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Cup4Cup Week: The Bread

FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL! FOOTBALL!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. Even though the taint of the Saints’ scandal lingers and I’m still smarting from the BCS championship game last January, I can’t help but be excited for the start of the season. We Saints/Tigers fans are an optimistic lot. The booze helps.

Of course, you’ll need good food for the games this weekend, and you could do so much worse than a muffuletta, the Sicilian-by-way-of-New-Orleans sandwich invented by Salvatore Lupo at Central Grocery. It shares a meat-and-cheese situation with the Italian sub, but goes above and beyond in two important ways — the bread (a soft, round Italian loaf that’s light but substantial enough to take on the filling) and olive salad (with pickled vegetables and heavy on the garlic). Since I have no hope of ordering the sandwich in north Jersey or of getting a gluten-free muffuletta loaf at the bakery, I made my own.

And, well, I have to say the bread was not great. Looked nice, though:

I really don’t […]

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day…

Apologies to my neighbors for the noise pollution, but I’ve waited 40 years for this.

I think we’ll all be sleeping in tomorrow.

Bless you, Boys!!!

18-1 Frito Pie

fritopie.jpg

If your email inbox was anything like mine last week, you learned that there’s no easy route to planning a Super Bowl menu. I was bombarded with ideas to make my feast special! To add some zip to the game! To stay healthy and still enjoy my favorite football foods! Some missives advocated the tried and true — hot dogs, wings, burgers — while others sought to elevate the whole day by encouraging more complicated fare. Me? I’m a true believer in the KISS principle when it comes to sporting events; the most complicated thing I ever made for a Super Bowl party was a big pot of red beans and some pimento dip for snacking.

This year, I had trouble deciding between a roasted pork shoulder and chili, but came down on the side of chili, mostly because I got started late in the day and didn’t have time to properly marinate and braise or smoke the pork. Keeping with our mostly (red) meatless tradition since the new year, I decided on a turkey chili. I do have a soft spot in my heart for veggie chili, but watching the home […]

Fingers crossed!

In honor of LSU’s appearance in the BCS title game tonight, I’m reposting this entry from a year ago — mostly as an excuse to share these awesome pictures of my brother-in-law, Tommy (with his son in the second picture). He scored tickets to the Sugar Bowl last year and gave us a preview of his game-day attire, but will be watching from home this evening with the rest of us.

Geaux Tigers!

When I started at LSU 20 years ago this fall (gulp), basketball games were an enjoyable enough way to spend an evening. Ricky Blanton was the big draw and rumors hadn’t started yet about the 7-foot crime fighter with the secret identity, so these events were really easy to get into. Football games were another story.

Game day seemed to double the population of Baton Rouge and most of the imports ended up in the stadium parking lot … early. It was a great time to be a starving college student because you could fill up on all kinds of grilled meats, jambalaya, red beans & rice, and even find a beer to wash it down just by wandering […]

Am I ever glad we went to bed at the half

It was certainly an inauspicious start for my boys.

But oh, how happy I am that the NFL season has officially begun! If you need me on a Sunday from now until January, just try:

Amy Roth
c/o Large Sofa, Living Room
Roth Manor
Ringwood, NJ 07456

Of course, it’s likely I’ll be spending some time with Terrence Howard as well — smoked meats pair so nicely with the pigskin, after all.