The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Tuesday, July 30

Hi, everyone!

I had some 100% dark chocolate while writing this, and it was pretty tasty. (Small quantity, of course.)

Ramble of the Day

I come with a food confession: I really like my food dry. I’m not so much talking about dry snacks, of which there are a number that I like, as I am talking about things that typically go with some sort of sauce or dressing, like salad or pasta.

I haven’t eaten a homemade salad with dressing in a very long time. It comes from a dislike of most salad dressings on the market, and that oftentimes includes salad dressings at restaurants. There was a time where I skipped any liquids entirely and was happy to do so, but now I’ve resorted to the classic combination of olive oil and vinegar, with a bit of black pepper on top. I hardly ever end up with a lot, though, with the dressing serving as the lightest of coatings on the vegetables and other items in the salad.

My pasta preferences tend to be related. Again, I’ve been pretty dissatisfied with tomato sauces, both the homemade variety and the options on the market. It might come from a dislike of tomatoes in that format, but I tend to find these sauces either too acidic or too bland, even if other flavors are added in. (Herbs and garlic are sometimes not enough.) I also tend to like the taste of freshly cooked pasta, which obviously doesn’t help sauce’s case. I’ll enjoy most restaurant pastas, even if they have sauce, but if I’m making some at home, my sort-of substitute for sauce is a little bit of goat cheese.

It’s been an interesting conversation to have with members of my family. I was naturally raised on a diet of a lot of Indian food, which in our case tended to be roti or rice with whatever dish my mom made and some dahi. Most of the time, that rotating dish was something that had a liquid component or was entirely liquid, though I at some point developed a taste for the drier dishes, but as a result, it mostly didn’t matter to me what was made with the roti or rice. I didn’t think about pairing wet and dry at all, so I would suggest certain combinations and be told immediately that those items don’t belong together. My mom, for example, grew up having lentils with her rice, so rice for her is almost always paired with a liquid dish.

It’s not that I won’t opt for sauce or something like it when I feel like it; I’m a big fan of dipping sauces, having some liquid on my tacos, and a lot of other normal ways to use liquid in food. I am a little weird, though, but I think it’s all fine and good.

tl;dr: I really like dry food.

Links of the Day

Bury’s League One opener against MK Dons has been suspended as concerns continue over the club’s financial difficulties.

Patrice Evra has retired after a 21 year career.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has told fans to stop singing abusive chants after singing derogatory chants directed at West Ham fans during a friendly against Reading.

Transfer updates: Wolverhampton has signed Jesús Vallejo on a season-long loan from Real Madrid; Bournemouth has signed Philip Billing from Huddersfield; Leicester has signed Mitchell Clark on a free; Newcastle has signed Kyle Scott on a free

Today’s longer read: Simon Stone interviews Mousa Dembélé on adjusting to life in China on and off the field for the BBC