reality check.

it is true. my heart was broken last night.

the vikes dropped the ball (literally, more times than i can count on one hand, possibly two... i quit counting the ones that we recovered). they had it within reach... just a few yards away to secure field goal range (not that i don't trust longwell @ what, was it 51 yrds?) with just twenty seconds left on the clock. in a few of those short seconds, the wrong hands grabbed the ball and ran it towards the wrong end of the field... and in comes nfl overtime (the only thing worse than nfl overtime is the bcs polling system). the game has left an image in my mind that is like a horrific picture on an etch-a-sketch that was left too long. the picture is permanently scratched into the plastic and no matter how hard you shake it, its just there. it won't erase. a little flair for the dramatic, i know. reality check.

i had already imagined that brand new t-shirt i was going to purchase... you know, the purple one with yellow detail, little white horns, nordic theme...

'Minnesota Vikings - NFC Champs' ... and on to the 2010 super bowl. reality check. ugh, painful.

and well, despite my uncertainties at the beginning... favre, thanks for coming back and helping us along the way, you've got my respect. it was a great season, and a great year.

(picture via vikings.com)

dear texas,

that is how Minnesota plays football.

love, d.

*** and a video worth a look. classic.

(picture via vikings.com)

monday night home cooking magic

it just so happens that for about the last, oh... maybe 3 months, i have been craving my mother's lasagna. i have tried several versions (restaurant, friends', etc) in the attempt to please my palate and nothing has quite come close enough. so in further attempts, it just so happens that i have acquired the wonderful recipe (uh, scratched out directions) 3 weeks ago via phone call (due to technological difficulties on my mother's end). and it also, just so happens, that i had made a trip to the grocery store and bought all of the ingredients about 3 weeks ago. so naturally, 3 weeks later i have found the time and i finally decided that a night of monday night football with the steelers v. the broncos would be complemented perfectly with a piece of my my mother's wonderful lasagna. entertainment all the way around.

so, 2.5 to 3 hours later, spilled sauce, a kitchen war zone, and about 6 phone calls to my mother, i had achieved my results.

the verdict:

not too bad for the first time, actually quite delicious.

bonus:

i actually made a healthy version including whole wheat pasta, turkey instead of hamburger, and i forget what else.... but it was good.

double bonus:

i hear it is supposed to be even better served up as leftovers.

triple bonus:

I have plenty for the rest of the week, as i made a whole pan.

as for the rest of the night, go steelers.