The Grove... Pre-Game Warm-up...

I don't know if many of my readers have ever been to the Grove.  In fact, I don't know if I have "many" readers.  But if you haven't, its certainly something you should experience once in your life even if you aren't an Ole Miss fan. You are all invited to my tent!

But if you've never been to the Grove, or, if you've never been in charge of a tent, then you'll never know the excitement of my life during football season.  I've always been a part of a Grove team-- like a wide receiver or something.  I've been one of many, preparing for the tent-- either my family members or my friends from law school.  The entire Grove experience wasn't on my shoulders, but occasionally I'd have a star performance, with a hit recipe or the $1.50 couch Shannon and I found at the Salvation Army.

This year, however, I've been promoted to quarterback.  Or coach.  I'll go with quarterback, it fits better into my blog idea.  I'm in charge now-- I get to call the recipes, make the on-the-field play changes once I read the defense (or the weather), and get the credit (or the blame) for everything that happens.

And it ain't easy.  I've already mentioned my Grove-related-injury (GRI) before last week's game, which meant that this week, I was playing injured.  My Grove activities don't start on Saturday though.  I spend a good portion of the week before a game getting ready.  Washing the previous game's dishes (first game, dust, last game, mud), choosing recipes, making a grocery list, delegating responsibilities to other players, shopping, choosing a centerpiece (this is where my football analogy fails me), packing everything, cooking everything, preparing everything for the commute to Oxford, etc.  Its a full-time gig.  I'm hoping to go pro soon.

Wednesday night I hit up the Kroger across the spillway (the Kroger down the street is renovating and I won't be going back until they are done-- its way too stressful to shop in the midst of renovations).  Thursday night I got to cooking.  My iPad mini comes in handy when trying new recipes! I love my iPad mini-- best five bucks I've ever spent!!

The "meat and potatoes" of Grove food-- crackers and tortilla chips.  I seriously buy these things in bulk.  Also, notice my "thinker" bookends.  I woke up a few weeks ago and realized I have a thousand books and nothing to end them with, so I'm obsessed with bookends lately.  These I found at the house in Laurel last weekend during the yard sale.  I originally though I'd paint them a shiny, bright color, but now I think I like the dark metallic color.  It's decisions like these that add to my winkles. 

That isn't the Kroger back that broke.

I'm still working on a good way to cut tomatoes.  Its important for even the quarterback to practice and become a better player. 

A new recipe from Pinterest-- tomato, peach and strawberry salsa with peppers.  Hot but good-- will be a new staple I believe!

Watching Netflix while cooking makes things a lot better. 

Tomato, mozzarella, basil and crouton skewers in the making. 

Parker did this the entire night.  She didn't help at all. 

Cooking for the Grove is lots of fun-- I like trying new recipes, and I get to catch up on my Netflix episodes, and I'm cooking for my family and friends, so there isn't much better things than that.