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Easy, Breezy, Summertime Entertaining
During my years living in a small fishing village in coastal North Carolina, my favorite way to entertain summer visitors was, as the joke goes, to make reservations at one of the several great restaurants along the waterside!
All were within easy walking distance from my condo, all had outdoor seating, and you could not beat the ambiance of watching dolphins cavort under rosy sunsets while seagulls, ibis, and pelicans circled nearby. We even had a local crane (or was it a heron?) named Harry who visited often at the places where he (or she) succeeded in obtaining bits of seafood treats. There was the added delight in watching the fishing and shrimp boats sail back into our little bay at the end of their day.
If I felt like cooking, which was seldom, and not so great, I would get fresh shrimp off the boat at the dock of the little yellow fish shack nearby and prepare “peel and eat” shrimp! Locals taught me to cook them in boiling water, seasoned only with lots of salt and celery. How simple is that? Add cups of melted butter at each place, a tasty cocktail sauce (with extra horseradish), a salad, some good rolls, wine, and voila – entertaining made easy! (Don’t forget to have plenty of paper towels on hand!)
Growing up spending summers in Maine, I learned to do the same with lobster instead of shrimp and coleslaw instead of salad. I think there was always a big bowl of potato chips on the table and corn on the cob (Maine corn is the sweetest ever)! The lobster ‘pound’, or shop, across from the sea wall at the end of our street would cook them and crack them for us, so all we had to do was pick them up at the designated time. The table consisted of an old door propped up on two sawhorses, covered with a red checkered tablecloth, set out on the side yard under the shade of an old chestnut tree.
Often, when mosquitoes or the weather threatened, we dined on the upstairs screened-in porch of the ancient family homestead. We would set out all the accoutrements needed and used by generations before us: small wooden cups for the melted butter, rusting old lobster/nut crackers and picks, bibs (some really old ones made of cloth, some more modern plastic ones salvaged from restaurants through the years!), and battered old aluminum pots in which to discard the shells. Rolls of paper towels were placed at each end of the long table. If we also had steamed clams, there were the traditional clam cups filled with broth to dip the clams and clean off any sand that might be in them. In the old days, we even had finger bowls with lemon slices to clean our messy fingers off after eating. That was before prepackaged moist towelettes came on the scene.
In later years, after we had established an ice cream shop in the barn on the Maine property, ice cream was the topper after this delectable lobster ritual. Before then, Dixie Cups with their flat wooden spoons were conveniently obtained from the gas station across the street. For a few summers, photos of movie stars were printed inside the lids of the cups. It was always a treat to see if we had gotten one of our favorites. To show how far back those days are, I remember getting Van Johnson, Alan Ladd, and Ava Gardner on some of mine!
Over the years, we also had our share of non-seafood cook-outs, of course. Steak or hamburgers on the grill, chicken, and hot dogs were the main features. There was always a salad and corn on the cob, followed by watermelon and/or ice cream for dessert. Watermelon seed fights were a tradition growing up, until my cousin got carried away and beaned my uncle with an actual watermelon rind. Special times called for strawberry shortcake or blueberry pie when the berries were in season.
One of the main summer meals in my early days of marriage was a yummy pasta salad recipe given to me by a co-worker. I still love it, but the grands are not so into cold pasta – or lobster for that matter. Poor them! She also gave me a recipe for a frozen yogurt pie that was a big hit with everyone. Simply mix two tubs of whatever flavor yogurt you want with about a cup of Cool Whip, dump it into a pre-made graham cracker pie shell, and freeze it until about 20 minutes before serving.
But the best summer dessert I ever had was introduced to me by one of my father’s many cousins, whom I hardly knew. There was a family gathering at a beach house on Long Island one summer during a college break. She arrived with a huge bowl of green grapes thickly coated in sour cream, with a side bowl of brown sugar, which was to be sprinkled on the grapes after we scooped some into our own personal cups. You have to try it to believe it! My college buddy and I devoured them like they were the last food on earth. I have served them at various gatherings over the years, and they are always a big hit.
All of these meals are simple, delicious, and require minimal effort to prepare. Clean-up is also easy, depending on how you feel about using paper plates or more elegant dishes. After all, summer entertaining should be fun and relaxing for everyone – even the hostess!
