Friendship
Tonight, we had a football party. Our favorite college team had a game that was actually being broadcast in our area. It was to start at 6:30 p.m. At 5:45 I said to Hubby, “Why don’t we invite some friends?”
Scanning our call list, I immediately saw two numbers. Friends that I knew would come over on the spur of the moment if they could. Hubby had gone to the store for party food.
Both sets of friends, one with a toddler and baby showed up shortly thereafter. Hubby prepared some fiery buffalo wings and homemade black bean and tomato salsa as the first quarter got under way. I mixed up a lemon Jell-O cake.
Over the course of the evening we messily devoured our party food, cheered heartily for our team, had a discussion about immigration during half time, passed the babies around, and laughed at the kids imitating our shouts of exasperation at bad plays and calls.
The evening came to a close. We were left with a bit of popcorn scattered on the couch, remnants of salsa and wing sauce in the serving dishes and most importantly, a smile.
There’s nothing quit like spending time with people around whom you can be completely comfortable.
EDWARD YOUR A HAMSOME GUY ALL IM ASKING IS FOR BELLA TO HAVE THE BABY AND PUT...
I need to be more on the ball when it involved spontaneously inviting good friends over. Thanks for the reminder!
How wonderful for you to have have friends so close where you can do the spur of the moment invite! We’ve lived in this neighborhood for nearly 6 months now, and I think I can name just two of our neighbors. How ’bout that salsa recipe???
What a delightful sounding evening. I love when it all comes together at the last minute like that. No “must have everything perfect” stressing, just good friends, good food and good times.
It’s so nice to be spontaneous. I think a lot of mothers get so caught up in routine, we forget that we can just go for it too.
I’m going to echo the “How bout that salsa recipe?” :) Sounds like a really great time. We haven’t had anyone over in awhile… you’ve inspired me!
That’s great that you have friends close by that you can invite over for a great evening like that! :)
Everyone needs a set of friends they can invite over on the spur of the moment. They need to be people that you don’t need to clean your house for, cook a gourment meal for or put on makeup for. Those kind of friends are priceless.
I have a hard time being spontaneous. I envy you being able to do that. What a fun evening… who won?
I’m jealous. I’m new to my area and don’t know anyone. Waaaaaah!
I love being spontaneous. Sounds like you had a real fun evening. Good food, and good friends. OK, how about a recipe for the Hot wings?
If good friends are enough to offset the torture of watching an entire football game, then more power to ya! I’m not a big fan myself (of football) so I’ll have to remember your method next time my hubby wants to watch a game together!
By the way, I couldn’t find your email address, but the woman to contact for reviews is Melanie Seasons at melanie.seasons@mslpr.com. Let her know you are interested and I bet she’ll hook you up!
Getting together with our friends to watch our favorite football on television is one of the funnest things we do every week. We do exactly what you did . . . eat, cheer, have political discussions and jump up and down.
Chipotle Lime Black Bean Salsa
Mash 1/3 to 1/2 can of rinsed black beans with a fork. If you want it to be more “salsa-y” and less “dipp-y”, mash less of the black beans.
Puree some chipotles. Put the chipotles in a blender and add enough red wine vinegar (or white vinegar is probably fine) so that it’s liquid enough for the blender to do it’s magic. For a can of chipotles I probably used not more than 1/2 cup of vinegar. [You can save the rest of the pureed chipotle by freezing it in ice trays. Store the chipotle ice cubes in a bag in the freezer. 1 TBSP of pureed chipotle added to a can of refried beans is magical. Good as a bean dip, good in burritos, good covered with cheese as a side dish for a taco or enchilada meal.]
Combine:
mashed black beans
1/2 can rinsed whole black beans
2 seeded roma tomatoes diced small
Some sliced green onions (2 - 5, depending on how much you like onions)
The right amount of chipotle puree (I think I used about 2 - 3 TBSP)
The juice from a whole small lime or 1/2 of a good-sized lime (or more if you like it more lime-y)
The right amount of garlic salt (maybe 1 - 2 tsp.)
Some sugar (maybe 1 - 3 tsp, depending on how much tartness from vinegar and lime you want to balance out)
Some ground cumin (maybe 1-2 tsp.)
Eat
Another way to make it more salsa-y and less dipp-y would be to thin it with a little vinegar (red wine or white) and/or water. And I bet a little chopped cilantro would be nice.
Friends are great, yes they are…but were you watching BYU?!? And if so, did you almost cry like me when we lost?!?! Oh, the humanity!
I’m glad you had a good time. ;)
Hot Wings
Season wings with some cayenne pepper (not too much, but not too little either) and paprika.
Deep fry at 375-ish ’til done. I do it in a cast iron skillet so I need to flip them after about ten minutes. I think it takes a total of 15 min., depending on how many wings I try to do in a batch. If you add more wings, it drops the temperature more and you have to cook it longer. I think the last time I made it I crammed 18 wings in and it took 20 minutes with the burner on high until they seemed done (they were).
Put the wings on paper towels to drain/cool a little bit.
Toss on a enough wing sauce to get wings nice and soaked. We like Texas Pete’s, which is simple. It’s pretty much just vinegar and red pepper, I think.
I love football season because it brings along a great excuse to invite our buddies over. The most unique insights have evolved while eating snacks, debating over the qualities of the quarterback, and laughing.