Vacation food is the best kind of food
Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week and that you've eaten some delicious food since we were last together.
I spent last week in Wildwood Crest, where my husband's family has vacationed every summer since my father-in-law was a child. The number of people varies each year, depending on work schedules and time off; this year, there were 14 of us. We traveled from New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania to meet on the beach and revisit traditions: mini golf, boardwalk trips, boogie boarding, seashell hunting, taking turns cooking dinner, and eating ice cream. Lots of ice cream.
Ice cream is a BIG deal on this vacation. First, the kids wait for a night-time visit from a music-blasting ice cream truck, which we track via phone app to make sure we don't miss (oh, technology!). They order cherry-dipped cones, banana splits and soft-serve covered in sprinkles.
Next is a gelato shop we walk to from our hotel. We order creamy bacio, which tastes like Nutella, plus pistachio and strawberry.
Finally, there are sundaes from an ice cream shop just off the boardwalk: I like the chocolate peanut butter with hot fudge.
My family of four has a tradition of our own, which we started to keep that vacation feeling going a little longer after leaving the Crest. We stop for lunch at The Crab House at Two Mile Landing, a waterfront restaurant on Jarvis Sound. We watch boats come and go, sipping lemonade and munching popcorn shrimp and crispy fish sandwiches while talking about our favorite vacation moments.
New this year, we discovered a coffee shop that is sure to become a traditional morning spot. I visited A Little Cafe twice for coconut-flavored cold brew and a giant breakfast sandwich served on a perfectly flaky biscuit. Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, and bring someone to share that sandwich with!
Back home and back to work, I checked out two shops for a fun story on doughnuts by the beach: The Chubby Unicorn Donut Shop in Berkeley Township and Side Door Donuts in Beach Haven. Watch for that story in next week's newsletter.
On next week's agenda: Visits to the new JG Desserts in Toms River, Rosie's in Ocean Gate and Baked on the Beach in Beach Haven.
The cost of dining out
If you've gone out to lately - or bought groceries, for that matter - you're sure to have noticed that prices are up. I noticed this most while writing about lobster rolls this year - the prices were around $5 higher than just a year or two ago.
At Offshore Coffee Co. in Long Branch, avocado toast is $3 more because the price of a case of avocados jumped from $60 to $105 over the past few months, co-owner Jack Campbell said. And a hot or iced latte costs 50 cents more today than it did a few months ago, due to the rising cost of both dairy and plant milks and plastic cups.
"The cost of everything has gone up, and that's across the board," Campbell said. "Our biggest expense was (alternative) milks - we go through a ton of them - and the prices on those change faster than we can change our prices."
I also wanted to know how customers are being affected.
Heidy Fenstermaker of Sea Girt and her husband used to enjoy a nice dinner out at least twice a month.
"We haven't done that since (around) February," she said, adding that her family might go out to eat or order takeout once a week now instead of twice or more, as they did previously.
Jaime Staub of the Manahawkin section of Stafford continues to dine out because doing so is about more than the food.
"Our focus is also to give back to (family-owned restaurants). It is important to remember that even our friends who own more than one restaurant are local families who have worked hard to establish their place and are continuing to give everything to stay open and function," Staub said. "Grace is a beautiful thing to give, and we need to give it more often. The past two years have been extremely difficult. I for one am thankful that my favorites adapted and have survived."
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Vacation food is the best kind of food, don't you think?
