Messi or Shaqiri?
I looked long and hard and found this Argentinean recipe: Carbonada Criolla:
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1.5 pounds stewing beef, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 cups beef broth
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 white potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large winter squash, peeled and cubed
7 ounces dried apricots, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
In a large pot, sauté the onions, green pepper, and garlic in the olive oil until golden and soft.
Add the beef and cook on medium-high heat, turning to brown all sides.
Add the stewed tomatoes, beef broth, potatoes, sugar, squash, and apricots, and lower heat to a simmer.
Cover and simmer over low heat for one hour. Taste for seasoning, and season with salt and pepper. Add more beef broth if stew seems too thick.
Cook for about a half hour longer, until beef is tender. Stir in the frozen corn, and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes more.
Serves 6 to 8.
Beyond fondue and Swiss Steak, my knowledge of Swiss main dishes is pretty weak. I found this one and it seems somewhat different: Grison Beef Stew:
1 1/2 pounds beef brisket
1 large head cabbage
1 tablespoon margarine
8 ounces bacon, cooked and cubed
1/2 cup sliced onion
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch ground nutmeg
1 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock
Cut out the main stem of the cabbage and discard the thick stems of the outer leaves. Wash well and boil for 5 minutes in salted water. Drain and reserve.
Heat the butter in a heavy ovenproof casserole dish and fry the bacon and onions for 2 to 3 minutes. Add bay leaves, salt, pepper and a pinch of Nutmeg.
Cut meat into thick slices and place on the bacon and onion mixture. Add wine and beef stock, bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Now add a layer of cabbage Leaves, cover tightly and simmer very gently for another hour.
SRW1
The resident football deity on this blog has tempted us with many a prospects of an upset in the making in this knock-out round without coming through in the end.
Surely, today’s the day!
Oh, and may it be a twofer!
raven
So did ya’ll know that the brit lady on ESPN is:
In 2010 Lynsey Hipgrave Hipgrave became a presenter on Al Jazeera on their English language sports channel (Al Jazeera Sports +3) on their Champions League shows[5] alongside Gary Lineker.[6] She was the main anchor on Al Jazeera’s coverage of the World Athletics Championships alongside Colin Jackson and Denise Lewis, the US Open Tennis Final, WTA Championships and the Asian Games.
Tone In DC
Go Swiss team! Beat those diving, flailing Argentinians with that hardcore neutrality!!
Also, too… Barackman Hussein Overdrive is a smooth (pie) criminal.
http://wonkette.com/553273/barack-obama-yup-im-on-crack#more-553273
HumboldtBlue
I am going to try that Swiss stew. Otherwise, their defense is full of more holes than their famous cheese.
Messi leads the Nazi-hiders to a 3-1 victory.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
Argentina’s defense is crap. Could be a high-scoring game.
Amir Khalid
@SRW1:
We deities are capricious. Deal with it.
SRW1
@Randy Paul aka Randinho:
If Shakiri and Drmic are up for it, otherwise it could be a bit loopsided.
Davis X. Machina
Swiss? Roesti! (or Rösti!)
raven
TEXTING DURING THE GAME!!!!
Alain
Tough day for Alain. Rooting for CH and USA but fully expecting both to succumb to superior teams. Oh futbol deity, please inspire these teams to victory so that I can go crazy on Sat when they would then play each other!
shelley
Take-away from all these recipes. South America really loves it’s meat!
Amir Khalid
The match has taken a while to warm up, but it’s getting there.
HumboldtBlue
@shelley: The word I have heard is that you haven’t had a really good piece of beef until you’ve had beef from Paraguay, Uruguay, or Argentina.
Paul in KY
@Tone In DC: Gotta root for West Hemisphere Nazis over the East Hemisphere ones.
SRW1
@Amir Khalid:
No net huudle!
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@HumboldtBlue: Brazilian beef is pretty good as well. Pretty much all of South America raises grass-fed free range beef.
