The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Monday, December 19

good morning!

Almost every Sunday I order a pizza. Not from a Domino’s or something like that, but from this Neapolitan place that is only a five minute drive from my home. It’s been a near-weekly occurrence since I moved to Washington (well, Virginia, but who cares) back in June.

So I am eating my pizza tonight. Well, ate the pizza. And I remember the one time this pizza place got my order wrong.

They always make wonderful pizza, but one night I opened the box in shock to discover corn - CORN! - on a pizza.

I never had corn on a pizza. Pineapple? Definitely. Anchovies? Yes. Figs? I LOVE EM.

But CORN?

It was cold, and I was not going to drive five minutes each way to pick up the correct pizza. I stared at it.

Corn. Roasted corn. Prosciutto. Mozarella and cream sauce.

I took a bite, and it was so unnatural. The texture of corn on a pizza. So weird. But I was drawn to it.

It took a few bites for me to recognise that this is a tasty pizza. Not the diavola pizza I had ordered (nor did I add chili flakes to this one), but a tasty pizza nonetheless.

Will I order it again? No. I mean, corn? On a pizza!

But - I do not regret eating a corn pizza. It will be the last corn pizza I eat. And, if I am correct in that prediction, then it was the best corn pizza I have ever had.

Fitzie’s track of the day: I Saw Her Again, by The Mamas & The Papas

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold writes on Daniel Levy’s to-do list

Lionel Messi no longer chasing ghosts

BBC writes on the mind games of Emi Martinez

I know you can’t resist EFL footie recaps: Burnley six points clear at top of the Championship