Just Super

I invited a bunch of friends over to watch the Super Bowl. Technically, I invited them to watch the commercials, but you know what I mean! By Saturday morning, I had three confirmed Yes’s: Rob, Tim, and Nishith. As I was looking through recipes that morning, I settled upon Green Stuff and Bagel Dip. Green Stuff is a total trailer trash concoction based on Cool-whip and mini marshmallows. Bagel Dip is slightly classier, but still a little hick. Sour cream, mayo, and dried beef are the base ingredients. Sliced up chunks of bagel do taste really good dipped in it, though!
I should have made a half batch of the dip. It’s an extremely easy recipe to halve, and I knew the confirmed list was pretty short. Stupidly, I made a full batch. Sunday I got a cancellation from Rob, who said he was sick. I was counting on some of the Maybe’s to show up, or this would be a pretty boring party. As it turned out, one did. My friend AJ lives right around the corner, so he came over. (I always thought it was “AJ” but Nish said “Ajay” is a common name in India, so he was convinced I had it wrong. Since then, I’ve gotten emails that were signed “AJ” so I guess I was right. Or, he Americanized it to prevent hassles.) Turns out AJ is being a vegetarian again. Apparently, it has a close tie to his weight more than anything. If he wants to lose weight, he goes veggie.
For anyone who saw the Steelers/Seahawks match, you already know how boring the game was, except for some intriguing calls that helped Pittsburg win. And the commercials were just as tiresome. Last year seemed a lot more exciting, though I was doing jello-shots. This year was pretty quiet. Maybe with one exception…
I had the food set up on the table, and we were casually munching. Shortly after Nish came over, he wanders over to the food and starts nibbling. I’m on the couch, watching the TV. Then I hear Nish say, “Ooh, this dip is really good.”
I replied with a polite “Thanks” followed briefly by a rather emphatic “Shit!”
Ronny gave me a fairly harsh what-was-that-for look. I continued, “Don’t eat that!!”
Nish got a little confused, and asked why not.
“It’s got beef in it.”
“Really??”
Uh huh. I made a quip about going to hell. Then the thought ran through my mind that Hinduism doesn’t really do it that way. I asked if Hindus have a hell, and Nish said no. Catholics used to be told they would go to hell for eating meat on Friday, but I guess the sacred cow thing doesn’t have quite the same punishment system behind it.
So, for those of you who missed the Super Bowl, the most exciting moment of the game was when I tricked someone from India into eating dead cow! (ABC bleeped it, though.)