One perfect day on the beach: Hugs, mimosas, great food and competition talk

Yep, I finally made it alive to Florida! I had a fantastic time with my friends and our wonderful host, Josee Lanzi. Everyone came from different parts of Florida to meet up and share their delicious, competition-worthy dishes with me. Josee graciously opened up her home, fueled her boat, planned the day, fished for lunch and made some incredible food for us… right there on the beach. Lucky us!

All of my Florida friends are buddies that I’ve met either through various food competitions or online voting groups. I met Josee Lanzi, Linda Bonwill, and KC Quaretti at some of the biggest competitions out there: Kraft, World Food Championships and MasterChef. This was, however, my first in-person hug with Debbie Reid and Susan Chase.

After the hugs, mimosas and Josee’s famous smoked-fish dip, we headed for the boat. Just as we were getting on the boat, one of Josee’s little poodles, Peanut, took a dive between the boat and the dock! Oh no! Josee made a harrowing dive to make the save! Thankfully, although shaken, Peanut survived! Peanut opted out of the rest of the afternoon, but who could blame him….

After Josee settled Peanut, she toweled off and took us out on the ocean on her fabulous fishing boat. It was such a fun experience to get a glimpse inside her passion for the ocean and fishing. Hangin’ for an afternoon with Josee, fisher girl extraordinaire, was pretty impressive and made me feel like I am the prissiest of all princesses. Josee is a bit of a hero amongst women. To look at her, Josee is this sweet, lovely, little lady…you would never guess that she sails the Gulf of Mexico fishing for big fish to filet, smoke and turn into a fabulous dip. To me, she is an unexpected toughie and has the best French Canadian/Floridian accent! I love it! If you want to see her in action, you can watch the full circle of her fish-capades here: www.offthehook.com

A truly perfect day unfolded as we cruised out into open waters under a sparkling blue sky. The warmth of the sun washed over us making for a great opportunity to relax and hear all about the competitions my friends were entering. The big topic of conversation lay smack on the back of the mother of all competitions: Pillsbury Bake-Off. Debbie has already qualified and everyone else was busy plotting and planning their moves. Conversation flowed from the details involved in the next category, the recipes they were considering, how many recipes they were going to enter, past winners and more. It made me want to run home and start buying up little blue Pillsbury tubes! I took notes on what to do and what not to do, but in the end, I never got my act together enough to get a recipe in. It could be that I was a bit intimidated by my formidable competitor friends. Each of them are very serious food competitors with lots of big wins under their belts. Keep an eye out for one of these ladies to win big at Pillsbury… mums the word, but their recipes are innovative and sound absolutely fantastic!

Once we got to the beach, the coolers appeared and the ladies rolled-out one of the most beautiful beach picnics I have ever seen. The ladies had heard about my adventure in getting to them, so they poured me some wine and told me to nap on the beach while they got everything ready. They were just so good to me! I lay in the sand for the best 20-minute nap I have ever taken.

Josee made grouper with her mango-citrus salsa on the grill, and yes, she caught it, and yes it was amazing! KC made us the yummiest, most fresh shrimp salad with avocado. Oh… it was divine. Debbie made a cold pasta salad- YUM! Linda treated us to a fruit and yogurt parfait, each individually served in cute little mason jars. The thing that set me right over the edge though, besides all the wine, was the Sticky Gooey Cake that Susan made. It was ridiculously yummy, definitely gooey and definitely delicious. I’m thrilled to tell you, this is a Paula Deen recipe, so I grabbed it and put it here for you. If you haven’t tried it, I would do yourself a favor and make it. It is soooo good. Ok, confession time: I took a big ol’ piece to go. My rouse was that I was going to eat it with my morning coffee the next day. The truth? I ate it within five minutes of getting into my wind-up car.

It was a fantastic day with the girls! I left fat and happy. They treated me to a beautiful day that I will not soon forget! Thank you girls! Now, on to my next food competition adventure… South Carolina, here I come!

Ingredients

Cake:
1 18 1/4-ounce package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 16-ounce box powdered sugar

* Susan added Chocolate chips to her recipe… it made it extra fantastic!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 13 by 9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla, and butter and beat together.

Next, add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey