Recreating Ocean City

Every year when my husband was growing up, his family headed to Ocean City, Maryland for a week-long family beach vacation. They are the epitome of what you would call "beach people."

I never took a single beach vacation growing up, so I always assumed I was decidedly not a beach person. I'm fair-skinned, thus I burn very easily. I don't like being hot and sweaty. I like to be doing stuff, not sitting around on a beach, right?

Wrong. The first time I went to Ocean City with my in-laws, I discovered that I am, in fact, a huge beach person. Sit on the beach for hours under an umbrella and read? Eat tons of amazing seafood and drink fruity drinks? Walk the boardwalk and shop for jewelry? Um, yes please!

We would go every year if we could, but my pregnancy imposed a big road block for us this year. At 33-34 weeks pregnant, not only would it be risky to fly, I would also be miserable. I'd be large and uncomfortable in the heat. I could have fruity drinks, but without the kick I would want them to have. And I'd be limiting my seafood intake to avoid an abundance of mercury. Ugh, ugh and ugh.

So we had to sit this year's trip out, but instead of wallowing in our sorrow over missing a great trip, we decided to recreate Ocean City as best we could in our own kitchen. We have a very important Ocean City tradition: on the first night in town, we get takeout from the Crab Cake Factory, sit around the patio furniture at our rented condo and eat, talk, drink and laugh. These are not just any crab cakes, though. They are AMAZING crab cakes, and we always end up getting take out for lunch at least one more time during our trip.

My mom-in-law told us about some great crab cakes she'd bought from Sam's Club recently. Not the same as Ocean City, she said, but still really good. So we got some of those and some shrimp (and a few veggies to round it out), and had ourselves a little seafood feast.

Granted, it wasn't the same as being there. But it was still pretty darn good.