Super Sunday

I realized this morning that, while I have not 1 but 2 Super Bowl events to attend, I don't know who either of the teams playing are. Clearly the football part of today's festivities is not my main focus. I'm much more interested in the food.

One party is a potluck (not that you'd show up at a Super Bowl empty-handed regardless), so I decided to make something sweet and something savory. For the savory I thought I'd try the Greek goddess dip recipe from the NYT. The herbs smelled so good as they were being pulverized by my Cuisinart mini-prep. The recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic. I was already doubling it, and I really like garlic, so I put in about 6 or 7, not thinking that when I normally amp-up the garlic in a recipe, it's being cooked. This garlic stays raw. The dip is deliciously creamy, but it's got quite the kick too it. At least I won't be attacked my vampires on my way home.

For the sweet I decided to try a chocolate coconut bar recipe from Martha. I'm not really sure what went wrong here. For starters, I don't think I make the crumbs for the cookie crust fine enough bcause I had to move it from a 15 X 18 pan to a 9 X 9. Then I don't know if the crust wasn't packed tightly enough or it hadn't cooled completely, but when I added the toppings, something must have seeped through. Now I cannot get the wax paper off the bottom of the bars. They look great. They taste great. But I can't really bring these to a party and deliver a giant pre-dessert caveat that you have to eat them like candy dots scraping them off the wax paper with your teeth or else spit out the paper when you're done. I'm about to see what else I can whip up with the contents of my fridge/pantry. I'm thinking lemon bars.

The one dish that came out perfect was sadly not for sharing. I decided to make myself a fancy brunch of buckwheat soba noodles with prosciutto, asparagus and egg from this Bon Appetit recipe. I had already changed my sheets, sorted my laundry, cleaned the kitchen, brought items down to the curb for recycling, and emptied several pots of their dead plants - Motsy has officially nixed my ideas for an indoor herb garden - so it felt warranted.

Somehow I don't think showing this picture on my phone to my hosts this evening will be sufficient to make up for my sub-par party treats. Alcohol should do the trick.