Montrose Beach Potluck / BBQ #7 - BEACH FOOD - [9/8/13]

Please note, this is on sunday, the 8th, not saturday as usual.

As has been going on for the past 2 years, I'm organizing a semi-monthly BBQ all summer long to celebrate cooking, sharing food, but also to take advantage of the fact that Chicago has beautiful beaches!

This is an LTH event, but is completely open to anyone and everyone! Please bring friends!
To simplify and unify the process of the RSVP, and also to allow everyone to coordinate the food we're bringing, I've set up a public facebook invite page. I would love to have people RSVP there, but ask that you also PLEASE post your pictures and reactions to the event here on LTH and not just keep it on facebook. My intention is not in any way to move the event off of LTH, rather it is to keep the event more integrated and encourage people to post on here as well.

Here is the facebook invite https://www.facebook.com/events/1404550669764914/

Food
The theme this week is: BEACH FOOD! Think, what would you like to eat while chillin' on the beach?

Please post what you plan to bring here or on the facebook page, or both! If you don't fancy yourself a cook and just want to come eat feel free to bring some drinks!

[b]Drinks
The park is [i]officially a non-alcohol location, meaning it is technically possible to be ticketed, however we have unofficially drank alcohol at every single one of these without incident. Last week a cop drove by and said "party on" then drove off. BYOB at your own discretion

Time
I typically show up around 11am, unless i need to start up a smoker earlier. The party usually reaches full swing between 1-4pm, and people peter out around 6pm.

Location:
After years of experience, we have found an idyllic location right by the water a bit off the beaten path. There is the added bonus that there is ample parking year round, even during big events we have not had trouble parking at this spot.

Here is the map http://goo.gl/maps/TZPyH

For those of you who prefer a visual aid:

Thanksgiving in September
Life's a Beach (food you eat at the beach--everything from clambake and lobster to grilled dogs to popsicles--lots of creative things could come from this)

OK, I've decided to go with the beach theme that boudro suggested. For no other reason than that I want to make Langostinos nayarit style. For the record, NO, beach is not too similar to the last one of island theme. As suggested, think, what would you love to eat/bring/buy when chillin' at the beach... totally different. Similar, sure maybe, but different enough that it's definitely its own theme. BEACH IT IS! WOO HOOO! POPSICLES!

Clambake!!!!!

Clam popsicles?

I am definitely going to so an adult popsicle (thinking more like some kind of boozy ice cube on a stick in punch) and something seafood related--hopefully clam/lobster bake type thing. Will definitely need to figure out a way to do it in a kettle since I'm pretty sure we can't build a fire in the ground at Montrose And corn, potatoes, etc...

VERY excited for this theme!!!

Would it be impractical to bring fixings for s'mores and enable people to toast their marshmallows over a grill?

And how do I get this out of my head, now? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFCPBcS8Km4

Love the idea of s'mores!!! But only if you make your own marshmallows (Just kidding )

boudreaulicious wrote:Love the idea of s'mores!!! But only if you make your own marshmallows (Just kidding )

Didn't Theresa do upscale s'mores cups with homemade marshmallows for the LTH Picnic last year? They were awesome.

I'll be bringing graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows in big plastic bags (and sticks) and letting people DIY.

leek wrote:Didn't Theresa do upscale s'mores cups with homemade marshmallows for the LTH Picnic last year? They were awesome.

I did! Thanks!

Making marshmallows was actually pretty easy. But then I tried Katherine Anne's salted caramel marshmallow, and now I want to learn how to layer marshmallows with other tasty things.

Teresa

I riffed on the marshmallow idea and made bourbon mixed berry pavlovas. According to Wikipedia, pavlovas are "a dessert most identified with the summer time" in Australia and New Zealand. I'm sure someone has consumed a pavlova at a beach sometime, right?

And even if the pavlovas don't exactly work out, at the very least I've found out that whipped cream flavored with bourbon is the best thing ever.

Lobsters pre-cooked. Clams cleaned. Chorizo sliced. Potatoes prepped. Corn shucked. Peach & Grape Sangria mixed. Just waiting for the blueberry/gooseberry tart to finish baking. Ready for the beach!

Yes, that us Pramote from Rainbow cooking for us!

make a left turn @ the durian...

A great last hurrah for the Montrose Beach picnic crew! Even Maggie gave a big thumbs up for the spread!

What an amazing last hurrah of the year! I didn't count today, but at one point in the day there were about 30 people there, many more total when you Compared to last year the average headcount must have at least doubled. I think it helped a lot that I decided to cross post with facebook, which allowed more online networking with non-LTH people (and hopefully procured some new LTHers in the process). Using facebook also lent a little more transparency and familiarity to the event process.

There were so many well crafted, impressive dishes today that it was truly overwhelming. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to all of these, it really made my summer to have such awesome people to spend the weekends at the beach with. I am so sad that this was the last one, but I'm also really looking forward to the big picnic on the 22nd!