SRW1
Apparently, Romero didn’t have time to watch Neuer yesterday in the new keeper-sweeper role.
Gin & Tonic
@HumboldtBlue: I have eaten beef in Argentina. It is fantastic.
HumboldtBlue
@Randy Paul aka Randinho: @Gin & Tonic: I am fortunate in this region dominated by Swiss/Portagee/Italian immigrants who were into dairy and beef cattle. Plenty of Humboldt grass fed beef to be had.
smintheus
Was that really 45 minutes? Or did the ref just get so bored he fast forwarded the clock?
Randy Paul aka Randinho
I hasten to add that grass-fed free range beef has as much cholesterol as chicken.
pete
@smintheus: I think that ability is above the ref’s pay grade. The deity may have intervened.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@HumboldtBlue: Just out of curiousity, where exactly are you.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@HumboldtBlue:
For FSM’s sake, man, don’t make any burgers for MoDo!
SRW1
Maybe my short term memory is failing me, but what was on offer so far looked like the most boring game in this knock-out round. Does Messi have a day off?
Amir Khalid
Fortunately, the Argentinian recipe is halal.
Meanwhile, we seem to have the first dud game of the knockout stages. The Swiss attack hasn’t found the holes in a
cheesyfeeble Argentine defence. But I think they will, eventuallyValdivia
The Argentinian team not looking that great today.
HumboldtBlue
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Good point, I never thought of that.
HumboldtBlue
@Randy Paul aka Randinho: Humboldt County, Northern California coast, 90 miles below the Oregon line.
raven
@HumboldtBlue: Damn hippies,
raven
A friend of mine does grass beef in South Georgia,
HumboldtBlue
@raven: Yes, yes, damn hippies mixed with rural California’s version of the Klan.
If the university were not here neither myself nor thousands of others would be here. It’s rural agrarian conservatives and left-leaning, book-smart-alecks with a soupcon of travelers, hermits and back-to-nature-yurt-dwelling-dreadlocked-nutbags and other than a need for a bit more ethnic diversity (it’s whitey white-ville for the most part) it’s the most fascinating place I have ever lived.
HumboldtBlue
And the marijuana is out of this world.
Svensker
How about some chimichurri?
burnspbesq
ESPN is reporting Vermaelen out, Kompany doubtful (game-time decision). Jozy is available, but I agree with Steve Nicol. It would be madness to play him unless he’s really 100 percent.
burnspbesq
USA will be in all white. The only Bomb Pops will be on the ice cream truck.
HumboldtBlue
@burnspbesq: Jozy needs to sit and there is one more Belgian missing that I can’t think of, but they are deep. Losing Kompany could help the US, however.
raven
@HumboldtBlue: Temporary Humbolt County
smintheus
Guardian: “Messi, like most of the watching public, doesn’t seem to be enjoying the match so far.”
raven
@smintheus: No shit, I took a sick day for this!
Calouste
The Vatican has some sense of humor:
http://twitter.com/PCCS_VA/status/483930744893751296/photo/1
HumboldtBlue
Swiss are getting cheesy-soft
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@raven:
That’s a typo by s/he who uploaded. It’s “Temporarily Humboldt County”. It’s the origin of part of my screen name.
smintheus
@raven: Are you sick of it yet?
raven
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I’m lazy, cut and paste from the tube.
burnspbesq
@HumboldtBlue:
Vanden Borre is done for the tournament.
According to NBC, Fellaini sat out most of yesterday’s practice.
Gonna be quite the Everton meetup in the tunnel before the match. If Donovan were there, he would make five current or former Toffs in this match.
raven
@smintheus: Actually my stomach was bad enough that I barely slept. Laid back down at 7 and slept to 10:00. Since I have 22 weeks of sick leave banked I figured I’d be ok.
pseudonymous in nc
This is turning into the “round of big teams making hard work of it, but winning”. Though Argentina hasn’t got to the winning part yet.
