Potluck Parties: Superbowl Sunday

EVENT: Super Bowl Sunday
VENUE: Adam’s Parents’ Apartment, Upper East Side
PARTY SIZE: 20-25
TYPE: Casual Buffet
MENU: Shirley’s Cannelloni; Guacamole and Chips; Honey Mustard Chicken Strips; Bowls of Candy; Brownies

The Super Bowl is one of my favorite eating events of the year. I’m not sure why, since you’d think the football-watching part would kind of balance things out to result in a pretty mediocre day for me. But the prospect of wings and dip and pizza in alternating bites always gets me pretty excited.

Two Super Bowls ago, just weeks after moving into my new apartment, I got food poisoning and spent the day watching Lost episodes on my computer and trying not to think about food. It was miserable. Last year, to make up for all the calories not gained the year before, I went crazy. Luckily, I had the perfect venue at which to do so. My friend Adam, who also functions as my full-time quarter-life camp counselor, had us over to his parents’ apartment for the festivities. The Nelson Family Super Bowl Party has apparently been a tradition since 1972, but it wasn’t until 2009 that the event was opened to members of the female gender.

Still, the most revered figure in the family’s Super Bowl traditions is Adam’s mother, Shirley, whose cannelloni alone made me wish I could watch football everyday at the Nelsons’. While it’s not necessarily what you should eat every day, Shirley’s baked pasta is everything you could want while watching football and so much more: cheesy, creamy, fatty, and filling. Last year, I filled up a little too early on guacamole, but this year, I’ll know better. I’m saving myself for the cannelloni.

From my kitchen, where I’m cheering for Peyton and pasta, to yours,

Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK