babybloomr

One from the vaults… Be still my heart.

They grow up too fast.

Yesterday we stopped showing the house long enough to have a little impromptu Super Bowl party around here. Our beloved friend and producer from the Faroe Islands, Jakup Zachariassen was in town, and he brought a Faroese country music singer with him named Hallur Joenson. Neither one of them had ever witnessed the over-the-top excess of the Super Bowl before, so it was a bit of a cultural field trip for them. Of course, being Europeans, the concept of an entire nation going bat-shizz crazy over a sporting event is not completely foreign– we might have a multi-million $$ Beyonce half-time extravaganza, but they have soccer hooligans!

My brother Matt and his fabulous wife Carol joined us, and Madi was up for the weekend as well, so a fun time was had by all. Hallur had a working knowledge of the rudiments of American football, but Jakup was a total newbie– and may I just say that trying to explain the game to someone from another country makes you realize just how convoluted some of the rules are! My football education dates back to my high school cheerleading days, so there were definitely some gaps in my expertise– I’m still not totally sure what was going on those last few minutes, what with the ‘did that guy hold or not?’ non-call and the intentional safety..?  Luckily Matt and Russ were there to shed enlightenment.

Of course, as everyone knows, the most important part of a Super Bowl party is the food. And wait ’til I tell you what I did! Remember  that wonderful trip to Cincinnati and my introduction to the heaven that is Skyline Chili? Well, since this party was kind of spur of the moment, and I didn’t know if I would be remotely able to faithfully reproduce that magical concoction from a best-guess online recipe, I decided to go ahead and make my usual pretty-dang-delicious chili and add a secret ingredient: one package of frozen Skyline chili! It worked beautifully– it had all of things we love about my regular recipe, with just the hint of those mysterious Skyline notes of cinnamon and chocolate. I had a lot of topping options, like chopped onions, avocados, sour cream and Fritos. Our Faroese guests LOVED it and ate to the point of pain, which is the highest form of praise in my family– nothing says ‘successful meal’ quite like the sound of people groaning, loosening their belts and swearing they’re not going to eat for a week! I am indeed my mother’s daughter– her family nickname is The Food Pusher. I also made those crockpot lil’ smokies cocktail weenies, you know those ones with the  BBQ sauce/grape jelly combo? Love those. Then I made these little broiled open-face pepper jack pimento cheese on baguette slices sammies, and a big green salad and a pan of cornbread. Carol brought dessert, which were phyllo tarts filled with Nutella or lemon curd with fresh raspberries. It was a feast, ya’ll!

Here’s a pic Madi snapped with her phone: (Doesn’t my brother Matt have a GORGEOUS head of white hair? I swear, if I thought mine would ever look like that, I’d let it go natural. Um, not that it’s not natural now. OK, natural-ish. With a  little help. #blondetilIdie)

So, what did you guys do yesterday? Party, no party, Super Bowl or Downton Abbey?