert end-to end, like a normal bag.  Bonus points here as the handle can be hooked to the bar chair or rail.

The favorite going-out bag, for when it must hold the sunglasses, goes to a sexy-ruched-shaped, soft black leather bag with a tassel trimmed small handle! It fits perfectly under my arm.

Birding and outdoor adventures? It ain't camo-covered, but my hot-pink backpack works!

I do admire the fancy going-out backpack solution........ but it just seems too sweaty for  going-out clothes!

Hung on metal flower hooks, the cute handbags serve double duty decorating my bedroom walls!

Beach Blessings,

What Would Venus Wear? Earrings!

Each new Beach Season I look forward to adding at least one new earring to my collection.

You would think this would be easy..... but I have certain requirements.  The earring must say, "Summer", and signal my boho-glam beach-combing-ethic. 

 As well I need a gold wire earring ( lever-back preferred ) which is easy and light-enough to wear for the travel, hold up to a weekend of activities, and be light-hearted and fun-enough for evening wear.

 The earring must be compelling in beauty but simple in concept.  Anything too glitzed-out just looks like too much make-up piled on under bad lighting.

I'm not looking for anything too expensive in case it is lost to ocean and sand, or would not hold up to the effects of such.

My choices seem to have the color white as a threading theme.  White jade, fresh water pearl, mother-of pearl, rock crystal all speak to that thrill of finding the just found conch shell!  The white color plays nicely off my Summer tan and seem to make my look a bit more crisp even if I'm melting from the humidity.

Venus says: go find your beauty!  Go find your Summer earrings!