Season Finale

END ZONE: And just like that, it's over. 

The Seahawks' season, that is.

On Sunday, the hole they had to climb out of after a miserable first half was just too deep. They rallied, but it was too little, too late.

We rallied, too. Even though snow in the forecast kept most would-be co-celebrants away, we still did our part to try to ensure a Seahawks' victory.

On big game days, we always try to be inspired by the cuisine of the competing teams. To that end, on Sunday Kennedy made (delicious, hearty!) Booyah, a tailgating Wisconsin tradition. 

We made hotdish, a Midwest comfort food featuring tater tots, mushroom soup, ground beef and whatever else you want to throw in. (I went for a 'bacon cheeseburger' inspiration, so lots of sharp cheddar and bacon went in to ours, as well as pickles and red onion.)

Annabelle put together a pretty fruit platter featuring "12" - the number representing Seattle fans, the "12th Man" on the team. We stuck Seattle favorite Oberto pepperoni in a jersey for serving.

And we even made macarons for the very first time. Tricky, those little things. 

Annabelle was gifted a starter kit for Christmas. I had heard they were tricky to make, so we went online in search of a tutorial (in addition to the printed one that came with the kit). I thought a video would be helpful. We wound up watching this one ... 

In fact, we watched it about four times, including step-by-step while we were working. We did *everything* exactly as described, including using a thermometer in our oven to make sure it was 300 degrees.

It has over 9.9 million (!) views, and is titled "The Most Fool-Proof Macarons You'll Ever Make."
What could go wrong? ...

Yeah, well, it turns out our feet spread. 

"What?!" you ask. "What does foot trouble have to do with macarons?" 

Well, the perfect macaron is chewy, but not ever gooey. It should never be crunchy or overly dry. There should be a thin "skin" on its cap, and beneath that there must be a definitive "foot" or pied, on the bottom side of the cookie or shell.

On our experiment, instead of raising a quarter inch or so, our 'feet' spread out to the sides of the cookie. Drat!!

Naturally, we went online trying to find out what went wrong. The number one culprit for this kind of fail seems to be a too-hot oven. That is a bit perplexing to us, because we were fastidious about checking that. 

We definitely want to give them another go in the not-too-distant future, this time letting them skin over a little bit longer (we waited about 50 minutes) before baking, and maybe at 280 or so instead of 300? Stay tuned for round two. 

I suppose I should note that maybe the best part of making the macarons was making the homemade marshmallow fluff for the 'stuffing.' We'd never done that before either, and it was perfect! :) (You win some, you lose some.)

But back to football. After the game was over, Marshawn Lynch, who came out of retirement to help the 'Hawks during their playoff run, took a turn at the microphone in the post game press conference. It was a bit of a shock, because he is famous for not talking to the press.

I was really glad he opened up last night. Sure, it was delivered in the quirky way that only Lynch would deliver it, but I thought his message was really important. He told young players to take care of their minds, their bodies, and their chickens (money). I think that's great advice.

A DIFFERENT DRUMMER: Our last post was almost entirely about recently-departed drum virtuoso Neil Peart. 

YouTube, of course, keeps track of what we're watching, and so today, they suggested this video for us. I'm glad they did push it my way. It's great to see that drummers come in all shapes and sizes, ages and genders. I showed the kids, of course. 

Rock on "godmother."