Daily Loaf

I’ve said it so many times when I cook: Simple is always better. Sure, sometimes I get mired down in complex recipes, but a handful of great ingredients with just the right touch of care always bring the greatest rewards. That couldn’t be truer than in this duck and scallop dish.

I found this gem on a menu in Stonington Borough, Connecticut — a charming little seaside village.  Water Street Café is a quaint, eclectic restaurant that is always busy, even in the dog days of winter. The fare is remarkably fresh and creative. Every meal I’ve eaten there (and I’ve had many) has been terrific.

Particularly, I’ve been fond of a very simple preparation of duck and scallops they serve. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a little something to admit…

I have been wanting to get this off my chest for basically the entire tournament. My contributor page only tells part of the story. I grew up in Tampa and I went to the University of South Florida for my undergraduate studies. Currently, I am enrolled in post-graduate program at the Michigan State University.

AND IT FEELS SO GOOD.

To a large extent, I’ve tried to avoid any sort of in-depth analysis or discussion of State. While I can usually be relatively unbiased, I just did not know how to assess this team. As you saw from my bracket, I had them losing in the Elite 8. I would not have been particularly surprised to see them lose in the Round of 32, or to see them push all the way through to the Final Four. It’s not that I doubted my boys, it’s that I just sorta did not know where my own personal cynicism ended and my true analysis started.

So, as much as I would love to scream from the rooftops about how excited I am that they made it to the Championship collision, I just cannot and will not subject you to that. I just needed to get that off my chest. I felt like I was being, you know, deceptive or whatever.

Instead, I’m going to talk about something that struck me last night … in a good way. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so everyone has been quick to point out how imperfect my bracket is. Like I always say, “always forward, never back”.  Despite that spirit, let’s take a look back at some of the points that have stuck through the regional finals:

Before I do a little Region by Region breakdown, let me point out one thing that might not be obvious, but had a huge impact in this tournament. I’ll call it “Why Villanova is in the Final Four and Missouri Is not” (really rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?).

Mizzou v. Connecticut was an extremely intriguing matchup because of the differences in styles of play. UConn is big, Mizzou is quick. Mizzou pushes the ball and gets to the rack, and plays smothering, help oriented defense. Uconn matches up and tries to funnel to its big boys down low. Going into this game two things were a given. The first, the Tigers were going to force turnovers. The second, UConn would win the battle of the boards. The key to this game was clearly “could Mizzou’s pressure and guard play stifle UConn and allow the Tigers to run past the Huskies, or would UConn’s size, strength, and glass play rule the day?” Read the rest of this entry »