So this past weekend our friends Todd and Marti came for a visit. They brought their 9 month-old daughter Gracie with them, and we were really excited about that because one of my favorite pasttimes is gnawing on baby’s cheeks while sniffing their little necks for any remaining hint of baby wash and/or baby lotion.
Unfortunately, despite my attempts to convince Gracie to stay at our house and live with us forever, they all headed home to California this morning. That is very unfortunate indeed because Alex doesn’t really appreciate it when I try to gnaw on his cheeks. And I don’t really try to sniff his neck anymore because most of the time it smells like a combination of old leaves and Skittles.
The weekend was so relaxing and made even better by the fact that my beloved Bulldogs won their game against Memphis. I told a friend of mine this morning that I haven’t seen the ‘Dogs complete that many passes in my lifetime, and even now, three days later, I think about how consistently our receivers caught the ball and I have to shake my head a little bit. Was it all a dream? A mirage? I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t, mainly because I’ve re-watched the game approximately two and one half times over the last couple of days and do you know what happens every single time? WE STILL WIN.
I made sliders for the game Saturday night, along with homemade salsa, pasta salad and a big ole thing of Rotel dip. I was going to make corn dip – had all the ingredients, even – but we were so full from our lunch at Chuy’s (are you noticing a pattern in our weekend dining?) that we didn’t eat supper until later than normal and I was afraid that the addition of one more dip would push us right over the edge into full-on misery. But the sliders were delicious. They may be my go-to gameday menu item this year. I can’t say just yet. It’s quite a commitment, after all.
And speaking of commitment.
Sunday afternoon the menfolk went to the bookstore for a little while, and since Marti decided to rest during Gracie’s nap, I made it my personal mission to spend as much time as I possibly could reading the MSU message boards. This endeavor is never for the faint of heart, especially given that State fans are almost always wary of sporting event prosperity and seem to err on the side of EXTREME CAUTION in terms of demonstrating any real optimism for the upcoming season. We’ve just been burned by unbridled enthusiasm way too many times.
This fool-me-once mentality is all over the message boards and is precisely the reason why several posters – after a game where most of us were overjoyed by the fact that the Bulldogs scored almost 50 points and accumulated over 500 yards of total offense – expressed little-to-no happiness at the outcome of the game and preferred to focus on WHAT IN THE SAM HILL IS GOING ON WITH KICK-OFF COVERAGE? DO WE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO RUN TO THE BALL? GAH.
Anyway, I was knee-deep in a vat of some healthy sporting cynicism when the guys got home, and as I walked in the kitchen to get the full report about their bookstore adventures, here is what I saw:
They wanted to figure out which flavor of Zaxby’s shake is the best. So they bought one of each.
Is that not impressive? It was like a wine tasting, only without the wine or anything even remotely resembling a discriminating palate.
We already knew that we liked the chocolate, but the vanilla was a revelation. And the strawberry was as tasty as could be. There was some dissension in the ranks about which kind we’d buy on a return trip, but after some reflection and no small degree of prayer, I’m pretty sure that I’d go with the vanilla. And by the way, the fourth flavor was birthday cake, but I did not sample it on principle because I do not want chunks of birthday cake in my milkshake. Or sprinkles, for that matter.
So what about y’all? Did your team win this past weekend? Did you enjoy any delicious new dips or tailgating foods?
I’ll be waiting in the comments with pretend milkshakes for everybody.
You’re going to be so excited when you pretend taste their pretend deliciousness.
Two items of note: The Laughing Cow $150 gift card giveaway is still up and running, and I just posted a new $100 Kellogg’s giveaway. Don’t miss the fabulous prizes!
Great weekend–my UK Wildcats (I know, you probably don’t like them, being an MSU fan) beat archrival Louisville! And you don’t know what you missed by not trying the Zaxby’s birthday cake shake–it DOESN’T have cake chunks in it, but it tastes just like birthday cake!
