Superbowl Stravaganza

Originally, I was a pretty apprehensive about starting a Pittsburgh based food blog, for several reasons. One of them being that I am very, very lazy and it sometimes takes me almost a week to post. Another being that there are all ready bloggers who do Pittsburgh Food

MUCH 

much 

much better than I do.

Pittsburgh is definitely a drinking town with a football problem, and within hours of the Steelers securing their place in the Superbowl, parties were all ready being planned. Not being a person who has ever understood football at all, I see Superbowl parties as avenues for epic deliciousness. I had come across a recipe that I was dying to try and this was just the occasion.


Sausage Yummies
  From Burghilicious.com a most delicious Pittsburgh food blog, a Bethann favorite
For the filling:
1 lb bulk sausage
3 cups shredded colby-jack cheese
1 cup ranch dressing
For the cups:
1 package wonton wrappers, thawed if frozen
1 TBSP vegetable oil
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Brown the sausage over medium-high heat. Drain on paper towels then cool.
When sausage has cooled, combine sausage,  shredded cheese and ranch dressing in a large bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use, or freeze.
Press one wonton wrapper into each cup of a 12-cup muffin tin to form little cups. Lightly brush the corners of each wrapper with oil, then bake for five minutes, until corners are light golden brown. Remove individual cups to a cookie sheet. Repeat until you have 48 cups.
Fill each cup with a tablespoon (or more) of filling, spreading filling equally between all the cups. You can stop here and refrigerate the filled cups if you would like.
Bake filled cups, uncovered, for five minutes or until filling is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven, transfer to a plate and serve warm. No dip required.



Not wanting to show up to the party with a disaster, I decided to do a dry run the day before.

I think the reason I keep getting invited to parties is that I always want to make something that everyone can eat. So in addition to the meat and dairy heaven of the sausage yummies, I decided to make fillings for my meat and lactose wary friends. I made ground chicken tacos with salsa and guacamole, and egg roll filling with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and cilantro. And this

Because I'm worth it. (Thanks, Owen)

Pre-Superbowl, Kate and I went to see the Pittsburgh Symphony Tchaikovsky festival. She brought me a Black (and Gold) bottom cupcake

Which I ate during intermission. It. Was. Awesome.
After several ovations, the entire orchestra stood and played "Here we go, Steelers". Also Awesome.

Then to the Superbowl Party at Kelly, Bill, and Aaron's house. Yummies are delightfully easy to prepare so before long I was looking at this

Delightful, right?
The kitchen was bustling, everyone chipped in. The end result:

Bill made corn dogs, Aaron made pulled pork, Katie made buffalo and barbeque seitan. There were pizza rolls, no bake cookies, and Rachel made creme brulee. I think those are all the basic food groups.

We lost the Superbowl, but I'm still declaring the night a win.  

Football, Friends, and Food.

Puppy Day!

Puppies seem to make everything better. Which might be why my friends Jess and Aidan spent most of the week looking at pictures of puppies. So we decided to go look at puppies for them today. (I would have taken pictures but I didn't think that anyone would want to see puppies on a food blog.  It might send the wrong message.)
After an hour of being playfully gnawed, pawed, and almost peed on, we hit up Ichiban.

Normally I try not to eat red meat, but I can not resist a hibachi grilled steak and scallops. TOO GOOD.

I also spent the morning preparing for the Super Bowl Party tomorrow night, and I can't wait to share it all with you! Stay Tuned!

Eat, Drink, Love

It's raining in Pittsburgh today, and my friend Janna is on a plane to Bali, where according to weather.com:

Ok it's also raining there. But still! Bali!

So to send her off, Kelly and I took Janna to one of our favorite place, Kelly's in East Liberty (Don't worry, the irony is not lost on anyone)

I'm the person who is always last to decide what she wants to eat when I go out. As a result, my most successful (and least annoyed) dining companions are people who say "Why don't we just get a bunch  of stuff and split it?". Luckily for me, Janna and Kelly are those people.

Tex Mex Rolls, Keilbasa with Sauerkraut and Pierogies

I think we succeeded in giving Janna a little something to remember Pittsburgh by, while she's laying on the beach all week long. She graciously allowed us to live vicariously through her.