David Swidler is eating, drinking, and cooking his way through all 32 World Cup countries, much like he does at his site cookingvssports.com.
A popular storyline in the sports media (which is therefore completely moronic) is whether or not the U.S. will be able to overcome the Koman job they got at the end of the Slovenia game in order to focus on Algeria.
Well, while the American team has to get over a bad call, the Algerians had to overcome almost getting killed to defeat the favored Egypt team just to qualify. After violence in Cairo, their next match was moved to the Sudan to lessen the chance of violence–that’s right, moved to the Sudan to lessen the chance of violence.
As my friend Jason pointed out, “Nothing steels the mind like having rocks thrown at you.”
In honor of this game, I made couscous and Marquez, a North African sausage we purchased at Uli’s, this project’s official sausage vendor (whether they like it or not).
My wife (sorry ladies) seemed skeptical. “I don’t think they eat sausage in Muslim countries.” When I asked her what she knew about the Islamic world, she pointed out that she was half Turkish. Huh? As soon as the World Cup ends, I plan on learning more about her.
Merquez is made from lamb and beef, which is then placed in a lamb casing, making it Allah/Yahweh approved. The taste is very similar to Cajun andouille sausage. Here we are thinking that France is this very elitist, culinarily advanced civilization, when in fact they are using their former colonies to traffic spicy hot dogs.
Couscous is of course always good, and much like sand, seems to stay in my shoes for days. However, I added to chili powder to this batch so it would match the spiciness of the Marquez.
My mouth baked in spices, I now feel ready to focus on what we have to do on Wednesday morning. Not pee ourselves if Algeria scores within the first fifteen minutes.
Probably my favorite Egyptian diplomat is Couscous Couscous-Ghali. Used to fist bump that brother in the hallway back in my UN days.