Our theme was "Jamaican" in honor of Nico Marley (yes that Marley). "One Love": The Greenwave of course!
And what was super cool, was that Nico Marley's family came by to say hello before going in to the game. They were so tickled that we had red stripe beer and everything.
The menu (recipes below) was: jerk pineapple chicken wings, coconut shrimps (store bought frozen, I was lazy), cilantro lime rice (sooo delish), black bean salsa, plantain and yucca chips, pepper jelly and cream cheese, honeydew with kiwi & blackberries, brownies and a big ole chocolate cake for Mr. and Mrs. Koozie's anniversary. Everything was a hit. Oh, and Preacherman brought hurricanes to share in honor of the anniversary of Katrina as well.
Everything turned out beyond my expectations for tailgating. Especially for being midweek - we had tons of new hullabaloo huddlers come by, including many new female fans who have gotten swept up by our enthusiasm and have now paid dues to officially join our little well-behaved booster club. Even some MrsHullabaloo twitter followers came by to identify themselves. I was so delighted to meet y'all! Thanks for coming to introduce yourselves, please do drop by again and I mean that sincerely.
Our cutest little visitor though was the darling Kepa!
Kepa just came back from his first trip to Spain where he was one of the youngest peregrinos on the "Camino de Santiago" walking pilgrimage across Northern Spain. He has a blog about his adventures and everything. Kepa is our favorite-est little pelican!
So, oh yes. Post-tailgating there was a game.
And if you missed the Jackson State J-settes, word. Those girls are known as the "Feast of a Million Eyes" and they are not kidding. The J-settes held the entire Tulane Nation in complete rapture during their performance. Binoculars and Ipad videotaping was in full effect.
This video is not their performance from the game, but it gives you the idea. The J-settes actually danced to Blurred Lines (hey, hey, hey!) executed perfectly by the Sonic Boom marching band. The J-settes were as, if not more, impressive than the University of Hawaii Rainbow Dancers Dance Team that Coach Hullabaloo and I witnessed two seasons ago. And that left quite an impression on us, let me tell you.
Anyways, about the game itself.....I will be 100% honest that I was lax in the paying attention part. I was too distracted catching up with my peeps and players mommas that I have befriended. What was pretty funny was that when Koozie walked in at the beginning of the game he heard that there was an interception, but his immediate thought was, "We've been interception already dagnabbit!".....ha!
So Bandwagon Fans: please forgive us longtime fans for not immediately already assuming the worst. I do caution that I am purposely reserving any presumptive booty shaking until we can avenge Louisiana Tech and ULM, for reasons which I have discussed previously here. So after the Louisiana Tech game is when I feel that I can commence commenting upon this season for sure.
My favorite picture from the game yesterday. I love the unis, but our ancient fan base complained that nobody could read the numbers.
My favorite play of the game yesterday. Smackdown at the goal line.
(both pictures by Chris Granger, Times Pic photographer)
I do sincerely apologize though that I am unable, at this time, to revel in any post-win glow. And it's not for any lack of effort on the part of the team. I do fervently hope that the team enjoyed their win as they deserve every success for their effort every week and for enduring what the Greenwave Nation has had to endure. And most especially, I hope this guy enjoyed the win: Dante Butler
(Derick Hingle, USA Today)
Dante was a freshman during Toledo's last year. When I first met him in person, he assured me that he was there to help turn things around and that he would be satisfied if we went 10 and 3 that year. Son, if Tulane went 10 and 3, New Orleans would spin off the map or something. But it was a very endearing comment and I hope that he gets to see that this year.
My hangups, of which Coach Hullabaloo can attest that I have many, is that it was a big let down for me to have to observe us play a divison 2 school that was just not very good. Not that I'd want to revisit other D2 nail biters of our recent past like when we opened against McNeese or SLU. But one of our younger Hullabaloo-ettes started calling the JSU QB "groundcover" instead of his last name Ivy because of the amount of time they spent flat on the turf.
