Fourth of July Fun!

Admittedly, I'm not a very patriotic person. But I do love grilling out and watching fireworks, so I happily celebrate Fourth of July every year. This year, my friend Greg and I wanted to grill like we did last year. But my old charcoal grill has seen its last veggie burger. It's all rusty now and destined for the dump. So I borrowed by mom's indoor grill and set it up outside. Here it is loaded up with Amy's Quarter Pounder veggie burgers and some local squash and zucchini:

We basted the burgers with BBQ sauce and enjoyed them with barbecue chips:

I washed mine down with Sam Adam's Summer Ale, a light lemon-y brew:

For dessert, I made a Blackberry Cobbler (from my cookbook) using local blackberries hand-picked by my friend Aaron:

After dinner, it was fireworks time! We loaded up on explosives from wrestler Jerry "The King" Lawler's fireworks stand in West Memphis, Arkansas (they don't sell fireworks in Memphis city limits). I found this kitschy Exploding Osama Bin Laden Noggin:

I'm totally against the wars in the Middle East and all, and I certainly don't condone real violence. But I bought the Osama head for pure kitsch value. It seemed super-white trash and funny.

We actually caught the city's lame-ass fireworks show on Beale Street, but we started a small show at the house before dark. My inner child was way excited about these black snakes:

And Greg pretended to be just as enthused:

Later, after the city fireworks, we found a vacant parking lot in Midtown and shot off lots more sparkly fun.