Drink your way to the World Cup final!

Will England's Newcastle Brown Ale make it to the semis?
Or will Serbian brew Jelen beat them in the Round of 16 first?

The good folks over at Slashfood have developed a World Cup bracket substituting beer for teams. Here's a taste:

With the World Cup in full swing (games started early this morning), we wanted to hop on the soccer bandwagon Slashfood-style -- and that means a little something to drink, of course... In this case, we chose beers from around the world. Thirty-two countries, 32 different beers -- one for each country represented in the games -- all hand picked by our beer guru, Josh Bernstein.

Starting next Wednesday, Slashfood is starting it's own little tournament -- the Slashfood 2010 World Cup Beer Bracket. That morning, we'll open up the polls on Facebook and Twitter to see which beer you think should make it to the finals.

After the jump, get a head start on your picks with an in depth look at all 32 beers well be using for the tourney. Don't forget, the first round picks two winners from each group. A total of 16 beers will advance.

Algeria: Tango Though Islamic tradition forbids alcohol, beer has taken a foothold in this North African nation. The most popular tipple is the light Tango lager.

Argentina: Quilmes Cristal This light, pale-golden lager dominates the country's beer scene.

Australia: Foster's Hoist a hefty can of this Aussie lager when cheering on the footballers from Down Under.

Brazil: Skol Though the caipirinha is Brazil's national drink, the country's most common beer is this clear, bubbly thirst-quenching pilsener. .

Some of their selections are iffy (Foster's, really?), but kudos for finding and knowing about beers from North Korea and Cote d'Ivoire. Now just to track down which are available in BC:

BC Liquor stores
Private liquor stores in BC (where you'll pay more)

The Spanish Cruzcampo isn't available at BC Liquor stores, so I'm substituting Estrella Damm, a nice light lager from Barcelona. Good drinking to you all, and may the best beer win.

Professor Peter Ladner

Ever wonder what Peter Ladner is up to these days? It recently came to my attention that he is teaching urban studies for a semester or two at SFU, for their notable Semester in Dialogue program:

The Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue addresses what we believe is the principal challenge for contemporary education: to inspire students with a sense of civic responsibility, encourage their passion to improve Canadian society, and develop innovative intellectual tools for effective problem solving. Each semester we develop an original and intensive learning experience that uses dialogue to focus student education on public issues.

This is from the SFU release from October:

Under the project title Planning Cities as if Food Matters, Ladner will teach in the spring 2010 Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue program Finding Space, Understanding Place: Redesigning our Region for Resilience.

He will also be researching and writing a book of the same name and participating in related workshops and dialogues.

It's probably a good fit for the former councilor and mayoral candidate, who championed community gardens as a councilor. Not as soft a landing as Larry Campbell, but a lot more clear than what Sam Sullivan is up to.

PS. I'm trying to upload a photo but my lovable laptop, aftera bout with sickness, is refusing to cooperate. I really wanted a photoshopped image of Mr. Ladner in a straw hat.

Spanish adventures #2

Our time in lovely San Sebastian is coming to an end. What a gorgeous city. Ruined only by our stay in a dirty hostel, the only place under 100 euros a night we could find.

Arwen, you were right, they do throw garbage on the floor of tapas bars. And they stub their cigarettes out on the floor. It´s really weird.

I got a little sunburned, true to form. Then it clouded over, sparing me the embarrassment of being the sunburned tourist on the beach.

The tapas (pintxos) here are amazing. Ridiculously rich. Barcelona was quite a disappointment on the food front, but while San Sebastian does have its fair share of low quality eateries, there are some absolutely amazing places.

Yesterday we climbed the small hill/park to the castle. There are cannons in it from the early 16th century. And there´s a graveyard dedicated to English soldiers who gave their lives to defend the town in a war in the 1830´s, against the Carlists. Something I´d like to look into. Putting a damper on the walk were the swastikas everywhere, looked to be the work of one person, but on almost every bench and sign.

Today we´re going for a morning swim (the beach is a few blocks away), then coffee and croissants for breakfast, shopping for supplies and off to the train station for a trip to the Mediterranean coast of France. Au revoir!

Spanish adventures

Hey all. I may try to write some travel stuff here, depending on how often Nina and I make it to an internet place. So far:

Travel was 24 hours from door to door. Ugh. The Seattle airport is dreadful: crap food, crap appearance. Amsterdam airport, on the other hand, was quite pleasant. I had a beer on the flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, 10am local time. Free. Nice work, KLM.

Barcelona is hot and sweaty. If you know what I mean, and I think you do. Wine is cheap, food isn´t. Our room is tall and small and has a balcony overlooking a pretty street. There are Bar Cafeterias on almost every corner that sell coffee, booze, pastry and sandwiches.

So far we´ve seen only a few homeless people, and only been asked for money twice. Maybe they all stayed away after being moved out for the Olympics in 1992?

Every building here is interesting. Every single one, for real. And the beach is right downtown. We went swimming in the Mediterranean last night, and it was warm and cleaner than Kits Beach. The benefits of not being a major port, I guess.

My Spanish is so weak, I couldn´t even remember how to say ´bed´.

Until next time.
B

My urban garden (May 23, 2008)

By urban I mean tiny, and on my balcony. I have planted herbs, two tomato plants (thanks, Lynn) and a strawberry this year. I have also saved two herb plants that barely held on this winter.

Herbs: Three thyme plants, flat parsley, celery leaf (not sure if this is a real plant), garlic chives (seem flavourless so far), oregano and two basil groupings. I can buy huge bunches of basil in my neighbourhood for $1, so the basil groupings are as much for fun as anything else.

I realized last year that growing food plants was neither economical (see basil comment above) nor particularly productive. I think I got 5 tomatoes last year. For me the reward is in seeing the plants grow, handling them when I re-pot, and having green things gently blowing in the breeze while I sit on my miniscule balcony and read in the sun.