A day of shopping and dining in town and on the boards in OCNJ

Hey OCNJ fans, There’s a new restaurant in the heart of downtown:  Nonna’s at 755 Asbury Avenue.  In this week’s Gazette, there was a B1G1 coupon (good until Nov 16 if you still want to go!)  My hubby and I decided to try it Saturday night, and we were not disappointed.  We left our house around 6:00 and walked the 3 blocks, arriving to find the dining area half full – which is not bad in the off-season.  Our server was attentive, and we had our meal and were out of there by 7:00.  We both had the chicken parmigiana - my hubby had his with a side of spaghetti, and I had mine with the other side selection, red roasted potatoes and broccoli.  The chicken was so tender you could cut it with a butter knife and the broccoli had a buttery garlic sauce that made it absolutely scrumptious.  Our bill after the coupon was not even $11!   We left feeling satisfied but not over-stuffed.  This was the perfect ending to a great day in Ocean City, a day filled with shopping bargains at a Somers Point church rummage sale (where I got my best buys), downtown sidewalk sales (something for me and something for Christmas gifts so I can’t tell about that), and boardwalk off-season buys (to decorate my beach theme table at the church Christmas tea).  My best buys of the day:  a Pampered Chef small spatula server for 5 cents, kitchen shears for $1, and a table cover that I hope matches my family room chair back in PA.   Let the holiday bargain shopping begin!

What a Difference a Week Makes!

Last Sunday I was sitting on the beach in a tank top.  This Sunday my hubby and I had to scrap thick ice from our windshield for the short drive to church.  While there was ice but no snow in OC, back home in PA there was snow in our area of Chester County, and lots where my mom lives near Allentown – still no electric up there for the second day.  After our stroll on the boardwalk and a piece of Mack and Manco pizza, my hubby and I drove home Sunday afternoon to find only a light coating of snow that remained on our yard.  It seems strange to be saying “Happy Halloween” while looking at the snow.

A Glorious Fall Weekend in OCNJ

Now that my hubby is a realtor in OC, we see each other less so we try to make the most of our time together.  This weekend we did just that, and the weather cooperated nicely!  On Friday night we had dinner at a local favorite, Mario’s, on Bay Ave – the service was unusually slow, but the food was excellent as usual.  We took a cool evening walk to the boardwalk, going past the high school football game at the stadium and commenting how nice it must be to live here in the off-season as we walked the deserted boards, then came back the deserted main street of town and lamented how sad it was that everything was closed so early on a Friday night.  Saturday morning the weather was perfect for biking to a “tear-down” sale and a few yard sales which were all on the north end.   I couldn’t resist the sand-looking Yankee Candle tart warmer with a tart for only $3!  That afternoon, we spent a few hours cleaning the house in preparation for our dinner guests, but we did take about an hour to sit and enjoy the sun in our backyard.   Then the food preparation began – we decided to do a soup and salad night since we had not had most of our guests over for dinner and were not sure what everyone would like.  Our menu:  black bean chili, pumpkin soup, gourmet mac and cheese, spinach salad with craisins, Caesar salad, beer bread, Italian bread, and hot mulled wine.  Our guests brought a pumpkin roll, cookies (on a fish plate I could keep – hooray) and wine for dessert.  Everyone declared the food yummy, seemed to enjoy the conversation, and stayed for a few hours.  My hubby and I thought the evening was a success and look forward to doing it again with our OC friends.     After a late night of clean-up, we slept in on Sunday morning.  It was an even more beautiful day than yesterday so we went for a walk, ate some left-overs, then headed to the beach for a couple of hours of reading.  I couldn’t believe I was comfortable in a tank top and shorts.  It was wonderful, but I feel a little sunburned on my face.  As the air began to cool, we decided to go back to the house for our bikes and ride the boardwalk which was very busy today.  There were haywagon rides and trick-or-treating at the boardwalk stores so there were lots of children running about in costumes.  If you’ve never been to Ocean City in the Fall, pick a weekend and go – it’s our favorite time of year at the beach.

Fun new friends and a fun new game

At our beach house this weekend we hosted, for the first time, some of the young adult group from our church.  This was a nice change from the other church group we have hosted for the past few years – the 8th graders.  For one, this group brought some excellent food, beverages, and adult conversation.  For another, they taught us a new game, “The Best New Game Ever” which I can’t wait to play with any large group that comes to the house.  Basically, you have one minute to get your partner to figure out the five five-word-or-less sentences or phrases on the paper you randomly choose from a selection written by the game players.   When you don’t get them all, you throw the paper back in and just keep going around, switching turns and randomly choosing papers until all of the papers are guessed and won (once your partner says all of the phrases, they then have to say them all again without the clue giver speaking, only pantomiming, to help the partner remember the 5 in order.  One minute really goes quickly!  Try it at your next party – I would recommend you have at least 4 couples to make this work well.  We randomly assigned partners to help us get to know each other and to make it more fun.    My hubby and his partner did well in the first game and tied for first.   But game 2 and 3 belonged to me and my 2 partners – we were even able to get 2 sets of five done in one round – unheard of!  Thanks new friends for teaching us this fun game and for sharing a fun weekend with us.

