World Cup Party

Like any significant sporting event, the World Cup calls for festive eating, and my friend Ellie, whom I was visiting in Baltimore last weekend, planned a perfect party meal for the U.S. vs. England game. Being the cooking enthusiasts that we are, we visiting friends jumped in to help prep the food.

We grilled burgers and dogs for 'Merica.

And we embarked on what was some of ours first deep frying experience for fish...

...and chips for our archenemy across the pond. Note the seething cauldron of oil...ewww.

Now, we also wanted to commemorate being in the great city of BalDimore (as I learned you say it) with our party food, so we added some authentic native beer to the fish batter. Natural Bohemian Beer "Natty Bo" has price and taste  similar to its nickname brother, "Natty Light."

My friend Lindsey got so into the Natty Bo experience that she added a bit to her wonderful guacamole. I  couldn't taste the beer, but Lindsey's taste must be more acute than mine because she could. (At this point we got off our U.S./England theme and made what sounded good—and just so happened to follow a world theme, like guacamole for Mexico.)

I was in charge of the sangria, our Spanish representation, and tragically, didn't think to pour the remainder of the beer into the mixture of red wine, lemonade mix, club soda, oranges, and strawberries. Fortunately, it was still unbelievably refreshing and fruity.

Just to be sure we had more than enough food for the crowd and because our faithful potato chopper was willing, we baked some sweet potato fries, too. At the suggestion of Lindsey and her fiance, rosemary and pepper made for the perfect complementary seasoning with a kick; no need for any honey mustard like I usually like. Sweet potatoes are of Latin American origin, but we Americans were probably the ones that decided to fry them, because that's how we roll.

Recap: Amazing fellowship over food with good friends. And we tied England.

Have you made or eaten anything special for World Cup viewing?