Return from the beach

I hope you didn't miss my posts too much over the past week. I was at the beach with my family for the week. It is a 25+ year tradition and we've got it down to a science now. The food and the drinks are the main focus of our trip with a couple daily swims in the ocean tossed in. OH, I can't forget to mention my annual quest for East Carolina BBQ, which is my favorite form of BBQ in the world!

The first night of food, which we walked into late so I may not have the items quite right, included pesto pasta, tomato salad (tomatoes, oil, and garlic), mixed greens with apple, nuts, and blue cheese, and shrimp sauteed with wine and garlic. Sunday was my husband's and my night to cook. He whipped up 20+ chile rellenos, which is a crazy sort of roasting, peeling, stuffing, and deep frying process. We also had calabacitas (recipe in the next post), shrimp with a spicy dry rub, and a green salad with a salsa buttermilk dressing. Monday night arrived with a paella prepared by my uncle (and a host of support chefs and fire tenders) on a charcoal grill beneath the beach house with only the ocean breeze to combat. Accompanying the paella we had shrimp (see the pattern: shrimp, shrimp, shrimp) and my aunt's aioli. Tuesday night my brother and his wife prepared pulled pork bbq using a pork butt from a pig raised by friends of theirs. Along with the pork we had cole slaw, corn muffins, and sweet potatoes. Don't be alarmed, we had plenty of shrimp for appetizers! Wednesday night we had a pasta and bean dish served over greens with beautiful grape tomatoes. And the shrimp that night was jerked by my sister! Thursday welcomed another paella-like production for the fideau, which is pasta instead of rice prepared like a paella. With that we had a tomato salad, hoisin shrimp, aioli and bread to soak it all up. And Friday night we intended to eat leftovers but my husband made batter for shrimp cakes and cheddar bay biscuits (think Red Lobster but BETTER!). And my aunt added gambas al ajillo and lentil salad to the menu. What a delicious end to a wonderful week of eating!

And lest anyone worry that we weren't eating other meals there was a daily breakfast spread of eggs, bacon/sausage, potatoes, tomatoes, and muffins. Lunch usually involved leftovers or a trip out for BBQ. And appetizers included shrimp with their shells on grilled in a hot, dry skillet for a few minutes each side 'til just done and served with cocktail sauce and on one lucky night we get my aunt's beer battered shrimp, which we have little battles over no matter how many she prepares!