Part Four: Recipes for Game Day (The food's almost as important as the game. Almost.)

Buffalo Wings

Ingredients:

• 1 package of frozen chicken "wingettes" or "drumettes"
• 1 bottle of buffalo wing sauce (I like Ken's Steakhouse's buffalo wing sauce & marinade)
• 4 tbsps of barbecue sauce
• A spicy seasoning blend (I like McCormick Grill Mates Spicy Montreal Steak blend (it's delicious on chicken, too!) and McCormick's Grill Mates Mesquite Seasoning)
  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the chicken pieces into 4 medium-sized ziploc bags. Drop about 1/4 of the bottle of buffalo wing sauce and 1 tbsp of barbecue sauce in each bag. Close bags tightly, then shake each vigorously to coat chicken pieces. Place bags in refrigerator for about 5 minutes while you line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. Line the chicken pieces in a single layer in the pan. Season with spicy seasoning blend before placing in oven. Cook for 45 minutes, turning the chicken over after 20 minutes and again when 5 minutes of cooking time remain. Serve with blue cheese dressing!

Guacamole (I find that people have strong reactions to avocado. I happen to love it. And it's really good for you.)

I found this great recipe at allrecipes.com:

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately. (Don't forget the tortilla chips!)

The Game Day Cocktail: Frizzante Mojito

This recipe comes courtesy of the Martha Stewart Show and Allen Katz, Sirius Satellite Radio host (click here for more details on this and the other cocktails that Martha & Co. recommend for game day). I'm partial to mojitos...follow this recipe for a great one:

Ingredients:

• 6 fresh mint leaves
• 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ounce Simple Syrup
• 1 1/2 ounces rum, preferably Cruzan
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 ounces Champagne or Prosecco, chilled

In a pint or mixing glass, muddle together mint, lime juice, and simple syrup to release mint oils. Add rum and bitters; shake over ice. Strain into a cocktail glass or coupe; top with Champagne.

Part Three: What to Wear (Fashionable fans must dress the part!)

You've familiarized yourself with the basics of college football and you know what teams to watch for this season. Now it's time to look the part. Luckily, long gone are the days when athletic gear and team merchandise were synonymous with shapeless sweatshirts and plastic beer mugs. Take a look at these great finds for fashionable fans (left to right, from top left) :

(1) A perfect Florida Gators hoodie. Perfect because the slim cut and lightweight material make it figure-flattering (read: not bulky!), while the fleece lining makes it warm and cozy. Plus, it's affordable at $39.95. (2) I love the washed and worn look of this Michigan baseball cap. Perfect for catching a game in person on a Saturday afternoon. (3) This USC tee speaks for itself. (4) Don't underestimate these earrings! In a near-perfect collision of sports and fashion, these are NCAA logo Oregon Ducks earrings. (5) Fashion-forward Longhorns fans, rejoice! The script on this Texas tee adds just the right amount of flare. (6) Who says you have to drink beer at your game day party? LSU fans can sip wine in style with these stemless glasses.

Part Two: The Teams to Watch in 2008

AP Top 25 Teams (as of August 24, 2008)

The Top 10:

1. Georgia
2. Ohio State
3. USC
4. Oklahoma
5. Florida (Go Gators! Yes, I'm still a die-hard Florida Gators fan.)
6. Missouri
7. LSU
8. West Virginia
9. Clemson
10. Auburn

The Rest of the Top 25:
11. Texas
12. Texas Tech
13. Wisconsin
14. Kansas
15. Arizona State
16. Brigham Young
17. Virginia Tech
18. Tennessee
19. South Florida
20. Illinois
21. Oregon
22. Penn State
23. Wake Forest
24. Alabama
25. Pittsburgh

In short, these are the 25 teams that the AP expects to have the best seasons in 2008. This year marks the first that the Georgia Bulldogs occupy the top spot in the preseason polls. Preseason rankings are based on several factors, including how well the team performed last season and how many players from last season are returning, the number of new recruits a team has acquired and the prospects of those recruits, and the strength of the coaching staff. In other words, the rankings are completely subjective. The rankings will change every week throughout the college football season, as teams win or lose games. Keeping up with the movement in the rankings from week to week (and disagreeing with the rankings when the experts get them wrong) is part of what makes the college football season so fun. ESPN's college football home page will help you keep up with the action from now until the championship game.

Part One: The Rules of the Game (Just enough to get by...)

You only need to be familiar with a few basics to enjoy a college football game. The best way to understand the nuances of the game is to sit back and watch a few games. But watching a football game without understanding anything that's going on can be really frustrating. Here are a few basics. And I do mean basics. I think it's fairly obvious that these explanations are not at all exhaustive, and they're not all that technical, either. They're really intended for brand new fans of the game. For more thorough (and technical) explanations of how a college football game is played, be sure to check out the Internet resources that I've listed below.

1. Q: Okay, I'm ready to watch a game. How long is this gonna take?
A: The game itself is comprised of four 15 minute quarters. After two quarters, the players take a break (halftime); the remaining two quarters are played after halftime. Don't be fooled by the game clock, though. Including time outs, commercial breaks, and deliberations among officials following a play, watching a game will easily take between 2 1/2 and 3 hours. (Don't worry. They will be some of the best 2 1/2 to 3 hours of your life!)

2. Q: What's the object of this game?
A: It's quite simple. For each team, the object of the game is to get the football in the opposing team's end zone. The end zones are set 100 yards apart, at opposite ends of the football field. Through a series of running and passing plays, the team on offense moves the ball toward the opposing team's end zone. Under normal circumstances, the team on offense will get four chances (called downs) to score a touchdown by getting the ball to the end zone.

3. Q: What's up with the score?
A: A touchdown is worth 6 points. After a team scores a touchdown, it is given an opportunity to earn bonus points! Kicking the ball in between the goal posts after a touchdown is worth 1 point, while running the ball into the end zone is worth 2 points. If a team gets to its 4th down and realizes that its chances of scoring a touchdown on 4th down are slim to none, then it can send out a kicker to attempt to kick the ball in between the goal posts for 3 points.


4. Q: Why are the officials throwing things at the players?
A: Throughout the game, the officials are keeping their eyes peeled for players who break the rules. When an official spots a rule violation, he throws a flag onto the field, and the game is stopped while the officials announce the violation and the penalty. Common violations include delay of game, pass interference, and holding.

That should be enough to prevent brand new fans from getting dizzy while watching their first game. But there's much, much more to college football. Check out these great resources:

Introduction to American College Football Rules
New Rules for the 2008 College Season
Wikipedia's Overview of College Football

Girl's Guide: Table of Contents

The inaugural Fashion Obsessed Sports Fan Girl's Guide, A Girl's Guide to the 2008 College Football Season, is on its way. The Guide will be presented in four posts, each of which will cover a different topic (see the table of contents below). I hope that Girl's Guides will become a regular feature of this blog; as such, comments and suggestions are very welcome!

A Girl's Guide to the 2008 College Football Season

Part I: The Rules of the Game (just enough to get by)

Part II: The Teams to Beat in 2008 (if the 2007 season is any indication, take this list with a grain of salt)

Part III: What to Wear (fashionable fans must dress the part!)

Part IV: Recipes for Game Day (the food's almost as important as the game. almost.)

Coming Soon: A Girl's Guide to the 2008 College Football Season

This year's college football season begins on August 28, and what better way to kick off the start of the new season than with a new Fashion Obsessed Sports Fan feature? A shiny new feature, A Girl's Guide to the College Football Season, will be posted to the blog early next week. Highlights will include a basic review of the rules (it's never too late to become a college football fan!), a preview of the best teams this season, ideas for fashionable ways to show support for your favorite team (note: all sports team logo hoodies were not created equal) and recipe ideas for the BCS Championship Game party that fashionable fans will undoubtedly want to host after keeping up with the game for an entire season. (FYI: The championship game will be held on January 8, 2009 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Mark your calendars now!)

Favorite Finds (Now with Illustrations!)

This is the first illustrated installment of "Favorite Finds." I'm still working out some kinks (i.e. I think the images above may be a little too small), but I was eager to get this post up. Here are a few things that recently caught my eye (left to right, from top left):

(1) J. Crew's Frankie bag in cherry guava. Yum. $395. (2) Savon de Marseille's 500 mL liquid hand soap in orange flower. So pretty on a bathroom counter. $14. (3) Bodum's clear bistro mugs hold coffee and tea in style. $12.95 each. (4) Philosophy's high-foaming facial cleanser, Purity. I acquired this as a "free" gift after spending enough money at Sephora to accumulate a gazillion points on my frequent shopper card. And it was worth it. This cleanser smells and works great. $34.50. (5) Think Geek's File Folders with Attitude. The orange folder holds "useless documents to provide appearance of importance at meetings." $7.99 for six.(6) Anthropologie's Three-Two-One drop earrings. The multifaceted quartz and jade stones remind of the window displays in the bead shops that line 6th Avenue in Manhattan's Garment District. $98.

More Apartment Decorating

image source: La-Z-Boy Furniture (la-z-boy.com)
After a week of recurring nightmares about a white sofa and a glass of red wine, I've decided to consider an equally neutral, but darker color for my new sofa--a color that will not only allow me to change the look of my living room fairly easily with a new set of throw pillows, but that will also put up a good fight against a wayward glass of wine (I'm not even a big wine drinker, but I do plan to hone my dinner party hosting skills in my new apartment. And every good dinner party requires a great wine. Right?) After doing a little research, (thanks to Apartment Therapy, Consumer Reports, and HGTV), my heart is set on chocolate brown. And while I'm still looking, I really like the La-Z-Boy offering above. I'm imagining that this will look great with throw pillows in just the perfect shade of blue--a color combination I've been in love with ever since the Sex and the City set designers livened up Carrie's bedroom with beautiful, subtle shades of brown and blue.

Apartment Decorating 101

image source: rentaldecorating.com
September will mark the beginning of a very exciting new chapter for me. For the first time in my adult life, I will not be living in a studio apartment! In Manhattan, this is quite the luxury. I'm so excited to decorate my new 1 bedroom apartment, and I've been scouring websites and design magazines for ideas. I absolutely love the serene, clean look of the living room pictured above, and I've decided to use it as the inspiration for my own living room. The light colors make me a little nervous (I'm imagining an incident involving a glass of red wine and that white couch), so I may modify the color scheme a little bit. But this is a great start!

Re-Launching Ruby Perrin Design

I've managed to snag a little free time before beginning work in about a month, and I've decided to use it to (a) devote a little more time to my blog, and (b) devote a little more time to a hobby I first picked up several years ago...

Ruby Perrin* Design.

I started designing jewelry about five years ago, not long after I graduated from college and moved to New York to begin a finance job. My first apartment was in the Garment District, and it didn't take me long to discover that the Garment District was home to what seemed like an endless number of stores that sold semi-precious stones in richly hued shades, glass beads adorned with intricate etchings, freshwater pearls, and ornate silver and gold findings. My finance job soon began financing my new hobby. I continued to build my collection of beads and findings, and I enrolled in a jewelry design class at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

After nearly a three-year long hiatus (thanks in part to a graduate school program), I've decided that it's been far too long since I've designed a new piece of jewelry. Armed with a new set of materials and a new state of mind, I'm ready to design again. And, in addition to being a home for the fashion and sports fare that I've grown to love, I also envision this blog as a "creative space" in which I can post photos of pieces I'm working on, explore new design techniques, and share what I learn along the way. I can't wait!

*my paternal grandmother's first name + my maternal grandmother's last name = ruby perrin

The Fan Returns...Again!

Wow. Almost three months have passed since I last posted about my obsessions with fashion, sports, and all (okay, most) things in between. Truth be told, I spent most of the summer preparing for what I expected to be a really difficult exam. And it was difficult. But I gave it my all, and I've decided that instead of worrying about how I did on the exam (easier said than done), I'm going to indulge in my fashion, sports, and design obsessions once again. Well, that and watch NBC's 1,300+ hours of Olympics coverage. Speaking of which, how amazing was the U.S. team in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay? What an incredible swim from the American men. The last time I cheered at the television so loudly was when Boise State defeated Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. (And as a bonus, this time around I didn't injure myself while cheering. I still have a scar on my shin to remind me that while jumping for joy over Boise State's victory, I collided with a coffee table in my parents' living room. Ouch.)