I’m an OU alum, so as you probably already know…barely. We are going to have a tough season on our hands if the rest of the games look like the first.
Bama won! Great way to start the season!
Did I miss the Nations Outfitters giveaway winner announcement?
Vanilla, please! Oh, and don’t hate, but I have NO team. In fact, I’m fairly certain that I don’t have a competitive (at least in the sporting sense) bone in my body. Sports are the things that steal my husband’s time and attention. Can’t say I’m a fan of THAT. But I really enjoy your blog, even if you are a football fan ;)
My alma mater is just now getting a football team (go UTSA Roadrunners!), so I have no huge investment in college football. However, my husband will watch any game that’s on. I watched the UNC game with him the other night and I think I’m going to root for the Tarheels, at least a little. I’ll root for any underdog, if their uniforms are cool and the QB likes Peyton Manning. :)
WAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!
We are Purdue Boilermakers here and have much the same outlook as you MSU fans. We can never be too optimistic or surely we’ll get a big dose of humble pie in our faces. So.. we played Notre Dame for our season opener… at NOTRE DAME!! I hope whoever scheduled that game wast shown the door! What happened to playing Little Sisters of the Poor the first game of the season?? And we didn’t even have dip to make the loss more bearable. But a few pretzel M&Ms did help a bit. :-)
God bless you Boo Mama!! Love your postings!!
I am secretly dying to try the birthday cake shake, but have told my kids no so many times about it, I would have to do it on a super secret mission. But, alas, I am on some crazy carb-free, sugar-free, cheese-free, happiness-free diet, so my super secret mission must wait until another life when I can eat a milkshake without gaining 5 lbs.
Your weekend sounded wonderful. However, I’ve been waiting for the corn dip recipe for a few days now. Soooo, since corn is a vegetable, I propose that you serve it one night for dinner this week since you have the ingredients. Then you can tell us how to make it. P.S. I’m a Univ. of Memphis graduate, a long time ago. But I grew up in Mississippi. The bells were loud.
is it even worth it to mention that i grew up in chapel hill and my ‘team’ is the tarheels?
let’s not talk about it, even though the whole team made up of all their best second-string players did give lsu a run for their money.
xo
Sophie,
I know exactly how you feel about pondering whether the State game was a dream. I’m a graduate of MSU, and for once, it was nice to not be incredibly nervous for our QB every single play! I’m hoping for good things Thursday night, and I agree with Neena, serve the corn dip as a “veggie side” Thursday night. Go Dogs!
Molly
this will probably be a strange comment. my husband, who shares your love for sec football and good music, asked me if i could get a link like i did last year to third day’s newest album. i had no recollection of doing this last year and when he asked me where i got it, you were the only person i could think of. does this ring a bell with you? have you handed out links for previews of their cd before?
Ok, 3 things:
1. If you can pry yourself away from Chuys this next weekend, go slightly to your left, into the Cheesecake Factory and order this: http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/menu/appetizers/firecracker_salmon_rolls
I thought it sounded SO GRODY until Kim ordered it and gave me a bite. Then I took, like, SIX more and ate all of her cabbage (because it was smothered in that amazing sauce that almost made me die of the euphoria). I’m surprised she didn’t stab me w/ her fork.. or maybe I took that too..
2. I am a devout Zaxbys girl.. but that Birthday Cake Milkshake makes me want to vomit a little just thinking about it.
Annnnd #3.
WAR. EAGLE. BAY-BAY!!!!!!!!
FSU blew Samford out of the water – I know they are a chump team, but I was still SO excited! :) Go Noles! On the milkshakes — that is sooo something I would love to do. :) My 10 year old daughter has been wanting to try the birthday cake.
I’m a State fan through & through. Was a student there when we beat AL at State, came to the Peach bowl, SEC championship & if we want to throw hoops in there – I lived through the Eric Dampier dynasty….great memories of that wonderful Starkville town.
And…..did I miss the drawing for the Nations outfitters??
