On first glance you'd see this pan of olive oil glistening vegetables and think they're nothing out of the ordinary. Just some zucchini, carrots, and snap peas going into the oven to roast for dinner, right?
Wrong!!! They're itty bitty baby vegetables. My mom picked up 2 bags of them for only 99¢ each on the reduced produce rack. The baby zucchinis were SO cute, only about the size of okra. They tasted normal, but it even got the kids excited and they asked to try some during serving.
The shrimp, however, were not itty bitty! My dad picked these up at a sale, buying up the store's whole supply and packaging them for the downstair's freezer. They're 16/20 count, which means it takes 16-20 of these shrimp to equal a pound. Big fellas!!!
Starting bottom left and going clockwise, dinner that night was grilled shrimp, roasted cauliflower, roasted mini veggies, grilled corn on the cob, couscous, grilled tuna, and grilled mahi mahi. I was in heaven!Ready for some touristy photos? Here's the view to the north and the view to the south of the beach right by my parents' house, and where we spent most of this day.
(North, with remnants of a fishing pier that was severely damaged during Hurricane Isabel)
(South, with throngs and throngs of sun-bathing tourists!)
Which helps explain the weird sunburn which covered various parts of the right side of my body.
My mom is also in the habit of waking up at 5am to walk with a good friend of hers on the beach for an hour and a half to two hours every morning. The kids and I joined her and it was unique to see the shore at that hour, without the usual hustle and bustle of beach activity!
We found some seaglass...
...and also some washed up "goodies" that are usually gone by later in the day.
This particular morning was pretty cloudy, so we didn't have a true "sun rise," but I still think the pictures came out beautiful with the hidden sun reflecting off the calm water.
If you live by the water, or plan on vacationing by the water I highly recommend getting up early at least one of the mornings to try a walk like this! I lived less than a mile from this beach for almost 17 years and had never experienced it from this perspective until this past trip!
Thanks for those photos! It brought back great memories of summer vacations my family spent there!
ReplyDeleteWe would at least once, go down to the beach before sun rise and watch the sun come up. You are right, super peaceful!
oh I love the beach. We have so many glaciers that the ocean less than 5 miles from us is silty and muddy. You can't go there w/o getting stuck.
ReplyDeleteThe food looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteI can just imagine the taste of those giant shrimps.:)~
Beautiful! My kids would have loved the baby veggies, too.
ReplyDeleteJenn, I still can't get over the fact that you guys vacationed just a skip away from my house! Such a small world!
ReplyDeleteLaura, that stinks! But the views in my backyard look nothing like the views in yours so I'm not THAT upset for you! ;)
Manila, Welcome to blogging! The shrimp, when they're that big taste more like a lobster, really hearty and tender.
Nowheymama, isn't that funny? I'll have to keep that trick up my sleeve when I have kids of my own? Don't like carrots - well how about these BABY ones? :)
I love baby vegetables like that!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the pics - even with the clouds! In my book, you can't have too many pictures of clouds, sunsets, sunrises and trees!
Hee hee! I love those cute little vegetables.
ReplyDeleteAnd eee! That sun burn looks painful! I hope they're healed by now.
Thankfully when I get burned it usually fades within a day or two. The annoying part is peeling later, but I can usually head that off with tons of lotion! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Biz! Of the ones I took on the trip, those are some of my favorite- overcast and all!