Part 3 in my ongoing series, “Why Boston Sucks.”
Celtics 1-3 since Christmas! Now they’re just the plain old 27-5 defending NBA champions. The Patriots missed the playoffs at 11-5, while the closest thing to an LA football team, the Chargers, are in at 8-8. The Red Sox missed out on Texeira.
At least you’ve got the Bruins, Boston. You know, the ones who haven’t won anything in 35 years.
Heh.
Green bean salad with soy-Banyuls vinaigrette
Bring a large pot of salted water (it should taste like the ocean) to a rolling boil. Add green beans and cook until bright green and tender, 2-3 minutes depending on size. Plunge into ice water to stop their cooking. Once cool, remove from water and place on a towel-lined try to drain. If the green beans are large and thick, you can split them down the middle to make them more dainty.
Using a mandoline or knife, slice the celery, onion and radishes as thin as possible lengthwise. Place the sliced vegetables in the ice water for 20-30 minutes, then drain on the tray with the green beans.
Once all the vegetables are dry, mix them gently in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Serve chilled.
That’s 6 degrees Celsius. So I made lentil soup. And I’ve decided that every time I cook something, I’m going to publish it to my little corner of the Web.
In a 6 quart or larger pot, heat the butter until foamy. Add onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms, garlic and thyme, season with salt, cover, and cook over medium heat until onions are translucent (around 10 minutes).
Add both kinds of lentils, the tomato, and the chicken stock or water. Season with salt and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat until the beluga/De Puy lentils are cooked through, around 45 minutes. The red lentils will dissolve, thickening the soup.
Just before serving, give the soup a final seasoning, and add the spinach and a squeeze of lemon to taste. Give the soup a quick stir to wilt the spinach, then serve.
Yield: About 3 quarts.
Normally, I think attempts to inject sports with any kind of greater meaning are absurd. Sports are a fantasy realm where we go to deeply, madly care about things that don’t really matter. Off the playing field, most athletes don’t have anything more compelling to say or contribute than anyone else. In fact, their non-athletic contributions to society are inconsequential, if not detrimental. And ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” pieces are usually pretty hackneyed, flailing desperately to lend a humanistic quality to an industry based on superhuman genetic gifts (Dwight Howard’s leaping ability, Sidney Crosby’s vision) and rigorous, robotic commitment to excellence (Tiger Woods’ incessant swing tinkering, Peyton Manning’s relentless film study).
But as it turns out, sports icons can be people, too. And a good writer can overcome the intrinsic handicap of the “sports story with heart.” The fact that the core of this particular story is “Man cheats on wife, has a kid with mistress, doesn’t see kid for 27 years” makes the achievement all the more significant.
I almost cried. Even though Dr. J has almost as many kids by almost as many baby mamas as Shawn Kemp or Calvin “The Pocket Rocket” Murphy. But hey, it was the NBA in the 70s. How could he NOT knock up a white bitch?
I just upgraded to Wordpress version 2.7 for this site. It’s almost like a real CMS! Here’s what I think:
The company that I work for Monday through Friday (let’s call it “Lazydouche”) had its holiday party this last weekend. Given that Lazydouche runs a $25M per year racket and is headquartered in Long Beach, CA, there was only one logical place to have the party.
That’s right, a motherfucking Chinese restaurant in Alhambra! (more…)