And Buffalo chicken dip was the favorite dip of our football weekend. Yum.
The University of Texas Longhorns won, won, won! Shared two amazing sandwiches with my sister this weekend at a little country restaurant: Blackened Salmon BLT and Fajita chicken with queso, both served on focaccia bread. AMAZING and life changing.
Oh my yes did we win! Go Pokes! Go Pokes! Go Pokes Go! My beloved OSU Cowboys scored over “half a hundred” and it was fantastic. OSU teams can make it hard to be Cowboy fan at times so we LOVE a good victory! Especially one like last Saturday!
um my beloved cincinnati bearcatS Went to freSno State and played like a bunch of peeWee girlS!!!!!!!
GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Vanilla all the way. Or chocolate. Definitely no birthday cake…I do not get that. Sometimes my daughter orders it in a dish and adds gummy bears. Ewwwww.
Go Vols!
ROLL TIDE :) We were lucky enough to be able to go to the game and for my two youngest girls it was their first time. Can I just saw how sweet it was to see one of them actually start to cry tears of happiness when she saw Nick Saban come on the field for the first time?!
I am caught up in all the redonkulousness of Boise State. Come beat some SEC teams and then I will not have to scream at Jox 94.5 for hours. Also, the sports writer for the B’ham news – Mr. Scarbinsky is on my last nerve.
I will be looking for a good dip for Saturday’s game since I would have to sell one of the aforementioned children in order to afford tickets to the Bama / Penn State game this week. I will comfort myself with cheese. And possibly a chocolate shake from Zaxby’s.
All I have to say is…I have two die hard Ole Missers coming over for the Bulldogs’s Thursday night game. Pray for me. Also, I have a dip recipe that will change your life. Get excited. And, yes. It concerns bacon. What’s that?? Angels singing? Uh huh.
First, can I tell you how much I enjoy the words you put together to create these encouraging/hysterical/real posts?
Well, I enjoy ’em. A whole lot! I’ve been reading your blog for months and absolutely adore it.
Now, I’m from northwest Arkansas…so it was an obvious choice what my saturday plans would consist of. Some great tailgating with friends on The Hill and watching the Hogs beat TN Tech.
I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know much about stats or the technical side of football…but I’m learning and until then I will call the Hogs with the best of them!
I’m a die-hard University of Michigan fan and we won our game on Saturday. Very happy about that! The sad news is that I didn’t eat anything while I was watching the game. . .next week it will be sliders and rotel dip. Good idea!
I can’t even talk about it. We won…but….
oh those LSU Tigers will take YEARS off your life the way they like to go and try to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Four quarters. Is four complete quarters too much to ask? Poor Ol’ Les Miles. Baton Rouge is likely to become a very unfriendly place for him this season…
(I have a similar love for baby neck and cheeks…just sayin’)
P.S. Have you heard of the book ‘God and Football – Faith and Fanatacism in the SEC”? Jon Acuff talked about it the other day and I immediately ordered two copies! Supposed to be funny/insightful – always a winning combination…
Our Bulldawgs won as well…life was good in Athens…football is still my favorite season, spring is second…
Well I am certain of one thing after this weekend. Sometimes even if you win the battle, you still shouldn’t call it a victory.
That’s how I feel about LSU after this Saturday night’s game.
My hubs has the tendancy to take all Tiger games to heart as if his salary depends on it or even worse as if he actually has anything at all riding on the outcome. Suffice it to say that Sunday was a quiet ride home from being in Baton Rouge for the game. No one really feels much like talking when the patriach of the family keeps muttering things like “What were they thinking?” and grinding his teeth.
Even though you did not make the corn dip, would you still provide the recipe?? Muchas Gracias my fellow Chuy’s lover.
Go GATORS!!! It wasn’t a pretty win, but a win is a win, haha!!!
