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DinnerGrilling

Vacation Dinners By The Book

By August 19, 201621 Comments

Our annual trip to South Carolina has been the textbook definition of vacation. There are pools. There are beaches. There is kayaking and backhand-winner-ing and oyster shoveling. There isย napping in the big chair on the patio, book splayed across chest. There is Making of a Murderer binge-watching. (OMG OMG OMG!) There is gin-and-tonic-ing. There is Cinnamon-Frosted-Pop-Tart-ing. There is running on the beach in the early morning, our attempt to outwit the scorching southern sun, which in no way is working.

By all accounts, itโ€™s been a good week. But Iโ€™ll tell you what I am enjoying the most: The absence of dinner decisions. Before I left, I took photos of all our vacation meal line-ups dating back to 2004. (This is when my Dinner Diary might actually be viewed as an exercise in practicality, as opposed to a cry for help.) I did this because I hoped that all the psychic energy usually directed towards the whatโ€™s-for-dinner question would be freed up to make more crucial vacation decisions, such asย Pool then beach? Or beach then pool? ORย Would this picture be better for regular Instagram or Instagram Stories?

The joke is on me, though, because you almost canโ€™t tell the difference between one year and the next โ€” the same summer classics appear again and again on the vacation menu. Instead of calling this โ€œboringโ€ and โ€œunimaginative,โ€ Iโ€™m going to choose to call it โ€œritualisticโ€ and โ€œtraditional.โ€ (In case you havenโ€™t noticed, Iโ€™m a big fan of rituals and tradition.) I thought you might like to see the line-up (above) and their links (below) to help with your own end-of-summer cookingโ€ฆ


1.ย Gin & Tonics
2.ย Shrimp Rolls
3.ย Grilled Yogurt-Marinated Chicken


4. Burgers with Special Sauce
5.ย Grilled Tuna with Tomato-Peach Salsaย (see #4)
6. Grilled Fish Tacos with Cilantro Pesto (page 188, Dinner: The Playbook)
7.ย Pulled Pork Sandwiches


8. Grilled Steak with Salsa Verde
9.ย Fried Flounder


10. Grilled Pork with Peaches


11.ย Summer Cobbler


Hooray for no-decision dinners!

Related: My Drill Sergeant of Leisure

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21 Comments

  • Avatar Michele says:

    I know you like your physical journal but just thought Iโ€™d shareโ€ฆ I started using the Day One app and I really like it. I snap a photo, write some comments, and paste the url for future use. There is a photo only view which allows me to easily visually scroll through dishes Iโ€™ve made.

  • Avatar Tina says:

    Your kids are so lucky โ€“ love your meals!

  • Avatar Katie says:

    Hey, your special sauce is also my momโ€™s special sauce! Although hers was just mayo and ketchup, no onions or relish or anythingโ€ฆ I also have a feeling that mayo and ketchup is a lot of peopleโ€™s โ€œspecial sauceโ€โ€ฆ haha ๐Ÿ˜‰

  • Chrissy says:

    This dinner diary is a great idea! Iโ€™m heading out in a few weeks and I think Iโ€™ll start one of my own. Brilliant!

  • Avatar Awads says:

    Iโ€™m a Charleston girl so I appreciate the posts about SC! Thatโ€™s how we vacation, when we get out of DC (beach house and lots of trips to the Harris Teeter). I have kept a running list on a pad of paper of what iโ€™m cooking for the week. Itโ€™s not for nostalgia but to keep me focused on what weโ€™re having for supper each night. I donโ€™t know how to function w/o it!

  • Avatar Wendy says:

    I absolutely love that you all have pop tarts on vacation.

  • Avatar Harry says:

    I think itโ€™s so bad that you kept a dinner diary. I think it actually would help to solve the โ€“ whatโ€™s for dinner question. Of course some things will repeat but it just would help you gauge what are hits and what arenโ€™t. Also โ€“ glad your vacation was delightful!

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  • Avatar Simran says:

    haha I like this article. I am going for a vacation next month and I will try to follow the same. Its great. Thanks

  • Avatar Emily says:

    Great post! Thank you for consolidating all these into one!

  • Avatar Angela says:

    We tried the ice cream for dinner as a new beach vacation ritual โ€“ mid week, one night itโ€™s big bowls of ice cream and every topping you can think of โ€“ all the good stuff. The kids loved it โ€“ and still talk about the time I let them have ice cream for dinner. My husband and I opted for cocktails and steamed old Bay shrimp โ€“ too each their own!

  • Mahfuz Ahmed says:

    This really looks so yummy and I will defiantly be going to try it this evening. Thanks for sharing.

  • Sasha says:

    Not sure how I missed this post โ€“ but itโ€™s genius!!! Love, love, love, and will be tucking this away for our summer. If only it wasnโ€™t still 6 months away, but at least we have now passed winter solstice!

  • Avatar Nancy B. Horgan says:

    This recipe is a great idea! I was thinking of vacation with my husband for few weeks and I think it will be the perfect recipe . Thanks for the recipe.

  • Avatar Kyle Carter says:

    haha ! I love this . Seriously you give me something which will give some good taste to my tongue. Really this sounds too good.

  • Avatar Mike Henry says:

    I thought I couldnโ€™t love pasta more than I already did, but then I saw this.

  • Zen says:

    Great idea! I was thinking of holiday with my family on next week and will make the great recipe. Thanks for your sharing.

  • Avatar Tina says:

    My son loves the food that you instruct. He ate all the dishes I made according to your recipe and shared the compliments. He enjoyed asking me to cook every day. Thank you for sharing this recipes.

  • Avatar Elizabeth says:

    Definitely gonna make this recipe for my kids ๐Ÿ™‚

  • Avatar Varun sharma says:

    Definitely gonna make this recipe for my kids

  • Avatar Keurig Coffee Maker says:

    Thank you so much for this recipe! Iโ€™m visiting my boyfriend in Pittsburgh this month, and it is FREEZING there. But this seems like just the thing to keep us warm

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