We had a fantastic weekend with our Coastal Getaway Winners! The couples traveled here to St. Simons Island from California, Pennsylvania, and Florida to join us for a relaxing (but action-packed!) weekend celebrating life on the coast.

Each couple was welcomed to the island with goodie bags stuffed with SeaPak swag, information about the Golden Isles and tasty snacks for the adventure.

Friday morning came early and we headed to Coastal Kitchen, one of the few water-front restaurants on St. Simons. Chef Archie taught us about the history of grits (a southern culinary favorite) and about the influence the marshland has on coastal cuisine. We snacked on SeaPak Tempura Shrimp while Chef Archie demonstrated a delicious way to prepare the classic recipe: Shrimp and Grits.  Archie shared that grits are made with the yellow portion of a kernel of corn and they became popular soon after the 1985 article by Craig Claiborne in the New York Times introducing the southern classic. If you are looking to recreate this dish at home, we love this recipe from MyRecipes.com!

On Friday afternoon we ventured aboard The Lady Jane, the only certified shrimping vessel on the East Coast licensed to carry passengers. First Mate Cliff offered a hands-on learning experience, teaching us about the sea creatures in the coastal marshes. We learned that while a Horseshoe Crab would logically be in the “crab” family, it is in fact more closely related to spiders and scorpions! At the end of the ride, we even got to taste some of the fresh caught shrimp that they pulled aboard and boiled for us!

As the weekend drew to a close, we held a farewell reception at Ocean Lodge. SeaPak associates gathered to congratulate the Getaway winners and their guests and learn about their weekend coastal vacation.

It was a spectacular weekend of food, fun, and making new friends. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

At SeaPak we love reading great blogs. We also love foodies and aspiring foodies. So when our friend Scott Jones, former Executive Food Editor of Southern Living, started his own blog dedicated to all things food, we were beyond excited. It didn’t take us long to reach out to him and ask him if he’d share some of his seafood insight and a recipe with us. You’ll love what he has to say…and his recipe. Yum!

One of the things I most enjoy about food is its emotional connection to some of life’s most cherished memories. You know how you can be instantly transported to a specific place or time by the aroma of a simmering pot of soup, the pop and sizzle of a frying egg, or the taste of a certain dessert? I know I can. At least once a week I’ll see, smell, or taste something that takes me back to my childhood.

This time of year, those nostalgic nuggets typically involve childhood trips to the beach with my family. Growing up in Central Florida, the beach was never far away.

Whether for the day or a long weekend, every family activity seemed to involve a sandy spot on either the Atlantic or Gulf side of the state.

Here’s where the food comes in. As a budding food enthusiast, I always looked forward to our suppertime visits to a local seafood shack. My dad was (and still is) a real aficionado when it comes to spotting great, down-home joints. He went straight for the grilled fish sandwich, so long as it was fresh and local. Mom liked to splurge on either crab cakes or stuffed crabs. My sister and I were always partial to the fried shrimp basket. In fact, that’s how I learned to love things like hushpuppies and tartar sauce; or how to contrast the shrimp’s golden crust with a squeeze of fresh lemon. By the time I was in junior high, shrimp had become my favorite food.

Cut to the present.

Like most parents, my wife and I have struggled (mostly in vain) over the years to wean our girls off of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. This has been especially good fodder for our friends who find it a hoot that the children of a “foodie” (this is used in its derogatory form) have survived for years on little more than peanut butter sandwiches and various shapes of processed chicken.

All this said, I think there’s light at the end of the tunnel. During a trip to the beach last summer, both girls tried (and liked!) fried shrimp. And I’ve been slowly converting them to my favorite protein ever since. They’ve now had it grilled, boiled, and sautéed, but they always come back to the classic fried preparation.

Recently, we tried SeaPak Tempura Shrimp and Coconut Shrimp. While the girls enjoyed the slightly sweet exterior of the Coconut Shrimp, they went absolutely bonkers over the extra-crunchy Tempura batter. This, of course, got me thinking of ways to mix it up a bit, which is how the Tempura Shrimp Sliders came to be. That and the fact that our family always loves a good sandwich—whether po’ boy or grilled cheese, fork-and-knife or roll up. In fact, these tasty little shrimp sandwiches have caught on with adults too, who go for the tangy slaw.

