Game Day - Day 30

The excitement of the first game of the season is something many of my friends don't understand. There is an electric energy generated by over 90,000 fans coming together for a common goal...to root their team to victory. This fandom involves so much more than just the game. It is wearing your lucky shirt, putting on your Gator jewelry in just the right order, sharing a tailgate meal with friends and family, getting to the stadium an hour early to soak it all in and drinking your lucky sweet tea before the game. This year the energy and excitement seems to be kicked up a notch. Florida is the reigning national champion and Tim Tebow, our rock star quarterback, is in his senior year. This year is going to be special.

The day began early with the final packing of the tailgate gear. Then on to pickup our friend Chris to join us for the day. We stopped at McDonald's (OMG...two times in two days) for a quick breakfast on the run. We lucked into a parking spot at our favorite tailgate location and unloaded all the gear for the 6 1/2 hour wait until kickoff. The rest of our friends and family would not be joining us for another 3-4 hours. We talked, we relaxed and after a couple of hours, we realized we were hungry and couldn't wait another 2 hours to eat. It was time for a cheeseburger appetizer from the new Cheeburger Cheeburger Express in the student union. Mike and I split a burger. It was not cheap at $4.99, not express, but quite tasty.

Around 4:00 the rest of our friends arrived and the true tailgating began. I made sangria, fired up the grill to cook the chicken and asparagus. The chicken breast was pounded, stuffed with Boursin cheese and wrapped in prosciutto the night before. The asparagus was previously blanched and then thrown on the grill with a drizzle of macadamia oil, salt , pepper and chopped macadamia nuts. I served it with a fresh corn salad and pasta salad. Everything was actually quite delicious and a nice departure from the typical burgers and hot dogs. We finished the meal with grilled pound cake topped with fresh strawberries, chocolate syrup drizzle and whipped cream.

The Gators won 62 to 3 and the day was enjoyed by all. Unfortunately the win came at a huge cost. I missed my first blog posting since its inception 30 days ago. I hate when my son is right! He told me I would miss a day at some point and he was right.

Many hugs,

Kathy