Food, Shopping, More Food

…continuing with Laurie’s sister Bonnie and Bonnie’s husband Bill visit from St. Louis Missouri.  Food and shopping…or at least browsing, these are the things we seem to do best.  

The last time that Laurie and I shopped at Costco, we’d picked up a box of mussels and 2 baguettes.  Bill and Bonnie love seafood of just about any variety and we thought that we’d serve the mussels with the bread as an appetizer during their visit.  It was a hit!  I’m not a huge fan but the mussels were OK and the sauce was very tasty indeed.

Two packs of mussels came in the box, so Laurie and I recently defrosted them as well as the second baguette…and it was dinner for us one night.

Note: The mussels were packaged by Sogelco, with 2 one-pound packs in the box.  These fresh cooked and pasteurized mussels were cultivated on Prince Edward Island, one of Canada's Maritime Provinces.  This is just one of Sogelco's seafood products.

More home cooking…or in this case, grilling.  Unfortunately the only photo we took of our ribeye steaks, roasted potatoes and sautéed portabella was this one of Laurie’s dinner.  She and Bonnie split a ribeye steak…while Bill and I ate our ‘whole thing’!  The steaks…purchased from Fresh Market…needed about a minute less time on the grill.  We all like our steaks medium rare and they were just a tad over cooked.  Still, no one except me complained…and I was the ‘grill master’.  I'm guessing that Laurie had already eaten half of that mushroom cap...

Rather than venturing to downtown Knoxville, Bonnie and Bill decided on an alternative ‘adventure’.  They had never been in a Rural King Store so our first stop was the Rural King located on US Hwy 11 in Sweetwater Tennessee.  We looked all around the store and did a little shopping but Laurie and I were underwhelmed when we compared the stock levels and variety of items to what we experienced on our first visit.  Perhaps much of the problem is related to supply chain issues, product availability and staffing needs.  We won’t be back for a while…

FYI, Rural King has taken over a number of big empty Kmart locations in our area.  Our first impression was that Rural King is much like a Tractor Supply location, only on steroids!

Our next stop was the Sweetwater Valley Farm, a place that Bill and Bonnie had visited before but wanted to visit again.  With 29 or so different cheeses on hand, this dairy farm also offers pickled/preserved vegetables, ,cured meats, a number of sauces and salsas, honey, jams and jellies, apparel and other gift items. 

Of special interest is the sampling ‘bar’ which is available for customers to taste most if not all of the cheeses.  It 'greets you' as you enter the building.  Can't miss it!  An assortment of cheeses and jellies found their way into our SUV before we moved on… 

Love the fake cow!  I could use one of those in our yard… Our property owners association would really freak out! 

That big barn-like structure serves as Sweetwater Valley Farm’s gift shop and restaurant.  The “Seed to Sandwich Café / Home and Gift Shop” was fortunately closed.  They are not open on Sunday or Monday.  The Café offers a variety of grilled cheese sandwiches, milk shakes, coffee and desserts and the gift shop is a couple of levels above typical with its quality merchandise.  From my point of view, we saved a few dollars!

Tours are of the dairy operation are offered Tuesday through Saturday.  Adults are $12.oo and children from 3 to 12 cost $8.00.  This large dairy farm milks 500 cow’s daily using robotic technology.  Sweetwater Valley Farm is located near Philadelphia Tennessee on US Hwy 11.  To learn more, just go to their very complete and informative website, which is found at https://sweetwatervalley.com/. 

Time for dinner and we didn’t want to stray far from home given the fact that the four of us were taking off on a mini 2 night road trip early the next morning.  So Bonnie and Bill decided that they’d be interested in having dinner at Tellico Village’s Toqua Sports Bar and Grill.  It is one of the 3 golf course restaurants at Tellico Village.  Laurie and I had been there recently…the first time since it was remodeled…and we had been happy with our meals.

Note: The previous photo was taken on our first visit to the Grill in late winter.

Both of the ladies decided to have dinner salads.  Since Laurie likes a bit of spicy, she ordered the Boom Boom Shrimp Salad. ($14.00) The fried shrimp were tossed in Boom Boom sauce and then placed over mixed greens with cheddar jack cheese, cucumbers, tomato, red onion and hard-boiled egg.  The salad was served with blue cheese dressing.

Bonnie opted for the Razz-berry Chicken and Walnut Salad. ($13.00) This creation included char-grilled chicken on mixed greens, walnuts, dried cranberries, tomato, red onion, cucumber, and feta cheese served with a Razz-berry vinaigrette.

Laurie and Bonnie really enjoyed their salads but they were so big that Bill and I had to ‘help them out a bit’.  Mixed greens are off limits to me but I did scoop up some cucumbers and tomatoes with some blue cheese dressing.

During our last visit to the Toqua Sports Bar and Grill, I’d ordered the Pastrami Sliders ($13.00) and I’d been very happy with my selection.  In this instance, Bill decided to order Pulled Pork Sliders with coleslaw as his side dish for his entrée.  It must have been a 'special item' as they aren’t on the posted menu.  In any case, he did enjoy his dinner! 

I decided to try something new from Toqua Grill.  I ordered the Mahi Tacos. ($14.00) As you can see from the photo, this entrée included 3 grilled flour tortillas stuffed with a bit of lettuce, cheddar jack cheese and pieces of grilled Mahi-Mahi.  The tacos were topped with pico de gallo and chipotle ranch drizzles.  They were served with lime and sour cream.  While they were quite tasty, they were way too messy for someone like me who has a tendency to ‘wear his food’ in the first place.

The Toqua Sports Bar and Grill is located at the Toqua Golf Course in Tellico Village in Loudon Tennessee.  To learn more about this restaurant just go to http://www.tellicovillageyachtclub.com/restaurants/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave