the last night taggart was in tennessee we spent it in the great city of nashville, mainly so she could catch an early flight the next morning but also to explore the wonders of the city, aka the gold rush bar.  our friend alaina was raised in nash and her family is still there so she played tour guide/host for us.  first on the agenda was dinner at the smith’s house.

i got really excited about one part of this meal and that was the drinks before hand.  alaina’s mom, claudia offered me what she called “big girl punch”  low and behold this was my family’s reciepe for slush which i had passed on to alaina and she to her mother.  the tradition continues!!!!!

taggart mixing up a slush

the meal was a yummy summer combination of grilled chicken, zucchini pie, cooked cabbage, summer tomatoes, watermelon, and homemade sourdough bread.  over dinner we discussed many a topic from taggart’s nursing program to me starting school in the next week, along with tales of mrs. smith’s teaching experience and finally an in-depth conversation on whether or not it is best to read the book before seeing the movie it is based on.

so good i had seconds

to add to the theme of homemade summer goodness, dessert was a team effort by both parents, of homemade ice-cream.

testing the ice cream

blueberries, oreos and a coveted box of girl scout thin mint cookies were all up for topping the creamy vanilla ice cream that was put into one of my favorite items from childhood, those little hard baseball hats that you used to get sundaes in at baskin-n-robins.  it was good to the last bite!

no ice cream was wasted