Paul in KY
@raven: Wonder what ‘grass finished’ means. To me, that’s a specific term that means something lawyers want it to mean.
Amir Khalid
How do you guys feel about this match going to extra time and then penalties?
raven
@Paul in KY: Yea I had never heard of that either.
http://www.bradysbeef.com/grass-finished-beef.html
“[Finished] means that the animal is physically mature in skeleton and muscle and that it has some fatty tissue as well. This fatty tissue will be both exterior of the muscle (fat cover) and also interior of the muscle (marbling). Much (not all) of the flavor and tenderness of the beef will be related to the fat content of the beef.”
smintheus
@Paul in KY: It means they were fed on grass forage their entire lives, in other words they weren’t grain finished.
raven
@Amir Khalid: Seems to me, without really understanding tactics (despite Inverting the Triangle) that these games are like superbowls where teams play it close to the vest because they don’t want to make the mistake that kills them/
burnspbesq
Nice save, but Benaglio needed to control the rebound. He got whacked for his troubles. Should have been a foul on the Argentine player.
Paul in KY
@smintheus: Could it mean they were started out on grain & then ‘finished’ on grass?
raven
“Fuck off” seems to be universal!
burnspbesq
Hey, nice mouth on you, Mascherano.
Paul in KY
@raven: Thank you for the answer/link, Raven.
raven
@Paul in KY:
SRW1
@Amir Khalid:
Nooooooooooo!!!!!
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@HumboldtBlue: I went to San Francisco State in the ’70’s and made a couple of trips up your way, chiefly to go salmon fishing in Crescent City. Love the scenery there.
HumboldtBlue
@burnspbesq: Clean play, they got to the ball simultaneously.
Also, for the beef convo, grass fed beef can also taste very, well, grassy and the quality can be very spotty at times.
raven
@Paul in KY: If only I ate the stuff!
Amir Khalid
@raven:
It’s a consequence of the knockout (“play-off”, in American sports English) format. In league play one defeat out of thirty-odd matches is not so consequential, but lose in a knockout and it’s bye-bye.
burnspbesq
Messi is underrated as a defensive midfielder. He can be quite the little pain in the ass tracking back.
HumboldtBlue
@burnspbesq: What has always impressed me is his balance and his unwillingness to go down after a slight shove or bump if he can maintain control of the ball.
How many opponents have knocked into him expecting him to fall and he scoots right past them dribbling into the box for a score?
Paul in KY
@raven: Thank you, sir!
Edit: Now I’m hungry.
burnspbesq
Palacio, what is up with that hair?
SRW1
Cute, that weather vane Palacio is sporting.
raven
@Amir Khalid: One and done baby. We do it in the hoop and football.
Paul in KY
@raven: Will have to figure out where I can get some around Central Kentucky.
pete
Our Messi, who art on the pitch, Lionel be thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily goal, and forgive us our yawns, as we also have forgiven our commentators. And lead thy people into the quarters, and deliver us from the round of 16.
raven
@Paul in KY: Try this.
Randy Paul aka Randinho
@burnspbesq: Agreed. He’s got an amazing work rate.
burnspbesq
Neither side is pulling out of any tackles. Could be Arsenal c. 1995.
Violet
I haven’t been able to watch the match. I see its no score draw. How has it gone?
raven
@Violet: No stoppage time, that must say something!
SRW1
@Violet:
Terse.
burnspbesq
@Violet:
One-way traffic, but the Swiss have been organized and compact at the defensive end. They are one good counter away from stealing it.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
If they have one good counter-attack in them.
Calouste
@pseudonymous in nc:
I have expectations for the USA-Belgium game, considering it is played in Salvador, where so far this tournament the scores have been 1-5, 4-0, 2-5 and 3-1.
burnspbesq
Guardian is reporting that Nigel DeJong is done for the tournament.
Amir Khalid
@Calouste:
Which end of the score do you expect the USA to be on?
burnspbesq
Amir, you will be happy to learn … Adam Lallana is a Red.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
Terrific! I know Brendan will work wonders with him. And he’s not prone to biting people.
