Gym Tan Leah

I’m sandy and slightly sunburnt after a glorious weekend down the shore celebrating Leah’s Bachelorette. I’ve been visiting the Jersey Shore since 2018 and it turns out all of those trips prepared me for planning a wonderful bachelorette. It’s a wonderful place that gets less love than some other local beaches. There was a girl on beach reading Born to Run and she was perfect. It was easy to get to by train and the town of Belmar was so walkable. We had great food and spent lots of time in the ocean. Everyone contributed in different ways, from handmade merch to Leah jeopardy to cooking us all a delicious dinner. I’ve known some Leah’s friends since they were 5 and I was 8 so it was really special to get time together. And we got great weather, which I will never take for granted. I am happy I got my annual Jersey shore time and to celebrate my favorite sister.

I’m excited to be home for a few weeks after so much travel. Our Maine trip ended in an unplanned road trip where I drove over 8 hours to get us home, maybe the most I’ve driven in one day! It was my first time renting a car and Tilden and I covered a lot of ground, musically and conversationally. I’m grateful to be safe and sound on my couch with Este.

For paid subscribers, Friday’s newsletter will cover the best things from July, including recipes, reads, and stuff. Plus, what to cook in August.

Now let’s dive in.

I got home from the road trip and Jared had a snack plate waiting for me of olives and cheese. I took an everything shower while he finished a salad with balsamic from our Italy trip and pasta with Grossy’s vodka sauce, made with coconut milk. I was so happy to be home.

I worked from home and got to make lunch, a rare treat! I sautéed zucchini and onion and added a can of chickpeas, some kale, and a ton of za’atar and red pepper flakes. I served it with lemon zest and juice, grated pecorino and Jared soft boiled some eggs to make it even better. Quick and easy lunch.

My parents are big hosts and have always prioritized getting to know our friends (an amazing quality in a parent), so I wanted to find a way to include them in the bachelorette party. We settled on a Thursday kick off dinner for everyone already in town and included Erika so they could play the shoe game. My parents made such a great meal: build your own fajitas with black beans, cheesy rice, grilled cauliflower, chicken, flank steak and all the toppings: salsa, homemade guacamole, pickled jalapeños and slaw. We had watermelon margaritas to start and a special queer owned wine. For dessert, I got a cookie cake from Wegmans with a baby beach photo of Leah (they deliver which was so helpful). It turned out so cute and we had that with ice cream from Eddie’s.

Snacks are important so Megan and I picked up an Instacart order with crowd favorites like salt and vinegar chips, pretzels, goldfish and microwave popcorn. We ate lots of cookies and drank so much spindrift. They kindly sent me their new iced tea, which I brought and enjoyed, and the OG lemon is so refreshing on a hot day. I also brought electrolytes and aftersun lotion which came in handy. Coffee (the stok iced coffee is reliable and not rocket fuel like some of the premade cold brews) and oatmilk are also key for fueling the sunday morning clean + pack.

After a big beach day on Saturday, Gabriela kindly volunteered to cook. She, Hannah, Lizzi, and Anjali made Meredith Hayden green pasta (Gabriela’s secret is to add cottage cheese and skip the pesto). The recipe is not on her website anymore but this is a riff on it—we served the prosciutto on the side for the veg folks. I will be trying it at home. They rounded out the meal with a tomato mozzarella salad, and roasted broccoli and chickpeas. We drank rosé and spritzes and then settled in for games with popcorn and sweet treats. Before bed, we watched Mary Beth Barone’s comedy special.

Tonight, we used our CSA corn to jazz up a tomato farro salad Jared brought home from work and it was the perfect season treat. He cooked the corn with some black beans and I covered it in hot sauce.

Driving back from Maine meant I finally got to visit Portland. Three and a half hours into the drive, we stopped for coffee and a sweet treat at Tandem Coffee Roasters and I got a delicious ginger molasses cookie for fuel. I’ll be back for a proper visit!

