tomorrow is the day. the day when our household divides. it's the ohio state/michigan game. we are originally from columbus, ohio - a city that lives and breathes buckeye football. we take it very seriously, i have always been a huge buckeye fan. mike, on the other hand, at some point in his childhood decided that he wanted to be difficult (go figure) and thought it would be fun to be a michigan fan in a buckeye obsessed city. for those of you who don't know, ohio state and michigan are the biggest rivals in college football.

when mike first asked me out (a long long time ago...) he sent me an email that included all of the lyrics to the michigan fight song. i'm still not sure why i agreed to go out with him, i clearly had warning to what the relationship would be like.

on our wedding day, our favors were 3 little boxes, each with a little treat, that represented the different cities that we've called home. having started our relationship in columbus, i thought it was only appropriate that we include a candy buckeye as the treat for columbus. mike thought we should do something with our high school colors since that is when we started dating. except our high school colors are the same as michigans... it was the only disagreement we had while wedding planning. i was also not allowed to play "hang on sloopy" at our wedding reception. and yet for some reason i still married the guy.

as part of the tradition of the ohio state/michigan game, i always make buckeyes:

when living in ohio i had to make them by the dozens because i would take them into school/work and everyone knew what they were and loved them. now that i'm st. louis, it takes some convincing.

me: "this is a buckeye, a yummy candy treat that i make to support the greatest football team ever. they play their biggest rival tomorrow, stupid michigan, so go buckeyes!"

any st louis person: "buckeye? what is that? and football? um, we like baseball here. football doesn't even really exist because we only have the rams and whatever game they are playing is clearly not football"

(side note - college football and pro football are completely different. do not ever try to tell me that pro football is better, it is not. it's not even close.)

me: "come on, i promise you will like the candy buckeye, i will give you one if you say "I-O" after i say "O-H", and make the letters with your arms. that's what real buckeye fans do"

stl person: "so you're telling me that you love a football team who's mascot is a small piece of chocolate covered peanut butter?"

me: "what?? no, that would be silly! a buckeye is a poisonous nut. obviously that is a way better mascot."

stl person: "yeah, i don't really care anymore, i'll eat that candy, but you can't make me spell "ohio" or do you silly hand motions. by the way, spelling ohio? maybe if you were spelling something more complicated that would be more impressive"

me: "fine... at least you don't like michigan."

last night, i made buckeyes and they are awesome. this also reminded me of last year when i made buckeyes and how much easier it is to cook in a fully functioning kitchen. i make my buckeyes a little different than most people, just because that's how my mom makes them. we use crunchy peanut butter and rice krispies and make crunchy buckeyes. i thought i'd include the recipe in case anyone else wants to make them:

Crunchy Buckeyes

2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/4 cups chunky style peanut butter
1/4 cup margarine
dash of salt
2 cups toasted rice cereal (Rice Krispies)
1 6oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate chips
1 Tbs. shortening

Cream sugar, peanut butter, margarine, salt, and stir in cereal.
Melt chocolate chips with shortening in microwave about 1 minute and stir until melted. Roll peanut butter mixture into 1 inch balls. Dip each in melted chocolate, covering most of ball. Refrigerate until chocolate becomes firm. Store in refrigerator. Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

for christmas my mom also makes them with some white chocolate caps and red and green sprinkles.

so tomorrow afternoon mike and i will be eating buckeyes while watching the game. (yes, mike loves them even though he hates my team. i could be mean and not share, but secretly i'm hoping that his love for chocolate covered peanut butter might someday translate to his love for all things buckeye. or i'd at least settle for something less than hatred) we will be watching the game at home, away from other people cause, let's be honest, sometimes it gets a little tense... at least we both know that anything said during the game doesn't really count. and usually by the next season day we are back to normal.

..I-O!