Our anniversary weekend began with lunch at Lucky Bones last Saturday. This is one of our favorite spots for lunch at the shore-great fresh seafood and a tremendous choice of local craft beers on tap. But no weekend celebration is complete without a great place to launch your celebration. It’s hard to beat Angel of the Sea Bed & Breakfast (pictured above). This beautiful setting has a long and interesting history (including being moved from where the post office now stands). In real estate, we know it’s all about LOCATION! It’s hard to beat a huge porch and multi-level decks that have a view of the ocean, while being next-door to Peter Shields Inn (home of one of the best restaurants in town).
We started to celebrate early, with a wonderful Pet Nat (a sparkling wine that is a precursor to Champagne). William Heritage Winery uses Chenin Blanc to make this delicious way to celebrate a special day with mouth-watering notes of brioche and bubblies to make any day special.
After a relaxing afternoon at the beach, our highlight for the weekend awaited us. All aboard the A.J. Meerwald for a sunset cruise in the bay. But wait. It gets better. The cruise included some awesome butlered hors d’oeuvres paired with generous pours of equally awesome wines from Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery. The hors d’ouvres included raw oysters, served with a watermelon bruschetta; stone crab claws with a mustard-based dip; mini kabobs of cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and artichokes; deviled eggs with salmon and lobster sliders, loaded with sweet, succulent lobster.
The AJ Meerwald is a restored oyster dredging schooner, constructed in 1928. Her home port is in the Bivalve section of Commercial Township in Cumberland County. Fortunately for us they have teamed up with Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery to offer wine and butlered hors d’oeuvres to complement the luscious setting that Mother Nature provides at sunset.
As good as the hors d’oeuvres were, the wines were even better. We started with a Brut Sparkling wine that I had never tasted before. I need to see if any bottles are available for purchase. The other wines included Unoaked Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Flying Press Red and White, Quill, Talon, Syrah and Riesling. The selection of wines was amazing and continuously being poured by Todd Wuerker (winemaker and owner) and his assistants. Todd graciously answered questions about the wine, despite being quite busy pouring and even helping to raise and lower the sails.
My wife and I were also happy to see Nick Marzock and Ed Anderson (known for their winery travels in their well-received blog, NJ Wine Reviews). We enjoyed chatting about NJ wine and wineries with them. They took the picture of my wife and me shown above. We even got to witness a parasailing adventure nearby. My wife and I are already talking about doing this again next year.
Needless to say our breakfasts at the Angel were fantastic (vanilla and cinnamon French Toast, strata, frittatas, and fresh fruit). You get the picture. For lunch on Sunday we met up with an old friend and his wife at Congress Hall’s Blue Pig Restaurant. My quinoa, kale and shrimp salad provided sustenance while we reminisced about our work at the Training School (formerly the American Institute for Mental Studies or A.I.M.S.). This was a great training ground for a slew of budding psychologists and professionals wanting to work with and help those with developmental disabilities.
For our last dinner of the weekend, we had made reservations at Louisa’s Cafe (pictured below). It is a marvelous small and crowded venue that consistently offers some of the freshest seafood and produce you can find, at a very reasonable price. I chose the Black Drumfish and my wife selected the flounder. We were not disappointed. Our fellow diners, seated next to us, said they have been coming to Louisa’s for 36 years. My wife and I shared that we had also been coming back for nearly that long. We wisely opted to share our dessert (chocolate bread pudding)-Amazing!
To top off an already wonderful weekend, we went back to our room, to find a wine bucket with a sparkling wine and fluted glasses to complete our anniversary celebration. What a thoughtful and delicious way to put a bow on our wonderful weekend!
Cheers!
Coming Attractions
- Wine Down Summer at Riverwinds
- New Jersey Sauvignon Blanc
- The Winemakers Co-Op Portfolio Tasting at Beneduce Vineyards
- Our Finger Lakes Wine Adventure
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