Onkel Hans' Super Bowl Party...

...will kick off at about 5PM this evening. Brendan, Julia and I will be going and I imagine he will have a couple of other folks over. He is planning on having pizza, a 3 foot hero, and some good bier. I told him that this time, instead of bringing a case of Warsteiner, I would bring horses ovaries hors d'oeuvres. So last night I went out and stocked up on shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, clams, small thin rib eye steaks, pork bellies, shitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, small (and I mean tiny) white potatoes, pearl onions, green onions (scallions).

I browned the pork bellies and rib eye steak, same for the mushrooms in extra virgin olive oil (heck I have never heard of an extra virgin maiden but that could be interesting), added lots of salt, garlic and black pepper while doing so. Then I threw all that into a nice sized dutch oven along with the potatoes, a few ounces of tomato paste, a bottle of Spaten Octoberfest bier, a bottle of Franziskaner Weiss bier, several pearl onions, three bunches of scallions, a pound of cuttlefish, a pound of squid, some really hot Chinese pepper sauce, a lot of garlic powder, more black pepper, more salt, and even more of the Chinese pepper sauce as it progressed. After about an hour or so of simmering I threw some cinnamon and a shot or two of Irish Whiskey. Another 1/2 hour and lots more garlic powder and some more weiss bier, about 1/2 a bier. Then, another 15 minutes and I threw in the shrimp. Brendan and I just tasted it, mmmmmm goooood and just a tad spicy. I have no idea what you would call this, but it taste darned good. I have made it twice before, but used baby octopus the other two times instead of cuttlefish. When I was at the store last night, the octopus looked pretty lousy so I opted for a package of frozen cuttlefish. I tried a few - they are great.

You may have noticed though that the clams have not yet been added to the mix. Since they are alive, I put them into a bowl of water with a good amount of sea salt. As the night passes on they will excrete most of whatever sand they have inside of their shells. Then once they have cleaned themselves I will throw them in the mix tomorrow when we heat it all up again just before we eat it, or maybe I'll just steam them and have them on the side with lemon or melted butter. Decisions, decisions!

As for the Super Bowl, I do not care who wins. I am not a football fan - at least not until Uncle Hans has one of his end of the season parties. Me, I just root for the hottest cheerleaders, and enjoy the party, the food and the company! We had a blast for the conference championships, and I imagine tomorrow will be some of the same. Hopefully both teams have cheerleaders - but I have got to say I miss the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders of yesteryear!

All the best,
Glenn B