The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, July 2

Hi, all!

I won’t talk about signings today. Instead, I’ll say that I’m looking forward to World Cup-themed banter today, and that I have a food take that I developed in Paris for the ramble.

Ramble of the Day

No one needs me to tell them that France is a paradise for food lovers, and it will come as no surprise to anyone paying attention that I probably enjoyed many of the items offered. Of the long list of items I had anticipated enjoying — baked goods of the savory and sweet types, cheese, among others — mustard was not particularly high. Yet, when I kept running into French mustard, I couldn’t help but enjoy it to the point where I have decided that I love French mustard.

I also decided that I no longer like, or respect, the traditional yellow mustard found in the States.

I’ve never been a huge mustard person to begin with; I prefer some mayonnaise on a burger or a sandwich, and have little use for mustard otherwise outside of occasionally dipping a fry or two in it. Of course, I’ve made exceptions for other types of mustard, like honey mustard, which pairs wonderfully with a chicken tender. Compared to French mustard, it all pales.

In an immediate sense, French mustard doesn’t make me want to put more mustard on things, considering I haven’t quite built the tolerance for it just yet. What French mustard has going for it, though, is that it has so much flavor. A little goes an extremely long way; a regular dip in another mustard will be extremely hard to swallow. That flavor, though, is incredible; perfect for fries or for a pretzel. It has a lot of sharpness, but everything that’s good about mustard is maximized with the intensity. It makes yellow mustard seem like a watered down, flavorless version of the same thing.

By the way, if anyone has good mustard recommendations, feel free to share.

tl;dr: I love French mustard.

Links of the Day

Derby County has excused Frank Lampard from preseason training, allowing him to continue talks with Chelsea.

Transfer updates: Juventus has signed Adrien Rabiot on a free; Chelsea has signed Mateo Kovacic from Real Madrid; Southampton has signed Che Adams from Birmingham City and Danny Ings from Liverpool; Watford has signed Craig Dawson from West Brom; Valencia has signed Denis Cheryshev from Villarreal; Atlético Madrid has signed Renan Lodi from Athletico Paranaense

Today’s longer read: Gwendolyn Oxenham on the story of Megan Rapinoe and her brother Brian, who is on the other side of drug addiction and solitary confinement in time to watch his sister at her third World Cup for ESPN