ETA: Xherdan Shaqiri is also a Liverpool target.
JPL
@burnspbesq: That’s sad.
burnspbesq
Mascherano with the very model of a cynical, professional foul.
japa21
Okay, who has the better goal keeper when it comes time for the penalty kicks?
burnspbesq
After his days at Arsenal, I think of Djourou as synonymous with “disaster,” but he’s been pretty good today.
Violet
thanks everyone. I’m hoping to get to watch the US match later in the day. Had to sacrifice watching this one now.
Paul in KY
@raven: Thanks again, Raven. There’s a co-op in Lexington that has it & I shop there from time to time.
Must say, I can get a lot of work done in a boring soccer game :-)
burnspbesq
Nice work by the holding referee to disrupt a Swiss counter.
Punchy
Cant believe this score is nil-nil. Scoring WAY down now that point differential doesn’t factor in….
burnspbesq
If I were Swiss I’d really be bitching about the officiating. Referee seems to be taking the position that “if you’re stupid enough to try to run through a double-team, I’m not bailing you out when you get hacked.”
Calouste
@Amir Khalid:
2-2, Belgium through on penalties.
pete
@burnspbesq: Surely the Swiss would be bitching about the time-keeping, just on generally cuckoo principles?
raven
Well there is that.
burnspbesq
Well, shit.
burnspbesq
@pete:
With a Swiss watch company as a major sponsor of the tournament? That would be very American of them.
burnspbesq
NOW you’re going to see some cynical hacking.
Alex S.
Hmm, so which team, all games considered, has looked the best so far? Colombia…
pete
@burnspbesq: Well, the first half ran fast and the extra time has now run just a couple of minutes slow …
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
You can say that again.
ETA: Switzerland could have won this in the 90 minutes with halfway decent finishing. And they should have.
burnspbesq
Argentina’s bacon saved by the post.
hildebrand
Our television just died. Picture started to deteriorate and then it winked out completely. Audio is fine, video is gone.
Paul in KY
Argentina scored somehow.
SRW1
Well, at least I got my bike fixed.
Onkel Fritze
Look at that. The Swiss have to score and suddenly they turn dangerous up front. Kind of makes me wonder if they have wasted most of the game. And….over.
Valdivia
@Alex S.:
Agreed. That team is special.
burnspbesq
One sloppy pass, and the Swiss are done.
Alex S.
@Onkel Fritze:
A lot of teams have played very, very cautiously (edit: in these knockout games) – maybe too cautiously as you point out. I got the impression that the whole german team was playing with a constant cost-benefit analysis in mind.
pseudonymous in nc
@Punchy:
Scoring down now that the strongest teams are facing very slightly weaker teams and it’s a stand-off to see which side is prepared to take risks first. The quarter-finals are likely to level things out again.
So far, all the group winners have advanced, so it’s left to the USA to break that trend.
burnspbesq
@Calouste:
That sure ain’t happening. Saint Timmeh is stronger than any arbitrary and capricious deity.
⚽️ Martin
@Alex S.: What part of ‘German’ didn’t you understand?
Onkel Fritze
@Alex S.: Re the German team, I don’t think so. They just didn’t handle the Algerian defense very well. It was one of those days where nothing really worked, especially in the first half. You just don’t loose yout balls like that as a result of a cost-benefit analysis.
Alex S.
@Onkel Fritze:
I agree that Germany was pretty bad during the first half, but they got better the less time they had left (to equalize after a possible algerian goal). And they kept the Algerians away from their goal even if it meant not being able to attack themselves. That algerian goal at the very end makes sense this way… Germany just didn’t care about defending anymore and that one goal did no harm.
That’s just the best example of how scared the teams have been making the one deadly mistake. The difference between the lively group stage with lots of goals and the knockout stage with the majority of games going into extra time is striking.
burnspbesq
Strange lineup for the USA. Cameron in for Beckerman?