One of the biggest challenges of writing my regular newspaper column is party food. That’s mainly, I confess, because I’m a bit of a broken record when it comes to putting out a party spread. I butter a pound or two of pecans, toss them with salt and roast them; grate a pound or so of cheddar cheese and stir it into a batch of pimiento cheese; and make some sausage balls — or if I’ve been particularly proactive, I pull some out of the freezer to bake. Then I call it a day.
Coming up with a different menu that’s clever and interesting and doesn’t have any of those things on it is always a struggle. Know what I mean? Year after year, football season after football season, things get into a rut.
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It’s not that I mind cooking. In fact, I love it. But coming up with something new and inspirational leaves me in a quandary at times. It’s so easy to stick with what you know people like and expect.
But I love gathering with friends this time of year. And while I have not, in more than 40 years of hosting and attending parties, tired of good pecans, pimiento cheese and sausage balls, at least one thing that’s new and different is always welcome; and, as the weather cools, so is something warm. And nothing answers that quite like a golden-crusted, lusciously gooey baked cheese dip.