Costa Crew Comes to Town

The Costa Rica Crew has come to town!

Adam and Pat were due to arrive in Philly at 3:30pm. To our surprise, walking down the street from the bus station is not just Adam and Pat, but also OZZIE! Woohoo...he decided to arrive a few days early and go with us to the Jimmy Buffet concert. Yes, did I mention that we were all going to Jimmy Buffet? Buffet's not so much my thing, nor is it Shawn's and certainly not Ozzies', but we all decided to go non-the-less...for the experience, and to hang with Adam and Pat -- who had enough "buffet" spirit for all of us. Also in tow was Red's (of Rojo's in OC NJ)...we were all in my 5 seater ford fuckus. Yep, 6 adults (3 of them who are supersized) in my 5 seater mobile.

Adam was hungry, of course...so we quickly headed to the Vietnam Restaurant for some good grub. Ozzie ate something hot, and was sweating throughout the meal...and Adam told some funny asian jokes.

Oz, Sweatin' it out...all in the name of Vietnamese food.

We literally piled into the car and then set out for our Jimmy Buffet adventure in Camden. It took us a few turns and a bit of confusion to finally find a liqour store in Camden, but it made for some funny stories....someone asking Adam if he had 24 cents, a girl bumming a beer seconds after purchase...and some crazy lady with the longest thumbs that anyone had EVER seen - wearing a dust mask and chatting the boys up for a while {in hopes of getting a free beer}. I felt like I was back in Costa Rica! After that small adventure we finally made it to the Buffet Parking lot for some rainy 'tailgating' in my ford fuckus. Before we left for the show, my Dad insisted that we take some of his foul-weather commercial fishing gear...because it was necessary and much appreciated! The rain came and went, and luckily held off during the Buffet performance. There were some songs that I sang along to -- songs that my mom used to sing to me when I was a kid from his early records. The new stuff wasn't my cup of tea, but I danced around and fed off of Adam and Pat's serious Buffet enthusiasm. After the show we decided it was a good idea to go eat cheesesteaks at Pat's in Philly. This turned out to be a very bad idea, as we all had serious belly aches and poocano's the next morning. Anyways, Pat and Adam had NEVER had a cheesesteak -- NEVER, in their WHOLE lives. Completely shocking, but I'm glad that the greasy goodness was something that we could share with them. After Pat's, I hopped in the driver seat, ozzie crammed up front in the passenger seat with the empty cooler, and Pat, Adam, Shawn and Red's in my back seat....

Adam, Braving the rain as we all take shelter in the car.

Woohooo Jimmy Buffet!!

The next morning {Friday} we woke up at 6am, exhausted and {some} hungover...powered through it, had some coffee and headed for an early morning surf. Well lucky us, the Costa Rican's brought us waves AND warm weather. We surfed the fantastic waves for a while, had some laughs and Adam "almost" got barreled...then we packed up and headed home for some breakfast. Good toast and green eggs, more coffee and banana leches. The small refuel left us with a smidge of energy, enough to head out on the boat with Dad to go clamming. Ozzie opted to stay ashore and make some phone calls to his beautiful lady, Pepper, back in Costa. I barely talked Adam into going, seeing as he drank a zillion beers the night before, but I promised him that it would be easy and relaxing, just digging your toes in the mud....

Adam ... crossing his fingers, hoping he doesn't get sea sick.

Pat and Me...heading out to the secret spot!!

WELL, turns out we {ahem, Adam and Shawn} had to push the boat a ways through the mud in order to get to the top secret clamming spot. Adam was cursing me the whole way. Ha. Once we got there though, it proved to be fruitful -- we got a full bushel and a half of clams...enough for a decent clam feast later that evening. Pat proved to be a natural at clamming, pulling up a few at a time...and Adam proved that he can hang with the best of us and talk some serious trash...

The boys...pushing us to the secret spot.

Our Catch!!!

We got back to the dock, wiped out and ready for a nap, but instead went to the check the waves -- and it was PHENOMENAL. We surfed perfect waves for another 2 hours. I was so exhausted that I could barely carry my board back to the car. We loaded all the boards on top of the fuckus, loaded all of us inside...and then set out for the relaxing, booze-filled and always food-stocked house of my parents.

As soon as we got there I jumped into the hot tub. 104 degrees to loosen up my muscles! My mom poured me a glass of champagne and I was instantly drunk: the combination of bubbles, lack of sleep, complete exhaustion of my whole body, too much sun and no food. We all hung and chatted and then started in some steamed clams. Again, these were the first for Pat. After we went through a few dozen clams and a few sticks of melted butter we had clams on the half shell {raw}...and I think that Ozzie thought he died and went to heaven. Along with some of my homemade cocktail sauce and some OTC's, the half shells were the cats pajamas for sure!

Jump forward a few more beers and a ton of clams, and we worked our way into the dining room for some serious eating. Trays of clams casino, fresh jersey tomatoes, grilled corn, delicious salad, cucumber salad, tuna mousse, and pig pate graced the table, and our bellies! We ate until we couldn't eat anymore...took a brief siesta for digestion, and then dug into my HOMEMADE fresh berry pie with vanilla ice cream, and mom's homemade coconut bars with hot fudge.

Food coma.

Saturday Morning: Pat decides to sleep in...it is ABSOLUTELY necessary. I was tettering on the edge, and last minute decided to go fishing with the boys. Oz, Shawn, Adam, Dad and I all on the Native Guide, out to slay the flounders. Ozzie had never been fishing, in his life. Adam had gone maybe once or twice. Holy shit, we had amaeturs. I taught Oz a few tricks of the trade, and within seconds of our FIRST drift, within seconds of Oz dropping his line -- he pulled in a 22 inch flounder. To see him jig a rod and reel in a fish is hysterical. Truly grab-your-ribs-and-gasp-for-air hysterical. BUT, he caught a monster...the first and the biggest. Dad caught a keeper not too soon after, and then in one of the last drifts I pulled in my keeper. Shawn and Adam got skunked in the keeper department, but we all caught a ton of throw backs. Off in the distance we could hear some thunder and see the darkness creeping in...so we pulled our lines, gathered up our minnies and ran back to the dock. We pulled in just as it started to pour. Dad fileted the fish and we headed back to the house with our catch.

Back at the house I began to make some salsa and prep the fish for some fabulouso fish tacos. We snacked on some cheese from DiBruno's while we were waiting and reminisced about Ozzie's serious fishing style. Ha.

Pat and Adam got ready for Jimmy Buffet {YES, they are going AGAIN}, Ozzie played DJ and spun us some wonderful tunes, and I took a nap. I'm heading to work now while Ozzie catches some Zzz's and Shawnie catchs up on facebook.

What a great few days. And there's only more madness to come....
Shawn was the first to bite the dust. Then Ozzie. Then Adam. Then Pat. I loaded up my crew that had too much fun, too much food, and too much to drink and we came back to my house to rest up and get ready for a day of fishing.

Check out ALL the photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=269600&id=653500240&l=0d5244b0ae