July 27th 2025
Menu
This week we celebrated Peach’s 40th (!) birthday! He has been requesting a beach bonfire for weeks so we finally made it happen! The menu was entirely conceived and executed by the birthday boy himself. He even made and maintained the fire 🔥
Also heavily featured on my camera roll now are approximately 300 photos of Panda in human clothing enjoying the beach 🏖️
Shrimp Skewers
The huge (I think 10-14) shrimp were marinated in herbs, a little bit of lemon juice to kick off the cooking process and all the seasonings. They were expertly attached to the skewers by Peach’s friend Cassie. Every one got to cook their own - dinner and an activity!
Seafood Chowder
The chowder base was a broth (made with the shells from the shrimp), spinach, potatoes and corn. Once we got the whole thing simmering on the fire, Peach added dover sole and scallops and topped it all with a splash of milk. A warm chowder on a chilly Nor-Cal beach was absolute perfection 👌🏻 We served it with crusty bread - specifically a seeded baguette that had fennel seeds which really brought a whole new flavor dimension to the (literal) party 🎉
S’mores
It wouldn’t be a beach bonfire without s’mores!
Baked Apples
And it wouldn’t be a Sunday Dinner if I didn’t make a dessert - so I cored apples (granny smith and honey crisp) and filled them with oats, maple syrup, salted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice). We wrapped the apples in tin foil and let them cook over the fire for ~30 minutes. The result was a delicious applesauce inspired treat!