The Jersey Shore

On Sunday we headed to Avon to sit on the beach for the day!! YAY for SUN!

(The flags were out in full force since it was Memorial Day Long Weekend.) We lucked out and got the best parking spot right out front!

It started out really nice! It was hot and the water was cool but the wind starting picking up later on and it got a little chilly =(
  All of the houses along this area were SOOOO adorable. I just want to take one back home with me.

  We tried to make Jack into a sand manatee but we were missing some contours.

  

I had a fantastic time at the beach and can’t wait to go back!

Nonna’s

On Saturday night we went for dinner at Nonna’s and decided to split several different entrees.

We had two chicken parms which were deliciously gooey.

The penne vodka (Amanda says you need parm on top because it makes the dish)

The gnocchi carbonara (and the chicken principessa which I forgot to get a picture of).

My favorite was the gnocchi (partly because it was a cream sauce) but the pancetta gave it some amazing flavour. I think they also lightly fried the gnocchi which gave it a better texture. I think I need to try recreating this for the sake of my taste buds.

Jersey Freeze

Jersey Freeze is the place to get ice cream in Marlboro so we had to go.

It’s not very big inside, but there are TONS of pictures of ice cream which I really enjoyed salivating over while in line. These cakes look so pretty.

Apparently soft serve is the way to go!

I ended up trying the banana and the peanut butter and I was very happy with that decision. I don’t think I’ve ever had banana ice cream before and it was very good!

I would definitely go back to Jersey Freeze again and I would have to eat more banana ice cream!

Bagels and Lox

We started our first morning in Marlboro in the best way possible – fresh bagels topped with cream cheese and lox!

This is what 18 fresh bagels looks like. They smelled absolutely fantastic.

A combination of everything, sesame, garlic, cinnamon raisin, a bialy and an egg bagel.

According to Wikipedia, a bialy is “simply baked, and instead of a hole in the middle it has a depression. Before baking, this depression is filled with diced onions and other ingredients, including (depending on the recipe) garlic, poppy seeds, or bread crumbs.”
  Look at those toppings!

  MMMmmm I could eat this for breakfast every morning.

Marlboro, NJ

For the long weekend, Mark, Taylor Jack and I went to Amanda’s home in Marlboro, New Jersey. It isn’t too far away – about one and a half hours.

When we got there, Amanda’s mom made us tacos for dinner and it was pretty fantastic.

We found this old version of Pennopoly which was really cute. They even had Smoke’s on it!

We also played Jenga and Mark showed off his amazing skills.
    

Can’t wait for more adventures in Jersey.

Esperanza Spalding

Liz and I went to see Esperanza Spalding when she was here in Philly and it was absolutely fantastic. She’s an amazing singer and wicked bassist.  Her music was very different from what she usually plays but it was a very interesting performance.

Her outfit was pretty rad too!

    

This is what her normal sound is like:

And this is what her performance in Philly was:

Pretty different huh?

 This is the view from Liz’s window. 

I have fallen in love with this city ❤ 

Pattaya

 On Sunday I went on a lunch date with Liz to Pattaya. I’ve only ever had Pattaya at catered events and haven’t actually been there before. The pad thai, yellow curry and spring rolls are sooooo good. 

  I started with the squid salad which was absolutely delicious but it was super spicy (it had a spicy lime dressing) but the mint was refreshing!

I also had the Panang curry which was absolutely delicious!   

I’ll definitely be back since there are a thousand things that I would like to try!  

Free Popsicles

 Since we didn’t get free ice cream on Monday, Exec Council got the Lil Pop Shop to come on Friday instead!   

Coconute Hibiscus and Vanilla Sprinkles:

  

Sunny and Jae brought their adorable daughter Ria. I think she definitely enjoyed her popsicle (and climbing on the golf cart). 

 

Thank you Exec Council!

Philly’s Night Market

 Last Thursday there was a night market along South and Broad Street, so Mengmeng , Yvonne and I went to see what it was like. 

Even though they advertised it as being like an asian night market, it was nothing like that. It literally was just a giant food truck event which was fun, but not what I was expecting at all. We did try some cool things though! 

Mengmeng had a crab cake sandwich, Yvonne had a cheesesteak, we split mac and cheese bites and I tried some crab cake sliders.          

The food was great but everything was super expensive. It was also packed into a couple of blocks so it ended up being extremely crowded. Fun, but not sure if it was worth it =(