It's Game Day! The Tar Heels are playing for the national championship title tonight, and that means our oldest is answering only to "Tyler Hansbrough," and our youngest has been stuffed into UNC overalls that are too small. He complained about it briefly this morning, pulling at the straps, but since it would be bad luck for anyone not to be wearing their game day attire, I told him to suck it up and take one for the team. He considered this for a minute, and being the little bruiser that he is, agreed to do so.
In celebration of the game tonight, we're having one of our all-time favorite meals: Ina Garten's parmesan chicken. You can find the recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/parmesan-chicken-recipe/index.html. The chicken can be prepped ahead of time, so all you have to do is throw it in the pan when you're just about ready to eat. The kids love it, we love it, and it makes its way to our table a couple times each month.
I'll confess - I spent way too much time yesterday trying to come up with a uniquely North Carolina meal to have tonight. Barbeque would have been the obvious choice, but I'm not a fan of North Carolina barbeque (tomato-based or vinegar-based, depending on where you live; I prefer South Carolina's mustard-based, but our family's slavish devotion to Melvin's is another post entirely). I had some great UNC pasta given to me by Chapel Hill friends, but we ate that when we played Duke. And other than these two ideas, I drew a complete and total blank on what would be a good Tar Heel meal. So parmesan chicken with salad greens, french bread, and white wine it is.
Happy eating, and GO TAR HEELS!
