Puppy Bowl, Pepperoni Bites, and Revolutionary Rye Ale

So here's what happens on Superbowl Sunday when your team doesn't make the big game:

• Instead of watching relevant pregame information, you spend the entire afternoon watching junk on TV like the Puppy Bowl or 1,000 Ways to Die marathon.
• You get tired of waiting for the game itself to eat and you make your appetizers early. 
• It's 5:49 (more than a half an hour to kickoff) and you're already three Sam Adams in.
• You look forward to seeing the commercials.
• You bet on the game.  If you're smart.  Because you want to make it interesting.  This year I wasn't smart.

So here Dave and I are, two dejected, bitter Jets fans.  Superbowl, yeah, yeah, yeah.  At this moment  I am eating re-heated pepperoni bites and we're waiting for kickoff just because we call ourselves sports fans and well, how could we not watch the Superbowl?  Everything is compared to the Superbowl.  "The circus was as much fun as the Superbowl."  "These wings are like a Superbowl in my mouth."  You know there's a problem when Dave, who just might be the most sincere sports fan in America, just told me, "You know, I'm really looking forward to the half time show.  And I think they're showing a trailer for the new Transformers movie." 

The other day I asked for suggestions for foolproof Superbowl appetizers.  And when I say foolproof, I really mean Liz-proof.  I got many wonderful suggestions, and I decided to go with a (modified)
7-layer bean dip and pepperoni bites (my own creation--watch out).  Dave decided on Cajun fried shrimp and cheddar-jalepeno burger sliders.  Guess who won.

My segue into cooking started out innocently enough.  A bean dip shouldn't be too difficult; just layer the ingredients in a pan, stick into the oven and wait for the cheese to melt.  Well, the thing that I neglected to realize was that when sour cream goes into the oven, it curdles.  Not literally curdle, like sour milk.  But it just ain't right.  And it looks like cottage cheese when it comes out, which I know is really good for you and therefore I never wanted to eat.  I suppose I should have scooped the sour cream on top after the rest of the ingredients went into the oven.  I guess I shouldn't have modified the recipe after all.  So far, Cooking-1,
Liz-0.

Next I attempted the pepperoni bites.  Yesterday we purchased instant do-it-yourself pizza dough (just add water), pepperoni, and shredded mozzarella.  The makers of the dough should have added the words, "Do-it-yourself-unless-your-name-is-Liz-DiPietro."  I added too much water (wouldn't you know the one thing I had to add I screwed up on) and the dough came out too sticky.  So it was Dave to the rescue, who helped me add some pancake batter to the mix to dry it up.  When all was said and done, however, the bites came out okay, even edible enough to heat up a couple hours later.  We'll call this one a draw.  So the score is still Cooking-1, Liz-0.  I still lost.

The most palatable part of this day was the American Originals variety pack of Samuel Adams we found yesterday at Pathmark.  The one lone pack was sitting by itself on the shelf, calling to us like a beacon in the night.  It allowed us to check off two more varieties of the beer we had yet to try, Scotch Ale and something new and wonderful called Revolutionary Rye Ale.  The Scotch Ale tasted like you might expect, very rich, dry, and hoppy.  The Revolutionary Ale was a bit lighter and crisper, perfect for pairing with light appetizers like chips and wings. 

It's almost kickoff, and we're stuffed full, both of food and beer.  We just finished watching Christina Aguilera, who is looking more and more like Cyndi Lauper these days, sing the national anthem.  So if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go watch the game.  Why not?  It's an excuse to have another beer.