The World Is Wrong
I have refrained thus far from pontificating on the World Cup, the big shindig down in Brazil that the entire universe is watching.
Soccer probably is more boring and interminable than the existential nothingness of death. I use the qualifier probably only because I imagine death to be boring and interminable, considering I haven’t died yet and I can’t speak authoritatively on its attributes, but I know soccer is boring and interminable.
So give me credit: I didn’t want to kill anybody’s buzz. Bloomington has its own Viewtopia, a non-stop match-watching party on the grounds of the Tyler & Dave Ferguson Estate. Everybody’s cheering for this country and that one as if there’s yet another World War going on. To give you an idea of how profound my loathing is for the sport, if you put a gun to my head and tell me I have a choice between experiencing the horrors of another World War or those of watching the various World Cup matches, I’d say, “Do me a favor and pull the trigger, wouldja?”
Even Dogs Have Enough Sense To Be Bored By Soccer
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Now, you may bleat, “But Big Mike, it’s the most popular sport in the entire world!” To which I’d reply, “So? Celine Dion, Garth Brooks, and Taylor Swift are among the top selling recording artists of all time — in the world.”
Clearly, the world’s opinion blows.
Anyway, I can’t hold back any longer. I have to call out the madness (albeit spectacularly unexciting madness) that is this whole World Cup thing. The USA advanced in the tourney by losing yesterday.
Again, they lost.
They didn’t win.
The other team outscored them.
They didn’t score any goals (not that that’s terribly unusual in soccer.)
What am I missing here? I’d always thought sports entailed the defeat of the other team. Players in the world’s various athletic contests knock each other into unconsciousness, clip their opponents’ legs so they suffer debilitating knee trauma, hit their foes with the force of small cars ramming into a wall at 20 mph, inject themselves with substances that shrink their testicles and turn their skulls into medium-sized watermelons, and otherwise bend the rules of their respective sports and those of civilization itself merely to score a single point more than the other guy.
But in soccer, the most popular sport in the world — have I mentioned that? — the team representing the USA won even though they lost.
Man, the world is stupid.
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Take My Wife, Please
So, scads of same sex couples got hitched the last couple of days outside the Monroe County Courthouse. Starry-eyed pairs descended upon the venerable old edifice moments after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that Indiana’s ban on same sex marriage was unconstitutional.
The Herald Times tells us the number of couples applying for marriage licenses set a record Tuesday — and it was promptly broken the next day.
From Sodahead
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I’m told any number of happy pairs showed up for their impromptu ceremonies in such a state of haste that they wore baggy T-shirts, sweats, and flips.
It’s been a long time coming.
Lesbian and gay proponents of same sex marriage have fought a long, hard battle to get homosexual love recognized by the government. They’ve been vilified, spat upon, insulted, shunned, libeled and slandered, fired, and disowned simply because they wanted to share their lives with their soulmates.
Now comes the hard part: Staying married.
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Cookies Can Be Better Than Sex
Indiana University sex research maven Debby Herbenick posted a recipe from the Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis on Facebook the other day. Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Leman Glaze.
Just saying them name of them gives me a frisson.
So, I tried making them Wednesday in honor of The Loved One’s b-day.
The verdict? The taste is fab (you can never go wrong with either lemon or ricotta). They could do with less glaze than Giada calls for. And they’ll never, ever, ever turn out as neat and symmetrical as Giada’s photo shows them. Overall, I’d give them an 82 out of 100.
Here are some of mine:
Lemon Ricotta Cookies With Lemon Glaze
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And here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Cookies:
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 15 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- zest of 1 lemon
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
For the cookies:
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.
For the glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours.
Natch, I found it impossible to wait the two hours and 20 minutes before I could taste them. Honestly, I like them a tad better when they’re still warm.
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Big Potato: Good rant about soccer. I find myself watching quite a bit of it. Perhaps being retired frees up a lot of time. The game does move fast though. I’m sure faster than baseball and I’ll bet the average is less than a football game. Regarding gay marriage: the system works; slower than most would like but it does work. USA! USA!
There were plenty of ‘Mericans in the London pub I was in watching the Germany game (I billed it as a rematch of Saving Private Ryan but it didn’t live up to it). Lots of shouting GO US! Only the English in the bar were sad because Germany had won, but at least they had beaten the USA whose manager is … German.