Summer Food Favorites

It’s a scorcher out there! Of course I chose yesterday, in all of its 88 degree glory, to do my first outdoor run since the Boston Marathon. I have been focusing on mostly strength workouts and a few spinning classes, but the urge to run struck me and I went with it. It was sooo not pleasant! I didn’t mind the heat at all. In fact it felt really good to have the blood coursing through my veins again and to get a good sweaty workout in. But the air was awful! It felt so smoggy, and there were big, fluffy bits of pollen everywhere. Gotta get those workouts in to get ready for the beach, though, right! Have you started to do anything different to get in shape for summer? I am considering Healthworks’ Beach Body Bootcamp. . .

Now on to the food part of this post 🙂

I love summer salads, corn on the cob, veggie burgers, and fresh fruit, but I also find plenty of time to eat some not-so-healthy summer favorites. This past weekend at the Coastal Wine Trail kickoff (Part 1 & Part 2), it really felt like the start of summer, and we certainly kicked the season off right.

We started at the Box Lunch. The Box Lunch is a summer tradition, and it is always the first place we stop in Provincetown. And I always get the same thing, a whole wheat rollwich with swiss and provolone, tomatoes, sprouts, lettuce, avocado, onion, and hot peppers.  Eaten on a blanket on the beach, Box Lunch might just be one of my favorite summer lunches 🙂

Another thing that I ate plenty of on Sunday were raw oysters. Some people hate them, but I totally crave oysters. Add some spicy cocktail sauce and lemon or a shallot mignonette, and I could easily eat a couple dozen of these!

On our way home from the wine festival, we stopped at Moby Dick’s in Wellfleet, MA.

Freshly shucked oysters

And a whole belly fried clam plate. I love my fried seafood! If the batter is light, and the seafood is fresh, it is just perfect. Paired with tartar sauce and crispy fries, this meal tastes like summer. I also love fried scallops, oysters, and shrimp, for the record.

Checkered tablecloths and a pretty view made it taste even better. As we started driving off of the Cape, I had an urge for something sweet. Enter another summer favorite and a childhood tradition. Even though I grew up in NJ, we spent time many summers in Centerville, MA, and we always went to Four Seas Ice Cream. Four Seas is an old style ice cream shop, and they serve up homemade ice cream in many scrumptious flavors.

Four Seas has a lot of history as one of America’s most famous families frequent it every summer. We saw members of the Kennedy clan a few times over the years, stopping in for ice cream from their nearby Hyannisport compound.

Being at Four Seas always brings back memories and made me a little emotional this time. I had what I have always had, banana ice cream with hot fudge, almonds, and whipped cream. I love all of the contrast of this dish, the homemade hot fudge, cold ice cream, crunchy almonds. It is the perfect summer dessert. And of course it tastes better when you had sand on your feet and a little bit of a sunburn from being out all day 🙂 It truly is like being a kid again.

 Now you tell me, what is your favorite summer treat?

If you have a second, this week I have guest posts on both of these sites, one on Gundlach Bundschu Tempranillo and the other on Travessia Pinot Grigio plus a yummy summer salad:

http://thefoodpassport.com/people.html

http://www.winelife365.com/byob-meghan-brings-tempranillo