What’s more, the Slider recipe is easy enough to allow the girls to help out mixing together both the slaw and spread. My hope is that this interaction in the kitchen (with shrimp!) will create the kind of lasting memories my daughters will carry into adulthood, and one day, think back to the good ol’ days of dad’s Tempura Shrimp Sliders.

Tempura Shrimp Sliders
Makes 4 sliders
Prep: 15 min., Bake: 14 min.

1 (8.2-oz) package SeaPak Tempura Shrimp
2/3 cup lite mayonnaise, divided
2 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Sweet and Spicy Orange Sauce (included with Tempura Shrimp), divided
1 tsp. white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 (16-oz.) package angel hair coleslaw mix
2 tsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh chives
1 (8.8-oz) package King’s Hawaiian Snacker Rolls

Preheat oven to 450˚. Remove tails on Tempura Shrimp, and bake according to package directions.

Meanwhile, stir together 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp. Sweet and Spicy Orange Sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add coleslaw mix, and toss until well combined. Set aside. (May be prepared up to 8 hours ahead.)

Stir together remaining 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 tsp. Sweet and Spicy Orange Sauce, lime juice, and chives. Set aside. (May be prepared up to 8 hours ahead.)

Spread bottom half of each roll with mayonnaise mixture. Place 2 pieces of shrimp on bottom half of each roll; top with coleslaw, and top halves of rolls.

As the last summer visitors to St. Simons Island head home and school-year routines begin, we are busy gearing up for the arrival of our Coastal Getaway Sweepstakes winners! All hands are on deck preparing for what is sure to be a fantastic weekend. Our winners are coming from all across the country – California, Florida and Pennsylvania – so we’ve pulled out all the stops to show them Southern hospitality and island charm.

While visiting St. Simons, the winners and their guests will stay three nights in the ocean-front Beach Club at St. Simons, where they can relax on the beach and soak up the sun. They’ll be welcomed to the coast on Thursday with snacks from The Boulevard Café – one of our favorite spots to grab a sweet treat.

Friday morning our guests will have the chance to learn seafood cooking techniques from the Chef at Coastal Kitchen, a delicious island restaurant overlooking the marina. Friday afternoon, the group will hop aboard the Lady Jane shrimp boat, the only certified shrimping vessel on the East Coast offering a hands-on, shrimp catching experience. Plus,they will get to try the freshest shrimp available – the ones they caught! YUM!

Saturday, a ride on the vintage St. Simons Trolley will take guests back to life in the Old South as they visit the many historic landmarks on our island. The trolley stops by Fort Frederica, the British fort built in 1736 to protect the new colony of Georgia, Bloody Marsh, where the British defeated the Spanish in a decisive battle, and the historic Avenue of the Oaks.

In their downtime, our guests will have the opportunity to climb the still-functioning St. Simons Lighthouse, explore our beautiful neighboring island of Jekyll, paddle around the island in a kayak with Southeast Adventures or uncover St. Simons’ dark secrets on the Ghost Walk.

On their final night, our guests will enjoy a delicious farewell dinner with SeaPak associates at the rooftop Ocean Lodge restaurant overlooking the ocean. We hope they are ready to have a SeaPak-filled, coastal experience!

We are so lucky to call St. Simons Island our home. We have had an outpouring of support from sponsors and partners, all eager to create a fabulous weekend. We’d like to say thank you to – Hodnett Cooper, Costal Living, The Golden Isles Convention and Visitors Bureau, Jekyll Island Authority and Southeast Adventures – whose contributions have made this weekend possible. And special thanks to our partners at Coastal Kitchen, Ocean Lodge and The Boulevard Café with whom we have planned weekend events. We are excited to welcome our visitors to our little piece of paradise.

If you were coming for a long weekend to St. Simons Island, what would you want to do in the Golden Isles?