Rambling: Simmer in Summer

...Glaze Yourself in Sunshine

It's summer. My first summer as a 9-5er. Do I celebrate my employment? Sure. Do I love the fact that I live and work on the same block? Maybe. Am I a nostalgic mess for those summers of the past? Summers full of messy ice cream cones, drippy popsicles, and my God, Airheads at the pool? (the chewy long things, not the people)....1,ooo times, yes. Geez. I remember when I was little, my mother used to grab my ice cream cone and lick around the edges to "clean it up," since it would undoubtedly be dripping down my hands. I am lukewarm about adulthood.

Don't worry though. Adulthood has its perks. Take champagne on the beach. Now, that is something I couldn't do as a child. Take...oh. Well, that's it. Okay, moving on from that then. Really though, the beach is my place. Summer means the beach--no matter what age you are. For sure. I have countless memories of visiting my grandparents in Florida and going to Jacksonville Beach. I have just as many of my family and I going to the beach in North Carolina. Summer after summer. In NJ, the beach is not the beach. It is in fact, the shore, and it is the closest I have ever lived to any beach. This is a perk. I visited the Jersey Shore for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was fantastic. Steph, Kara, Carrie, and I piled into the car and in an hour, we were at Sea Girt. We drank champagne on the beach (which was not allowed. oops), and we momentarily forgot we were not on summer vacation.

I had been listening to Steph rave about the mini burgers and cheap seafood for weeks before I finally understood. As soon as the sky began to get cloudy, we packed up and headed to Parker House. It was already beginning to get busy when we arrived around 4 p.m., but we found a nice little spot downstairs. We ordered mini burgers and steak burgers for $1.75 a piece. The clams were .25 cents a piece. Observe the deliciousness... And then comes the best holiday of the year. Who doesn't love the 4th of July? It is the only holiday where all you are supposed to do is eat and hangout. Okay, so maybe this is all that is required of you on Thanksgiving, but seriously. Yay, Independence Day. The Edwardses' house (there has been much debate over how to make their last name plural...i.e. Carrie and Keaton), is about five blocks from mine in Hoboken, and we were all gathering there for eats and such. There was quite a spread, but this isn't everything...

Beware of watermelon. May contain vodka.

I have come to the conclusion that I am not a fan of fondant. It tastes fake-ish. Like gum. Like the when toothpaste hardens at the top of the tube. I know. I'm harsh. I think it's easier to manipulate than buttercream, and I suppose it won't melt in the heat. Apparently, I am taking a passionate stance on fondant. Who knew. I brought this cake home from Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken. I spent the previous morning in the bakery kitchen with Buddy Valastro, the master baker (there really should be another way to say that) -- this my friends, is a whole other story. However, notice the fondant stars. Yes, I cut those out myself. woo. I'm amazing. How patriotic.

Keaton went to a lot of trouble to get their backyard in shape. I believe there was even some "pruning" of trees. Or was it bushes? Their apartment is the one on the second level with the Christmas lights.

We watched the fireworks from Stevens Institute, which is on the Hudson in Hoboken. This is a blurry, but cool picture of Lower Manhattan - or it's the only one that turned out at all. The fireworks (according to the July 4th edition of The Times, all 75,000 lbs of them) were actually on Kent Avenue in Brooklyn, so this is what we could see from where they were on the East River. When we were walking home we could see them from Midtown as well.