One of my favorite parts of being ocean-side is beach eating.

Like freshly plucked from the sea, steamer clams thrown straight onto the grill until they pop open.

Warming up with friends and throwing back a cold one.

Is there anything better on the planet than smores?

How about a toasty marshmallow sandwiched between two girl scout thin mints?  Cannot get any better.

And what is more fun than a good ole fashioned pizzeria, like Chicos in Long Beach, WA complete with old school salad bar and arcade games for the kiddos.

And finally, would you like some luscious salt water taffy served in old fashioned barrels?  Everything tastes a little better by the ocean, don’t cha think?

Happy Saturday!

Sometimes all you need is a little getaway for a siesta from the daily grind and routine.

So we decided: road trip.  Driving down southwest and over to Hwy 101 through forests that look like scenes from the movie The Lorax, on we went down to Long Beach, Washington.

Located on none other than Long Beach Peninsula.

Beach weather or not, there is something restorative about being on a beach.

The weather lends itself perfectly to flying a kite.  The annual kite flying festival is usually held the 3rd week in August.

Being able to drive on the beach is awesome (this privilege is a fringe season benefit that ends April 15)

Which is also handy for the brave and hearty Northwestern surfers.

Skookum Surf Co. is the cool surf shop in town and they offer lessons.

The slow pace and sometimes ticky-tack dynamic is part of the fun of being in town.

And if seeing the world’s largest frying pan is on your bucket list, you can cross it off.

No visit to town is complete without a stop into Marsh’s Free Museum.  I had wondered why I had seen these bumper stickers around town…

Yup, Jake The Alligator Man lives here.

My photo doesn’t do it justice, but it is quite the sight, let me tell you.  Deep down we all love the circus freak acts, don’t we?

Town offers all kinds of family fun, like go carts, vroom, vroom!

Horseback rides (which you can take on the beach)…carousels, arcades and more.  My kids thought they had died and gone to heaven.  Of course when they are happy, I’m happy.

But when it’s my turn, I loved checking out the brand newly refurbished Adrift Hotel.

Located conveniently by the beach and town.  Offering free beach cruisers for guests,

tasteful and re-purposed decor like shelving, banquettes and tables made out of cranberry (there are several cranberry bogs in the area) crates, cute. Games and DVD’s to loan while staying.

And you know how I love driftwood!

But all good parents are obligated to provide a little history and culture for their kiddos.

So we completed the trip with a visit to Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center (AKA Museum), located at Cape Disappointment, named as such because shifting sands would create shallow conditions that would cause ship wrecks.

It’s fascinating what they endured along that trail.

Oh and of course a light house for bringing ships safely home,

that you really should get up close and personal with.  That’s all for now, but I do  have more…so come back soon.

Special thanks to our wonderful friends A&C and family who shared this special place with us. 

Oh the pressure when the blog backlog starts to occur…and I’ve got some special, new stuff just bursting to come out, so I really must update.  But first, a quick game of catch up.  I promised an Easter posting, and since our meal was so delicious and easy to recreate, thought I should still get it out there, even though I’m sure the last of the Easter grass and basket remnants are soon on their way out from most of your homes.

I couldn’t resist these silly potato heads discovered at the Farmer’s Market.

Last Sunday, we knew that we wanted to do something different from the typical Easter ham.  So when we went to Skagit River Ranc‘ stand at our market and landed on some lovely pasture raised Berskshire pork chops, a simple recipe for  Juicy Buttermilk Pork Chops by one of our favorite local Chefs, Maria Hines, was the answer.

I’m a sucker for recipes that require just a few quality ingredients and not much tedious prep.  This one hits the mark.  You (not you, but you know, the chops–though it would be fun to bathe in buttermilk:) are basically marinating in buttermilk for a few hours before cooking, then doing a simple sear and oven roast.  Easy peasy.  He also made an amazing sauce but that one is an original and for the vault.  All chefs need to keep some for themselves:)

Asparagus is a pretty typical Easter fare, we went with it not because of tradition, but because they looked great at the market.  We simply trimmed, coated with olive oil, salt and pep. and threw on grill for some appealing grill lines.  Then we wrapped the spears with prosciutto.  Easy and pretty–bingo.

I had always heard that if made right, mashed cauliflower can be as tasty as mashed potatoes, so that was my request.  The Chef de Cuisine, a.k.a. my husband, created his own recipe: he boiled a head of cauli.,  then put in the food processor with chicken stock, cream cheese, roasted garlic and rosemary until pureed.  They were delish, the kids went for them with zero resistance.

Everyone else wanted scalloped potatoes as well, so that was served up too– Chefie riffed off an oldie but goodie Martha Stewart recipe.

And finally the flowers.  When our local markets are starting to look more and more like this:Flowers cannot be ignored.  I was able to purchase one bundle of double creamy white daffys ($6 bucks), and add them to the left over purple and gold birthday flowers along with some gorgeous viburnum (that were being thrown out, and I asked to have/rescue)

Quick kitchen work session…

And Voila!

Mixing all different shaped vessels and compositions make it interesting.

I take this flower stuff seriously, as you can see.

I hope you had a great holiday and are enjoying Spring.  More from me soon, I promise.

It’s a sunny Saturday (which is lessening the blow that we aren’t going somewhere warm and sunny for break) So much more enjoyable to prep for a holiday with the sun shining.

This is me and a sharpie in my yard, soaking it in and zoning out crafting.

Ta daaa.  Can’t wait to share more of our Easter meal dets. with you all.

A girl only turns 4 once, why not go all out for one’s “golden birthday?”   Tangled was the request, so the Birthday Girl got “entangled”  in some fun b-day detail.

Homemade baked goods are always a plus.  This project was actually easy, I made a dozen or so cupcakes, iced most yellow (just added some yellow coloring to whipped icing) a few chocolate and some strategic placement and we POOF we have Rapunzel’s golden hair.

Setting a festive table is also a birthday bonus.

For the entertainment portion of the birthday party we gathered some of our best little buddies at our favorite local nail spa, Madison Avenue Nail Spa for little girl mani pedis.  And you’ll never guess what was playing on the DVD???  Entangled and entranced…

While being polished, they noshed on some purple snacks like purple M&M’s which I found at The Red Balloon Company, globe grapes, and golden crackers.

Admiring her cake one last time with the other fair haired maidens.

Inspecting their goodie bags.

She may get Disney princess, but I get CHEVRON (nope, still not sick of it, though perhaps a tad over played).  These bags purchased at The Confectionery.

And a final celebration and one more cake while we’re at it (remember you only turn 4 once) at her favorite restaurant, Cactus.  A custom Rapunzel cake made at Madison Park Bakery.

One of our friends picked up on the golden cue, isn’t this wrap awesome?  I was a bit sad when it was ripped open.  She was gifted  enough Rapunzel paraphernalia to keep Disney raking in the gold and rolling in the royalties for quite some time.

Of course all these presents require thank you notes, so we bought simple purple note cards from Target and added a pipe cleaner detail for one last fun Rapunzel touch.

Signed, Mother Knows Best (har har)