Around the Kitchen Table: Our Favorite Vacation Foods + 5-Book #Giveaway!

         

LIBBY KLEIN: It's summertime and that means Beach Vacation for the Libby clan. My family makes an annual trek back to Cape May where I grew up. We hit all the usual tourist spots - the beach, the boardwalk, the mini golf. But when it comes to eating, most of our favorite places fly under the general tourist radar. Well, they don't fly under the radar anymore. Not since everything is on the internet now. But back when the kids were little we had a lot of places only known to locals.

My favorite will always be The Milky Way frozen custard stand for a vanilla cone with crunch coat. If you don't know what that is, you clearly haven't read my series where I extoll the virtue of crunch coat - chopped peanuts with peanut brittle and rainbow jimmies (or sprinkles for your non-South Jersians.) This is a treat I look forward to for a whole year until I return to the shore. 

I bet you have a favorite summer vacation treat. Let us know in the comments what it is and you'll be entered to win some great books to go along with your summer reading. Be sure to include your email address so we know who to send the good news to. How about the rest of you Mystery Lovers' Kitchen bloggers? What is your favorite vacation food? 

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MADDIE DAY: What a fun topic, Libby! At the Milky Way, I might opt for the soft serve cone with a dipped chocolate coating with chopped peanuts, but I digress. 

Growing up, our vacations every year were two weeks tent-camping in Sequoia National Park among the giant California redwoods. During those two weeks only, we got to have Tang instead of OJ (from a frozen concentrate), "real" Log Cabin maple syrup (instead of my mom's sugar syrup flavored by Mapeleine), bacon EVERY DAY, and S'mores over the campfire. These were huge treats for our family of six living on one schoolteacher's salary.

These days, Hugh and I sometimes take a summer week at different spots in Maine, where of course we'll sample the local lobster roll and hit up the best brewpub beer and fare.

Lobster roll, fish bisque, and beers on the harbor in Belfast, Maine.

But truly? I love staying home in summer. I can pick fat juicy blueberries from my bushes. There's nothing's better than a BLT made from a sun-warmed garden tomato, my own lettuce, and slices of my son's sourdough bread (or store-bought whole grain, in a pinch). 

Throw in an ear of of sweet corn from a local farm, a slice of my own peach pie with a scoop of Hodgies vanilla ice cream on top, plus a gin and tonic on the deck? I don't need to go anywhere.

Peach pie minus the ice cream, alas.

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LUCY BURDETTE: We had the grandkids here for a week and I can assure you that they are not gourmet eaters. Their idea of vacation food is hot dogs and ice cream. While they have hot dogs, I have my favorite tuna melt sandwich with a big pickle spear and a bag of chips. Sometimes a root beer float on the side. Yes, I put on a pound or two, but it was worth it! 

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Oh, vacation! Me, I love checking out -- and occasionally overindulging in -- the local specialties! Avocado every day in Mexico. Croissants or some other flaky puff pastry treat in France. And when I find something tasty on the menu, I love recreating it at home, like this BLT Salad with Jalapeno Aioli from our visit to Hilo, Hawaii last winter or these French Apple Turnovers, which might not look as perfect as the ones we bought in a tiny little Paris boulangerie and took back to the hotel for an afternoon bite with perfect cafe au lait, but I promise, they were just as tasty!

Although at this exact moment, one of Lucy's root beer floats would be terrific! Whatever your vacation treats, enjoy!

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KIM DAVIS: I love vacations because I allow myself to ignore all attempts at eating healthy, and indulge my taste buds. Back when my husband’s parents were still living, we’d travel to Danville, Illinois twice a year (for many, many years) to spend a week or so with them—at Mother’s Day and then in October for their anniversary. While it wasn’t a “real” vacation, there were two treats I always looked forward to. The first was my mother-in-law’s rhubarb pie. Even though she taught me how to make it, somehow hers was always so much better! I was known to get up early and finish the pie for breakfast before anyone else could claim that last piece. Dessert for breakfast is a vacation must!

The second treat I couldn’t wait to get was the Custard Cup’s turtle sundae. Swoon-worthy! This iconic custard stand was a family-owned business that started in 1949. As the owners aged, they only opened it from May to October (and could be why our visits coincided with those months, lol). I’ve heard that the owners finally sold the business and the new owners are still creating the same delectable custards. Since my in-laws have passed, we no longer visit the area, but I still crave those turtle sundaes! 

