Special Get-togethers - Dinners in South Padre

We eat out in restaurants often - birthdays, anniversaries, Valentines, Sunday football, after golf, after fishing, on our way back from shopping or just any old reason. I must say though that some of the best meals we’ve had with our friends have been when a group gets together at one of our sites, selects a theme and the rest becomes history!

We engaged in three of these dinners together in the three months we were in South Padre Island (SPI). We were able to have the first two dinners outside close to our rigs and, when the weather refused to cooperate for the third event, we moved it inside to the Commons – an area provided by the KOA for parties.

The whole idea reminds John and me of when we were boating. No single boat was ever big enough to invite more than two or three people in for dinner and it seemed we were ALWAYS more anyway! With or without the kids with us, it was just easier to get organized for dinner on the picnic tables on the dock. We would gather early in the afternoon and start to have a few cocktails and prep dinner. Afterwards, we’d end up sitting around the campfire and enjoying the rest of the evening! So, the venue may be different but, believe me, the depth of friendship is the same.

In early December, the idea for the Rib Fest began with a few gals just talking about and wanting to try out each others’ recipes. We picked a day to ‘just do it’ and the meal came together as easy as pie. Each rig brought their own rib recipe and appetizers, corn bread, slaw and other salads and desserts were added to complement the meal. We were about 16 in total for dinner and the vino and beer flowed nicely. The precedent was set. It was effortless. There was nothing left over and we had fun!



Here’s a picture of the table setting before we dug in!






Once we managed to get through New Year’s and a couple of other notable official events, Barb introduced the idea of a Pasta Party! Since she had a special recipe for Chicken Alfredo and offered to make it for all of us, we chimed in with all the stuff to support such a meal. The numbers in the park had increased by then and so we were about 24 for that meal! Again, there was little left over and we certainly did not leave the table hungry!

From the time of our arrival in SPI, Johnnie talked about having another Fish Fry. We had one in February 2010 and about 40 people attended. So, if we did another one this February, naturally, it would have to be bigger and better than the first! So, John and his buddy Ray proceeded to stock up each of their freezers with the fish that they caught.


Here’s a photo of Ray and Johnnie coming off the boat with one such catch.














As the winter proceeded, John engaged other buddies in his adventure and the number of pounds of fish needed for the fish fry started to grow. Before we knew it, Bob, Tia, Bob's father, Doug, Captain Bob and others were offering their fish for the event. However, it was just ‘all talk’ until our friends Stu and Lori presented John with his birthday present – five 10-pound bags of russet potatoes!

Then, we were off! It was clear – the menu was all about French fries and fish! Healthy? Well, not so much. I kept thinking that my Zumba classes would help me make it through… there were conversations amongst all rigs almost every day about chef responsibilities, roles of the chefettes (a new word), blackened fish recipes, fryers, roasters, potato slicers, utensils, chilli, condiments, appies, desserts et al. Sam’s Club certainly benefited in advance of our event. The date was set, the invitation prepped and copied, the guests invited and Larry and the Larryettes agreed to supply the tunes.

But the weather in February this year was not great. We had days of either 30 mph winds and/or temps below 35 at night. As the day of the Fish Fry approached, we confirmed the KOA’s approval to hold the event in the common area just in case. We would have preferred to have it outside on our cul-de-sac but it was not to be.

The KOA Commons has a full kitchen and offered plenty of room for our guests. When the day of the Fish Fry arrived, there was no doubt we needed to move it inside. We were worried that some would think it had been postponed. We relied on the 'word of mouth' in the park and it proved to be reliable! We had about 60 campers turn out! Many came at 2:00 and stayed through to 7:00! Everybody sure enjoyed it!

Let me introduce the major contributors:

Chefs Mike, Mike, Stu and Larry (left to right)!!!!



Chef Bob on fries!



Chef Ray slicing the fish (clearly, a job he took seriously!)














Lori’s specially-made condiments!















the Dessert table (thanx to our guests)!


and Johnnie overseeing the bevvies!


Looks like it was a good time, right?

After our last guest left, we started to clean up with major help from Cia and Gail and finished around 8:00 pm. We headed back to our rigs and then all of us stopped to hang out around Stu and Lori’s camp fire for an hour or so. Yes, we were tired. Yes, we had a great time doing it. Yes, everyone came to us the next day saying how much they enjoyed it. And yes, we will probably try to pull it off next year on a sunnier day!

Not long after the Fish Fry, John and I packed up after our three month stay on SPI. It was not an easy thing to do with so many friends and good memories in such a short time. We pushed on though, took two days to get to west Texas and are now in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We’ll be here for another month or so – drop back when you get a chance and maybe I’ll have a few stories about the state called the “Land of Enchantment”!