Football (Soccer) World Cup Challenge
  • Anyone else interested in doing a challenge for the upcoming FIFA World Cup (12 June - 13 July)? On any day, prepare a dish from a team that's playing that day and tag it FIFA 2014! You can find the dates and teams here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup#Group_stage
  • You mean on June 12, make something Brazilian or Croatian and so forth? Sounds like fun...I'm in.
  • Exactly. Some days there will be only one match, some days there will be up to four; once the group phase has ended, there will be a few days without any matches at all which we could use for catching up (or for all those countries that were eliminated before we had a chance at cooking their dishes :) ).
  • Hi guys, this does sound like fun. We might even have a kitchen some day... floor is in, drywall in progress, elec and plumbing in, cabinets and countertops purchased. I guess next week we start assembling cabinets. I'm pretty much set on buying the new Bosch benchmark appliances (induction cooktop, wall oven, and wall speed oven), but they are not yet available in Utah.
    I will see what I can do and join in. My cookbooks are 90% in storage, but there is a lot of awesomeness recipe-wise on the internet.
  • It would be really fun to make one dish for each country, and see if the winning dish corresponds to the winning team. Mexican - I can definitely do that.
  • Great that you're joining us! I just started to make a list what I'll cook when - I don't think I'll manage to make one dish for each country, but it would be really cool to at least try! I decided that I'll first to try to cover the countries that I think have less chances of reaching the round of 16, but of course that will always involve a little guesswork. And I might make an exception and start with Brazil, because it's the host country.

    Good to hear that your kitchen is progressing - sounds like you're nearly there!
  • The kitchen is getting closer, but it still seems a far way off. I worry a bit that I've become used to not cooking, and used to eating crappy food, maybe I won't want to cook so much.
    But probably its just been a good break. I have a Brazilian recipe selected for Thursday.
  • I've found a delicious-sounding Croatian shrimp recipe which I think I'll try out on Thursday--it's in the Olive book which I own but can't find (moving is hard) and there's a version of it in the April issue of Saveur and on their website. Hang in there, Queezle Sister--you will have a finished kitchen. In the meanwhile, I've been reading of all sorts of lovely things to be made in waffle irons which I keep adding to my to do/make list and I think of you each time. Isn't it fortunate though that you are doing this in the warm weather when it is so nice to cook outside and when there are such lovely things in the farm markets to put into salads or straight into your mouth.
  • Aw, I think once your kitchen is finished you'll be amazed at how easy it is to cook delicious, healthy food in a proper kitchen, and you'll never look back. And I do envy you for being able to BBQ, def not something we can do on our tiny balcony (we have a small bucket-style grill, but it's such a pain to use it...)

    Kateq, where are you moving, to another place within your town, or are your moving out of town?

    I'm looking forward to your dishes!
  • I did move--to another apartment near my old one. And I now know it's no easier to move to a place nearby than to one far away.
  • I'm going to try a Brazilian Black Bean Stew (Feijoada) from vegetarian times - using canned beans, it looks quite do-able. Not sure what makes it Brazilian, but black beans and sweet potatoes is always a winning combination in my book!
    Thanks everybody for your words of encouragement. Today I bought the special primer to seal the drywall. It is nice to have the good weather, but I think I need triple weekends so I can hike, garden, and work in the kitchen!
  • For all we know, they just might have followed this forum (I think you don't even need to be a member to do that) :)

    I just posted my first review, tagged 'FIFA 2014'; I also put the name of the country in the title of the recipe, in brackets. I thought about making Feijoada, too, but I don't think I'd get black beans (or manioc flour, another ingredient) around here.

    I decided to prepare something from Australia tomorrow. But what's typical for Australia, any ideas? Most things I come across on the internet seem pretty standard/international/British at best. DH suggested a Turducken, as he had once seen it on Masterchef Australia, but no way we'll do that.
  • A hamburger with the lot? That means a slice of beet and a fried egg. Or a pavlova?
    I don't know if I can make a FIFA dinner tomorrow, though the thought of a spanish dinner is enticing.
  • What about Anzac Cookies or a Lamington Slice?
  • I swear, my daughter has never before watched soccer. But she is watching the spain-netherlands game, and is so excited, and begging for something dutch for dinner!
  • It was exciting, wasn't it? And completely unexpected! Do you need inspiration for something Dutch?

