Beach House Cooking

Yesterday's WP's Food section had a great article on writing a cookbook. This is something my family and I have kicked around to support our beach house habit.
Let me explain- every year we go to Sandbridge. If you have never heard of it, dont bother reading about it. We love Sandbridge, but our families are getting bigger and every year it seems we need more space or people commit and back out (thus increasing the financial burden on some). It seems all the beach houses now have pools, hot tubs, ping pong whatever...crazy amounts of amenities. We started going when I was 19 or something. Now I have two kids and a husband. I never saw the benefit of a pool until I had children. I still enjoy the beach and we still spend lots of time in the sand and surf, but at night when the kids are in bed, I get to swim with abandon in the lit warm pool. Also it is a controlled environment for the kids. All I am saying is now I see the benefits of a pool at the beach.
Parenting is an exercise in reversals from "why would anyone need a pool?" to "we will pay thousands more for a pool!" of course there are other more keenly felt reversals (tv, junk food, natural birth) but the pool is the issue.

We have maturely discussed other options for affording Sandbridge. Sandbridge is now so expensive. We use to rent a three or four bedroom place for $1100 a week right in front of the beach access. Now Virginia Beach allows the developers to come in a build HUGE condos right next to the wildlife preserve yet we can not get enough of Sandbridge. There is talk of Outer Banks or other places. But we are squatters now, we come because we always have and we want to.

I lived in Greenwood growing up, I loved Greenwood Crozet, Batesville, and Afton LONG before it was cool to love those places. I look at what everyone loves and thinks is so cool now and wonder what is happening to the places I love? Some of the places are unrecognizable- the ridges are no longer tree filled forests, they are homes with driveways (pools) and cars. The roads have lots of cars on them and the schools are jammed. Downtown Crozet is so great, but I still loved it when it looked like a dump.
I dont think the cookbook is going to work out since none of the contributing editors have signed onto the yahoo group. Eating at the beach is so great-all the energy I expend allows me to really enjoy all the delicious food we make.

The beach remains, the food remains and the company remains, perhaps progress isnt so overwhelming after all.