Jeremiah Pickles

So I’ve been planning on going to Philidelphia for roughly two weeks now, and about 2 days before my trip Nanc is all, “Oh hey, the wag’s (our long time friends/neighbors) have a beach house on LBI, so I was thinking you could drive me to the beach house, spend the morning there, then just go to Phili. It’ll be closer from there anyway!” I didn’t realize by closer she ment 15min closer on top of a two hour drive, so of course I was like, “sounds good mom dur durrr….” Anyway long story short I get home from work at 11pm, and we drive to LBI, and I’m like, “Let’s use the GPS.” And mom’s all, “I know how to get there!” Which may have been correct, but it would have been helpful if she told me (the driver) how also. Instead we ended up stopping in the middle of the highway because we passed the exit off 206 for 287 (Which if she would have just said we were taking 287 we wouldn’t have because I know how to get to the Bridgewater mall thank you very much) and long story short we immediately get pulled over. So basically I hand the cop my id/reg and am all, “sorry bro, the old woman doesn’t know how to give directions,” (not a direct quote) and he’s like, “It’s cool kid, safe journeys!” (also not direct). Then we end up at this ghetto cafeteria burger king with 30 jersey shore look-a-likes, and Nanc is all commenting (loudly) on their outfits, and I’m like ‘get me the fuck out of here.’ And someone hears me because we leave with the worst coffee in the world, and eventually end up at LBI.  

                And it is beautiful. Night time shore is my favorite time. I tried to take some pics, but they didn’t come out (or if you quote the Spreenster: “This is like, the worst picture in the history of Facebook. “ (that is a direct quote). 

Anyway I went for a beach night walk, and it was awesome, the end.

                So the next day I chill with the wags, we go to Marvels, the best donut shop in the world, then swim in the violent ocean (which pantsed me twice) and pass out on the beach. So basically the best morning ever.

Then it’s time for my 1 hour and 45 min drive to Phili, but not without passing...

The Custard Hut!!! Oh the memories. Basically we passed it one day and i was like, "The Custard Hut!!!! Let's go there!!" and everyone was like, "Shut up Lauren." but then we passed it all the time, and i wouldn't, and eventually we went there and it was delicious. The moral of this story is: Listen to annoying fat kids when it comes to restaurants. 

Anyway I get there and catch up with KSpecs and her dog Deaner, who would not take a picture without licking his wiener.

He like wouldn’t and then I’d finally get the click button figured out and then BAM! He’d be right on it again just in time for the flash. 

So I was like, I want to go to Redding Terminal Market and a brewery, preferably Iron Hill and KSpec's is all, "Ok Iron Hill is randomly closed at all of it's locations today for a corporate event, and we have to leave for Redding now, or it'll close too. Also there's this Italian market i want to take you to... oh that's closed." Basically, you picked the wrong fucking day. But anyway we get to Redding which is super sweet!!!

And i wanted to get this pork sandwhich with Brocoli raab that i saw on Man v. Food and have been dreaming about for years and we get there and...

Fucking closed! At 4pm. Ridiculous, right?  But then it was all uphill from there, because we went to the produce market and i was all, "Maybe they have Jeremiah Artichokes! And we asked this guy who worked there who reminds me exactly of this guy i worked with PJ, and he was all, "Do you mean Jerusalem artichokes also known as Sun-chokes?" and i was like, "Sir, that is exactly what i mean." And he was like, "Come back in 10 min." And we did, and he went down to a warehouse to get them for us, and i wanted to hug the man because i have been looking for these EVERYWHERE and haven't found them. So blah blah blah, produce.

Then we went to this awesome brewery Yards that has this "Revolution Ale" serious and they make beer recipes owned by George Washington, and Jefferson, and shit. Anyway those fools knew how to make beer, because it was delicious and actually better then their regular drafts. Anyway they legit closed like one minute after we left. Nailed it!

So then we went to dinner, and after watched an Always Sunny in Philadelphia marathon, which was fitting, and true.  It is always sunny in Philadelphia, which is probably why everything's closed (for good weather).
So then i went back to LBI, took an outdoor shower (because it love them) and ate a copious amount of shellfish at a little place i like to call Crab Tavern (actually called Terrace Tavern and Crab Shack).

And Nanc wore Flamingo goggles.

and i seriously chowed down on a plate of fried calamari (almost alone)  and a bucket o' shellfish (shared). 

So basically awesomeness. 

Anyway time to make some Jerusalem Artichoke Pickles. Boil this stuff together:

Let cool to room temperature.  Peel/Boil sun-chokes in water and lemon juice:

Yeah, they don't look like artichokes at all, do they? Life. Here's the actual recipe if you're for serious about this:

And they're supposed to be served with this meal, which looks awesome and is called Pulled-Pork Pig-out (Or: Things Lauren Pappas loves):

These bad boys keep for a month, so i might just attempt this. No, you know what? i will. I'm gonna do it! Don't even try to stop me, don't even try. Not gonna happen. Done, it's already done.

So then put chokes in jar, poor on broth, seal, and refrigerate for at least one week, stirring once to twice a day.

Anyway as you probably guessed from this epic blog, i had a pretty sweet weekend. Cool places, good friends, good food, good beer, man! So even when i woke up for work at 3:30am and promptly slammed into a wall hard enough to crush a just opened can of seltzer against my chest, you still can't help but think: what a wonderful fucking world.