    We ended up having Barramundi Burgers (with pangasius instead of barramundi), and indeed a Mango Passion Fruit Pavlova which was really good and quite easy to make. Before I bought the fish, I actually went to the butcher because I thought that he might sell kangaroo steaks - turns out he does, but only during game meat season (not because kangaroo has a season, but because that's the only season he can sell something like that).

    Tomorrow I think we'll do something Greek - that should be easy. Perhaps we'll just revisit the Greek village salad from The Olive?
  • I've worked out what I'll make during the next few days:

    14-Jun   GreeceGreek Village Salad(*)
    15-JunHonduras   Baleadas with Mango Avocado Salsa
    16-JunUSSpareribs, Coleslaw
    17-JunMexicoChilli con Carne
    18-JunChileEmpanadas (pref. vegetarian)
    19-JunJapansomething with fish?


    I find it unexpectedly difficult to work out when I should be cooking what, if you try to consider which teams might or might not reach the next round!

    *) Not the first time I've made this, does that count?
  • Oh my, only two groups have played their second game so far, and it's already obvious that I've backed the wrong horse twice....
  • Check out this post on Chow: http://www.chow.com/food-news/151945/world-cup-menu-global-score/?bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiIxNDA4MjM0In0=

    You're a real trendsetter, Friederike!

    I'm going to try and catch up with my reviews today. And who would have thought--Spain loses and US wins!!!
  • Ha, I doubt they needed inspiration! And yes, who would have thought - Spain, Portugal, England all out! (Portugal still has a tiny chance, in theory, but I don't think they'll manage - they would have to play Ghana something like 4:0 and the US would have to lose, or Germany loses and Portugal would need even more goals).
  • I've had too many things going to participate in this challenge, but follow with interest -- it's such a fun idea. This morning I was reading (a bit belatedly) through a French cooking magazine (Vie Pratique Gourmand) and laughed to find an article ("No red card for dinner") about eating for the world cup ... eating on trays in front of the TV, including recipes from all participating countries. The US entry is a Club sandwich BLT (bacon, laitue, tomate).
  • Finally got a couple of my reviews in :
    for Croatia, Skampi na Buzaru, a delicious and very simple shrimp dish from the book, "Olives"
    for Mexico, (stretching it a little) Black Bean Chile from the Times website for Recipes for Health--really good chile.

    more to come eventually.
  • Glad you joined in! I found it pretty hard at the end, both to still know what I needed to cook, and to keep the motivation up. I'm glad I can go back to retesting old recipes now. :)
  • I made more things but just haven't had time to review
    I did watch more soccer than ever before
  • Ha, what a funny side effect that it made you watch more football!

    I'm not a fan of cycling (at least not watching it), and I'm still too exhausted from the football challenge, otherwise I would have suggested to a Tour de France-challenge, a dish for each region they're cycling through - but only if I don't have to watch it! Maybe next year?
  • Love these cross-over challenges. Maybe some day a challenge for world peace by making foods of regions with conflict (eg Israel/Palestine )?

    And yes, kitchen is perpetually 6-8 weeks away.
  • Oh, I like that idea! There actually is an International Day of Peace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace) - and it's a pity I didn't know and had to look it up. It's September 21st, but that shouldn't withhold us from celebrating it earlier, if we want to - every day should be World Peace Day...

    I won't have time in the next 3 weeks or so, but after that, I'm in. QS, 6-8 weeks means your kitchen might be ready just in time for Sept 21st, right? Should we stick to Sept 21st?
  • Sept 21 might be reasonable. Let's do that! And yes, Friederike, I agree we should have world peace day every day.
  • Ditto!
    Would be so nice if the news were about peace treaties and cease fires instead of....

    I love the idea of the Tour de France challenge--and I too only want to cook, not watch.

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