Fourth of July with Greg!

Long-time Vegan Crunk readers may remember my best friend Greg. He and I were inseparable when he lived in Memphis, and I'm sure I'm blogged about him (and things we ate together) plenty, but he moved to Indiana (and later Kentucky) a few years back.

Our favorite holiday to celebrate was always Halloween! But the second fave was definitely July 4. Not because we're particularly patriotic. But we LOVE fireworks. And we LOVE grilling. So I was super stoked when Greg decided to use his vacation days to come visit me in Memphis for July 4th weekend. The above pic is one of us last Wednesday night at the Rec Room, right after he arrived in Memphis.

I'll be sharing our food adventures all week, but tonight, let's start with the big day — July 4th! Greg and I went shopping early in the day for grilling supplies, and we invited my friend Susan to join us. Then we fired up the grill and made all this!

Field Roast burgers (on Lulu's Baked buns), Beyond Sausages (Susan brought those! Mine is bunless to make room for more food in my belly), Corn on the Cob, Tofu & Veggie Skewers, and Cucumber Salad. Greg grew the cucumbers and zucchini in his garden! Skewers are a long-time July 4th tradition for me and Greg, but I haven't made them since he's been gone. Love these!

We also had plenty of beer, chips and guac, and watermelon (that we spiked with vodka, naturally!).

After dinner, we visited with Susan for a bit, and then she had to go home. But we met up with Andy and Tyler to go downtown for fireworks! Here's Andy photobombing us on a park bench in Butler Park, where we waited on the show.

The fireworks over the Mississippi River were especially awesome this year thanks to the new light show on the M Bridge! They change the colors for different holidays and themes, but this red, white, and blue one was very cool!