The Transportable Powers of a Peach

Every summer since I was in my early teens, my extended family would all pile in the car and head to the beach in North Carolina for a week. At most, there were 21 of us in the house, feasting on seemingly endless supplies of grandma-made cookies and playing cards after the sun went down. 

Vacations like this thrive on tradition, and for my family, that means food. We are not known for our picky appetites, but more for our tendency to have a dessert following every meal (yes, even breakfast). Every "first dinner" was exactly the same: Sloppy Joe's with slices of Kraft cheese, sweet corn & cantaloupe purchased from the fruit stand on the way into town, and Aunt Mary Cake for dessert. We would all know it was time for dessert when my grandpa would scrape away the remains of his dinner, searching for a clean spot for the cake. 

It was around this table, eating this meal together, that the excitement for the week would build -- we'd already made the long drive, settled into our rooms, and maybe even enjoyed an hour or two outside. Now, the week of relaxing and togetherness could truly begin.

For lunch every afternoon, another tradition was in place: make your own beach sandwiches. Whoever was the first to go in for lunch had the task of getting everything out of the fridge for sandwiches, with bags of chips & fresh tomatoes and peaches to go along with it. I remember many afternoons eating a peach from the fruit stand while standing over the kitchen sink, because it was so ripe and juicy.

I loved those weeks in my early years, when I spent countless hours swimming in the ocean and afternoons watching the movie "Now and Then" with my younger cousins. For an only child, a week spent with a house full of people was a delight. 

In recent years, I've learned to appreciate those weeks for so much more. Living hours from my family, it's the most time I get to spend with them consecutively. Taking beach walks with my grandpa, reading under the umbrella with my grandma, running to look for cheap souvenirs with my cousin -- those are even more special now. 

This year, due to finances, weddings, and schedules, the official beach trip didn't happen. (Don't worry, the house is already reserved for next summer for the whole group, a fact that delights my grandma to no end). Although I did get to spend a long weekend in Ohio, complete with a BBQ that was absolutely wonderful, I missed that week with that fantastic, one-of-a-kind group I call my family. 

Today, during my lunch hour at work, I reached for the last part of my meal: a peach I'd picked out just yesterday at Trader Joe's. As I took a bite, I realized it was so juicy that I'd need to use my beach vacation trick -- eating it over the sink. And that's when I realized that even if I was standing in my office kitchen with it's florescent lights and 350 miles away from my family, it's possible to conjur up a little bit of vacation no matter where you are.

{Photo from last year's beach trip}