On Sport

"Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart."
- A. Bartlett Giamatti (former Commissioner of Major League Baseball)

Not just baseball, Bart. Any sports fan will tell you that watching any sport usually ends up giving more pain than pleasure. That's how things are set up: one team ends up as champion, and every other team loses. In fact, by definition, every non-champion team ends their year with a loss to be eliminated from the playoffs. That is unless they didn't even make the playoffs to begin with, which means you've suffered through a bad regular season. If you align yourself with a team, you're going to be disappointed. I think I'm more qualified than most to talk about disappointment like this.

I'm a Detroit Tigers fan, and they obviously ended their up and down season yesterday, losing in the World Series. Before that, they'd been terrible for many years. And then out of nowhere came this season. Domination the first two-thirds of the season, mediocrity the last third. They made it to the playoffs, and this pattern was repeated. At least they beat the Yankees.

I'm also a Edmonton Oilers fan. Last year they made an inspired run in the playoffs, eventually losing in the Stanley Cup finals. Before that, they'd been mediocre for many years. They qualified as the last qualifying team in their conference, so they were quite a surprise, too. I was an ocean away during all of this, which lessened the blow of the loss a bit.

I'm also a Buffalo Bills fan. Let's pretend I know what it's like for the Bills lose the Super Bowl. Or a few. Consecutively.

So either recently or famously, my favourite teams have come excruciatingly close to winning championships, but have consistently fallen short. The casual or non-sports fan often looks at this situation as, "Well, at least that made it that far. That means they had a pretty good season, right?" In a word: no.

Why not? I wish I could see it like that. It would be a relief to never have the urge to yell at the television again. Or have to walk out of the room in disgust. Or break out into sweats during close games. I'm not a competitive person. I'm not an especially emotional one, aside from sports.

Watching your team lose is demoralizing and draining and it only gets worse when the stakes are higher. And that's sports fandom pretty much summed up.

But next year will be better. Next year.

Domesticated Animal

I've had a lot of time on my hands lately and I have been in the kitchen quite a bit. I thought I would post some of my favourite recipes for those who like food. Like I do.

**Authentic Key Lime Pie**

This is the easiest, most amazing pie to make for those who like things tangy. It is also a traditional recipe: your pie will not turn out green (=fake key lime pie), it will be rather yellow. If you want to dye it green, have fun doing so. You can top this with whipped cream or merengue, but I like it plain. This takes literally 20 minutes to make (not including preheating or chilling) and you can amaze your friends with your astounding skill in the kitchen.

1 graham cracker pie crust
1/2 cup key lime juice (fresh or store-bought)
3 egg yolks
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine juice, yolks, and condensed milk. Pour mixture into pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Allow pie to cool to room temp and then chill it in the fridge for at least a couple hours before serving.

**Japanese Ginger Dressing (like at the restaurant)**

1 handful fresh ginger
1/2 medium carrot
1/4 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup rice vinegar (plain or flavoured)
1 teaspoon soy sauce

Peel and cut ginger into bite-sized pieces. Same for the carrot. Using a food processor (or a knife and a lot of patience) finely mince the carrot and ginger. Combine mixture with the liquid ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whisk thoroughly. Serve atop a green salad or use to dress an Asian coleslaw.

**Lime-Cumin Coleslaw (adapted from Bobby Flay)**

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 cloves garlic, chopped
Few dashes of hot sauce
1/2 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 medium head green cabbage, shredded (or two bags prepared slaw)
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 large red onion, thinly sliced
1 hot red chili pepper, seeded and very thinly sliced (or red pepper flakes)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, toss with the dressing and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add more lime juice as needed.

This slaw should be allowed to "come together" for a few hours before serving. Stir it every once and a while.

**Cilantro Paste**

This is a recipe given to me by a friend from high school, who used to eat it on sandwiches every day for lunch. His family is from India and vegetarian and this is a staple in their diet. I like it on sandwiches with a bit of creamcheese.

1 bunch cilantro
4 jalepeno peppers, seeded
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp sweetened grated coconut (or unsweetened + 1 tsp sugar)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until a paste.

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If you have some favourite recipes you think I would like, I'd love to see them! I am obviously into anything involving limes or Asian flair.