Walland Rally – Day 2-5 - Tuesday Thru Friday

On Tuesday, we drove the newly finished section of the Foothills Parkway called the "missing link" which was authorized by Congress in 1944 and completed in 2018.  It rises less than other completed sections as it makes it’s curvy 16 mile route into Wears Valley and while the sky wasn’t real clear, we could see pretty good with the developed area in the second shot being Townsend, TN.

Walland Rally - Day 1 Monday - Heritage Center and Cades Cove

We began Monday morning with a continental breakfast of pastries, bagels, fruit and drinks then headed to Townsend to see the sights beginning with the Smokey Mtn Heritage Center.

The center is a history of the early settlers to the area and the native Americans who preceded them by several thousand years.  The center includes several Cades Cove buildings.  Compared to our easy modern lives, these folks just existed, working daylight to dark to eek out a meager living.

Walland Rally – Preparation Days & Campground

Once again, we are camping with our Tennessee Travelers Chapter of the FMCA and this time Bev and I are the rally hosts.  Since we went as far as Savannah, GA for the previous rally, we opted to stay closer to home for this one and go to Walland, TN, which was where we first participated with this group.  We returned to the same campground except it now has new ownership and a new name – Whispering River Resort. 

Pan Fried Italian Halibut With Lemon Cream And Caper Sauce

Cindy has a client who regularly gives her fish fillets when they go fishing in Alaska so we had three nice pieces of Halibut in the freezer.  When I recently saw the recipe for Grilled Italian Swordfish With Lemon Cream And Caper Sauce on Roz’s  La Bella Vita Cucina blog, which uses our favorite fish sauce, I had to wonder how it would go with our Halibut.  Cindy and Bev agreed that we should give it a try but I decided to pan-fry rather than grill it.  I changed the ingredient amounts for our three pieces and changed the fish cooking directions so check please Roz’s blog for her original recipe and some great shots of her pretty presentation.

Grilled Chicken Thighs With Mango Salsa

Cindy recently returned from a family visit in Florida and brought us a gift of three salsas, one of which was Mango, and I decided to give it a try on grilled chicken thighs.  We had six thighs and I decided to use BBQ sauce on three and mango salsa on the others – since it was chunky, I blended up some for brushing. 

Open Faced Sloppy Joe’s Ala Pam

Bev had bought some ground chuck on sale about the same time that Pam posted the recipe for Open Faced Italian Sloppy Joe’s on her "For The Love Of Cooking" blog so I decided to give it a try.  Bev has said that a friends Sloppy Joe’s are the only ones she’s ever liked so this was a little bit of a risk to make.  I followed the recipe except I salted at each step, added a good shake of Italian Seasoning after tasting the assembled mixture, and changed the garlic toast as noted.  Check Pam’s blog for her original recipe and photo’s like this one below of her dish.

Baked White Fish

After getting both knees replaced, I believed I was good to go for the rest of my life until I developed a left hip issue late last year and when a steroid shot in March only relieved the pain for three weeks I knew what I had to do.  I had hobbled around for a couple of years before dealing with my knees and have learned not to wait for a miracle cure and just get things replaced so I went to see the surgeon this week.  It was confirmed that my hip was indeed in bad shape and needed replacement but I needed to lose 40 pounds before the surgery could be done.  Since I need to lose more than that anyway this will hopefully provide the incentive I’ve needed.

Beer Can Chicken Ala Brenda

I’d been wanting to make beer can chicken and I was unable to find where I had posted about it on my blog so I went in search of a recipe.  I found one I liked on Brenda’s “A Farmgirl’sDabbles” blog that got my attention with two statements - “This easy beer can chicken recipe guarantees moist, fall-off-the-bone meat and crispy, ultra flavorful skin” and “WE’VE PERFECTED THE BEER CAN CHICKEN.”  Here is a pic from her blog which I suggest you pay a visit to for more pics and comments.

Ham, Asparagus, And Mushroom Frittata

Our neighbors had given us some fresh asparagus and Bev suggested we make a frittata from it and the mushrooms we had on hand.  Since we also had some Kentucky Legends ham in the fridge, I went in search of a recipe that used all three ingredients and liked the one from Marcie’s Flavor The Moment blog.   Please check out her site for comments, the original recipe, and more pics like this one that I borrowed from her.