It was a scorcher. Perfect for boiled crawfish and sangria in the lovely shaded area we have come to christen as “Peggy’s Patio.”
Can you believe I came home to find Mr. Hullabaloo carving this crested T into the watermelon we brought to the tailgating? I am impressed with Mr. Hullabaloo.
Priscilla made the BEST boiled crawfish ever to pass the lips of Mrs. Hullabaloo. She even included my absolute favorite mushrooms and introduced me to adding cauliflower into the boil. You know, just about anything goes well in a crawfish boil.
“Homecomingworthy” were these absolutely amazing chocolate mint brownies that Pam prepared.
They were just slap-your-momma-sinful. They were so delish we had to park Terry in front of the ice chest holding them and bounce any unapproved personnel who dared to attempt to help themselves. (Feel Free! You'd think this were a free country or something). I haven’t been able to solicit the recipe out of Pam, but I will die trying.
We had a new face re-joining the party in Section 110 towards the end of the season there and he brought us bacon-wrapped shrimp to grill. Delish. Also deigned “homecomingworthy.” Because last year I had Mr. Hullabaloo cleaning and skewering those suckers and I stressed myself out locating and making The Perfect Marinade.
"The Perfect" Coconut Shrimp Marinade
from Williams-Sonoma
Take 3 limes; slice up 1 lime into pretty lime slices; grate up the second lime for it’s zest; reserve the juice from the zested lime and your third lime. Take the following ingredients and give a quick whiz in a food processor: 1/2 cup dried flaked coconut; 1/2 cup milk; 1/4 cup golden rum ; 1 Tbs. honey. Combine chopped up stuff with the lime juice and grated zest. Marinate your shrimpies for 45 minutes. Then skewer with slices of red onion and your pretty sliced lime pieces.
On the grill, drizzle skewered up shrimp with mixture of olive oil and chopped fresh tarragon.
I can attest that Mr. Newcomer’s shrimp - while sans coconut and lime - were still garlicky butter deliciousness in that Drago's charbroiled kind of way. So that will be one less menu item to worry about. Since I have all these decorations and tablescaping to focus on.
On second thought, I don’t know..... I might just have to make a set just to see how stressed out I can make Mr. Hullabaloo while he’s also racing around the house packing up the car to my exact specifications and not behind one single second lest we miss one moment of tailgating.
Our very own "Just Joe," husband of "Just Gwynne," tossed out the first pitch for the game. Just Joe's company was a sponsor of the game and had a lovely tent with drinks and such behind the first plate bleachers. Just Joe nailed the first pitch. We were so proud! Geaux Joe!
Also happening at the UAB game: Tulane was honoring the football team from 1948 on the balcony behind homeplate. Somehow Mr. Hullabaloo and Mr. Newcomer ended up in the mix up there. The irresistable aroma of Hot Dogs can led men to abandon their wives.
The Friday night game against UAB got away from us even though the greenies valiantly rallied back from 8-3 to 8-7 and UAB took the win that night. Tulane stranded 15 players on base, we had 2 loaded base situations with no scoring. Quelle drag.
So Saturday when we got in a hole again 8-3, stranding players it was just dejavu all over again. I commenced butterflying about the stadium to and fro trying to find the right mojo setting. Peggy being caught on the pot in the ladies room during the ECU series was classic. We phoned Peggy while she was in the stall and forced her to stay put the entire inning. It was hilarious.
Unfortunately, there was no mojo spot to be found.
FF had imbibed himself into a serious situation during our crawfish session. See. Evidence of FF's pre-game imbibing.
So after spending a few moments melting in the sun, FF parked himself in a folding chair back outside in Peggy’s Patio to sleep it off. It was just too hot to roast out in the stands all dizzy and dehydrated. So the shade from Peggy’s Patio beckoned in the 7th inning and I joined FF. Put my headset on to listen to graf, rallied my baseball cap and settled in.
Next thing I know, the greenwave rally ensues. Peggy's Patio is the official Mojo Zone. Josh Prince scored on a double; Shaeffer hits a 2 run homer. Oh. My God. Tulane can actually come from behind. It is now 8-7 .
Mr. Hullabaloo, with Mr. Newcomer, decided to come join us at the Patio during the 8th inning rally. Everyone parked themselves on top of FF’s car.
Except for Mr. Koozie. Mr. Koozie decided that a plastic garbage tub was sturdy enough to stand on and peer over the fence to finish watching the game. No go. Mr. Koozie plum fell off that garbage tub.
Warning: crawfish alone is not enough to fill your tummy while enjoying adult beverages. Bad decisions will inevitably ensue.
It’s 8-8. Our little party in Peggy’s Patio rallied a GREEN! WAVE! cheer with the first base bleachers. And everyone went bezerk when Scott Powell hit a single to bring Josh Prince home (“Bring the Wave Home, Baby!”)
So then in the 9th inning we started having major heart palpitations that the game would go into extra innings in a tie situation. Nick Pepitone struck them out. Thank you very much!
And you know, we have NO idea just who the mystery person was that jumped the fence behind the flags in the outfield, courteously retrieved a fallen foam finger for the folks who watch the games on The Shed, loosened and lowered the UAB flag to half-staff and jumped back over the fence and disappeared into the New Orleans afternoon. We have not a clue. (Allegedly!)
All of us in Peggy’s Patio and the folks on The Shed about pee’d ourselves laughing about the flag. Even Todd Grafignini noticed and broadcast “I’m not sure if this is by design, but the UAB flag appears to be at half staff...”
Now I will say: the UAB baseball folks, ever demonstrating they were from Alabama, had absolutely IMPECCABLE manners. Thanks for coming blazers! ‘til we meet again!
ROLL WAVE!
No comments:
Post a Comment