What a fast week!

We had a fabulous time at the beach!!! I can't believe it's over and we're back home. Although it is quite lovely to sleep in my own bed...

We had unbelivably gorgous weather. The only day that was rainy was the first Saturday when we were driving down, which didn't matter anyway. And the only day that was unbearably hot and humid was yesterday, when we were packing up and driving home. On several days, the ocean actually looked tropical it was so blue.

Here's our house - or the top two floors of it anyway. It is huge and easily fit three families:


Here's the pool - a critical requirement of ours and a great late afternoon happy hour spot:


Not that the beach was bad for happy hour!!! Want to hear about my latest injury? I have drinker's elbow. Seriously, I have a rug burn looking spot on my right elbow from rubbing the arm of my beach chair while lifting a drink. Repeatedly. HA!!!


And here's the view from our deck. That's Scouter, Taz and one of the other kids in the house fishing one early morning:


I love to cook but don't do it often, so I look forward to it at the beach. My favorite meal on this particular trip was Buckhead's Crab Cakes from my Monumental Favorites cookbook. Buckhead's is an excellent chophouse in Richmond, and this cookbook has local recipes to support breast cancer research.

Buckhead's Crab Cakes
2 egg yokes (I used a whole egg instead which was fine)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp Old Bay
1 tsp dry mustard
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp capers
1 lb. lump crabmeat

Yield: Four 4 ounce crab cakes

Combine first six ingredients to make dressing. Blend until smooth and well-mixed. Gently fold dressing mixture into picked crabmeat unti ldesired consistency is achieved. (You may not need all the dressing. I actually used all the dressing b/c I didn't pay attention to the directions and had to add bread crumbs to dry it out some.) Chill dressed crab meat for one hour, then form into cakes. Gently saute cakes for 2-3 minutes each side in a little buttered heavy saucepan on medium-high heat. Serve with wedges of lemon.

Fabulous!!! I served them with corn pudding and salad for a good ole southern meal.

Other than drinking and eating, I really didn't do a whole lot. The Bean and I did get three runs in and were very proud. Monday: 4 miles, 10:31/mi average; Wednesday: 4.5 miles, 10:16/mi average; and Friday: 3.5 miles, 9:44/mile average. It was nice and flat but also very hot running down there. I had good intentions of renting a bike - even found the shop - but never did it. Conditions weren't optimal with a tiny shoulder, and really I was just lazy.

The fabulous TriGirl 40 lent me a wet suit from Richmond's own Karen Holloway, which I took with me to test. I wedged myself into it slowly and painfully on Friday morning and hopped in the ocean. I'm sure other vacationers thought I'd lost my mind. I only swam for a few minutes, getting beaten up by the waves and heavy undertow, then I spent some time wave-jumping with Taz who was thrilled. The wetsuit was great - no leaking and a good fit. One check later, and it will be mine. Hopefully some of Karen's skill and speed will stick with wetsuit...

I'm already looking forward to next year!!!