My Monday was spent avoiding news (including Facebook!) and screening emails. It was the only way to sequester myself from learning the results of the biggest sporting event of the year. Surprisingly, I did it! I made it to the 20:00 showing of the recorded Super Bowl without a single spoiler.
The plan was for an American feast of chili and hot dogs. I was in charge of the hot dog shopping. I had a mini heart attack in the mustard aisle. There are so many choices and I feared choosing the wrong variety. But apparently, you can’t go wrong. Heinz 57 was the clear winner for Ketchup.
On to the dogs. Even though I have eaten hot dogs and seen hot dogs for sale, I had never purchased them at the grocery store. They are packaged in water in glass jars. For Americans, this difference is right up there with the non-refrigerated milk section (before opened).
The German and I arrived at Andreas and Sorina’s a few minutes early — the frigid temperatures really force you to walk quickly. Andreas, a German, and Sorina, a Romanian, are married and moved to Hamburg from Dubai about a year ago. They have a really great apartment and a very sweet three-legged cat. The poor thing flew eight stories at nine months old.
We grabbed tea and beers and headed right to the table to start eating. In following with the American theme, we started the game while we ate. And boy did we eat. It was a wonderful spread of all of my favorites. We had chips, salsa, guacamole, garlic bread, nachos, and chili. There was probably enough food for 20 people, but we made a pretty good dent. The food was so good that there was no room for hot dogs. We moved over to the couch for the rest of the game. Of course, we managed to find some room to snack on peanuts and sip on some after-dinner drinks.
It’s always very interesting to watch the big game outside of America as all you get to see is the game. No commercials. No half time show. No cheerleaders. You don’t even see the enthusiastic commentators. But you do get to see a lot more shots of the players when they aren’t on the field.
Andreas had actually recorded two different channels and we were happily surprised to discover that one of them showed the halftime show! I now know that it received mixed reviews, but I had never been more excited to see Madonna.
All in all, this was my second time to see the Giants beat the Patriots…in a foreign country…in an election year.
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