Three Beautiful Things 09-23-2022: Golfing Thrills and Chills, Potato Soup, Dark Side of Academic Ambition

1. When the result of a golf match, like today's President Cup, really isn't in question, why watch? I watch, not so much because there's suspense, but because I'll see expert shot making and some scintillating moments. That's what happened today. I mean, there I was, at the end of a day pretty much dominated by the USA side, watching the final match between the teams of Max Homa/Billy Horschel (USA) and Taylor Pendrith/Corey Connors (International). 

Coming into the 17th hole, the match was tied and Max Homa buried a twelve (or was it seventeen?) foot putt, putting the USA ahead by a hole. On the 18th hole, Taylor Pendrith sank a putt from over fifteen feet to register a birdie for him and his teammate. Max Homa faced, for the second hole in a row, a birdie putt of about twelve feet. If he misses it, the match ends up tied; if he makes it, the USA wins the last match of the session.

Here's what's cool: because this was the last match of the day, all the players from both teams and their spouses and both team captains and their assistants were at the side of the green watching to see if the USA would pick up a full point or split that point with the International team.

As Max Homa put it later, speaking of his teammates, he faced this putt "with the ten best players in the world watching". Yeah, that's hyperbole, but that's how it felt to Homa -- and it's not exaggerating to say that given the situation and given who was watching, it was a pressure packed putt for Homa.

And he sank it.

I got chills, goosebumps, came out of my chair, the works. 

What a blast!

2. I chopped up onion, celery, potatoes, and a yam, put the pieces in a bowl and added some salt, pepper, and flour. I tossed them. 

I melted about a third of a cup of butter in the Dutch oven.

I added the potato mixture, covered the mixture with water, and brought the water to a boil. I then added a mixture of milk and half and half. 

I turned the heat down way low and let the potato mixture cook until everything was tender.

In about 40 minutes or so, like magic, a pot of potato soup was ready for dinner.

While the soup simmered, I chopped up red onion, cucumber, and garden fresh tomatoes and left them undressed. Debbie added an oil and vinegar combination to these vegetables when she arrived home. 

3. I ended my day in bed with Copper and Luna and watched another episode of Inspector Lewis. It was a whopper featuring a circle of academic professionals whose greed for money, accomplishment, and fame led them to practice fraud and commit murder. Lewis and Hathaway got to the bottom of it, exposing the dark side of academic ambition.