Funfare for the Common Man

I know my loyal and faithful fans and readers are waiting on tenterhooks for the next instalment of my World Culinary Cup extravaganza, and I certainly don’t want to disappoint. But as we’re leaving on holiday in a matter of hours, I’ll have to rush this one a bit. (Although I’m the king of leaving things till the last minute, I did have to wait until last night’s final quarterfinal match before I could write this…obviously…) After the group stages, things started to fall apart on the cooking front. Perhaps it was the initial euphoria that wore off, perhaps we lost momentum, and we certainly lost a bit of inspiration. Doing it the right away became pretty time-consuming and a wee bit stressful at times, rushing around like a blue-arsed fly trying to get the ingredients I needed. I should have just kept it simple and done something like a World Cup Beer Odyssey, as a former colleague Jonathan has been doing (impressively tracking down a Sam Adams for the US, as well). How t...

It’s the first rest day of this World Cup, and I’m not sure how I’ll cope. I’m already suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms – well, it’s either that or the potent Long Island Ice Tea I had to soothe my nerves during the USA-Germany match last night. I haven’t quite managed to fulfill my goal of watching every minute of every match, but I have come pretty damn close (though it’s amazing how many goals I miss when I turn my head to do something, or get a cup of coffee or am distracted by my cat doing something cute – I swear, she has caused me to miss exactly four goals, and I’m absolutely positive she does this on purpose . Anyway, what better way to ease my pangs on an off-day than to offer a recap of my World Culinary Cup challenge? If you missed my last post and want the full run-down, as well as a long, meandering maudlin look at my World Cup memories of the past, have a look here . Otherwise, a brief reminder of what this little food and drink odyssey is all a...