My husband and I had a magical weekend in Nashville. Full details cannot be revealed at this time, but I participated in a focus group for product that will make kids love music. When the beans can be spilled, you’ll be the first to know and can share my enthusiasm.

If this sounds cryptic, then I’ve done my job. 🙂

Here’s what I can talk about:

Blog Buddies

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I got to hang out with some fine ladies: Meghan, Sue, Jenn, Sami, Abby…

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and Heather! Hanging with Heather felt a little bit like playing hooky, considering the Homeschool Blog Awards started while we were there. (Go vote!)

Sweet Tea

An amazing and mind-boggling discovery was made about my new buddy, Sue: being from Arizona, she had never tasted sweet tea. You would think that a reputable hotel in a fine Southern city like Nashville would serve it, but you just might be wrong. Experiencing mild withdrawal, I called my husband, who was sightseeing, to please bring me some, and for heaven’s sake, get one for Sue, too!

McDonald’s sweet tea in the South—which Jenn compared to crack—is addictive. At the bargain price of $1 for a large, I have trouble driving past a MickeyD’s without stopping for one. Chick-fil-a also serves excellent sweet tea, which you can purchase by the gallon. When we were in Pigeon Forge last month, their McDonald’s sold it by the gallon, too.

I tried to explain to Sue how to make it, but it was so completely foreign to her that she asked me to please post. While this could be titled “sweet tea for dummies,” I prefer “sweet tea for the unfortunate.” Never having been exposed is surely deprivation of the worst kind.

The secret is to add the sugar when the tea is hot, otherwise it won’t dissolve and will sit in the bottom of the glass. Although they make long, thin-handled spoons for stirring the sugar at the bottom of the glass, this will always be second-rate sweet tea.

I brew mine in a coffee pot, reserved only for tea. We go through about a gallon a day in the summer, so that’s how much this recipe makes. Use four family size tea bags, preferably Luzianne or Tetley. After brewing, you will have about 6 cups (depending on how much water you used) of very concentrated hot tea.

Pour this into a gallon pitcher with 1+ cups of sugar.  One cup is pretty tame and I make it that way because my husband is diabetic, but this is really not a time when less is more. Stir to dissolve the sugar, and then fill the rest of the way with cold water. Chill and serve.

Songwriters

We were treated to an evening of fine Southern food and a performance by amazingly talented and gracious Nashville songwriters Gordon Kennedy and Wayne Kirkpatrick at B.B. King’s Blues Club.

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The Sites

I dearly loved taking my camera out for a couple of Nashville nights.

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What did you do this weekend?

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