This past weekend was girls weekend with my two best friends Marguerite and Jodie, and while it would have been a great opportunity to cook and try a whole bunch of different recipes to share with you all, that didn’t happen. The whole idea for the weekend started a couple of months ago when we were lamenting the fact that none of us knew each other when we all got married and that none of us were at each other’s bachelorette parties. The idea evolved that we should go to Myrtle Beach and have a bachelorette weekend where we would all pretend to be brides again and really go to the extreme since none of us would ever do that for serious.
While dressing up in veils and having inappropriate male anatomy jewelry sounded like a lot of fun, we decided we would go to the country and sit on the dock instead. We exercised every morning before we went down to the dock to read trashy magazines and fish. We did not really cook, we just snacked on cheese and crackers, a huge store bought cookie cake, oreos, and little debbie snack cakes. We napped in the afternoon, and then more dock time followed by hours of House Hunters International. It was pretty awesome. Now, I need to clarify some stuff about the fishing. I love fishing. I hate fish. They actually freak me out- a lot. 
The first afternoon, Jodie had caught some bait fish in the cast net, and fortunately, she has no problem cutting up fish and putting the bait on hooks. I do have a problem with that. That afternoon we caught a couple of gar, which are really pretty scary prehistoric fish with a very long snout full of sharp teeth that want to bite you. So every time we caught a gar, we just cut the line and let it swim away with our hook (which Jodie assured me dissolves over time- not that I really felt bad for the gar, but it did make me feel a little better).
The next morning, I woke up early and went to throw the cast net since we had finished off our supply of bait fish the night before. My first cast was incredibly successful as I caught 12 mullet and a shrimp in my net. Now here is the part where I really hate fish. Most of the mullet went in the bait bucket no problem- one jumped out onto the dock and two got stuck in the net. I put the net back in the water and the two swam away, but the real problem was the one on the dock. It was jumping and flopping around, and I could not deal with it so I ran back to the house and waited for Jodie and Marguerite to get up so they could help. Here is the part where I really love fishing. Once Jodie got the mullet that was now dead on the dock cut up and on our lines, it did not take long for our first bite. I started to reel in the line and this thing was a fighter! After about 5 minutes of reeling and pulling, I finally got my catch up to the surface, and it was a huge shark- at least 4 1/2 feet long, and this is the water we were supposed to swim in later (swimming did not end up happening). Once we got a good picture, we again cut the line, but we were all feeling pretty powerful and in charge of nature. 
That was until a few hours later when Marguerite, who had not really been in the whole fishing thing thus far, decided it was her turn to reel in our next bite.
The next bite happened, and she jumped up and started reeling. It gave her a bit of a fight but finally she surfaced it, and it was a freaking snake! I am not kidding- a full on snake. Maybe it was an eel, but I am pretty sure it was a snake. This snake eel had the fish bait in its mouth and now body and then it started twisting itself up in the fishing line. It was so disgusting and we were screaming like the girls we are. It was all we could do not to just throw the whole rod in the water to be done with that thing, but Jodie managed to cut the line, and that pretty much ended our attempt at fishing for the rest of the day. Sunday was Mother’s Day, so we decided to let the boys come down to spend our last day with us. My parents came down as well with the boat. Despite all of the crazy things we had been pulling out of the water, my sweet wonderful Walker had a Mother’s Day surprise for me. He had gone with my dad the day before to take a water skiing lesson, and when they called after to report, they both said it had not gone well. I was so disappointed because I love to water ski and really wanted Walker to enjoy it. With a lot of cajoling, I got him to say that he would try it again. I was so nervous watching him in the shark infested water trying to get his skis on and sure that he was going to fall and that I might have to get in the water to help him. Well, the little devil popped right up on his skis. I was ecstatic! The whole thing had been a trick, and the lesson had actually gone really well. He was so great and so proud to show me what he could do. It was a wonderful Mother’s Day surprise especially since he didn’t get eaten or bitten by gar, sharks or sea snakes!!!
Clearly one of the best things about fall is football season, and if you aren’t really into football, at least you can enjoy a good tailgate or “football watching” party. However, I have found that these things tend to get a little repetitive in their food choices. Wings, beer, chili, you get the idea. Until now- this dipping sauce is really the perfect blend of spicy and cool blue cheese that makes whatever you dip into it a million times better. It is so flavorful and interesting- I am completely hooked. I also love the story behind it. Three high school friends back in the late 80s and early 90s were tired of ketchup, mustard, mayo as their only condiments and came up with the recipe. Then college and life got in the way, and it has taken them almost 20 years to get back together and realize that it is still the best dipping sauce and that there still is a need for it today. Right now, you can order this at www.whatisatomicblue.com, and I have no doubt that you will be able to find it in grocery stores soon. They will soon offer Atomic Salsa, Atomic Q, Atomic Ranch and Atomic Marinara which I know will be awesome. So, if you want to add something special to your next tailgate or any event- give this a try!
