Your Jeremy Lin Party Planner
Raise your hand if you knew about Jeremy Lin before last week. Well, congratulations on going to Harvard and/or being an Asian-American NBA fan. Outside of you guys, Jeremy Lin has gone mostly unnoticed in his nascent NBA career. Now that he's a Linstant legend, the 6'3" point guard is Linspiring a pretty widespread case of Linfluenza for basketball fans and pun-lovers alike. Contributing Editor Matt Rodbard has already given you the Linfo on where to watch the Linztamania in Knicks territory, but if you can't book a flight (on Aer Lingus, natch) to the Big Apple, we're here to tell you how to have your own Jeremy Lin-themed dinner party at home. Behold! The Linner Party!
You might use Linner as a word to describe lunch/dinner combination meal similar to brunch. Forget about that. Now it's a meal involving Jeremy Lin. There's no need to set an exact time to invite your friends over for Linner because Linner starts promptly at tip-off on Knicks game day. The next Linner is tonight (2/14) at 7 p.m. EST as the Knicks take on the mostly hapless Toronto Raptors. You don't have much time to prepare, but not to worry: we've got the menu under control.
Start out by serving The Shark-Lin Soup, a cocktail that mixes Sharkleberry Fin Kool-Aid and Chinese spirit bai jui. That should get your guests good and Linebriated before the real festivities begin. It also might make you vioLintly ill.
Keep the tribute to Lin's Chinese heritage going with your appetizer: grilled rubing cheese. This could be tricky because rubing is pretty hard to find Stateside, but if you make friends with someone from Kunming (the capital of China's Yunnan province), they can steer you in the right direction. If you can't scare some up, substitute the cheese equivalent from Cyprus: halloumi. Grill it simply with olive oil and lemon and serve it on skewers. Your guests will all be very Lintrigued.
For the main course, go with Food Republic's favorite dishes for the Chinese New Year. Everything should be served family style – teams are families, after all – and in quantities that match Lin's biggest feats. Prepare 38 roast chicken buns (most points scored), 10 coconut pork egg rolls (most assists per game), and ginger fried rice with 643 grains of rice (.643 = his best field goal percentage). Bonus points if you use Anita Chen' s 100 Chinese Food/Drinks words and phrases to describe your dishes!
For dessert, you're ditching the Asian connection and going straight up LinPun with Linzer tarts. By that point, though, you may just be focusing on the TV while you watch your new favorite dribbLin' machine put up a double-nickel against Jose Calderon.
When you're all finished with the meal, throw the pics up on Linstagram and wait for Magic Johnson and Michael Wilbon to talk about you during the half-time show. Your Linner Party is going to be so Lincredible – unless, of course, you find Jeremy Lin puns Linane.