Americana Night

Nothing says 'God Bless the USA' like a 6 pack of Bud. I thought it was hysterical when Lara and Dom showed up with Bud Heavy as their 'American Beer' selection for our Americana Night at the apartment. I had to explain that Budweiser is a little bit bogan in the US...but we all enjoyed it and it definitely helped wash down the crazy amount of calories we consumed.



We set up a 'Digger Station' - serving one course at a time. First up - Buffalo wings with Blue Cheese dipping sauce. The biggest sweeping generalization comment of the night came from Jake...when he was examining the wings and said, "I reckon Americans concentrate more on flavor than the presentation of food." Very true.

Next up - Baked Cheddar, Gruyere and Asiago homemade Mac & Cheese and chili dogs. The mysterious smothered hotdog that prompted this whole night.



Chili dogs complete with cheddar & onions on top and creamy mac & chz. I'm surprised I found all of the ingredients at the grocery store that I needed. (I still have the hardest time grocery shopping. Even the cheddar cheese - I flipped all the packs over looking for extra sharp orange cheddar cheese - only found white..hmmm....)

Timer pictures - the whole group chowing down - Bron, Me, Jake, Lara & Dom.

After dinner - we played 'Celebrity' where two people go against each other, asking yes & no questions trying to figure out 'who they are' (ie. what celebrity is taped to their forehead). Dom & Laura setting Jake up.

Jake vs Bron - Bron was the big winner of the night...guessing that she was Little Nemo in about 3 questions.

My 1st go around I was Steve Irwin - the Crocodile Hunter. :)

All in all, Americana Night was a huge success. (I was a bit worried about converting ounces and lbs to grams and celcius to farenheit on the oven - ended up burning my dessert)...but for the most part, it went off without a hitch. Thanks for all the recipe suggestions - we may have Round 2 next week, so I'll keep them all in my back pocket. Oh, and also - 'Bar Americain' is Bobby Flay's restaurant in NYC - so when I asked for 'Americain' inspired recipes a few posts back - that was intentional, but thank you for all the notes with spelling corrections / questioning how good of an 'American' I actually am, when I can't even spell ;)