Fishing and “The” Blogger Party

Back in early June, Laurie and I were happy to attend Larry (Big Dude) and Bev’s Blogger Dock Party.  They have a great party dock in a cove on Tellico Lake and it’s been a great source of entertainment…parties and socializing for us and fishing for me and an occasional visitor.

I do like to go fishing!

Fishing on Big Dude and Bev’s dock earlier this spring, I caught this nice catfish.  I was using a minnow with a bobber.  It was a heck of a fight on light fishing gear!

Recently, Laurie’s sister Bonnie and her husband Bill came over from St. Louis Missouri and they spent a week with us.  Bill and I went fishing on Larry and Bev’s party dock on 3 occasions… While we didn’t catch any big fish, we had a good time!  Bill is an aggressive fisherman, working constantly to find a lure or bait that will attract the big one.  He caught this bass on a spinning lure.  He must have cast lures over 500 times in our 3 outings.  I prefer to use a minnow as bait with a bobber…and just relax.  Of course, his methods yield more and bigger fish!

In any case, note the scene behind and around Bill… Not a bad setting!

On to the Blogger Party…

Each year for the past few years, Big Dude and his patient and supportive wife Bev, host a Blogger Party at their home here in East Tennessee.  Guests have come from as far away as Florida and Kansas City.  Big Dude…AKA Larry…has already posted a blog with the food photos, describing what we had to eat at this year’s event.  In the collage above, you can revisit the sumptuous buffet that we gorged on over a 4-hour period, one course at a time. 

For more details and close up photos of each of the dishes shown, just go to Big Dude’s blog at http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/2014/06/blogger-party-2014-lets-eat.html.  

Like I said, this is a party dock!  That’s Big Dude in the green shirt with his co-host Chris G. in the white shirt to his left.  

Chris is a pro-blogger and ‘grillmaster’!  He’s based in Knoxville Tennessee and he’s published a cookbook, available at Amazon, entitled ‘The Kamado Smoker and Grill Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for the World's Best Barbecue’.  To learn more about Chris and to check out his blog, you can go to: http://www.nibblemethis.com/p/about-me.html. He and his wife Alexis contributed a Puttanesca Sauce for our pasta ‘bar’.

This photo was taken after several bouts of eating and drinking… It was a pretty relaxed gathering.  We started with a few liquid refreshments, then grilled pizzas and an antipasto salad…followed by several pasta offerings plus meatballs and a couple of decadent desserts.  It’s a good thing that we spread this feast out because there was so much food.  Now I know why Roman banquets took so long! 

A couple of the guests took Larry’s Sea-Doo out for a spin on the lake!

Another ‘pro’ blogger that was in attendance was Penny who publishes “Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen”.  Her blog features great recipes and food photos.  Check out Penny’s blog at http://lakelurecottagekitchen.com/. She and her husband David furnished the Linguini with Spicy Tuscan Sausage Ragu for our feast.

Here’s another view of the group and the party dock… Seating in the background to the left is another blogger that I follow.  Sam is in the yellow blouse with the red necklace.  Her attractive and well-designed blog is called “My Carolina Kitchen”.  Sam writes a food column, “From My Carolina Kitchen”, for her local newspaper.  Her recipes are terrific and her food photos are spectacular…

You can check out Sam’s blog at http://mycarolinakitchen.blogspot.com/.  She and her husband Meakin served Chicken Marbella at Big Dude and Bev’s blogger party.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave