Geaux Tigers?

Given OU's poor Fiesta Bowl showing, I guess it's time to root for LSU! There's always next year.

For the footballs:

1. Outline the football shape in white icing using a #2 tip.
2. Flood the cookie with thinned brown icing. Thin with water to the consistency of thick syrup. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula gently through the icing to pop any bubbles that formed on the top. Pour into a squeeze bottle. Use a toothpick to spread the icing. (Spectrum Chocolate Brown)
3. Let dry for at least 1 hour.
4. Using the #2 tip, add "stitching" to top of football.
5. Switch to #1 tip and add side detail in white. Using yellow and purple with a #1 tip, add detail color to sides. (Purple: AmeriColor Violet; Yellow: AmeriColor Egg Yellow)
   

Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat

 Beef. In chocolate. That's right.

One of my favorite food-themed movies is Chocolat. All those sexy close-ups of thick and glossy ribbons of deep dark chocolate. The dustings of cinnamon you could almost taste. And the revelation of chile-spiked cocoa! It's enough to make any chocolate and spice lover swoon. So when I learned I was allergic to chicken, Dear Reader, you can bet one of my first laments was, No more mole! [I loved me some chicken mole.]

Flash forward.

Winter day. Steve is turning, smiling- devilish- in the late afternoon sun that slants through the square kitchen window, unwrapping (vegans please skip ahead now to when I acknowledge your goddess-given right for a substitute) a gorgeous ribeye steak from Whole Foods and ponders, aloud, Should we make some kind of stew tonight- something Sicilian, maybe? And suddenly- feverishly- I am possessed with the idea of mole- a lip smacking, foodgasm-inducing Mexican sauce, decadently rich and redolent with unsweetened chocolate and spices.

You know what happened next.

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