BBQing at Seacliff State Beach

Last weekend we celebrated the wonderous MABS' birthday at Seacliff State Beach. We arrived at 6:45 am in order to grab a couple tables near a barbeque on the strip of land between the actual beach and the road - a very popular location. Even at that early hour we were only able to grab the last three available tables to host the 100's of people who were going to attend this magical 60th birthday celebration. It turned out to be a huge success featuring bbq sausages and various salads. What was also very neat was people watching, such as watching all the people scurrying around at 7:00 am setting up their "sites" with everything from tarps to huge coffee urns. Later, around noon, I walked up and down that strip and observed all the different groups happily sitting around eating, drinking and talking. The groups were composed of a very diverse slice of people reminding the Big Casino that at its very best, America is a nation of immigrants raising their families, enjoying the company of their extended families and friends and all that encompasses living a purposeful life.

Big Casino has solved the problem of cooking eggplant

Everyone loves eating dishes with eggplant in them but most of us don' t like mushy foods. The problem with eggplant is that if you don't use salt to drain off the salt before cooking the eggplant winds up mushy. And if you cut up your eggplant and let it sit with salt for 20 minutes (as recommended) its hard to rinse all the salt off and then you wind up sauteing it which is delicious but not the healthiest option. With some credit given to my incomparable sister-in-law Nancy, the Big Casino has a solution. Cut up the eggplant roughly the size of carrot sticks or french fries or the goofy mozzarella stick appetizers, mix with a little olive oil and bake in a pan for like 30 to 45 minutes, at 450 degrees, stirring like every 15 minutes or so. They will come out of the oven as wonderfully flavorful thin eggplant strips - akin to jerky. You can munch on them immediately or save them and use in almost any dish, such as soft tacos, omelets, pasta dishes etc.