The food I ate at the beach
The time has come to talk about my memories of beach food, which frankly are pretty grim. I'm not referring to the good meals I've had on the Sun when I've been sent across the Bay Bridge for our beach guides. I mean the food at the southern beaches like Pawleys Island, S.C., I went to as a child.
I've already mentioned catching crabs for my mother to boil. (I said steamed before, but I'm pretty sure she threw them in boiling water.) I never tried them, but I do remember the time a bunch of them got loose on the kitchen floor. Nasty. It's amazing I love steamed crabs as much as I do now. ...
As faithful readers know, my childhood was spent mostly in Tennessee, and the only seafood I ever had was Mrs. Paul's fish sticks. My parents probably ate shrimp and catfish, but we were never given any.
When we went to the beach, we didn't eat out much. In fact, I've quoted my mother before, who said vacations as far as she was concerned simply meant a change of sinks.
I also remember gigging for flounder with my father. But I was so horrified that one eye had migrated to the other side of the fish's face I could never have eaten them. It creeped me out.
My favorite drink at the beach was something one of my parent's friends who stayed with us made one time. He mixed a couple of spoonfuls of frozen pineapple juice concentrate into tonic water and called it "angel spit." My brother and I probably loved it so much because of the name.
And that's all I remember about food at the beach. Whatever else we ate, it wasn't as interesting as Thrasher's fries and salt water taffy, but then Pawleys Island didn't have a boardwalk.
(Photo courtesy of the town of Pawleys Island's Web site)
Comments
I remember going to Betterton on the old ship the Bay Belle. We used to stay at the Chesapeake Hotel, an old wooden structure on the tiny boardwalk. We ate most of our dinners at tbe Rigby Hotel which I remember as a grand place high on a grassy hill over looking the harbor. I remember having to dress in Sunday School clothes for dinner. The food was good, softcrabs, crabcakes, rock fish, fresh corn and other veggies.
In the distance you could hear the exploding shells from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds located accross the bay.
I have many good memories of summers spent in Betterton.
Posted by: Jack | June 16, 2009 11:48 AM
Shrimpburgers. The Shrimp Shack, St. Helena Island (formerly Frogmore), east of Beaufort.
Posted by: Alexander D. Mitchell IV | June 16, 2009 2:21 PM
Summer days are for cold food. Fruit and cottage cheese for breakfast. Sandwhiches and pasta salads for lunch. Ice cream. Hot food only at dinner, inside, after sundown. These are the things that have stayed with me to this day.
But its fair to say my drink of choice has changed. Back then, I didn't know what a Dark & Stormy was.
Posted by: Frequent Little Italy Restaurant Visitor | June 16, 2009 2:48 PM
Hula Pie
http://www.leilanis.com/index.cfm?siteID=2
(Click on picture on right-hand side of the page, under "What is Hula Pie?")
Posted by: Bucky | June 16, 2009 2:57 PM
I'm getting a blank screen in response to "What Is Hula Pie?" I think I was actually in Whalers Village - we walked up the beach from our hotel - is there a Whaling Museum in Whalers Village?
Posted by: Eve | June 16, 2009 4:10 PM
Growing up in NJ, our trips to the shore were daytrips. We took a picnic lunch that was probably cheeses sandwiches, my mother not being all that imaginative.
Posted by: Eve | June 16, 2009 4:12 PM
Gigging! I used to go frog gigging with my grandfather. This entailed stabbing them through the back with a pike and putting them into a bag. I have to know: is that
how you gig flounder?
Yup. EL
Posted by: Skewed Tomato | June 16, 2009 4:30 PM
Eve - it works for me, so I'm not sure what to tell you. Maybe hit Shift - little curvy arrow button. ;-)
Yeah, I think there is a museum in Whaler's Village, but it's mostly boutique shops and, on the western (beach) edge, Lalani's and the Hula Grill.
Posted by: Bucky | June 16, 2009 5:31 PM
The things I remember about Pawley's Island: The best she crab soup in the world, the wonderful rope hammocks, and Mother's shriekes when we would say "Help, help" when she put the crabs in the boiling water.
Posted by: Brother Bim | June 16, 2009 6:56 PM
Bucky, I suspect IT sabotage.
Posted by: Eve | June 17, 2009 9:22 AM
Eve - I think you may be on the right track.
Posted by: Bucky | June 17, 2009 9:37 AM