Beerologists and connoisseurs were in hops heaven at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ this Sunday. There were more food trucks, and the make your own Bloody Mary bar was well stocked and attended too, but there was a pub-like under current running through the venue as well.
The vegetable gardens this season have become a mixed bag of problems and prodigious produce. Colorado potato beetles have turned up and devoured one of our tomato plants. The words ewww and ick came out of me several times. However, other plants are a goldmine of green for the kitchen.
Writing about food can give you some unique opportunities. Sent to cover a local restaurant that would be featured on a major news show in the near future, I went in with low expectations. Thinking the news team would consider me in the way, the experience was completely to the contrary.
Mother Nature has been very nice to the Jersey Shore area so far this summer. The gardens are producing an amazing bounty of squash, tomatoes, green beans and peppers.
Hitting all of the high notes on otherwise shaky ground, my husband opted to wine and dine me into my new decade. His plan to distract with food and champagne was brilliant.