Ah, I was at Scott Field watching our beloved BULLDOGS win. The funny thing was after I heard what happened to TSUN, I wasn’t nearly as confident until we got to 42-0. At that point I was fairly confident they couldn’t come back :-). I will be there Thursday night doing all I can to help us defeat Auburn.
Never had a Zaxby’s shake, but since I am moving to Starkville I will give it a try. Hard to beat Steak N Shake shake though…just sayin.
Ok, so I really need to know how you make your sliders! Can you please share?
My Auburn Tigers won!!! Hopefully they can win again Thursday night! :) My daughter tried the Birthday Cake Shake and it was not good in my opinion. I will stick with the flavors nature intended shakes to be!
I am SO impressed that there is not one word in your post about the Ole Miss game! You are such a good sport! But I am not, so I have to say, GO JSU!!! Sorry, it just couldn’t be helped…and it’s pretty bad seeing as how I’m not even a MSU fan…:-) Oh, yeah, ROLL TIDE!!
I am SO sorry you weren’t here Saturday to witness the win! It was quite wonderful! So much excitement in the air (not to mention COWBELLS!!!). Hoping we can repeat this Thursday against the War Eagles….Tigers….Plainsmen, or whatever it is they are going by this week!
My beloved Mean Green (UNT) had the best 25 point loss ever. Seriously. We lost to Clemson, but we had possession for over 40 minutes, our quarterback played smart and our defense was stifling, despite allowing 35 points. We have great hope for the season.
We take Big Mama’s Mississippi Sin Dip to every home game (only we call it Mean Green Dip). Our other tailgating staples are smoked sausage and cheddar from a local meat market and we grill wings.
Our first home game is this weekend!
I think your link went to the last Laughing Cow post because I had already commented on it. Hope your Bulldogs beat the snot out of Auburn Thursday night and remember to respect the bell! Love your blog!
All 3 of my teams won. My beloved Auburn Tigers won and my husband’s Georgia Dawgs were victorious and I attended that wild East Carolina vs Tulsa game in Greenville, NC with my 2 daughters,19 month old grandaughter and son-in-law. The Pirates won in the last 5 seconds of the game! It’s always interesting in our house with so many teams to watch and cheer for but it sure does make it fun!
Melita,
We are the Auburn Tigers, our battle cry is War Eagle. The Plainsmen, I’ll be honest, I don’t know the answer to that one (but Auburn is the loveliest villagae on the Plain). Several years ago someone was giving my hubby a lot of grief over what to call us. He sweetly said, ‘y’all can just call us winners!’.
Hope that’s the case Thursday night. Should be a good one! WAR EAGLE!!!
Oh, sweet mercy, my Baylor Bears won and I am so happy to hear that there are other message boards that are gun shy of victory. Personally, I was thrilled with winning by 31 points and giving the second team guys a chance to get some playing time in as well.
Oh, and I would definitely need to try the birthday cake milkshake because, well, I’ve never been one to shy away from an accessory of any type :-)
GO GAMECOCKS!!!!
My beloved alumni, Jacksonville State, beat Ole Miss in…count ’em…2 overtimes!!! Made my whole football season!!
In true LSU fashion, we took a blow-out and turned it into a nail biter. But, hey, we did win. Though, if I were going to rewatch that game 2 and one half times, I would only watch the first half. :)
I am 7 months pregnant and would kill, and I do mean kill, for a vanilla shake right now. Yum-o!
My Auburn Tigers won and I sure hope they win tomorrow night! Sorry!
I, too, am afraid to get my hopes up, but that does not quell my enthusiasm. I just don’t want to be the one to jinx our beloved Bulldogs! Most fun I’ve had was the year I went and saw them at the Liberty Bowl, and I so want to do it again! DVRing tomorrow’s game – so nervous! 1 SEC victory under our belts will go SUCH a long way towards shutting down those naysayers. GO STATE!!!!
I am wondering – the names sound familiar – were these the people who sort of punked their wedding reception (with choreographed dance) or an I totally confused.
Sprinkles are OF THE DEVIL! That is all.