Shopping and Seafood!

 ...continuing with Bonnie and Bill's visit from St. Louis Missouri.  We're always happy to have them come and stay for a bit.  Laurie really enjoys spending time with her sister but, as you'll see in the next few blog posts, they do love to shop, or at least browse a lot!  At least I get some exercise by just wandering around the selected stores.

I do participate in these shopping/browsing excursions in that I do some research in advance, in an effort to find stores or outlets that might be interesting to everyone.  Bargain Hunters Antique and Flea Market Mall was chosen even though we'd visited it about 2 years earlier.  I knew that there was a lot of variety re: merchandise for sale and that does enhance the browsing experience. 

As the preceding 3 photos show, you can find something for almost every taste and/or need at Bargain Hunters Mall.  This booth style mall is loaded with variety...from clothes and boots to metal roosters, signs, socks, scents, art, crafts and more.  I did feel that there were fewer antiques being offered for sale then we'd noted on our last visit.  In any case, the key item of interest many males accompanying their spouses, were the benches and seats at the front of the store where the guys can chill while the ladies do their thing. 

The good news for me is that Laurie only made a couple of small purchases.  The good news for this bit of older retail space, actually a former Big Lots Store, is that Bargain Hunters has occupied and repurposed the space...paying rent to the property's owners.  This mall, with its 300 booths, is open from 10 AM to 6 PM daily.  It is located at 4006 Chapman Highway in Knoxville Tennessee.  Website: https://www.bargainhunterstn.com/knoxville-tn.  I did note that Google Photos for this mall still features 18 or so photos from our last visit... 

The browsing wasn't complete though... E-Clec-Tique (cute) in Maryville Tennessee was next on the agenda.  We'd been here several years ago so it was time to take another look.

E-Clec-Tique is much smaller than Bargain Hunters but the quality of their antiques is significantly superior.  They also feature gift and home decor items.  I managed to escape any purchases but Laurie did spot a couple of items that had me sweating...

This retailer is located at 746 West Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville Tennessee.  They are closed on Sunday but the store is open from 10 AM until 5 PM all other days.  Their website is under construction...but when finished it will be at https://e-clec-tique.com/.  

This is The Shrimp Dock, a fresh seafood store in Alcoa/Maryville Tennessee.  Two other Shrimp Dock locations can be found in our area, one in Farragut and the other in the Bearden neighborhood of Knoxville.  

A fisherman from New Orleans started the Shrimp Dock in 1993.  He is a shrimper and fisherman.  He started driving to the Knoxville area and selling shrimp from the back of his truck on a weekly basis.  After a bit that evolved into a storefront operation.  With the involvement of new owners, the Shrimp Dock expanded into what it is today.  The original owner...that shrimping captain from New Orleans...is still operating fishing and shrimping boats out of Louisiana, and the Shrimp Dock stores are still the recipients of much of his watery harvest.  Other suppliers also replenish the fresh seafood inventory for the stores on a daily basis.     

Not only can customers buy a wide variety of seafood to take home, but they can also purchase meals and sandwiches to go or they can eat in the Shrimp Dock.  They do have a dining area.  The menu boards above are a little tough to read even when enlarged.  There is a whole series of items that can be served fried or grilled with a variety of seasonings all accompanied with 2 sides.  You can order a Po' Boy, a number of Signature entrees, appetizers and small plates...and even a Low Country Boil.

I've included a photos of a couple of the seafood display cases just to show some of the variety of seafood products available.  The top shelf in the top photo contains soft shell crab, king crab, claw crab meat, lump crab and crab roe.  The bottom 2 shelves are all about lobster, warm water and cold water lobster.  The items in the middle photo are easy to read and include salmon from Scotland.  The bottom photo is all about different size/types of shrimp plus crab cakes and a number of seafood dips and spreads.  We bought the shrimp dip and everyone loved it!  We also purchased a couple of quarts of New England clam chowder.  Laurie loved it but I like my clam chowder creamier and thicker than she does.

Our primary purchase at The Shrimp Dock was these 12 big and beautiful fresh sea scallops!  When we got home, Laurie and Bonnie went to work preparing the fresh scallops as our entree for dinner.  Despite claims that this is a simple recipe, only the ingredients were 'simple'.  The preparation involved a number of steps or actions and it was all about timing.  The ladies were scrambling to get it right...stress levels were high!  In the end however, our meal of Pan-Seared Scallops with Lemon Caper Sauce served with linguini was perfect!  A fine seafood restaurant couldn't have produced a more delicious meal!  Kudos to the chefs...

To view the recipe as well as the process required to provide this seafood masterpiece, you can just go to https://bakerbynature.com/pan-seared-scallops-with-lemon-caper-sauce/.  

That's all for now... Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by to see what we've been up to!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave