How to make Fuhl/Ful

4 cups cooked or canned fava beans (add some chick peas if you want, they are delicious)

olive oil

1 onion

6-8 cloves garlic (4 will be enough, but I like garlic)

2 tsp cumin (add 1/2 tsp of cayenne is an option for a little zing)

1 cup H2O

juice of 4 fresh lemons

salt and pepper

 

The broad bean, or fava bean (Vicia faba), has been enjoyed by hungry humans for over six thousand years.  The beans, which are immature seeds, can be eaten fresh, canned or frozen.  Fuhl is my favorite way to cook fava beans.  It is awesome.  Pronounced somewhat like the English “full”, it leaves you feeling just that.  When I was in Damascus, I practically lived on it.  So good.  

I’ve heard tales of eating fuhl on top of hummus, or topping the fuhl with cooked egg, feta, green onions, jalapenos, mint, cilantro, or parsley.  I personally recommend tomato, cucumber, salt and pepper on top.  Or just eat it out of the pot with a big spoon; I’m getting so hungry just thinking about it!

Fava beans, garlic and olive oil are really all you need, but the garlic should be fresh and the oil of excellent quality, as there is nowhere to hide inferior ingredients in fuhl.  If you are cooking the beans from dry, soak the beans overnight and remove any floating beans the next day.  Then boil the beans for like 2 and a half hours or 2 and a half days, until they are tender.  Go ahead and throw in half of the onion and half of the cumin if you want.  Drain the beans and let them rest while you do up the other ingredients.  If using canned beans, just drain, rinse, drain and set aside.

Heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat in a decent sized skillet and fry the onion in it until it is golden.  Add garlic and cumin for one minute, until you can really smell them.  Add the beans and then a cup of H2O.  Boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and add a bit of salt and pepper.  Cover for 10 minutes, then remove lid and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is boiled off and absorbed.  Remove from heat.  Squeeze in the lemon juice and stir until the beans are a bit broken up.  Or stir until the beans are totally smashed up.  Or mash them smooth.  Whatever you like.  Serve with olive oil and preferred toppings.  Eat with pita bread or spoon.  Be full of fuhl.

What the Hell is Wrong with Tottenham Hotspur?

After a great start to the season Tottenham have fallen off the pace a bit, recording draw after draw.  Finally, in an EFL Cup match against Liverpool on Tuesday, ‘Spurs allowed Daniel Sturridge to beat them with a second half goal and were knocked out of the EFL cup tournament.  Now, I am aware that Tottenham presented a completely different lineup for this match than they have been fielding for league games, and I know the lads are tired, and that key players are nursing injuries.  However, it looked to me like Pochettino gave up on this one to preserve some endurance for those ever-important league games. Personally, I like the excitement of one-game knockout format tournaments like the EPL Cup, but I understand the sentiment behind saving your best efforts for the league games, especially since the last few years the ‘Spurs have been in the hunt for the league title. But let’s look at those recent games, shall we?

Tottenham started off October by beating Manchester City by a score of 2-0.  Best start they could have hoped for.  Since then, they have tied with 3 clubs that they probably should have beaten and have fallen from 2nd to 5th in the EPL standings.  The second of these 3 ties, a 0-0 affair, was against Leverkusen in the Champions League, and Bayern Leverkusen is a good, if not great team.  They have looked lackluster in the Champions League, playing to a tie in each of there Champions League games.  Tottenham could have rescued the month from mediocrity with a win against them.  The draws against Bournemouth and West Bromley were bitterly disappointing as well.  Both opponents fought hard, and, playing without Harry Kane, Tottenham had a hard time getting scoring chances and an even harder time converting any chances they had.

Pochettino had this to say about the 3 successive ties and his players obvious fatigue: “Yes, we are concerned, it’s true we need to improve if we want to be a real contender. It’s true after two games away at West Bromwich and Bournemouth, you must win at least one.”  He went on to make a few excuses about injuries and scheduling and praised the efforts of his opponents and his players, but I am left feeling like ‘Spurs fans need results, not soundbites.  We need our name on the trophy, not another season where we let it slip away.  Winners don’t make excuses or experience hindsight’s x-ray vision.  Instead, they quietly win, keep winning, and are eventually recognized as winners.  Go ‘Spurs!

A Strange, Lost Dream Condensed

I remain unsure what the significance, setting, and characters were. The setting was static, but not easily discerned, as often happens in dreams.  I’m sure the dream is significant, but I’m not sure what we were attempting to accomplish in it.  Simple survival?  I still don’t know.

In the dream we had fortified an abandoned amusement park to serve as our base.  The park had high fences which had been fitted with barbed wire.  The rides were rusted and old, marked by tattered signs with bizarre, faded pictures that had been rendered illegible by rain and dust.  There were signs of some sort of destruction or battle or disturbance, but not enough evidence to make out exactly what had occurred.  The sandy, dusty soil had been blown around by the recurrent wind.  Our bunks were in rotting shacks that had once been tool sheds.  Camp stoves, propane torches, and open fires were used to cook, though I don’t remember eating.  I also don’t remember cleaning or checking my guns or sharpening my knife, but a pistol, rifle, and large hunting knife were always at the ready.  I remember no relaxation at all.  The day was all business.

We would wake without an alarm of any kind, early and full of wary fear.  Each morning I would immediately search my surroundings for danger.  Finding none, the first event of the day was taking stock of what we had and what we were running out of. Protecting the base was always the most immediate priority, and daily foraging forays and perimeter checks were also necessary.  But the cause of the unending fear was unknown.  At no time did I ever fire a shot, see an enemy, or lose the fear that gripped my stomach.  It was an exhausting dream to be in.  One which encouraged insomnia, rather than return to the dreariness and fear within it.

Once awake, I would make some campfire coffee and do a quick perimeter check.  Nothing was ever amiss, besides the odd piece of debris blown around by the gusting winds.  I would then prepare either a car, van, or motorcycle, and head out.  The bulk of the dream was the same.  The endless kilometers of empty land, filled with lush trees, blooming flowers and vibrant grasses.  I would spend the entire day in silence, searching for signs of life.  No animals or humans or monsters were ever found, only abandoned cars and houses and stores.  I would thoroughly and methodologically search through each, taking anything that might be useful, including pieces of string, bits of metal and glass, and other seemingly useless odds and ends, as well as anything edible, any water, and any ammunition.  At the end of the day I would head back to the amusement park, store my finds, and retire for the night.  And that is the end of the dream where I wake up.  After that, I could dream a different dream, but there was also the chance that I would go back to sleep only to find that the night had passed and I would jerk awake inside the dream to see the dawn breaking and feel the feeling of fear that gripped my stomach.  Another day had begun.

One Hell of a Week: An Apology

Well, that was one hell of a week!  The Jays finally won one to keep their season alive, in tough against Cleveland in the ALCS, after dispatching the mighty Texas Rangers with apparent ease in the divisional series before that.  Estrada is due to pitch in Toronto’s second elimination game on Wednesday.

The Seahawks had a bye week and then pulled off a close one against Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons, with Wilson executing his 20th career 4th quarter/overtime comeback win.  Heading to Arizona for a date with the Cardinals to see which team is for real.  Arizona is a 2-point favourite right now, but Carson Palmer’s 5 interceptions and Arizona’s somewhat inconsistent defense make me think this will be a winnable game for the Seahawks.

And the NHL season started.  Milan Lucic looked like a leader, Talbot had good nights and bad, and Connor McDavid made himself look like a superstar, with 6 points in his first 2 games of the season and a couple of soundbites that echoed the workmanlike ethos of great Oilers from days gone by. This season will provide many exciting stories for the Oilers.

Over the last few weeks the Gators have crawled back into the top 15 of both the polls that matter as well, putting them first in the SEC East and right back into the thick of things.  Florida has a really difficult schedule the rest of the way, especially with the rescheduled game against LSU, but they could be in the playoff picture if they run the table from here on out.  Such fun!

I have been remiss in my blogging, but I have a good excuse!  On Thursday the 6th, I snuck up on a friend at YVR airport and surprised the hell out of him by joining his family trip to Hawai’i, just in time for his 40th birthday!  Without spoiling all of the upcoming stories and poems that will be written about this epic Hawai’ian adventure, let us just say that good times were had, including legendary night swims, crater hikes, and paddle board races.  Very little writing got accomplished, but new stories were created, and they are now just waiting for someone to put them to words.  More fun!  More stories to come!  Stay tuned!

OK! Blue Jays! Let’s Play Ball!

Do you remember that old Blue Jays song?  Well, it’s relevant again as the Jays beat the Orioles in their wild card playoff game with Edward Encarnacion’s 11th inning walk off home run.  Reflective of the Jays’ storied history, Roberto Alomar, one of the greatest Jays ever, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.  Tuesday’s 5-2 win means that the Blue Jays will travel to Texas to play the Rangers on Thursday to begin the ALDS.  This exciting matchup will allow the teams to resume their bad blood that overshadowed last year’s dramatic playoff series.  The Jays won that one with Bautista’s famous “bat-flip” home run, and the teams brawled in May when they met for a regular season series.  Other instances in this intense rivalry include Rangers pitcher Derek Holland wiping his butt with a Blue Jays rally towel, fans in Toronto throwing cans of beer at a baby, and also throwing debris on the field.  The Rangers have the home field advantage in the series and won 6 more regular season games than the Jays.  However, Texas lost its last 2 games of the season and hasn’t played in almost a week, while Toronto has won its last 2 to advance to this point.  In summary, anything can happen in playoff baseball, but this will likely be one of the most competitive, heated, and interesting series we will see this fall.  Go Jays!

Spiller, Ifedi, and Wilson: Seahawks beat Jets.

Hi sports fans!  Boy, was I wrong about the Seahawks offense in my predictions!  Wilson was clinical in his 3 touchdown performance and debuts by C. J. Spiller and Germain Ifedi were stellar as the Seahawks won 27-17.  Wilson thanked his offensive line after the game, and they looked really strong with first-round draft pick Ifedi in the lineup for the first time since his ankle injury in preseason.  I like him, he’s an animal.  C.J. Spiller caught a touchdown pass in his Seahawks debut and Jimmy Graham continued to look like the player the Seahawks traded the great center Max Unger for, catching 6 balls (one with an amazing one-arm grab along the sidelines while being interfered with) for 113 yards.  Conversely, the Jets offense wasn’t very sharp, with Fitzpatrick throwing 3 interceptions (9 over the past 2 games and counting). On defense, Wagner was everywhere, as he has been all year, and Richard Sherman had 2 interceptions.  Meanwhile, Cliff Avril forced a fumble that turned into the Jets first touchdown, when receiver Charone Peake gathered up the loose ball and sprinted into the end zone for his first career major.  Overall, my predictions were not far off, except that the defenses didn’t dominate.  Wilson was a bit hobbled by his injuries, but the offensive line stood tall and made points happen, while Fitzpatrick threw a few interceptions and couldn’t really maintain any offensive pressure that the Jets created.

Atlanta kept up their hot streak, defeating the Panthers 48-33.  Atlanta had nearly 600 total yards and 503 yards in the air (a team record, and the 300 to Julio Jones is also a franchise record), while Carolina lit up the Falcons defense for 329 yards as well, spread between Cam Newton and Derek Anderson, who came into the game after Newton was diagnosed with a concussion after a successful 2-point conversion run.  The truth is, neither of those defenses will be in the playoff conversation unless they tighten up a whole bunch.

Though they almost never are, New England was sloppy on Sunday.  Looking a bit lost for the first time since Tom Brady’s suspension began, the Patriots got shut out at home for the first time since 1993.  Rex Ryan finally got a win in his 8th career visit to Foxboro.  Tyrod Taylor was solid, and the Bills defense continued their ferocious play from last week, sacking Brissett 3 times in a nasty contest that included a pregame scuffle involving players and coaches along the sideline.  If the Bills defense keeps this up and Taylor plays an intelligent, possession style of game, they could be a force later in the season.  Watch out!

During the week, Drew Brees spoke about how excited he was to return to San Diego for the first time since he played for the Chargers.  The game started out looking like the Chargers would get the best of his Saints, until 3 critical errors in the fourth quarter allowed the storybook 35-34 final.  First, Melvin Gordon fumbled, allowing Brees to take over deep in Charger territory and throw a 4th down 5-yard touchdown pass to Michael Thomas.  On the ensuing drive after the kickoff, San Diego fumbled and lost the ball again, and this time fullback John Kuhn punched in his third touchdown of the game (2 rushing, 1 receiving).  The Chargers got the ball back , but Rivers threw an interception with 1:10 left in the game to seal the New Orleans win.

Final thought: What is wrong with Arizona?  They’ve already lost as many games as they did all last year (3).  Carson Palmer got himself injured (concussion) and backup Drew Stanton threw a pair of interceptions in his absence, contributing to the 5 Arizona turnovers on the day.  Injuries and coaching mistakes have hurt them so far, and I suspect they are not as deep as most believed going into the season.  If they don’t right the ship immediately, they will fade out of the playoff picture into obscurity.

Week 4 Predictions

Seattle has the best defense in the league and will win a 9-6 type game against the Jets.  Revis will be awesome, but so will the Legion of Boom.  Wilson and/or that backup guy Boykin will not be great, but I expect coach Carroll to preach ball control this week.  The offense should be able to avoid absolute disaster with a philosophy that preaches field position and possession.  For the Jets, Fitzpatrick will want to atone for the worst game of his career, throwing 6 interceptions and losing 2 fumbles against the Chiefs lest Sunday.  However, I expect the Seahawks defense to handle most of what he throws at them.  Should be a boring, defensive struggle with many rushing attempts.  Just how I like them.

Carolina has to get their offense on track against the Falcons, or they will get blown out.  Atlanta has started hot, but their defense is suspect and they could be exposed if Newton has a good day.  Conversely, if Newton keeps forcing throws and facing pressure, Atlanta’s defense could show us they are better than we think.

I, like many others in the sports world, am curious about the Bills at the Patriots.  Will New England have to sign a new quarterback?  Both of their backup quarterbacks are listed as probable for Sunday’s game, which doesn’t bode well against the Bills aggressive defense.  The Patriots’ quarterback will need to be able to scramble and take a hit once in a while.  But which Bills will show up?  They have been great, good, bad, and terrible at different times through 3 weeks this season.  It shall be interesting.

Happy Sunday!

Seahawks Blowout 49ers, Miami wins, Philadelphia Stomps Steelers

37-18.  Seahawks win, but Russel Wilson is hurt.  It’s hard to gauge the severity of his injury right now, but I expect that he will be limited until after next weeks’s bye.  The good news coming out of this victory came from the offensive line.  They played well as a unit on Sunday, allowing 2 sacks while providing adequate pass protection.  With Tommy Rawls injured, Christine Michael rushed for 106 yards on 20 carries with 2 touchdowns behind an offensive line that moved mountainous men and tore gaping holes in the defensive front.  Jimmy Graham played his best game as a Seahawk, with 6 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.  That rookie quarterback guy, Boykin, played satisfactorily in relief of Wilson, going 7 for 9 with a touchdown and an interception.  On defense, Deshawn Shead (pictured above) was a force at safety, forcing a fumble, and Bobby Wagner continued his MVP calibre season.  Is anyone else seeing this guy?  Man, he is unstoppable.  Overall, the defence looks good.  Jets on Sunday.

In other games, the alternate dimension Buffalo Bills showed up, laying a 33-18 whooping on heavily favoured Arizona.  The defense was menacing, the offensive line stood tall in front of Tyrod Taylor, and Lesean McCoy looked like an MVP candidate. I’m strangely proud of them; they surprised the hell out of me this week.  Minnesota is 3-0 after beating the Panthers 22-10, snapping Carolina’s 14 game home winning streak.  The Vikings persevered through injuries to Adrian Peterson and Matt Kalil last week, with quarterback Sam Bradford (2-0 as a starter with Minnesota), Kyle Rudolph (7 catches and a touchdown), and defensive lineman Everson Griffen (3 sacks) leading the team to a convincing victory over last years Superbowl runner-ups.  Baltimore is 3-0 and Jacksonville is 0-3 after the two teams played a near draw, with Baltimore winning 19-17 on a field goal with a minute remaining.  Philadelphia kicked the snot out of Pittsburgh, with Carson Wentz throwing for over 300 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Roethlisberger threw for 257 yards with an interception and was harassed all day by Philadelphia’s defensive front.  Penalties and a key end-zone drop also hurt the Steelers, and after the game coach Tomlin admitted that he was out-coached.

Miami got a win thanks to an 11-yard overtime touchdown run by Jay Ajayi.  Tannehill looked good again, throwing for 3 touchdowns and 319 yards.  Really, however, it was Cleveland’s newly signed kicker, Cody Parkey, who handed the game to Miami, missing 3 field goals, including a 46 yard attempt as regulation time expired.  Hue Jackson, coach of the Browns, refused to put the blame on Parkey’s shoulders, however, noting that the kicker had just been signed the day before due to Patrick Murray’s injury during Saturday’s practice.  In absolutely crazy news from that game, Terrelle Pryor (pictured below) became the first Cleveland player since 1977 to have multiple rushes, receptions, and passes in the same game.  He also played safety for one play.  I like Pryor more and more; he is an incredible all-round athlete, the closest thing we have in today’s game to an “iron man.”

Some NBA Records Broken Last Year

With the NBA season getting ready to start, here is one token basketball article.  Don’t expect more.

I don’t care about basketball.  I tolerate March Madness, and that is because college ball is a team game, complete with both game plans AND defense, novelties which do not exist in today’s NBA.  Last season I was in the Philippines during March Madness and only caught the Final Four and Finals (both were fantastic: competitive and exciting) after I returned to North America.  In the Philippines they adore basketball, but they only watch the NBA and PBA (Philippine Basketball Association), which features most of the top professional Philippine players.  However, in light of Golden State’s historic year, I feel it is apt to have a brief look at Lebron’s year before dragging you on a trip down memory lane to remember the 1995-6 Chicago Bulls and to look at how they compare to last year’s Warriors.

Firstly, Lebron James became the youngest player to reach 25000 points on Monday November 2, 2015, with roughly 8:10 remaining in the game between the Cavaliers and the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. James finished an alley-oop from Matthew Dellavedova to accomplish this feat at nearly thirty-one years old.  That breaks Kobe Bryant’s previous record of thirty-one and a few months.  As  Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal noted, he had previously broken Kobe’s records as the youngest to 10,000, 15,000, and 20,000 points.

I have never really given James the respect he deserves.  Or any respect.  Or even paid attention to him since he was drafted. There is no denying he has been a very talented player throughout his career, a sometimes champion, and that he even found a bit of humility this year in response to Kobe’s retirement and comparisons to Michael Jordan. But if basketball is boring, he is the most boring.  The best player on the court most nights, Lebron hasn’t won enough to get me excited, and has definitely whined too much for me to pay attention. Basketball players are predominantly freaks and whiners, but this record certainly puts him in the discussion of best ever.  He deserves recognition as such.

The Golden State Warriors went 73 – 9 last year, and how they did it was astonishing.  First they won twenty-four games to start the season.  The previous record was fifteen and they seemed like they might never lose.  During this run, they also broke the longest winning streak to start the season in any professional sport, the twenty straight wins of baseball’s 1884 St. Louis Maroons, one of the longest-standing records in all professional sports. The team also set an NBA record with their 54 consecutive regular season home winning streak, which spanned from January 31, 2015 to March 29, 2016.  They were absolutely dominant.

Steph Curry broke numerous three point records this past season as well, including his own NBA record for three pointers in a season of 286; he finished the 2015 – 16 season with 402. He made a three-pointer in 151 consecutive games, also an NBA record. Then, on February 27, 2016, Curry tied the NBA record of twelve three-pointers in a game, and shares that record with Donyell Marshall and Kobe Bryant.

