Sunday, February 1st - SUPERBOWL Sunday

I could have sworn that it was always the last Sunday of January. I remember because an ex of mine had a sister in law whose birthday we always had to celebrate a week too early or too late because of Superbowl.

Breakfast was a quick coffee and biscotti because we basically started cooking right away. Recipies to come but the line up was as follows, as prepared:

Cheery/Cranberry Hazelnut Biscotti

Spicy Roasted Cashews

(coarse salt, fresh rosemary, brown sugar, butter)

Hummous with Persion flatbread

Hazelnut and coffee Brownies

Kalamata Olive Tapenade with crackers

Crudite with Greek yogurt Veggie Dip
- 1 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 T curry powder
- 1 T mustard powder
- 1.5 T horseradish
- 0.5 T ground ginger
- 2 T white wine vinegar
- 2 T mayonnaise (optional)
- ground black pepper

Blackbean, Corn and Okra vegetarian Chili
(cook in this order)
- just enough Oil to cover the bottom of a dutch oven or large pot.
- 1 med/lg white onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2-3 stalks celery chopped small

- 2 cups okra cut in 2 cm pieces tossed in 3 T of cornmeal to aborb some of the sliminess. Don't be afraid of the sliminess

- 2 whole index finger sized sprigs of rosemary
- 2 whole index finger sized sprigs of curry herb (you don't need this but we had it in the herb window box. It looks like frosted thyme)
- 2 whole index finger sized sprigs of thyme
- 3 jalapenos (not too spicy unless dats yo thang)

Now you can use classic spice mixtures with onion powder, cayenne and poblanos... but I did the next best thing and used a packaged chili spice envelope from Safeway but augmented with the fresh herbs and fresh ingredients. Onion powder is a classic ingredient so I don't feel bad about using the envelope.

- 2 large 14 oz cans of tomatoes (if you're using whole canned, squash each with your hand. I do mean squash)
- 1 can blackbeans
- 1 can whole kernel corn
- 1 can canellini beans (optional)
Bring to a boil briefly keep stirring or the cornmeal may scorch the bottom and you risk getting a burnt taste. Turn down to a low low simmer and keep lidded. Let all the wonderful flavours meld together. I leave the herbage in until served with the red tortilla chips.

Homemade pizza dough for
- Baby bocconcini and basil
- BBQ Chicken
- Italian sausage with portobello mushrooms
- Cauliflour and green bean balti curry Pizzas
(snacks: Buffalo wings with blue cheese ripple chips (GREAT), low-salt plain chips (GOOD), chocolate covered cranberries/cherries, red tortilla chips, Wasabi peas)

WINE WINE and more WINE, caesars and gin and tonics.