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If there is a rule for creating a menu for a Super Bowl party, it's finger foods, finger foods, finger foods. Fast and easy. But Daphne Brogdon, host of Food Network's "Daphne Dishes," puts her own spin on familiar fare for the big game in the episode airing Sunday, Jan. 25. "I basically took things that everybody would expect and I just twisted them a little bit," she explains. "Like, I did a guacamole. But a lot of guacamole, to me, gets ruined because people put too much crud in it, and I really just want the delicious avocado. So the only thing I put in mine is little tomatillos, and they're very mild so that also kids will eat them. ... I just do fresh guacamole, lemon juice and the tomatillos." But instead of pairing the guacamole with stand-bys such as corn or tortilla chips, Brogdon went the Asian route and did fried wonton chips. "My kids love them," she says. "They're very light, airy and easy. Just take the wonton, cut them into triangles ... and fry up a bunch of those." Keeping it light is also a priority, especially with a game that can stretch on for four hours or more. So instead of hamburgers, Brogdon opts to feed her crowd sliders. But the little discs of meat can be easy to overcook, so Brogdon has her own technique for keeping things under control. "You take a little bit of butter," she says, "freeze it and then put that frozen butter in the middle of the patty. ... It's not going to overcook in the middle and you're going to have a moister burger." Brogdon pairs her sliders with two sauces, both homemade: a sweet Russian and an arugula pesto. Other items on her game-day menu include a spicy cabbage salad and something called a "kick-a-rita," which is tequila or rum, lime and tangerine juices, bitters, ice and the kicker, a few drops of juice from a scored serrano pepper. But only a few, lest your tear ducts and nasal passages clear involuntarily. And she advises labeling everything and their ingredients clearly so those with food sensitivities don't get any surprises. "Once the party gets rolling," she says, "I just want to enjoy it. I don't want people coming up to me all the time (asking), 'What's in this? What's in that?' " What book are you currently reading? "I'm reading the one about L. Ron Hubbard. It's called 'Going Clear.' It's the history of Scientology." What did you have for dinner last night? "Mexican food. We were in Tucson (Ariz.), and I had a chimichanga with carne seca ... meat that dried in the Sonoran Desert or something. So it had kind of a saltier, dried meat flavor, which was a little pungent but it was very interesting." What is your next project? "I'm working with my husband on opening up his first-ever fast-food concept, and it's going to open in Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. in February. " When was the last vacation you took, where and why? "Tucson (around Christmastime)." BY GEORGE DICKIE Daphne Brogdon 'Daphne Dishes' Super Bowl fare on Food Network If you're going to finally make a movie of a stage classic, moreover a musical, you'd better get it right. "Chicago" is a prime example of a live theater hit that took quite a while to get to the screen, and the movie's Oscar for best picture is a testament to how well that transition went. It's little surprise, then, that the same director – Rob Marshall – was enlisted to put "Into the Woods" on celluloid. As musicals go, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's take on various fairy tales is fairly dark stuff. Even with the Disney studio involved, you can't sanitize it too much without removing its essence, and the filmmakers wisely recognized that. Thus, a baker and his wife (James Corden, Emily Blunt) remain on pretty Grimm turf as they do a witch's (Meryl Streep) scavenger-hunt bidding. The hunt puts the couple in the company of such characters as Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) and Jack (of Jack and the Beanstalk fame, played by Daniel Huttlestone). Others surrounding them are played by the likes of Tracey Ullman, Chris Pine, Christine Baranski and as the wolf who surely has his eyes on Riding Hood, Johnny Depp. The result overflows with star power, but it also gives substantial time to the relative unknowns. That said, you don't cast Streep as a witch and not let her chew the screen (a compliment in this case) sufficiently. Neither her fans nor those of the stage show will be disappointed. In fact, they probably won't be let down by "Into the Woods" as a whole. This is tricky territory, since the fictional figures involved might suggest something sunnier ... and parents should be especially aware of what they're entering if they bring the children, even more so because the Disney name is attached. The good news for those who come into the movie already being fans of "Into the Woods" in its stage incarnation: It's pretty faithful and pretty enjoyable, thanks to a creative team that truly could see the forest for the trees. Lilla Crawford A movie finally goes 'Into the Woods' BY JAY BOBBIN BY J Page 8 January 26 - February 1, 2015

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