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Part of the problem may have been that tonight’s Late Show was chock full anyway, with little time for desk chat — Super Bowl QB Drew Brees, Sandra Bullock, the unveiling of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, and some unexpected crisis in the form of stage manager and frequent cast member Biff Henderson injuring himself. Dave, in Brees’ honor, was tossing the pigskin to various members of the crew and the CBS orchestra, and Biff fell down trying to make a catch. Dave said he was fine, but they apparently took him out on a gurney with his leg in a splint.

I actually watched the first few minutes of “The Jay Leno Show” tonight — the first time I’ve done so since Jay started whining at the peak of the late night crisis — and I have to admit that Jay did a nice job talking about the spot, and about how he had to sneak into the Ed Sullivan Theater in a hoodie, shades and fake moustache for the taping last Tuesday.

Top NBC officials had to approve Jay’s appearance on the CBS promo, but it was kept so hush-hush that a lower-level NBC functionary actually came to Jay a day or two after the taping to tell Jay about a rumor that Letterman had taped a Super Bowl promo with a super-secret guest, which the executive figured might be … Barack Obama. Jay listened with great interest and instructed the NBC executive to keep him informed.

Bet that guy felt stupid when he saw the promo.

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2 T. butter or margarine
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot (I actually used some pre-shredded carrot from the produce section)
1 cup diced celery
1/2 t. salt
3 T. all-purpose flour
1 quart chicken broth (one box)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 t. red pepper flake (or less to taste)
1/2 t. black pepper
1 cup whipping cream
10 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
2 t. Worcestershire sauce

Melt butter in large heavy-bottomed soup pot or electric kettle over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, and salt. Sweat for 5 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Gradually add the chicken stock and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and add the garlic, red pepper and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft.

Turn off the heat and puree with an immersion (stick) blender until the vegetables have been completely pulverized. If you don’t have a stick blender, you should, but in the meantime you could let the soup cool and carefully puree it in batches in a regular blender. Beware of the effect that makes hot liquids explode in a regular blender!

After the soup has been pureed, add the cream and warm the soup slightly if necessary. Add the cheese, a little at a time, stirring each batch until melted before adding the next batch. Add the Worcestershire sauce, check for seasoning, and serve.

But it turned out that my brother had to be at the airport by 10 a.m., so my parents and I skipped church to be there.

I decided that I still wanted to make the cheese soup, as a Super Bowl meal, and so after we got home I ran by Walmart for some of the ingredients.

I was surprised to see that our local Hollywood Video is going out of business. Hollywood Video and Movie Gallery are now owned by the same company, and from what one of the cashiers said, I guess they decided they only needed one location in Shelbyville. They’re selling off their pre-viewed movies (and have discounts on some of their new movies).

I bought a pre-viewed copy of “The Quiet Man,” one of my all-time favorites, with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The title of this post comes from my favorite line in the film (“Impetuous! Homeric!”), spoken by Barry Fitzgerald when he sees a broken bed after Sean Thornton’s wedding night and makes an unspoken assumption about how it got broken.

The cheese soup turned out to be wonderful. I made some changes from the original Food Network recipe (for example, Fontina was waaay too expensive for just me, so I used cheddar). I’ll have to figure out exactly what I did and come back and post it here.