While the Steelers and Seahawks spent the past couple weeks training for the Superbowl, I was in my kitchen preparing for two big events of my own. My dinners last weekend may not have had a halftime show, and I didn’t get to douse my guests with Gatorade, but I accomplished what I set out to do, and thought the food was delicious.Here’s a summary of the dishes I served. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s hardly fair for me to call it that when I had so much fun and learned so much along the way.

It took long time to persuade myself to charge my friends $50 for dinner next weekend. After all, if someone invited me to their place but told me that I’d have to pay that much, I would really have to be convinced that it was going to be worth it.