A few weeks ago we surprised the kids with an impromptu dinner at the beach. It was a ton of fun to put our regularly busy week on hold for a few hours and make the drive to the beach for dinner instead of our usual routine. It may have been worth it simply to see the looks on the kids’ faces when we said {at 4:30 on a wednesday} “get your shoes on, we’re going to the beach!”
It had been an unseasonably warm couple of days in Northern California and the coast was beautiful. We never quite know what we will find when we head over the hill to the coast. Sometimes it’s perfect, but other times it’s like a whole other world thick with fog and 25 degrees colder than home. This night we lucked out big time!
Dinner was fantastic. My kids decided their new favorite food is calamari. With 3 picky eaters in the family, this is a huge triumph. Not that I want to get into the habit of feeding them all types of fried foods, but hey, it’s a step in the right direction. My squirmy middle tried it even after big brother taunted her with the fact that it was really called squid!
Dear Hubs started with Sam’s Famous New England Clam Chowder. It just may be the best chowder I’ve ever had. Not too creamy or thick and loaded with clams! I had an amazing arugula salad with beets, mandarin oranges and pistachios. The oranges were so sweet, they really made this salad.
Dinner came. More fried food for the kids – Fish and Chips. And actually the fish here was so good. A real light flakey beautiful piece of fish. Hubs and I split the Cippiono which was just as good as everything else. I had to sneak this pic of my husband being silly, it was actually an old joke of ours after our first date at a cheesyish seafood restaurant in San Francisco 14 years ago. I thought it was sweet then, and the fact that he still will put on the crab bib to make me laugh all these years later is awesome!
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, stop by Sam’ Chowder House for a fab meal with a view.
