Beaucoup Cook-oo: Game Day- Paris Style

I spent the first four years of my life growing up in Gainesville, FL.

I spent ages 8-18 living in and around Athens, GA.

The GA/FL game is not just any old college game day in the Kaplan household. It is a massive battle between two of our three favorite college teams (the other being the VT Hokies for Dad). There is one team which we always root for ahead of the other, but I'll refrain from saying as it can cause a lot of heartache and arguments!

Being in Paris was NOT going to stop me from watching this Holiest of Holy Games. Furthermore, my friend from Oklahoma wanted to watch the OK/Notre Dame game.

So, we got a bunch of people together who enjoy a good time and settled in for the day. Unfortunately for my friend, ESPN America was not broadcasting the OK/ND game. However, she is good friends with Sam Bradford, the quarterback of the Rams who were playing the Patriots in London. So, we watched that game instead after the GA/FL game. Sadly for both of us, the Rams lost. (I hate no team more than the Patriots).

Now, for the Food!

We decided on a game day menu of: Buffalo wings, guacamole, and queso!

Guacamole was my task and it was pretty easy to find all of the ingredients here in Paris. I will post the recipe tomorrow as part of #tbt.

For the buffalo wings, we substituted thigh meet for the wings as no one was able to find enough wings for sale. We also bought Franks Hot Sauce from the store that specializes in American goodies, so it was an easy mix of butter and hot sauce to make the delicious buffalo sauce after we deep fried the chicken. For the Bleu Cheese dip, we used Roquefort cheese!

It was with the queso, that we ran into the most difficulty. Turns out, the French just do not do Velveeta.

Right?? Who'd have thought the French wouldn't like super processed cheese product? Crazy.

But we are culinary students, so a lack of velveeta was not going to keep us from queso. Instead, my friend sauteed some peppers in butter until soft, and then added flour to make a roux. Then, we added cream for a spicy Bechamel sauce. From there it was just a matter of grated, mild cheeses. Once melted, in the oven for a bit and Voila!

All of our dishes were a success! However, one of our guests is a French Chef who has worked at some of the best restaurants in Paris and Australia. Now, he is opening up his own place. Try making game day food with a very talented French Chef watching you. We were a little rattled! But, we should not have been because he was just as impressed with everything as everyone else was. Or he's a good lier. Either way, we were happy.

So, despite how awfully that game was played (seriously HOW many turnovers?) and then the ugliness of the next game, we had a great game day here in Paris.

Next time, we'll probably head back to the Moose aka the Canadian Sports Bar down the street that plays ESPN America too. But, for these special games, we needed a special game day.