Page 59 – Lucky Peach #12 – The Seashore

The latest issue has been in my hot hands for like a week or so and I’ve been salivating at some of the recipes. The Seashore theme is exactly what you might imagine – snapper breakfast, Balinese prawns, beach reading, anchovies in Italy, a guide to knowing 8 great clams, and a tribute to the movie Goonies.

So, I’m 40. I’m just going to come out and say it. But you know what that means, to my generation (fuck you, we don’t need a name), Goonies is OUR TIME. Chris Ying wrote a great intro to this section that explores food in coastal Oregon, pointing out the edibles plentiful on the shoreline. And if you venture inland, the edibles become more and more green, if you know what I mean (I lived in Eugene in the mid ’90’s). Next year is the 30th anniversary of the epic adventure comedy and LP went all out featuring recipes inspired by the film – they even rented the Fratelli’s Jeep Cherokee and shot photos on the same beach the getaway was filmed. I know, so cool!

Back here in Los Angeles, things are a normal 90 degrees for August, and the only way I think we’ll fight the gentrification on the eastside is by drinking boozey shakes. In homage to Chunk’s amazing scene in the bowling alley window where he smashes his pizza and strawberry milkshake in awe of the infamous opening sequence car chase, they created some new recipes for their photo re-enactment.

Really cool. So we’re making their Strawberry shake with Aperol and Saba because it’s hot here and we need a pick me up.

Though I can drink, I didn’t know what Aperol was. I also didn’t know what saba syrup was, so I did some research, called around and went shopping. The bottle of Aperol ran me $27.99 at Gelson’s, the saba syrup $21.99 at Oaks Gourmet Market. I bought a pint of some killer sweet cream ice cream that ran $7.50 and the strawberries were about $3.50. You know how much that totals? About $61!! More facial expressions on that to come.

Chop up the strawberries and throw it all in the blender. I borrowed Sharon and Stu’s Vitamix, because it’s kinda awesome and I need a new blender.

That’s my ‘you know how much this was, best be good, biytach’ face.

Yes, I want to shank that expensive gourmet product. But, we tasted the saba because we were intrigued. Though costly, I know I will use it again, perhaps when roasting veggies or grilling meat. It’s a fancy vinegar and I have a feeling we’ll become good friends, hopefully it won’t get jealous of the red wine vinegar I brew at home.

It tastes rich. Like a thick walk in the park. ? Okay, next add over-priced ice cream and blend – add a few generous pinches of salt too.

And then you have to try it to check the consistency. Some like it thick, some like it more liquidy. I’m the former.   


I told you I can drink. That shake is the bomb!!!! So good. It blended well and was a little less thick than I wanted, so we put it in the freezer for like 15 minutes and that did the trick.

Stu, Sharon’s husband, is like me. We both fiend for ice cream and really like The Stooges. He came over with Oli to partake – oh, wait. You haven’t met Oli have you? Oliver Keaton Jenkins is their lovely boy, who was in Sharon’s tummy for a few of these recipes. So, you could say he’s been here awhile, but today, you formally meet through photography.

Why yes, he is also Chewbacca’s stand-in.

Oh, and the shake! It is fantastic – like dynomite! The Aperol is subtle, but with a respectable kick, and the saba compliments the sweet cream, making it a very complex yumminess. We got 3 pints easy out of it, so that’s like a $20 shake! So much for gentrification. I advocate rent control in my neighborhood, but if you’ve been to Silver Lake you know how hard to find that really is!

And we drink. We all drink.

We’re currently making Oli do the Truffle Shuffle for milk.