August 27, 2009
So on Monday I watched how the sausage and peppers are made. The secret is in the slow cooking. I have made them myself on many occasions, but they never tasted quite like Aunt Marie's. I took about 15 or 20 minutes to cook mine, she took about 2 ½ hours. Now I know. And boy did it all taste good!!
On Tuesday we gathered some stuff and headed for the house down at the shore. I have not been there since the 1970s. Bill had never been there, and of course Heather had not been born yet the last time I was there.
We took Babe, the little white fluffball dog, with us. She would've missed Marie terribly if she'd been left at the house. She had a tendency to get carsick, so I covered my lap with a big towel and had a pile of napkins with me just in case. She made it almost to the house when she threw up. No harm done, except that poor Babe was a bit jittery for the rest of the day as she got used to a new environment. Bill and I took her out for many long walks in the couple of days we were there. She was fine after awhile.
Everything was so built up. When I was last there, the house was new and there were not as many houses there. Now there are lagoons and houses everywhere. But it was nice to be there again.
On Wednesday we went to Long Beach Island and the Barnegat Light. We walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed the view. Bill took lots of photos. Marie and Babe sat under the gazebo and Babe happily accepted a bunch of attention from the kids that walked by.
Later we went and got some amazingly excellent New Jersey pizza. The crust was just right—nice and floppy. And Bill and I split a sub. That was just right, too. It was a real Italian sub, not the sort of pseudo-Italian ones I've been eating for the past decades :-)
On Thursday we went home and again Babe almost made it before she got sick.
Poor little puppy—her day got even worse after that as she got a bath, which she hates. Then she got a blow dry, but not her head—she puts her foot down about that! Tomorrow I will try my hand at sausage and peppers.
