Every Independence Day on Smith Lake is a great holiday, rain or shine; but after a really rough year in 2020 with the ongoing pandemic, this year’s holiday is bound to be a good escape for everyone as things have been slowly getting back to normal for travelers. 
 
Get ready to have some fun this year on Smith Lake for the 4th of July.  Most folks are planning a long weekend due to the holiday falling on Sunday, so there will be an influx of friends and family to entertain all weekend, and there is plenty to do all around our large lake.  Check out our LOCAL INFO listings for restaurants and shopping, and spend a little time shopping locally for your weekend of entertaining.  Also, visit our Smith Lake #spotsonsmith Checklist to make sure you see some of our favorite spots on the lake while out boating.
 
There are several big fireworks shows that have been reported so far, see the list below.  "Off water" means the fireworks are not along a shoreline or visible from water.  "ON water" means the event is on the shoreline and can best be viewed by boat at a safe distance.  Be safe, have a blessed holiday and enjoy!  

(Please let us know of any other events that need to be added)

Tag us on social media or send us your photos of the events you attend to our email:  thelakesidelife@gmail.com.  Let us know if you want us to post the photos on social media or if you’d like to be on the blog or magazine.  
 
(Please let us know of any other events that need to be added to the list for the weekend).

Today was an off and on rainy day on the lake, so a perfect one to kick back on the covered deck with a cocktail and relax with a good book or just enjoy the scenery and the sounds of the refreshing summer rain! We were so glad to see this fun photo pop up in our Instagram DMs at just the right time, so we requested the recipe. It just so happens we borrowed 2 ingredients from a neighbor with a well-stocked bar, and now it’s evening and here we are making our own, thanks to readers Tamara & Michael Sansbury.

INGREDIENTS
1 oz Jamaican rum
1 oz rhum Agricole
1/2 oz dry curaçao
1/2 oz orgeat syrup (an almond cocktail syrup that you can buy at most fine liquor stores or if you are super fancy, make your own at home - see recipe below)
1 oz fresh lime
fresh mint sprigs to garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
​Shake, strain, drink, repeat! 🍹🍹