Another ghost sighting at our house – really!

My hubby and I have had this house for years and never had anyone suggest they felt something or saw something until this year. I’ve already blogged about the first person to sense something in our living room. Now a second person has reported a feeling and a vision. This second person is new in our life and does not know anything about the first person’s ghost sighting. Our visitor just happened to ask my hubby if we had a cat as he thought maybe he caught a glimpse of one in the living room, then he stated he didn’t really believe in ghosts, but he did seem to be sensitive to things and thought he smelled a cherry pipe and saw a gentleman in the bay window.  My hubby also said this person had a similar reaction to the first person who felt odd when walking into the room, goosebumps and hair standing up on his arms.  I honestly don’t know what to think.  Maybe we need to call ghosthunters.

A Beautiful September Weekend in OC

Gorgeous! That’s the best word to describe this beautiful weekend between the weekday raindrops in OC.  Saturday was a day filled with my favorite things.  My hubby and I started the morning with successful treasure-hunting at yard sales around town.  An overcast sky made for comfortable traveling weather.  We came home and made an excellent late-morning breakfast of omelets, fried potatoes, and muffins, and ate on the deck as the skies cleared. Yeah!  Beach here we come.  We stayed at the beach all afternoon, first taking in the hot-rod show at the 5th street parking lot, then reading away the day.  We came back to the house for a quick jump in the pool and a refreshing Grape Ice in a bottle.  Then we headed off to Sea Isle City for the evening.  Our top-down convertible drive from OC to SIC only took 30 minutes on Ocean Drive because there was no traffic which was wonderful.  We had a $25 coupon that we bought for $2 from Restaurants.com for Marie’s Lobster House. Marie’s doesn’t look like much from the street side, but when you get inside and sit at the heavily-varnished picnic tables on the water, prepare yourself for a palate-pleasing delight.  Our meal was fabulous!  I had the best crab-cakes ever! They are best described as jumbo lump crab imperial baked inside a firm ball of breadcrumb crust.  Yummy!  My hubby also raved about his meal - half a 2 lb. lobster stuffed with crab imperial.  From the bread to the Caesar salad to the sides to the main course, everything was delicious (although my hubby did say his crispy fries were a little cold).  After our scrumptious meal we decided to stroll on the promenade by the ocean for a bit and head down to the main strip on JFK Boulevard.  There we were pleased to find a band getting ready to play at the free open-air concert area.  The band, Masquerade, was awesome and we stayed for the whole show from about 8 to 9:45.  They played a great variety of family-friendly music, some 60s, 70s, 80s, and pop (lots of tunes we know from GLEE).  They had a 4 piece brass section which really made the sound fabulous and the singers were entertaining and terrific.   My hubby and I fell into bed exhausted, sated, and happy from a fun-filled day.

The 3B’s of Summer

Today is Labor Day, the unofficial last day of summer when it comes to beach time.  We had a relaxing weekend with family and friends full of the 3 B‘s:  beach, boardwalk and biking.  Now it is time to come to terms with the reality of another 3 B’s:  back to PA, back to school, and back to work.  But there are still a lot of awesome 3B weekend activities coming up in Ocean City.   Next weekend, September 10,  the street rods will be on display and cruising the boardwalk.  On Sunday, September 18th, you can sit on the beach and watch the air show.  The weather is usually great and the water is usually still warm.  Then the following Sunday there is a huge corvette show on the boardwalk.   But by far one of my favorite events of the year, and another B, is the Fall Block Party in October.  Asbury Avenue is closed to traffic from the Tabernacle to 14th Street, and the cars are replaced with craft and food vendors.  There’s live music scattered about and fun things for kids to do.  It’s a great time to start your holiday shopping.  Of course, fall is also a great time for biking to open houses around town as we did this morning.  Today we saw a gorgeous, six bedroom one,  so if you’ve got 3 million dollars you’re just itching to spend, check out 515 East Atlantic.  So while summer may be unofficially over, there are still plenty of things for me to blog about from Ocean City, NJ! (Hey, that’s another B!)