What is also nagging me is a very disturbing possibility that following a winning streak, our Athletic Department might seriously consider settling and make us participate in the New Orleans Bowl should we qualify. Oh girl - you know I'll be out there front and center with a tailgate party to end all tailgate parties since Coach Hullabaloo flatly refused to send us to Hawaii in 2003. A sin so egregious I have tortured him about it daily. However, after my misery over this season's schedule and after putting the kibosh on Fan Day, now we gotta get pumped up about more Superdome? Because we haven't seen enough of the Superdome. I mean, we'll be having to park here next season anyways, so we'll have plenty of opportunities to visit the dome and rekindle our fond memories. I get it that the Nola Bowl will be the easiest bowl for them to coordinate. But seriously, just kill me now, ok? So that's kind of zapped my bubble a bit.
But keeping us distracted and entertained in the interim was a gametruck that they booked for tailgating which I had to admit was preeeetty awesome. I know it was for the students, but I had a good time checking it out. This is a similar game truck to the one that was parked outside.
Ok, so down to business of recipes.
The inspiration for some of this was this ah-mazing lunch I enjoyed on a stormy day of shopping in downtown Hamilton, Bermuda last year. There was a food truck with an umbrella for the tiniest bit of shelter from the elements and I decided to give it a whirl. These jerk chicken wings were by far the best thing I ever ate. Made me forget I was eating them in the rain, sopping wet and completely ladled with shopping bags.
Mrs. Hullabaloo's Interpretation of Jerk Pineapple Wings
A bottle of Cattleman's Carolina tangy BBQ Sauce (Winn Dixie sells)
generous quarter cup of soy sauce (eyeball it)
dashes of paprika
dash of cumin
third cup brown sugar
generous dashes of ginger
2 stalks of chopped green onion (reserve half for garnish)
three quarters cup of crushed pineapple (strain some of the liquid)
3-4 lbs of drummettes and chicken wings
Jerk spice (I made my own)
Take the liquid ingredients, pineapple, spices, brown sugar and simmer until blended. Add the green onion. Remove from heat.
Meanwhile I brushed both sides of my chicken wings and drummettes with jerk seasoning and put them in the oven at 425 for about 15 minutes. I took out the pan and drained out all of the fat, turned the chickens to the other side and set them in the oven for another 10-15 minutes until they started to look golden. I took about a quarter to half cup of the sauce and brushed that on both sides of the chicken and then turned OFF the oven and left the rack of chicken to baste a little in the oven with the temperature dropping. I just coated the wings a touch, enough to give them a little something something. I garnished the top of the wings with chopped green onions and set out all of the sauce so that guests could add as much or as little as they wanted.
Mrs. Hullabaloo's jerk seasoning
ground onion
ground allspice
ground cloves
thyme
ground cinnamon
ground ginger
salt
ground cumin
tiniest sprinkle of celery salt
tiniest sprinkle of ground garlic
a quarter of a scotch bonnet de-seeded and minced
two tablespoons of canola oil
Now, I did not use measurements because I was crazy. I could not find store bought jerk seasoning mix anywhere. So I mixed a dash each of the dry spices first until I had a batch that I was happy with the combination. I can note that I added more onion though than the others, and was generous with the salt and with the thyme. Then I took the minced scotch bonnet and let it sit in the canola oil a spell and then added the mixed dry spices in pinch by pinch until I had a sludgy consistency that tasted jerk-ish.
Cilantro Lime Rice from Melissa D'Arabian
Cupnahalf of Louisiana Long Grain Jasmin Rice
half cup of Whole Foods 365 organic coconut milk (I opened several cans to try which one I liked best and this one won)
half cup of homemade chicken bone broth (because this is very healthy for you)
2 cups of water
tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil
couple of cilantro leaves to keep things honest
zest from a lime
a couple tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
toasted shredded coconut
Add liquids and rice to your rice cooker. Voila, very easy. Once it's done, fluff in the lime zest and chopped cilantro. Garnish with the toasted coconut for a pretty presentation.
Ok, so September is a holy month, not just for Football, but for our Tulane Community as it is Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah. So next week our tailgate will celebrate the New Year with a Jewish Menu. We are calling it Challah-Baloo (ray ray)!
Ciao my chamudis!
P.S. I am starting to give credence to this Gus Kattengell El Gato Negro thing. We almost had a shut out until he allegedly said something on air. lol!
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