- Robert St. John shares tales from his family’s annual end of summer trek to the Florida Panhandle.
August. The end of summer. It’s that time of year. Since our first child was born, 27 years ago, we have travelled to the Florida Panhandle to spend a week at the beach. Actually, only part of the family spends time on the actual beach. I catch up on work, handle pressing issues from back home, and visit as many restaurants in a seven-day period as I can. To most, that sounds like work, but to me it’s just doing what I love to do.
The alarm never gets set while I’m down here. So instead of waking at 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m. I sleep a little later (I made it all the way to 7:00 a.m. today!). Everyone has their version of vacation time. For some it includes a lot of golf. For others it’s shopping. For me it’s food and restaurants. The restaurant business is my primary profession, but it is also my hobby. Why not do my hobby while I am away from the office?
For the past decade or more this week at the beach has included my wife, daughter, son, and several of the kid’s friends. We rent a house and allow them to bring as many friends as they want as long as there’s an available bed on which to sleep. At times they’ve slept on a swing on the front porch (looking at you, Darby).
Typically, my son would bring three or four of his friends and my daughter would bring a few of hers. She is four years older, so the earlier days were spent as two separate groups with two separate interests. In later years, with all of them either in college, or recently graduated, they spent more time together, especially when they went out at night.
To some, having almost a dozen twentysomethings sleeping all over the place might not seem like a restful, relaxing proposition. To me, there was pure joy in it. I don’t rest or relax well. It’s just not in me, so there was no loss there. I just enjoyed seeing my children having fun among their peers and friend groups. There is a form of peace that comes with that. To know that your offspring have made it through the teen years and come out on the other side— not just alive, but— well adjusted, happy, and semi-responsible. Plus we love their friends and have always treated them as family.
I always encouraged the kids to invite as many friends as they liked. I wanted a house full. I was happy to host them at dinners out or for a boiled shrimp supper back at the house. There were never any solid schedules imposed on anyone. Those who wanted to go out to dinner could do so, those that preferred hanging back would.
This year is different.
In 2024 we have crossed some new milestone. Gone are the days with loud rambunctious boys running through the house and staying out past curfew. No longer are teen girls vying for position in the bathroom. On this trip no one has slept on the front porch because they came home after everyone had gone to bed and forgot the door code. Surprisingly, all my phone chargers are intact and plugged in. For those with young kids, you will soon learn that one of the greatest assets and commodities in the teen/twentysomething years are phone chargers. Lack of a phone charger will turn the most honest and upright youth into an unapologetic downright thief.
Sorry for the tangent, there. Back to why 2024 is different. This year is the first year we are friendless, and everyone is accompanied by a significant other. My daughter brought her fiancé, and my son brought his longstanding girlfriend. There are just six of us. The house is quiet and calm, and the kids seem to want to spend more time with their mom and me. That almost makes it the perfect vacation.
Almost.
My wife tends to overdo the shopping thing. I’m not sure if she was ever a girl scout, but the whole “Be prepared” thing (or is that just Boy Scouts?) is ingrained in every inch of her constitution. In the days when there were three or more teenage boys in the house, we made daily trips to the grocery store to restock supplies, this after filling two carloads to the roof with food on the way down. At the end of the previous trips, it always seemed as if we hadn’t made a dent in the food supply even though we had gone to the grocery store often. We always ended up bringing as much home in the car as we brought down.
This year I put my foot down and insisted that we dial down the food we were bringing down and just purchase most of it once we got here. I lost that battle, and we filled two vehicles with enough food to feed a junior high football team.
We are almost halfway through the week, and I have been to the grocery store every day, twice yesterday. I never mind going to the grocery store. Actually, I enjoy it, but the price of groceries these days is disturbing. It’s my prediction that I’ll end up with a full truck on the return home trip, Saturday.
It all that pales in comparison to having my two grown children here with their significant other. We have moved from late night bar runs, to trivia on the porch. I loved all the other stages of their childhoods, but I seem to be warming up to this one most. My son and I spent some time floating in the Gulf and walked along the beach while talking about the restaurant business. We’ve had fine dinners full of engaging conversation, and we have laughed. We have laughed loud, and we have laughed often. We have laughed so much that I could care less how much money I have spent on food and beverage. Afterall, it’ll all make its way home and be consumed once there.
That’s all for now, gotta make another grocery store run.
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This Week’s Recipe: Cioppino
Ingredients
Cioppino Stock
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups onions, medium dice
1 1/2 cups leeks, hand-chopped fine, white part only
1 1/2 cups green bell peppers, medium dice
1 1/3 cups carrots, small dice
1 cup celery, medium dice
1/4 cup fresh fennel, chopped fine
2 1/2 quarts canned crushed tomatoes, highest quality, drained, liquid reserved (approximately 4 28-ounce cans drained and rough chopped)
1 6-ounce can tomato paste
2 1/2 quarts water (or stock)
2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 tablespoons Tabasco sauce
1 tablespoon oregano, dried
1 tablespoon basil, dried
1 tablespoon thyme, dried
3 bay leaves
1 Tablespoon Creole Seasoning
Cioppino
1/2 cup No-Stick Grilling Marinade for Seafood
1 1/2 pounds shrimp, 21-25 count, peeled, deveined, and skewered
1 pound sea scallops skewered
1 pound redfish pieces
1 pound fresh mussel, cleaned and beards removed
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1 Tbl garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 quart cioppino stock
1 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
Toasted French bread
Instructions
Cioppino Stock
Sauté onions in olive oil and butter. Do not brown. Add leeks, green pepper, carrots, celery, and fennel and cook 5–10 minutes until soft. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. When stock begins boiling, reduce heat immediately. Cover and simmer 2 hours stirring frequently. This stock should be made a day ahead of time and refrigerated.
Yield: 1 1/4 gallon
Cioppino
Fresh chopped parsley for garnish
Rub the surface of the shrimp, scallops and redfish with the no-stick seafood marinade and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes.
Prepare the grill. Cook the seafood over direct high heat for 6-8 minutes, turning once while cooking. Remove the seafood from the grill, and cool slightly.
Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pot over low-medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the wine to the pot and reduce by half. Next, add the cioppino stock to the pot and bring it to a simmer. Remove the shrimp and scallops from the skewers and cut the grilled fish into 1/2 inch cubes. Add the mussels and cook until they pop open, about 6-7 minutes. Once the stock is simmering, add the grilled seafood and jumbo lump crab. Divide the cioppino into serving dishes and garnish with parsley.
Yield: 6–10 servings
Robert St. John
