Tri2Cook

More likely wine hitting hot grease than anything to do with the garlic.

It was a bit boring for a Super Bowl, kinda difficult to get too excited over a game where the punter has a legitimate shot at MVP. It could be argued that it was ok for a fan of defensive football, which I am, but even the defensive play wasn't that spectacular for the most part. It was just better than most of the offensive play. But it was clear and easy to see when Brady decided "ok, enough of this... let's win" and got his offense moving. Like him or hate him, that's what he has the ability to do. I didn't watch the halftime show at all, I saw the list of performers and changed the channel as soon as the half ended. Turned back to the game in time for the second half kickoff. It's the Super Bowl and the end of football until September so I'm not unhappy I watched but the food was definitely the high point.

He waters his bourbon down to 85%... what is he starting at?

It isn't pretty but it sure is tasty. I seasoned the beef, sealed it with the onions in a baking pan with a little water and let it go all night in the oven at 225 F. This morning I pulled the beef apart and tossed it in the slow cooker with the onions, the pan liquid and all of the usual chile verde ingredients and let it go all day on low. All of the accompaniments are prepped and ready to go... so Super Bowl tacos it shall be.

Never mind, it wasn't important and sounded nastier than the jab it was meant to be. Regardless of where I stand on the topic of the Bulleit company, I don't want any Ill-will with EvergreenDan… an eGullet member I've learned a great deal from in the cocktail and booze arena.

My processors, especially the mini one, see as much action as my knives do at home these days. It's still knife work on the job and sometimes when cooking for others but at home for myself, I pop it in the processor, give it a few pulses and call it done. I have one day a week off, I don't want to spend half of it prepping in the kitchen.

Unless it changes again, which could very well happen if the past week of Super Bowl menu planning is any indicator, I've settled into chile verde. Most likely for tacos although I've considered the possibility of masa dumplings. Leaning towards the not-particularly-traditional (as far as I know, I'm not an expert on the subject) beef instead of pork if I do tacos. If I go with the dumplings, I'll probably do pork or maybe even chicken. With a little luck, this plan will stick...

Took me a minute to remember you're in a different time zone than I am... I was thinking that was going to be a pretty late meal.

Getting into crunch time and still no idea what I'm doing. The bad part is, the problem isn't narrowing down too many choices... the problem is nothing is sounding particularly appealing.

If I could get good, or even good enough, sushi where I live without having to make it myself, I would have no need to think about or plan a Super Bowl menu.

Me too... grits was a separate critter from mush.

I won't be doing much quantity or variety in that department, one or two is generally my limit regardless of whether it's beer, wine or cocktails.

Fixed that for ya! Especially when boiled with plenty of jalapenos in the pot to give 'em a little bite.

I'd have to side with your husband on this one... but only by a hair. The football is #1 but the food is a close second. Your menu sounds tasty. I won't be that ambitious with variety since it will be just me.

Sorry gang, but I've decided I intend to pull for the Patriots in this one. I don't consider either team a favorite but I don't have any particular hate either. I made my decision based on the fact that I greatly prefer NCAA football over NFL football. The relevance is, I've been a Bama fan for most of my life so one thing I have a lot of experience with is pulling for the team everybody else hates because they win too much. With that being the case, I'm already working on a seafood-heavy menu plan.

So what you're saying is, you don't have a Super Bowl menu. I guess a benefit of the World Series is you get to make at least 4 menus.

On that subject, I do have 4 new tiki mugs that need to be broken in...

I'm having to scramble with the menu plans. I had my menu figured out but it was based entirely on the Saints being in the game. I'd like to say that horrendous non-call last week is the reason I have to change my menu, and technically it is, but the bottom line is they didn't play well enough to not be in a position where one bad call made the difference. I don't really care which of the remaining two teams wins so that will take some of the fun out of the game but it also frees up my menu planning to not be geared towards a particular team. Right now, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Yeah, I suppose that would make doubling a bit of a non-issue, wouldn't it? A doubling I shall go... Edit: I suppose I should disclaimer that I don't need a double batch of brownies sitting around tempting me, just want be able to set a little aside for myself before the vultures descend.

I wish I could find a mail-order source for country ham in Canada. Amazon Canada carries one but it's $75 for a 3 lb chunk of ham that has really bad reviews from those who purchased... so I won't be risking that one.

Have you tried doubling his brownie recipes? Just wondering if his recipes work well in larger batches in larger pans with potentially longer bake times. I don't mind giving it a shot myself, plan to this weekend, just thought I'd ask in case you've already done it.

Me too. That was a favorite when it still existed.

And he doesn't know Rob... the guy who introduced us to hot chocolate with salmon marshmallow.

I like Ben & Jerry's but I'd have to be out on those even if they made it to where I live, which they won't. We can get like 3 or 4 flavors here on a good day. None of them are recent and they never change. The one with almond ice cream and shortbread cookies on one side and cherry ice cream on the other would be appealing to me if it weren't for the cookie dough core. I don't hate cookie dough but that huge core looks like a bit much.

Yeah, that was a fun lesson to learn. Working with chocolate is enjoyable but it can definitely be a heartless bitc… err… mistress. It's favorite trick is to wait until you do everything exactly like you do every other time and don't have time to redo whatever you're trying to get done and then pop out from behind a door and yell "not today".