Overnight Oats

If you haven't heard of overnight oats, then where have you been for the past five years? Its the only foodstuff I can think of which references the passage of time in such a whimsial, evocative manner. Its kind of like cold porridge but nicer, because cold porridge is pretty rank. Well, I say nicer. I've never had it.

My girlfriend says its a waste of space and doesn't fill you up in the slightest, but I don't believe her so I'm going to try it out myself tomorrow. I won't have finished writing this post by the time the evening is over, so by the end of this review you'll also have my opinion on the fabled OO to look forward to.

But onto the main course - The University of East Anglia have only been on three times in the BBC era, never making it beyond the second round; Strathclyde have been slightly more successful, with one quarter final under their belt in seven appearances.

I was considering starting this post off with a bit where I feign to be labouring under the misapprehension that the United Arab Emirates had somehow entered a team on UC. It would have been far more difficult to pull off than the lightweight paragraph about breakfast foods, so I'm quite glad to have opted against it.

There were going to be references to previous posts in which I discussed state-sponsored buyouts of University Challenge teams, about how I didn't think such a thing could have happened so soon. Navigating the politics of a state-sponsored buyout would have been far more difficult than dealing with the politics of overnight oats, especially if I was trying to make a joke about it. Which is not to say that 'you can't joke about anything these days', just that it would have been hard to do so without thinking harder than I have the energy to think on this Bank Holiday evening.

Anyway, here's your first starter for ten, and it goes to MacDowell of Strathclyde, capitalising on an error from UEA's Shiress. They take a single bonus on Guggenheims before Yates gets UEA on the board with a starter about Cheers. One can only salut her. Two bonuses on video games tie the game.

A very Glaswegian Moneyball from skipper Gault takes the lead back for Strathie, earning them a bonus set on amino acids, which seem to be Reid's area of expertise, or at least one of the topics she was tasked with revising.

UEA captain Tobin is first to recognise a diagram of a nephron on the first picture round, which is of course the functional unit of the kidney (one of the few things I remember from an ill-fated year studying human biology, of which my main achievement was falling asleep standing up after being made to stand up for falling asleep at my desk). The loop of Henle is the only one of the sub-sections which UEA recognise on the bonuses, and its the only one I remembered too. Must have been asleep for the rest of that lesson.

Rajan then lets Jennings off for saying 'in res media' instead of 'in media res' on the next starter. It would have perhaps been harsh to penalise him for it, but it felt weird to allow it. Tobin gets a telling off for buzzing early, and wrongly, with cult instead of blue on the next starter, when the question had asked for an adjective, with Rajan pointing out, as I'm sure Tobin wasn't aware, that cult isn't an adjective.

Going into the music round, things are quite close, with only twenty points separating the two sides. But when Tobin is quickest with The Buggles, and they take a hat-trick with Grace Jones, Belle and Sebastian and Frankie Goes to Hollywood (which would be a great, if odd, triple bill), UEA relaxed and took control.

Strathclyde weren't going to let them go though, and three-in-a-row from MacDowell, including two in a row featuring rolled Rs in his magnificent Scottish brogue (roti and rotten borough) got them back within thirty points. Gault takes a good starter with Things Fall Apart, and they rattle off a hat-trick on German footballers, but UEA had had enough of this comeback and laid down the hammer, ending the match on an 80-0 run.

UEA 235 - 125 Strathclyde

A game that felt a lot closer for much of the runtime, but the scoreline doesn't flatter UEA, who look pretty strong. Commiserations to Strathie, who fall at the first hurdle despite Gault's formidable beard and MacDowell's formidable Rrrs.

Join me next week when The Open University take on Hertford College, Oxford. Actually, it probably won't be next week, because I'm walking the West Highland Way next week. So you're going to have to subscribe here because I don't know when the post is going to be out.

Oh, and the Overnight Oats were great, even though my peanut butter was a bit claggy.