Don't panic: your last-minute Super Bowl recipes are here!

I've tweeted about this series all week, but if you don't follow me elsewhere you might have missed it. My friend Sarah is working on 14 Days of Super Bowl recipes on her blog Black and Gold Tchotchkes. She's also written a series of football recipes on Ladies..., several of which I've tried and thoroughly enjoyed.  Pizza Dip, Buffalo Chicken Dip, and Pizza Loaf are among my favorites and are popular with my friends.  I'd love to make one of her latest creations for the Super Bowl party this weekend.  But I've already committed to muffalettas and I don't think we have enough people coming to justify making something like chicharrones de pollo, tasty as it looks.  But f you're still wondering what to make for your own Super Bowl party this weekend, look no further.  You're in good hands with Sarah.

Adventures in cooking (a continuing series)

During the NFL playoffs, I like to link my cooking to whoever's playing that day.  Since the first game was Arizona at New Orleans, I went with chicken machaca and Mexican red rice from The Border Cookbook. 

I went shopping earlier in the day and thought I had all of the ingredients, but the rice recipe called for a mild New Mexican chile powder that I forgot to buy.  It called for a tablespoon of the chile powder so I substituted about 3/4 of a tablespoon of cayenne pepper instead.  While the resulting rice was edible, I think it was a little spicier than the editors intended.  And it made for an eye-watering meal when paired with the chicken dish.

There are some nights I'm glad I only have to cook for myself.

Cooking in the new apartment

I ate most of my meals last week in restaurants, so when I had Friday night free I decided to stay home and cook. I had my heart set on a steak seared in my cast-iron skillet with tater tots on the side. (Hey, they're sort of like hash browns.) I turned up the oven and got the skillet ready, and turned on the air conditioners in both the living room and the bedroom. When I got the steak in the pan, it wasn't more than a minute before my entire living room filled with smoke and grease from the oil. I flipped the steak after a few minutes and threw the skillet in the oven, but that just made the smoke pour out of the oven instead. I cracked my apartment door to vent with the outside air, which helped a little. That's when the smoke detector in the hallway went off. I ran back into my apartment and grabbed a magazine to fan it. It stopped shrieking after about 30 seconds but not before my neighbor poked her head out her door to see wha was going on. She complimented me on the smell coming from my apartment. The dog in the next apartment over from hers kept barking so I'm not sure if he liked the steak aroma too or didn't like the noise. By now the steak was done and the tater tots were close, so I turned the oven down and put the steak on a plate to cool. My apartment was still filled with smoke. I had the brilliant idea that if I opened the doors to the outside and opened my door with the windows open I would circulate the air. Opening my door set off the hallway smoke detector again. After another attempt to silence it with the magazine, I gave up on clearing the air that way and went inside to eat. The steak was perfectly medium and delicious.

When I finished eating I cleaned up the stove, sprayed some air freshener and spritzed my couch with Febreeze. The smell wasn't so bad after the cleanup but it was still there. Also, I'd realized that my own smoke detector hadn't gone off while I was cooking, so I got up on my stepladder to check it. As I suspected, it didn't have a battery. Luckily for me, I had a spare 9V battery that I installed so next time I cook I'll hear all about it. Just before I fell asleep I remembered that my mother lights scented candles to clear the smell of potato latkes from the house. I should have tried that long before bedtime. I could still smell cooked meat when I went to bed.

The apartment still smelled this morning but it wasn't as strong as I'd feared. I tink it will fade in a day or two. The lesson I learned was that I shouldn't plan to do much frying in oil in that kitchen, unless I want to smell it for a week. Maybe I should take up baking instead.

Cooking for one? Never heard of it

I'm still trying to figure out why I decided to make a huge baked ziti last night for dinner. I wasn't all that hungry but I made enough for six people anyway, and that left me with lots of leftovers. And because of the time it took to assemble and bake, I didn't eat until almost 10 PM. I guess I haven't gotten out of the habit of cooking for a group on Sundays even when the group isn't there. At least I'm all set for dinner tomorrow night before the opera and for lunch later in the week.