3+ hours later, we got pizza from Frank Pepe’s in Manchester (a tip from Hillary since this location is barely off the highway). Tilden ordered the pie when we were about 40 minutes away and it worked out very well. We ate in the parking lot and then braved the final stretch home. We cheered when we crossed the New York border, too much time in the car makes you a little loopy, but we made the best of it with music and gossip.

Jared and I saw the odyssey at Nitehawk so I had popcorn and tofu nuggets for dinner. We both really liked the movie and had a lot of criticisms of it! Why is no one horny? I was worried about the length of it but it was well paced and didn’t feel too long, though there are a lot of shots of them getting in and out of a boat.

Jersey shore recs ahead! If you’re planning a group trip or Bach and want more specific itinerary info, reply to this email or leave a comment and I’m happy to share!

We dropped our bags at the house and got lunch at Comfi, a breakfast and lunch spot with a ton of options. I got a delicious scramble with chili crisp and feta, sourdough toast, spinach and avocado. The wraps and fries were very good too. The owners are Polish so the menu also includes pierogis, which were really good.

We had our big night out in Asbury Park, which is always a good time. We all wore leopard print and spotted three other bachelorette groups doing the same. One of the fun parts of matching is the conventions it inspires. One woman said if she was a lion she’d eat us. Icon. We got dinner at Talula’s, which was excellent and great for sharing—I went in 2022 and knew it would be perfect for this ocassion. Their cocktails are fabulous and seasonal, one was made with local jam and the other with cucumbers. They also have carafes of orange wine. We loved their vegan kale caesar, the tomato toasts, the pizzas, especially the special peach and squash blossom ones, and even mozzarella sticks (great call, Miranda). They were super accommodating of allergies and a few people getting there later post travel.

After dinner, we went to The Watermark for a rooftop moment. The bouncer called us the leopard squad. Then we ended the night at Johnny Mac’s which had skee ball, throwback music, a photo booth, and many chatty patrons (see above).

For our big beach day, we picked up sandwiches at Beckman’s Deli. Their subs could feed a small family, so order a 1/2. Lizzi and I shared an egg wrap with potatoes and an eggplant panini. You can also add a hashbrown to any breakfast sandwich. Our go to coffee spot was Offshore, which has a few locations down the shore.

We took a breaks from the beach for coffee oreo ice cream at Coney Waffle, a flavor combination I would like to see more often. I love a boardwalk ice cream shop and this was a very good one, which also has a few locations.

On our way to the train, we got bagels at Corner Bagelry. There might be better bagels in town, but it had seating and was right on the way. An egg and cheese with salt, pepper, ketchup, and hot sauce was the perfect last bite.

Mary Beth Barone on her new special, def worth a watch!

I’ve heard amazing things about Edinburgh and it would be very fun to go to Fringe. If I could, I’d love to see Steven Phillips Horst’s show. Club kids know.

Teal recommended The Lion Women of Tehran and I’m currently racing through it before my libby hold expires. That is not hard to do as it’s so engrossing and will also break my heart. I loved seeing what everyone was reaching on the bach. Leah and Lizzi both read Down to Earth and Gabriela is reading it next. Lizzi read Crash Into Me and Anjali is reading The Heir Apparent. I told her to read The Force of Such Beauty next, it’s a well researched and much darker take on royal theme that I couldn’t put down. I was walking and reading on my kindle app.

Maine beauty standards are different from the rest of the country

Trinity Mouzon Wofford on the farmers market problem. I love her support for a local economy—even if I’m buying products from far away I like to buy them from a local business whenever I can. I love my local pharmacy and 99 cent store and specialty food store. Her weekend market routine sounds lovely.

This anti shopping hack made me laugh from Totally Recommend. It’s true!

Emily Atkin is not an optimist

Cheryl Strayed writes so beautifully about grief, always. Thinking of her and her family.

Have a good week and thank you for being here! Have you been down the shore? What snack do you request on a group trip? Let’s chat.

xo, Abigail