The 1995 – 96 Chicago Bulls were the first NBA team to ever win 70 regular season games, and dominated the entire NBA. The Bulls then swept Miami in the first round of the playoffs, defeated the Knicks in five games in the second round, and swept Orlando in the Conference Finals. It took them six games to defeat Seattle (whose incredible performance that year was entirely overshadowed by the Bulls) in the finals, where they won their fourth NBA title in six seasons.  The Bulls had their weakest month in February of 1996, where they lost three of fourteen.  Jordan averaged over thirty points per game in both the regular season and the playoffs.

My memory of the Bulls that year (and that was one of the two years I actually paid attention to NBA basketball) was that it didn’t matter what the score was going into the fourth quarter, Jordan would keep them in it and then run away with the last four minutes to erase any deficits they may have accumulated.  Jordan did not break a number of individual records that year, the way Curry did last year, but the Bulls won almost every game all year and throughout the playoffs. There was no doubt from the first day of the season as to who the best team in the NBA was. The Warriors, however, had doubts cast upon them since pre-season.  Through it all they kept winning, but the only reason to have watched the NBA playoffs was that there were no Canadian teams in the NHL playoffs.  I do love sports history in the making, and it’s too bad they lost.  However, losing in the finals to LeBron is enough to prove to me that no matter how good Curry and the Warriors were, they will never be Jordan and the Bulls.

 

NFL WEEK 2: Seahawks Stumble, Vikings Surprise, WCOH is Kind of Dumb

Sloppy.  That’s the word I want Pete Carroll to use in the locker room when he describes the Seahawks 9-3 loss to the LA Rams on Sunday afternoon.  The Seahawks can’t complain about how loud the 91,046 fans in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum were either.  When your home stadium houses the 12th man, you cannot complain about noise, and regardless, 10 penalties is way too many.   Combine these penalties with a few poorly-timed fumbles and incomplete passes, as well as being 4 for 13 on third down, and it makes it difficult to score enough points to win.  Once again, the defense kept Seattle in the game, but 15 points is not enough to win 1 game, never mind 2.  Wilson played OK, but I think his ankle is bothering him more than he and the team have been letting on. On the defensive side, Wagner looked great again and Frank Clark looked hungry in his return from a calf injury.  I’m not sure I blame the offensive line for the lack of offensive production, but something has to shock them into action.  If trading for a bit more strength up front helps Wilson’s decision-making in the pocket it would be worthwhile to look for a mutually beneficial exchange with another team.

In other games, Indy’s defense showed us how much injuries can hurt you, when they failed to stop Detroit with less than a minute remaining and lost the game.  The Colts need to right the ship and pull out a few upsets if they want to win the weak AFC South division. Also in the AFC South, Jacksonville’s Blake Bortles showed his inexperience, tossing up 2 interceptions during the first half of their game against San Diego.  I suspect Bortles will be better in the following weeks.  Miami has surprised me two weeks in a row, just falling short of a comeback against the Patriots.  They looked good both weeks but are 0-2.  This was to be expected, playing the Seahawks and Patriots to open the season, but they showed heart in both contests.  I don’t think they will win many games this year, but they might beat the spread a lot.  The biggest surprise of the week was Minnesota defeating Green Bay.  Sam Bradford looked as good as Aaron Rodgers looked bad.  No turnovers helped the Vikings, as did 5 sacks and a swarming, hungry defense that refused to give Rodgers enough time and space to make plays.  If Minnesota’s defense plays like that every week they could win their division. They won’t surprise me again.

In other sports news, the World Cup of Hockey is underway.  I’m not sure what to think of this tournament.  I have heard that it is the NHL’s answer to Olympic hockey.  Olympic hockey is exciting and everyone watches and cheers for their home or adopted nation, but the NHL doesn’t make any money and has to re-arrange their schedule to accommodate the Olympics.  In the WCOH, the NHL sets the schedule, but almost no one I know is watching because it is right before the NHL season. We are all waiting for the real thing and watching football and baseball.  When you have a team named “Europe”, consisting of 8 nation’s players, and another named “North America” with all of the North American young stars it doesn’t feel like the real thing.  And what happens if a few superstars have season-ending injuries during this tournament?  It has the potential to diminish the NHL. I’m not sold on it, but I watch it because it’s the only hockey on.  And man, I love hockey. Go North America!  See, that just sounds dumb.