Drink responsibly and enjoy! CHEERS!

~~~~~~~~~~~

​ORGEAT SYRUP
​from liquor.com

​INGREDIENTS
2 cups blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water
1 oz brandy
1/2 t orange flower water (or rose water)
​
​INSTRUCTIONS
• Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Set aside.
• Combine the sugar and water in a pot over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Boil the syrup for 3 minutes, then add the ground almonds.
• Turn the heat to low and simmer for another 3 minutes, then slowly increase the temp to medium-high. Just before it starts to boil, remove it from
the heat and cover.
• Let covered nut mixture infuse for 3-8 hours. Strain it through about 2 layers of cheesecloth, discarding the ground almonds for another use.
• Stir brandy & orange flower water into syrup
• Use a cocktail funnel to pour orgeat into a jar. Seal and store in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

We hope the checklist above helps you get ahead and geared up for a great boating season.  A little work on the frontend of the season saves endless needless headaches, stress or worst yet, unnecessary and unwanted citations.  Again, be sure to follow the instructions from the ALEA website first and foremost, and use our suggestions only as additional advice.  Here’s the link again:  Alabama Law Enforcement Agency – Alabama Marine Patrol Division:  https://www.alea.gov/dps/marine-patrol
 
P.S.  Did you know that …”the U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will perform a Courtesy Marine Examination (CME) of your boat and equipment free of charge. This inspection covers federal and state requirements. If your boat meets all CME requirements, you will receive a CME decal. If your boat fails to meet all requirements, no report is made to any law enforcement agency.”  - ALEA.  It’s worth a call to ALEA to see if an inspection can be done in your area. 
 
Other Links that you should check:

• Boating Rules & Regulations from Alabama Law Enforcement Agency: https://www.alea.gov/dps/marine-patrol/boating-rules-and-regulations
• Safe Boating – Wear Your Life Jacket:  https://www.alea.gov/dps/marine-patrol/safe-boating

 
Be sure to check our other lists on our blog and through our magazine - samples below.  (these will soon be linked for ease of navigation...)

• Boater’s Bag Check List
• Boat Tote Check List
• Friendly Boating Advice (from a previous magazine issue)
• No Alcohol while boating on Smith Lake (from a previous magazine issue)
• Boating on Smith Lake – recommended DO NOTs (from a previous magazine issue)

Contact, message, or comment if you'd like us to add anything specific to the list or if we need to revise or repair a broken link.  We'll be updating the list annually (last update:  4/15/21).  Thank you!

The TRIANGLE... how did it become a symbol for us?  Importantly for the founding family, and foremost, there is an obvious Christian connection to the Trinity.  Also, historically, an upside down triangle was used to symbolize water which seemed to fit well for a logo about a LAKE.  In mathematics and engineering, a triangle is known to be exceptionally strong, and psychologically it can represent wisdom and stability.  A triangle has 3 sides and the number 3 happens to play a huge part in the personal lives of our founders, and the lake in general, and it is a collective favorite number of the team. Smith Lake has 3 main channels - Ryan Creek, Rock Creek and Sipsey Fork, and the lake lies in 3 counties we cherish:  Cullman, Walker and Winston.  ​

"A definition of Teal:  Teal is a blue-green colour. It can be created by mixing blue into a green base, or deepened as needed with black or gray." We often use several different Pantone colors from palettes of teal and aqua in production of our logo and products.  Teal is said to symbolize "morality and renewal" and evoke feelings of "tranquility, optimism, restfulness, reflection and understated elegance."  We thought that was pretty cool!  The colors of navy blue, charcoal and black (sometimes we use brownish, khaki & taupe hues) were chosen as natural toned colors to simply provide a nice contrast and complement to the base colors of creamy white (like fluffy clouds on a summer day) and shades of teal (like the crisp clean cool greenish waters of Smith).  ​

The Lakeside Life magazine is very lucky to be recently selected and recognized by Amazon as not only an #amazonassociate (aka #amazonaffiliate) but also an #amazoninfluencer.  

Along with the new status, our team had to decide whether to roll out our Amazon picks on our store pages or our magazine page, and how best to do it.  We are first and foremost a lake living community magazine, dedicated to our lake community in every way, so our goal is to select products from reputable brands that we are already affiliated with by vendors through our store, OR that are sold by our local retailers who are also a part of the Amazon team and seek to extend their products to a wider audience, OR brands that we know and trust from our own lake experience or that of friends and neighbors we have "laked" with for decades.  

We boldly decided to roll out our status on all platforms so that we can show a more diverse amount of products and vendors that we support and believe in.  We set up our wide-reaching Amazon store using the Instagram account @amazonlakelife as the basis for that with a logo that fits our brand using "lake life" as the theme––a shortened version of our magazine name––and we matched the logo to our local store @lakesidegear using the same logo with "lake gear" as the theme.  From these pages, @thelakesidelife_smithlake and @lakesidegear, plus our professional marine audio company @masterpoaudio, we can offer recommendations in any way we see fit through those markets.  Again, our overall goal––show you more of what our brands, retailers and affiliates in the lake arena are offering.  It's fun having several ways to find the products we all need and want.  

