Fans of Brazil will be delighted that against all expectations Big Phil Scolari abandoned his obsession with defending and reverted to the beautiful game. Brazil beat Turkey in the game of the tournament so far. Very interesting history of football from a Brazilian perspective here.
Elsewhere, in the real family world I managed to disguise a load of vegetables inside some meatballs and a tomato sauce, thus ensuring the kids got their annual dose of goodness. Also managed to convince myself that adding a quarter of a pint of Creme Fraiche to the chocolate , egg yolks, milk, cream, and sugar that went into my ice cream making endeavours rendered it healthy. I felt better for it anyway.
I managed to let the whole jubilee thing largely pass me by. Mainly by not setting foot outside the house, in fact barely leaving the kitchen. Browsing around the New York Times, which requires free registration, I fell upon its book pages and was delighted to find a first chapters section. I had noticed last week on a trip to Waterstones that Richard Russo had a new book out. Didn't buy it as I was carrying armfuls of books for the entire family as it was. The N.Y.T not only had the first chapter of the book (Empire Falls), but a 20 minute clip of Russo reading from it. I am amazed the guy isn't better known. His characters are all real characters that you cannot help but warm to and his sense of place is spot on.