My Super Bowl Plate…and How Many Shots of Taylor Swift Did We Get
I don’t like football…like at all. Baseball (I’m a long-suffering fan of the New York Mets) and basketball are more my jam. But I do make an exception for the Super Bowl. The big game is an excuse to eat greasy, crunchy finger foods, laugh at commercials, see if anyone can touch Prince when it comes to the best halftime show ever, and pay attention in the fourth quarter—in case it’s a close game. So how was this year’s game….
FOOD
Black Bean Dip. Creamy, cheesy, and spicy all in one bite. Mash one can of beans and leave the second can whole. Cook the beans with some onions, fresh jalapeno, fresh cilantro, and a can of diced tomatoes with chiles. Season to taste. Pour into a casserole dish and mix with softened cream cheese and shredded cheese of choice (I used cheddar), top with additional cheese. Bake at 350F until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. This can be topped with fresh salsa, onions, sour cream, or guacamole. Dip your tortilla chip of choice and enjoy.
Yes, I’m a big cliché. I made buffalo wings for the big game. They’re easy and cheap to make. I baked these in the oven. Make sure your wings are super dry and mix some cornstarch in the seasoning. The cornstarch helps crisp up the wings.
MAKING LEMON BARS
Mixing butter with the dry ingredients (flour, powdered sugar, salt) in these first two videos. Or attempting to. 😊
Lemon Bars. I can’t take credit for this, the recipe is courtesy of Joanna Gaines. As I’ve said before, I LOVE lemon desserts. I love them served cold, topped with some powdered sugar. I made this Sunday morning and stuck them in the back of the fridge until halftime. I’ve made these before and these weren’t my best batch (left them in the oven a little too long), but still tart and sweet. Plus, I’m experimenting with some videos here. I’m going to be clumsy to start, but I’m doing this to get out of my comfort zone. Eventually, I’ll show my face. Thoughts?
USHER!!
My wishlist of songs for Usher to perform was small; Yeah!, My Way, My Boo, U Remind Me, and Caught Up. I got three of them. Overall, I was underwhelmed. Something was off with the audio/acoustics in the first half of the set. Ending with Yeah! salvaged the performance for me.
GAME NOTES
Oh yeah, there was a game and commercials, too.
Cool to make the Lahaina High School football team honorary captains.
Big thank you to the camera people for not giving in to the urge to show us Tay Tay in the crowd every other minute. I didn’t see a shot of Taylor Swift until a couple of minutes into the second quarter. Probably helps the Kansas City offense wasn’t on the field a lot early, therefore Travis Kelce wasn’t on the turf a lot.
Trailers: The first look at the trailer for Wicked looks cool. The cast is pretty stacked; Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Grande, and Bowen Yang. | A sequel to Twister, called Twisters? Why? The first movie, which came out in 1996, wasn’t a masterpiece but it was pretty good – mainly because of Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton (still stings that he’s gone). I didn’t see any ties to the original cast in the trailer (other than Dorothy aka a machine), which seems like a missed opportunity. | IF got my attention. Reminded me of Who Framed Roger Rabbit for the mix of live action and animation. So few movies get this combo right, I hope this is one of the exceptions.
A lot of the trailers are encouraging people to “go online” to see the trailer. Why? The Super Bowl is one of the largest collective audiences, so why not take advantage and show a decent sized trailer while you have our attention?
Commercials: the T-Mobile audition commercial made me laugh, especially seeing the guys from Suits. | Awww, so sad to see Carl Weathers (RIP) in the Fanduel commercial, glad the spot included a thank you to him. | New Reese’s peanut butter cups with caramel? Sounds like a sugar bomb, of course I’ll try one. | Several commercials promoting spirituality, interesting. | Beyonce and Tony Hale in a commercial together, that’s a pairing I wouldn’t have thought of. But it works. | Even though it was a commercial for makeup, some parent is bound to complain about the Cardi B spot.
A lot of turnovers for Kansas City in the first two quarters.
The Sphere in Las Vegas looks so COOOOOLLLLL! Must be quite the experience to watch a concert there.
As a warmup act to Usher, this game is kind of boring. It’s only 10-3 at halftime. This is why I don’t really pay attention to the game until the fourth quarter. By the last quarter, if it’s close one team is desperately trying to hold onto a lead or the other is trying to get the lead—DRAMA!!
Glimpses of the viewing parties around the world is a nice touch.
Just got another shot of Taylor—in the second half. Unless I missed something on a bathroom break, I’ve only seen her two or three times on camera. Given all the stories about whether she would make it to the game, I was expecting tons of shots of T. Swift. Color me surprised, pleasantly surprised, that’s not the case.
Other celebrity sightings: LeBron James, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Lady GaGa (nice sparkly eye makeup); Beyonce and Jay-Z sitting next to Jack Dorsey (former Twitter CEO and founder), I wonder what those conversations were like.
Touchdown! 13-10 late in the third quarter (and an obligatory shot of Tay Tay), finally some DRAMA!
16-13 San Francisco! And the kick for the extra point is blocked. Please no overtime!! The Sports Gods never seem to care about those of us on the East Coast who have to work the next day. Please end on time! And of course I jinxed it. Overtime!
Final 25-22, that’s three rings for Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City! Did you watch the game?
Upcoming posts
Wednesday: Special post for Valentine’s Day, with a book review of My Sister’s Big Fat Indian Wedding
Thursday: Lost recaps for episodes twenty-one and twenty-two