Check our BLOG again soon, we'll have some select items to show you in the future.

AND...this isn't all, we still have some exciting changes going on in the background as we grow and change, and we'll keep you posted...stay tuned!  

We really enjoyed covering the Williamson cabin.  It truly is a beautiful little home, in a very magical setting deep on a wooded lot that borders Smith Lake from the highest point in Cullman County, Bob Calvert mountain.  Its history is still being unfolded as the owners, Andrew and Meg Williamson, are taking their time in the next few years to restore the cabin in a way that will preserve history but also provide proper living areas for their family of four.  

The tiny home speaks for itself in rustic appeal, and it served as a fantastic backdrop with all the natural elements and textures to showcase some special staple pieces from Seibels Cottage in Homewood, Alabama. Seibels is truly a one stop shop for all things lake decor. Their carefully curated products and designer services can raise the level of sophistication in your lake home overall one piece at a time. Seibels allowed Designer Emma Doss to pick the pieces, design the shots, and direct the overall photo shoot, and she did an incredible job working with us in such close quarters.  

Below we're highlighting individual items shown in the article beginning on page 39-50. Click the photos to go directly to complete descriptions & options of each product on Seibels' website.  

In this companion blog to the article, we've highlighted the feature products in each room seen in the article, but if you want to know more about any items that are not linked, just call Seibels Cottage at 205-879-3558 or visit the website www.seibelscottage.com. Don't hesitate to ask for Designer Emma Doss, who can help guide you on choices perfect for your home that will help make a statement of the spots in your home that you are seeking to spruce up. Enjoy shopping with Seibels Cottage!

We will soon post behind-the-scenes unseen photos here as well, in a slideshow. Check back soon!  

Big Daddy's Buffalo Burgers

So who's it gonna be for the 2018 SEC Championship - UA v UGA?! As for us, well we are definitely a house divided, and we enjoy the banter on game day. We are originally from South GA, born and raised, but we moved to Birmingham back in 1997 and once we discovered Lewis Smith Lake, we never looked back. We are definitely Alabamians now, almost 22 years on Smith Lake and at least one of us is a full blown Tide fan. But, we do have a heart for the Georgia Bulldogs too, so we are torn by birthright indeed.  Our son is a self-professed "Auburn Tiger" along with some other members of the family, so we've had 2 weekends in a row of game day division in the household.  So... are you cheering for the Crimson Tide or are you a Dawg fan? The SEC Championship is a fun game to watch no matter what.  Nothing we southerners love better than to good-spiritedly duke it out over football! And another thing we love to do on game day is EAT! It's always interesting to try a new recipe we can cook up quick, slap on the table, eat and get down to the more serious business of cheering on the team.  This one can be done on the grill, or in an iron skillet on a stove, making this a very versatile recipe regardless of whether you are comfortably at home, or lucky enough to be in the action tailgating. Try it out!  Recipe provided by our reader, Eric W. Bowman.  Thank you Eric!  

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Using a cast iron skillet, saute sliced onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos in grape seed oil & balsamic vinegar (season slightly with salt, pepper & a pinch of garlic powder).  When ready, remove from heat and place in a bowl on paper towels to remove excess oil.
• Pat out large hamburger patties to desired thickness
• Season hamburgers with Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, and Tabasco sauce (remember we added a little dose of Bully Sauce Sweet Slobba Rub here, and we also added some Buffalo Sauce at this stage for seasoning too). Fry in same skillet until desired doneness.  {You can definitely grill these, but it was a rainy day when we first tried the recipe, so the iron skillet was the easy go-to.}
  
• When burgers are done, place sliced cheese of your choice on top while in the skillet and allow to melt.
• Once you've taken the burgers out, place them on a paper towel and allow the grease to drain off.
• Now you will be ready to plate the burgers to serve.  Place burgers on the plate, cover each patty with a portion of the sauteed onions, mushrooms & jalapenos.  
• Drizzle buffalo sauce, ranch dressing and mustard (mustard is optional).  Add fresh ground black pepper (optional).
• They can be put on buns or eaten without.  We ate without since we had lots of chips around for game day, and we had a carb loaded side too (see below).

Serve with your favorite roasted veggies.  We like to roast broccoli or fresh brussell sprouts with this kind of gourmet burger.  Another favorite side is our special Smith Lake Smashed Potatoes.  Finally, be sure to have either spicy pickled okra or our favorite Wickle's Pickles Dirty Dill Spears - just the right amount of heat to keep this dish as amped up as the game.  

Beverage recommendations

• Southern iced tea with lemon, of course, and we have a tasty recipe for that as well - just message us!
• Or try out a nice cold beer in a tall frosty mug from a favorite local lakeside shop like Cabin Fever Beverages or Cornerstone Beverages.  They always have some great cold beers on hand for you to choose from.   

ENJOY & get back to the game - there's a championship on the line!  GO DAWGS & ROLL TIDE!!!  And Super Bowl is coming up soon too.  A lot of good football left.  GO TEAM!