My parents and their friends threw a wedding shower this weekend for some of our good friends–a friend I have known since the day I was born and his fiance (who happens to be the daughter of my mom’s college roommate….small world). And since it is fall and Auburn is a big part of their lives (and ours), it seemed appropriate to throw them an Auburn themed backyard tailgate shower.
Sometimes I think that someone needs to create a reality show centered around my family getting ready for events. It is mass chaos and general upheaval. It would be like Restaurant Impossible, except at our house and with my parents’ house. We are always too ambitious about what can be done beforehand (example: painting baseboards at the end of their house remodel the morning before Thanksgiving last year). And for the first time ever this weekend, I actually started to doubt that we would be ready by the time the party began. But we were ready, thanks to the fact that Gerrit and I were able to come over all day and the fact that the other hosts of the shower did so many wonderful things (including doing some of the things we didn’t have time for).
It was a lovely party with lots of BBQ and food and desserts and the most adorable decorations (the last of which we had no part in…the creativity of some people I know astounds me).
And of course there were drinks, too, which somehow Gerrit and I ended up being in charge of. Gerrit’s contribution was that he homebrewed a keg of beer for the party. And then I ended up making the Toomer’s Corner Lemonade and the tailgate tea while Evelyn was napping.
Actually, I kind of took over the making of the tailgate tea from my dad because I wanted to know how it’s done. It’s become a staple drink for football season, and every time we go over to my parents’ house it magically appears already made and mixed. And when I ask my dad for the recipe he says, “It’s basically just tea and liquor,” which I realize and which is not helpful.
So, actually taking charge and making the tea was the only way I was going to get the ratios out of him. And here it is.
I’m not really a huge drinker, but this, plus sangria and the occasional jack & coke, are my weaknesses. I can do without the glass of wine at dinner, and honestly I hate beer (much to Gerrit’s dismay), but take some sweet tea and mix it with whisky and peach schnapps and I am sold.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:39]