Stadium ‘appletizers’

Grandson Nate

Husband Walter asked what I wanted for supper. That was easy – stadium food. We were watching football playoffs after all. At halftime Walter started the hot dogs I requested and some homemade hashbrowns. I went in to help, and there was a plate of slightly charred potatoes by the stove. “Have an appletizer,” he waved a hand at the plate.

“Appletizer” entered our vocabulary during a visit home by our eldest son, his wife and their four. Before one of the meals we shared, five-year-old Nate was trying to convince his mother to let him have something to eat before everyone came to the table. When she was adamant that he had to wait, he did not give up. “I just need an appletizer,” he urged.

Tonight’s appletizers weren’t bad. I liked the crunch. Then maybe it is because I will eat anything if I don’t have to cook. Walter rarely burns anything. It could have been all the medication he took earlier for a persistent cough and other cold miseries. Anyway, we enjoyed our stadium food while Peyton Manning and the Colts got into gear in the second half. There was no question of who we would cheer for. Peyton is, after all, from our neighboring city New Orleans; his daddy and brother graduated from Ole Miss; we had cheered his dad when he quarterbacked the Saints; and Peyton seems to be as genuinely nice as his dad.

The Vikings-Saints game is a little harder with Mississippi Gulf Coast favorite son Brett Favre leading the Vikings. But we will be cheering the Saints. The Colts’ win was just the appletizer. Hope this main course is good! If not, I’ll be happy for Brett.