The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Monday, March 12

Hello, everybody!

That Son Heung-Min guy is good, isn’t he? Anyway, I am back to talking about the finer points of dessert.

Ramble of the Day

I ate an apple blueberry crumble over the weekend, and it was incredibly delicious. (I should note that I do not regularly eat this much dessert; it has just been a lucky week.) It reminded me of the things that make a dessert special.

Think about it this way: If you need to satisfy your craving for something sweet quickly, almost anything will do. If you need a cookie, the nearest place, be it a grocery store or some random bakery, will do the trick. If you are going out of your way for a brilliant dessert, not anything will do the trick.

I believe a few of you talked about this when I rambled last week about cake. The best of certain desserts are unbeatable, though a bit difficult to find. I find that the secret with sweet treats comes from limiting the amount of sugar one puts in the delicacy. It is incredibly easy to find desserts that are over-sweetened; it may not be by a lot, but a little bit too much sugar alters it far too much.

Sugar should be an accompaniment to a strong dessert that has many textures and flavors. For example, on a cake, one should taste more than just crunchy sugar for frosting. The light, whipped nature of the cream should come through. Similarly, in the crumble I had this weekend, I could taste the sugar and the cinnamon in the crust, but also the naturally savory flavor of it. It was a beautiful combination.

Additionally, the crumble makers left the apple and blueberry almost entirely unaltered, minus the changes they underwent in the baking process. I was able to enjoy the tartness and the sweetness of the apple and the blueberry, mixed in with the already added sugar and cinnamon. Frequently, the natural taste of fruits is lost in baked goods, which is a shame because fruits actually taste good. Thankfully, this one did not do that.

tl;dr: I ate a good dessert over the weekend.

Links of the Day

Fiorentina fans paid tribute to Davide Astori during their match against Benevento on Sunday.

Even though the transfer window is not in session, Barcelona have agreed to sign Arthur Melo from Brazilian side Grêmio.

Jamie Carragher is in trouble after he spit on a 14-year-old over the weekend.

After Bert van Marwijk leads Australia to this summer’s World Cup, Graham Arnold will take the job on a long term basis.

The match between PAOK and AEK Athens in the Greek Super League this weekend was stopped after one of PAOK’s owners walked onto the pitch with a gun.

Today’s longer read: Nick Ames on the ambitious and adored Jan Vertonghen for The Guardian