Superbowl shmuperbowl

You might already know this, but around here football is more than just something to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's almost a way of life. People have extremely strong feelings about their team of choice, letting everyone know through their car color, license plates, flags on their houses, not to mention clothes and hats and stickers. I can't count how many times I've been asked who my team is.
                                     

Oh, did I mention that this fervent love of football applies to college ball only? Perhaps it's because there are no professional football teams in the state of Alabama (nor is there a pro basketball or baseball team either), or it's just a regional thing, I'm not sure. Regardless of the why, the fact is that pro football is not that big a deal around here. So, the Superbowl was not a huge event either.

Now we aren't huge football fanatics (although I almost won my fantasy league this year), but I enjoy the tradition of eating junk food and watching the commercials. So after a day of doing non-football related things like going to church, playing at the park, visiting with friends, etc, we ate dinner and settled down to watch the Superbowl from our nice new TV on our nice new couch. Yes, thanks to being in the central time zone, kickoff wasn't until around 6pm. With our DVR starting slightly before us, we had a chance to eat some homemade buffalo wings beforehand (the recipe is below). Even Addison got to watch the beginning, although she by far preferred playing in the den to watching what was on the TV screen. (I caught one photo of her watching the TV though).

Overall, I thought we had a great Superbowl Sunday, and I am pretty proud of how the wings turned out considering I've never tried to cook wings before. Sure, there are almost as many wings places around here as there are barbeque places, but it's still nice to be able to make them yourself. And it doesn't hurt that Star Market in Five Points is supposedly the best butcher counter in town. So here is the recipe if you're feeling up for trying out wings.


Buffalo Wings
12 whole chicken wings
flour
paprika
salt
Oil for frying
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 to 1/4 cup hot sauce

Heat approx 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Using chicken shears or a sharp knife, trim the wing tips off your chicken wings and separate the drum sticks from the wings. Mix flour with paprika and salt to taste. Dredge the drumsticks and wings in the flour mixture and then put in skillet. Fry until golden brown, then flip (approx 5 minutes). Once outer shell is golden brown, set on roasting pan in a cookie sheet and put in oven set to 350 degrees to finish cooking.
Meanwhile, melt the butter, and whisk in minced garlic. Add hot sauce to taste. Put mixture in a large bowl, and add wings. Toss to cover. Serve. Enjoy!