My Morning Chocolate

I am so freakin’ sad about this year’s Super Bowl. More than a week has passed since the Ravens lost the AFC Championship, and I still cringe every time I hear someone talk about the big game.

In my mind I see Flacco, who played an awesome game despite weeks of enduring endless ridicule from the press, and Ed Reed, who so often looks cramped and hobbled and in pain after a play yet still managed to deflect that third down pass that gave the Ravens one more chance.

I see Evans dropping the game-winning pass (or was the ball stripped??), then the faces of Rice and Suggs and Smith, eyes and mouths wide after Cundiff missed that 32-yard field goal that would have let us hang in there a little longer.

Those last several seconds of the game were just crushing.

A good four days later, after running around a Baltimore that was still glowing with purple lights, I watched a segment about Super Bowl recipes on The Today Show. Feeling a bit ridiculous because, well, I’m not eight years old, I told Kenny that I wasn’t really feeling the Super Bowl this year. Actually, I was depressed about the whole thing.

I was sure Kenny would say that there are more important things going on in our lives. But even he, who reads football news about all teams every day during the season and whose secret super power is that he can insert himself into any NFL conversation within a 100-mile radius, agreed. “I’m pretty much done with football this season,” he said. I asked around later and found that most Ravens fans I know feel the same way.

It’s because they got soooo close.

But, on a more upbeat note, I do like Sara at the Saucy Dipper, and she is hosting her latest Dipstock in honor of the Super Bowl. I decided to play along and make chile con queso dip. Not for the big game because I’m still not sure I can watch it.

Instead, I made this chile cheese dip to celebrate the Ravens season. They had a great year. Thanks for taking us so close to the end, guys. And I mean that sincerely.

Eating Well’s Chile Con Queso Dip
This chile con queso dip didn’t have any connection to the Ravens that I could see. I just decided to make it because I’ve been craving cheese lately. But soon enough, a connection emerged.

The dip starts with onions and garlic sautéing in oil. I added low-fat milk and cornstarch to make a white sauce, then stirred in sharp Cheddar cheese.

Even though this is an Eating Well recipe, I used a full fat Cabot cheese. It had a rich texture and was supposed to melt smoothly into the warm, milky base. The dip should have been silky and creamy and perfect and, after I added the diced tomatoes, lime juice, and cayenne pepper, flavorful.

But the cheese didn’t melt. Instead, my strings of shredded cheese morphed together into small clumps that slowly floated through the dip like icebergs at sea.

Here’s the Ravens connection: much like the team, I’m still surprised the cheese dip met the fate it did. Even when I used a hand-held electric motor to break up some of the cheesy chunks, I couldn’t get the smooth texture I needed.

The flavor was nice though. So my “Celebrate the Ravens, Not the Super Bowl” dip became a cheesy pasta sauce.

There’s always an opportunity for reinvention. I know the Ravens will be good again. Maybe 2012 will be their year.

Have you ever been upset about a sporting event, even days later? Or, on a cooking-related note, do you know why my cheese didn’t melt into its milky base? I can’t figure out what went wrong and would love to hear any ideas you have.