I made pretzels for last week's Vikings Saints game. We had a bunch of people over and ate wings and drank beer and had an all american family afternoon. My (almost) two year old daughter calls these events "sissaball parties." I have know idea why she does this, but the name is a strangely appropriate way to describe a sport that features so many towering, corpulent hulks. So it stuck and now we feature regular sissaball parties.
These events are usually more about camaraderie and revelry (and of course drinking beer), but last week's game had a little more sporting intrigue for me and my friend Josh since we are both Wisconsin transplants, which makes the specter of Brett Favre playing for a super bowl in a Viking's uniform a genetically compelling phenomenon. I took the long (and non-sporting) view and saw Favre's betrayal as a rite of passage into retirement and oblivion for Mr. Favre. I rallied to his cause and forgave him his trespass knowing that I might some day find myself in a similar position and need leeway for similar transgressions. This is not kosher in Wisconsin, where Favre is largely considered a goat for landing at the rival Vikings. My sentiments were also not kosher with Josh. The result was an awkward odd-coupling of our usually aligned sporting interests.
So, I extended the olive branch of homemade pretzels (Josh said there was nothing like a big, soft pretzel). They were a lot of work. Though not as much as killing and cooking a 300 pound boar, I presume (see second link above). And, I don't think that I would do it again. I think you're supposed to make pretzels with sodium hydroxide. But you can't really get that at the store anymore (I know, I tried to pick some up to make soap recently and the guy told me that it's used in meth labs so they don't sell it anymore). I resorted to baking soda, which was a lot less fun and dangerous. But, the results tasted pretty good and were well received. For the super bowl, we're planning something that's a little less work, if not exactly traditional: fish and chips.
Sorry for the poor pic quality, I couldn't be bothered to find the camera and just used photo booth. Also, the beer is obviously there to show scale.