Gracie ponders

My husband and I own a beach house at a N.C. Beach.  My beach house is one of my favorite things in life.  You will read in the coming months about many of my favorite things, but other than my family,  one of my most  cherished loves is the beach and our house there. Which  we have owned for 21 years.   Over the years we have had many guests, but usually it’s just us, our immediate family.   I would really like to claim that I am that hostess that relishes in the idea of loving a crazy ruckus of house guests.  I would love to write that several blow up mattresses,  people vying for the bathroom, wet towels, fifty cups at the sink is the way I like to entertain, but that beach Domestic hostess just doesn’t reside here.

I will say, however that we had a fabulous time this weekend with my brother, his wife, his daughter, son-in-law, and grandson, my daughter and her twins, two crab traps and many captured blue crabs🦀🦀.   We talked, we ate unbelievably wonderful food and we all did just we we all love doing rather it was sleeping, reading,  swimming or fishing? I  ordered five pounds of shrimp from the seafood market to be shelled and deveined.  The old beach hostess (me) would have stood at the sink with those daggone shrimp getting that little vein out. ( the vein is actually the shrimps colon or where the waste goes)  yuckky.  We fried fish that my husband had caught – Black Sea bass and white grunts. Yes we believe in diversity from our meal.  We had carolina cole slaw, fresh silver queen corn and potato casserole. A seafood lovers feast!  The next  night my nephew smoked 3 chickens and kielbasa and slathered it with Sonny’s bbq sauce.  Pete is one of the best grillers  I’ve ever known and he always uses Sonny’s bbq sauce which is a very sweet sauce!

The weather was perfect; albeit rather windy, the rain held off.  I was told years ago by someone that was giving me some wonderful advice And which I have heeded the advice:

“Lower your expectations concerning family get-togethers, hostessing parties, holiday cooking, entertains large groups etc”

You see, my problem in the past was that I wanted everything to be perfect.  Yep.. well it’s taken me many years to figure out that it “ain’t happening sista”. I am not Martha Stuart or Conrad Hilton of the Hilton hotels.   Things will burn, toilets will overflow, (no that didn’t happen this past weekend)  people will spill stuff and it just may rain or be too windy on the beach but one things for sure. My family is mine.  It’s important for families to gather.  Our mama would have wanted us to gather.

My parents loved making ice cream 🍦 in the summer just about every Sunday afternoon.   This weekend, I must declare that I made the most creamalicious, vanillaishest , dreamy churn of home made ice cream I’ve ever made.

Gracie’s vanilla ice cream

For a five quart ice cream freezer

2 cups of whole milk and 1/2 cup sugar and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt  heated on the stove just until bubbles form stirring to dissolve sugar, but not long enough to scald.  Remove from heat and let cool. Add 5 cups of heavy whipping cream, 2 cups of fat free half and half , 1 can of fat free sweetened condensed milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla . (less if it’s real vanilla extract) I only had imitation vanilla.

Pour this whole mixture in the churn, put the lid on and plug in your ice cream freezer. Fill sides with ice and alternate ice and rock salt.  Mine churned for 50 min before getting so thick it cut off. When it quits churning remove the container and put in the freezer for 30 minutes before eating so that it will set.  DELIcious!

Usually our home with many people in it would make it feel like the house for a snail.. tiny and shrinking, but just Enjoy the ride and Gather at the beach.  As one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs sung  by James Taylor (a carolina boy himself)  and Carly Simon states :

I’ll roll with the tide and go with the flow…….