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LESLIE KARST: Here in Santa Cruz, we have the marvelous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, with its famous Giant Dipper roller coaster. But the seaside amusement part is also home to a variety of fun treats which I would never eat except when I make my annual visit to ride the Giant Dipper. In which case, I may indulge in a dipped soft-serve ice cream cone.

 

 

 

Or perhaps some cotton candy. Or a frozen Snickers bar. Or maybe even a deep-fried Twinkie (don't knock it if you haven't tried it!). But best of all is the salt water taffy, made and pulled as you watch. Yum!

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VICKI DELANY: Vacation food! What a great thing to think about.  Like Maddie, I rarely travel in the summer, I prefer to be home with the garden and the pool. I travel a lot the rest of the year, and my favourite vacation food then is - what’s on the menu! For the purposes of this topic, rather than travel for summer vacation, I often have family here. And I definitely have favourites I always like to make for them. In Ontario summer in blueberry season and this is just about the best way I’ve found to bake with blueberries.

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen:
Blueberry Almond Bars from Vicki Delany

 

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PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON: When I was a kid, my family always spent a week on Cape Cod.  The biggest treat was a steamed lobster.  My father would buy them and bring them back to the rustic cottage we rented every year.  Another treat I looked forward to was fried clams.  I'd love some right now but clams are rather rare in Michigan!

 

Another much anticipated summer event was a trip to Asbury Park, NJ.  We always went in the evening when my father got off work.  They wouldn't tell us we were going until the last minute or we would have driven my mother crazy all day!  We strolled the boardwalk, played some games and of course I had to have cotton candy!  

 

I traveled a fair amount as an adult (BC--before children.) I loved sampling the local dishes.  One memorable vacation was in Portugal where the food was all so fresh and delicious.  When we came home, I had to try my hand at making caldo verde, the traditional Portuguese soup. 

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MOLLY MACRAE: The Custard Cup! Kim, we live within walking distance of the Champaign Jarling’s Custard Cup. We walk over there every time the grandchildren come here for vacation or to visit. It’s practically a law – no one goes back to Ohio until they’ve had their Jarling’s. 

When I was a kid we had a lot of picnics on vacation – packing sandwiches and fruit into the big wicker picnic basket. Some of those picnics were mighty cold but that didn’t stop us. Carrying that tradition forward, here’s a picture my husband snapped one cold and foggy picnic with our boys and my dad on top of Roan Mountain in Tennessee. Great times!

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Photos from our younger years!
Click here to learn more about us
and the books we write together
as Cleo Coyle.

CLEO COYLE: Summertime always revives wonderful sensory memories for me and my husband: the smell of fresh-cut grass, the crunch of corn on the cob, the splash of pool water, and swoosh and awe of fireworks. After all of these years, some of my favorite "vacation foods" are still wrapped up in those childhood memories.

Every year in June, after spending nine months cooped up in classrooms, we kids were rewarded with a special "school picnic" day at Kennywood, a charming, century-old amusement park south of Pittsburgh.

As a budding foodie, I looked forward to noshing on the park's carnival food as much as riding its landmark wooden coasters. Corn Dogs, CANDY APPLES, fresh-cut fries, cotton candy, and ICE CREAM (yes, all in one day of indulgence)...

If you missed my recipe post on how to make an easy
homemade (no-churn, no-machine) Vanilla Ice Cream, 
click here or on the photo above.

I loved going to Kennywood Park so much as a child, I even took a summer job there between high school and college. I was a "Rides" girl and worked on crews that ran everything from the Ferris Wheel and Bob Sleds to the Pirate Ship, and even this locally famous old coaster: The Jack Rabbit...

Take a ride with us now in the front seat of this wonderful, landmark wooden roller coaster. To start the video, hit the white arrow in the center of the window below and don't forget to throw your arms up on the way down!

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The "Jack Rabbit" Roller Coaster video (above) is a real blast from my past and my husband's, who also grew in the Western Pennsylvania area. If you don’t see a window (above), click here to ride the coaster with us on YouTube, and have a delicious summer, everyone! ~ Cleo

GIVEAWAY!

To be entered in this week's drawing

for these terrific mysteries below,

join us in the comments.

What are your favorite 

vacation foods? 

Join the

conversation!

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner!

THE MANGO MURDERS by Lucy Burdette 

ESSENTIALS OF MURDER by Kim Davis 
(choice of ebook or paperback) 

THERE'LL BE SHELL TO PAY by Molly MacRae 

MURDER AT THE RUSTY ANCHOR by Maddie Day 

BUTTLETPROOF BARISTA by Cleo Coyle 

Comments Open through

Wednesday, August 6

Don't forget to include

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