There might really be something to the connection between the food and the teams of the Super Bowl. As the game was a tale of two halves, so it was with the food. There was the consistently good, familiarly reliable versus the uncertain, upstart, new and different. The big plays went to the Saints and to my surprise and delight, it was the same with the food…

While the teams are making late preparations, so are we. They’ve assessed their health–who can go and who can’t, how they match up with their opponent, what works and what doesn’t and how they see it all unfolding. Simultaneously, we have pondered our menu, checked on available ingredients, what goes with what and what doesn’t, matched up main dishes with sides, and also assessed what works and what doesn’t and how we see it all unfolding…

You see, my plan was to have a low-key, quiet celebration where CBB and I cook for a few friends I’ve been wanting to cook for and hadn’t gotten together with in a while. Add some family who are stopping through to top off the holiday season and quickly the numbers rise, but not to the level of many 50th mega-celebrations. Bill and I will cook, a few toasts may be offered, and we’ll all go quietly. Hardly. Like George Bailey of Bedford Falls, my plans were supplanted by seminal forces beyond my control…

So how did your Thanksgiving go? Uncle Hootie nod off in the lounger and spill Jim Beam on his crotch? Did the cousin you haven’t seen in 30 years who is exactly your age seem to look thirty years older than you? Did your football team win? Was the turkey dry or just right? Did your sister finally snap at you after you needled her mercilessly about her new boobs? And did you come away satisfied that you had sincerely given thanks for the food and that ragtag gaggle of friends and family you might not see for another year or more? Huh? And did you mean it?