Blue White 2006 - Recap Part One

Well, Rob from Diesel Tailgate has posted his recap of the tailgate/day - so I guess I should catch-up and post mine. I've had this written for weeks (oh yeah?) but am just now finding time to type it...or at least some of it...

Saturday morning began dreary - misting rain and gray. I was particularly peeved because the 2 preceding days had been "perfect!" - we knew that the forecast was for rain - but we were cautiously optimistic that if the weather stayed as it was at 6am then it would be so bad. Sadly, that was (just about) the clearest part of the day.

We left Mom's house at 7:15am and drove to Walmart to pick up ice. We were the first to arrive at the "meeting point" outside of the Nittany Lion Inn. The rest of the convoy trickled in and we were on our way to the stadium before 8am. We pulled into the parking lot on the west side of the stadium and parked in the front row of tailgaters.

The weather was annoying but it didn't dampen our fun. We set up the 3 canopies ("but what if I only have a cup of pee?" - will never get old; never) chairs and tables, collected coolers and various libations and soon had breakfast on the grill(s). Suz had pre-made breakfast egg dishes, the crust of which was Stove Top Stuffing (instead of potatoes) with scrambled egg, breakfast meats and cheese on top; these were quickly dubbed "stuffin muffins". I warmed them on the new grill along with some "meat pies." I also made some makeshift homefries from Birdseye potatoes and bacon grease; I had made a "hashbrown casserole" but I used fresh potatoes instead of frozen and, let's just say, the color of the cooked product was not appetizing - tasted great, just couldn't serve it. Beth and Brian made bacon, sausage and pancakes on other grills.

Suz assembled the group drink "OrangeBowlina" which she had created during the Orange Bowl broadcast in January. The citrus vodka, orange juice and lemon/lime soda recipe translated well into mass quantities and all 5 Gallons were consumed in record time.

The rain did alter eating habits and presentation, but it was all good. A little later we served more meat pies (including keilbasa rolls, sausage biscuits and beef pockets). I grilled up the shrimp - which again, were a big hit. We served mac n' cheese and meatballs in red sauce in our "hot trays" (love them!).