julie@womenwine.com www.WomenWine.com From a culinary perspective, Super Bowl Sunday is becoming bigger than Thanksgiving. I have a couple of theories about this - there's no pressure to impress the in-laws, no worrying about the timing of food or the shortage of ovens, no "political correctness" of what to serve. You make what you want - they eat it or don't. No one is stuck in the kitchen. The food is prepared and displayed and it's every man (or woman) for themselves. And it's understood that there's no set time to eat - it's the ultimate grazing day. Here in LA there are record high temperatures which make it the perfect Sunday for an indoor/ outdoor feast. A new friend - our connection is food and wine and liking to talk at the same time - says that he will bring over two fabulous wines the Shafer 2001 Hillside Select and the Colgin 2003 Syrah if I'll whip up some goodies for a casual pre-Super Bowl luncheon at 2:30. Now, even though my list of things to do today was longer than my arm - who could resist an offer like that? I'm still in pajamas at noon when we come up with this idea and so I quickly dash into the kitchen to whip up some suitable accompaniments while dialing my husband to make a quick detour to the Whole Foods while heading home from the gym. He arrives from the market a half hour later and the beginnings of a beautiful buffet lie in front of us. I've grilled eggplant with farmer's market fresh feta, blood oranges peeled and thinly sliced with chopped mint from the garden in a pool of blood orange vinegar, fresh tuna (grilled) sashimi nicoise salad, assorted cheeses, proscuitto and peaches, freshly marinated anchovies and, with their arrival, the addition of an incredible organic Italian salami that blows my mind for it's soft moist texture and well-rounded flavor. Not too spicy, not too peppery, just a simple salami. With two different baguettes - we are now set. The guests have arrived and the hours disappear. The Colgin is drinking beautifully right out of the bottle - a perfect wine with this array of delights. Someone mentions that it's time for the game, so even though we're on the terrace of our bedroom taking in the last of the day, we turn it on for the occasional peak at the screen. We're ready for the Shafer now and I recount to our guests the story of how Doug's dad came to the Stag's Leap District in Napa in the 60's. He was the founder of the company that created the Dick and Jane readers that we grew up with - those thin short books that we used to learn how to read. Run Dick. Run. See Jane. See Spot. See Jane run after Spot. Wow. Much simpler times. No color tv, no vcr or tivo - a 'treat' to be able to have a Swanson frozen TV dinner. Anyway, it seems that in the 60's, Doug said that his Dad approached the publisher of the books with the insight that there should be some audio or visual medium that they should explore to enhance the distribution potential of the Dick and Jane series. If I remember clearly (and this is definately aging me), this was in the era of "film strips", those celluloid rolls that went through a projector with the manual turn of each frame.... Anyway, the publisher couldn't see that far down the road so Doug's dad ditched everything to move the family out to the beautiful site where they are now. Prime land for making gorgeous wines. So I've gotten a bit off of the story (it's still Super Bowl Sunday). We open the 'Select' - it's clinging to the glass and the intensity of the color is makes us think of chocolate. So we raid the cupboards and find a hidden a new bar of Scharffen Berger dark chocolate and some biscotti and the menu is complete. I'm writing this as the rest of the guests linger in the tv room now glued to the Super Bowl screen. The sun is setting and the sky will soon be aflame with one of those great LA winter sunsets. I think - this is so simple. Why do we love a day like the Super Bowl for eating and getting together with friends so much? It is really all about the game or is is also tapping into a place where we can be informal and casually eat and drink with good friends without the pretense or pressures of a formal holiday. Eat, Drink, Superbowl Sunday. It could be a new mantra in the culinary world. Julie
