Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

October 21, 2018 / Female Human / Leave a comment

View from Mantoloking Bridge, in Mantoloking New Jersey.

Mantoloking / Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, down to Pt. Pleasant Beach is a great place to run. There is a small park before the bridge where the ReClam the Bay, a local non-profit organization is “reclamming” the Bay, or in other words, is trying to regrow the population of shellfish. According to the signs located in the Park, there used to be millions of clams and oysters in the Bay. However, due to various reasons (runoff (i.e., fertilizer) from the watershed (i.e., an area of land that drains to a common body of water), lack of management, and reduced habitat), there are only a fraction of them left.

Barnegat Bay Shellfish Restoration Program. There are clams growing inside the tank.

As also mentioned on the board standing next to the clam grow tank, the organization starts in July with baby seed clams, about 100,000 per upweller. Each is only about 2.5mm. By the end of the season, the clams have grown up to 20mm. In the fall, the clams are then planted in the Bay under protective screens to keep them safe from predators. They stay there for a full season, where they are then transferred into the Bay.

Statue provided by Brick High School Art Club

If you are ever at the Jersery shore, this little park is a great place to visit. Not only does it have the cool clam box, but it also has a playground for children and a runner’s track. Currently living in the landlocked country of Austria, it is always great to run around the water front.

Top 10 at the Jersey Shore

October 10, 2018October 9, 2018 / Female Human / Leave a comment

1. Kohr’s Frozen Custard. If you like icecream, you will love Kohr’s. It is so thick and creamy. The best flavor by far is the orange / vanilla twist. You can find it at the Pt. Pleasant Beach boardwalk, down by Jenkinsons.

Left: Pumpkin / vanilla twist. Right: Orange / vanilla twist

2. Mueller’s Bakery. Around since the late 1800’s, this place is great for baked goods. It used to have much better coffee (when it was brewed fresh). I guess due to supply and demand issues, the coffee is brewed and put into “self-service” pots against the back wall of the bakery. If you don’t come just when it was brewed, you could be disappointed.

Mueller’s Bakery

3. Martell’s Tiki Bar. This place is super fun during the summer months. On the weekends they usually have live bands. There is a bar conveniently located at the end of the pier, so you can enjoy a drink and watch the waves crash against the shore.

Tiki Bar Pier

4. Jenkinson’s Sweet Shop. This sweet shop is open year round, and is a great place to get homemade fudge and New Jersey saltwater taffy.

Ask for a taste test of the homemade fudge. My favorite is the peanut butter chocolate.

Homemade Fudge

Taffy comes in all sorts of flavors and makes a great gift!

Salt water taffy

5. Jenkinson’s Aquarium. Located at the end of the commercial portion of the boardwalk, this place is really fun for kids (and even if you are an adult). The animals are really nice to see, and there are shows (like feeding the Penguins) that you can watch. We would always take my niece and nephew here on the weekends–especially if it was a rainy day.

Aquarium

6. Running on the Boardwalk. The boardwalk is about 1 mile long, and is a great place to run (in the off season). Since it is super croweded during the on-season, I cannot recommend this as a good place to run, unless you come either really early in the morning or really late.

The View from the End of the Boardwalk

7. Bayhead. Bayhead is a cute little town near to Pt. Pleasant Beach. It has quaint little shops (e.g. Coffee at Noon) and is an overall good place just to walk around and see the sights.

Walking Around Bayhead

8. Sushi. Living in Austria, American style sushi is hard to come by, so whenever I am in town I love to go out for sushi. My favorite place is a small restaurant in Normandy Beach called Blue Sushi. The food is fresh and tasty. The restaurant is BYOB. Price for Amazing Roll was $17, and 3 pieces of sashimi was $6. A normal roll like Spicy Tuna was about $7. If sushi is not your thing, they also had typical Japanese restaurant food, like Udon noodle soup and teryaki.

Amazing Roll and White Tuna Sashimi

9. Spikes: My family and I have been going to spikes for decades. It is a small fish market and restaurant with wooden tables and benches. The food is always fresh and consistently good. If you go in the summer time, expect to wait up to an hour for an available table as they do not take reservations.

10. Local Urban Kitchen. This little restaurant has great food (vegan and gluten free options available), great coffee, and homebrewed teas. I meant to take a picture of the blackbean burger on gluten free bread, with raw kale chips, but I was so hungry and it looked so good that I totally forgot. After lunch, I had a non-fat latte. My tastebuds thanked me. Being a kombucha homebrewer and general kombucha enthusiast, I had to try the kombucha on tap. It was lavender-mint flavored, and was very crisp and refreshing. Kulture Kombucha is a local NJ brewery.

Local Urban Kitchen, Pt. Pleasant NJ

October 3, 2018October 3, 2018 / Female Human / 1 Comment

My mom and I had just finished our 5k run / walk at the boardwalk, and we decided to go for lunch. Local Urban Kitchen opened at the Pt. Pleasant location in 2014. In the last four years, I think that I have only been here a couple of times — this was definetely my huge loss!

Everything in the restaurant is locally sourced and is just absolutely fresh and delicious. There are tons of vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options, which for me is a huge PLUS! Their website also mentions that the tables and benches are handbuilt and “upcycled” by a local contractor, and the plates are made by a local potter.

Craving good coffee? This place hits the spot. If you are feeling adventurous, you could even try fall inspired flavors like vanilla maple or pumpkin.

What can I say about kombucha that isn’t positive? As a homebrewer and general kombucha lover, I have tried many different flavors and breweries. On tap at the Local Urban Kitchen is Kulture Kombucha‘s lavender mint. They also sell a variety of flavors in bottles. Definetely worth a try!

Kohr’s Frozen Custard, Pt. Pleasant Beach NJ

October 2, 2018October 2, 2018 / Female Human / 1 Comment

I have been coming to Pt. Pleasant Beach for the past 20+ years. Kohr’s frozen custard shop on the boardwalk is a staple of the Jersey Shore experience. It is the best icecream I have ever had (it is so thick and creamy). Whenever I take a lick, I am transported back to the summer of my childhood, spent playing in the waves and building castles in the sand.

Custard on the left is Pumpkin spice / vanilla twist. Custard on the right is orange / vanilla twist.

Coffee at Noon, Bayhead NJ

October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 / Female Human / 2 Comments

Coffee at Noon is a cute little shop in Bayhead that not only has a coffee bar, but also sells American handmade jewelry, soap, and other home goods. The cold brew coffee was really good (and something I needed after drinking nothing but Keurig coffee since coming back to the US). It was a little pricey however, at a 2-for-1 price of $2.50 each cold brew. If you are in Bayhead, this would be a nice little shop to visit, even just to browse the unique handcrafted goods.