Friday Find: Sportsball? Snacksball.

There's a football game on Sunday, maybe you've heard. 

I'm not a big football fan, you should know that right off the bat (they use bats in football, yes?). But I do enjoy the big games, and I definitely enjoy funny ads and eating snacks for dinner, especially with friends. I am, however, from New England. And what this means is that despite not being a huge fan I am also by default a diehard fan of the Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox, and Patriots. I know that doesn't make any sense, but you're just going to have to accept it. I know baseball best, but I do enjoy a big Pats game. So you know who I'm rooting for on Sunday. My grandfather was a diehard (for real though) Pats fan, and didn't live to see them win anything. That's the quintessential New England story: root for the losers, because they're YOUR losers, and maybe they'll be your losers your whole life, but that's part of the deal. 

 I know there's been much brouhaha over Deflategate. The good news is that it seems to finally have been resolved. 

Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady and Coach Bill Belichick have spent a lot of time denying they had anything to do with Deflate-Gate. We don't know if these people are trying to protect Tom Brady, but already more than half a dozen people have come forward to claim responsibility including Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, John Krasinski, Chris Evans, Steven Tyler, Eli Roth, Dicky Barrett and Bill Simmons.

Zach and I will be watching the game with friends, and while we're still deciding on exactly what apps we are making, here are some of the house-favorite, naughty, special occasion snacks:

Buffalo chicken dip. Always a huge hit. 

Photo from sweetpeaskitchen.com

Pigs in a banket. Or as Zach calls them: meat cookies. Also always a huge hit. 

Hummus  & veggies. Because there should be some sort of nutrition consumed, I guess, and because this is my favorite hummus recipe. It's addictive. (I leave out the cumin, because cumin and I don't get along.)

Queso. (I haven't made this recipe, but it's sort of similar to the one Zach uses. American cheese! Who knew?!)

Sugar cookie bars. With red, white, blue, and silver sprinkles, obviously.

Photo from dinnersdishesanddessertscom.

Who are you rooting for, and what are you making?

Friday Find: Who knew?

I have so many distinct memories of driving to High School. The feeling of freedom and excitement, the way my 1984 Celica took almost the entire freezing cold ride to school to start warming up (and the way it had no front wheel traction in the snow). Picking up my best friend, and stopping at Bess Eaton for a pumpernickel bagel and a Tank of iced coffee with approximately 112 sugars. Feeling like somehow, for about 15 minutes, that I was free as a bird. And of course that feeling was strongly assisted by my 17-year-old's penchant for blasting the radio and letting it take me away. There are a handful of songs that, to this day, bring me right back to those late 90s mornings, with an open road in front of me and a friend beside. Semisonic's Closing Time is one of them. 

Several of my friends have shared this on Facebook today, and it's completely blown my mind. Turns out it wasn't an aspirational anthem about how awesome life would be when I went away to college: in fact, it was pretty much the opposite. 

Dan Wilson of Semisonic performs "Closing Time" at his 25th reunion at Harvard's Sanders Theatre. Before and during the tune he tells a funny story about what the song really means. He won a Grammy for the song in 1999.

Discovered via this sweet article.

Happy Friday, friends. 

Friday Find: Cold can be cute

Late December was bananas, as it is wont to be. I took a bit of an unexpected break from regular blogging and Friday Finds, but I'm back!

I hear it's January, and that in most places it's cold. Frigid, even. I spent this past Wednesday in a t-shirt running around Disneyland, so I wouldn't really know. 

I missed snow and cold around the holidays, but now that they're over I'm grateful for daily doses of sunshine and sea air. I'm still adjusting to the relative lack of seasons here, but I'm getting there.

December in southern California. 

That said, I do still love and miss snow. And sweet little Bao Bao at the National Zoo seems to be enjoying it enough for both of us. Stay warm, friends! I hope your 2015 is off to a healthy, peaceful start!