Monica's Milanesa

 Our daughter-in-law, Monica, is a fabulous cook.  We discovered that soon after they moved to the US when she made delicious gnocchi, hand shaped pasta made from potatoes.  Now she has started her own small business making and selling Argentine food.  

Milanesa are well seasoned, breaded chicken cutlets.  They are pounded thin, lightly breaded and cooked quickly.  Monica bakes her own bread and makes a milanesa sandwich.  

For dessert she makes a very typical cookie called alfajores.  Here is a perfect description I found of them.  'Irresistible Argentinian Alfajores are a soft, sweet and crumbly shortbread sandwich cookie filled with dulce de leche', which is caramelized milk.  It tastes a bit like caramel.

So fun to see Monica using her cooking skills while John hones his small business talents to promote and expand their reach.

During the summer they have been successfully selling once a month at their apartment clubhouse.

I am proud of them.

 

Two Champions

For soccer loving people like us these last weeks have been spent enjoying game after game after game.  The European Football Championship, commonly called the Euros AND the Copa America happened during the same weeks.  National teams from Europe compete in the Euros and teams from South American countries (with a couple of guest teams, like the US, Canada, and Mexico) compete in the Copa.

With multiple games every day it has been a soccer lovers dream. Games from Europe in the morning and then in the evenings from the US.  I printed out brackets to keep track of all the results and dutifully filled them in each day.

No surprises who are two favorites were. 

Spain in Europe

Argentina in the Copa America.

Both teams won all their games leading up to the final so both were favorites.

There were some thrilling games.

Including a shoot out that had me pacing the floor.

Thanks to the heroics of Emil Martinez, Argentina won that one, even after Leo Messi missed his shot!

This was likely Messi's last international tournament as he has reached the ripe old age of 37 - normal retirement age for a professional soccer player.

He didn't have the best tournament but is always a threat on the field.

Then in the championship game he was injured and subbed off.

Broke my heart to see him crying.

But his teammate Lautaro Martinez scored and that was enough to see the team lift the cup for the 16th time and the 2nd time in a row.

As team captain, Messi could have lifted the cup on his own.  Showing his true class and team spirit, he invited the other two 'old guys', his age mates Otamendi and Di Maria, to lift it with him.

Messi will forever be one of my all time favorite players.

On the field he has been mesmerizing and off the field, from all I can read and observe, he is a genuinely nice guy and a great father and husband.

Monica was thrilled to see her country lift another international trophy.

John and Isabella are big fans as well. Lots of happy smiles at their house!

Meanwhile in Europe, Spain kept racking up the victories.

Eventually defeating England in the final.

This year the Spain team had some fantastic young talent.  #17 is Nico Williams (age 23) and the young man on his back is Yamine Yamal, who turned 17 the day BEFORE the final.  And is a 1st team starter for our beloved FC Barcelona. 

I love that he still has braces!

He was named Young Player of the Tournament, was the youngest player to register goal involvement in a major tournament final and his goal against France in the semi-final was voted the Best Goal of the tournament. 

It was a stunner!

Nico and Yamal are good friends.

We would LOVE to see Nico join his buddy as a Barcelona player!

Fingers crossed.  

¡Viva España!

George's contribution was to wear the appropriate shirt while he watched each game. 

Spain in the morning

Argentina in the evening

Worked like a magic charm!

Two games! 

Two shirts!

Two victories!

Messi Gets His International Trophy

I know that I am not unbiased in the whole GOAT debate.  Who is the greatest of all time?  Ronaldo or Messi? Pele or Maradona? I love FC Barcelona and I love Messi so I was understandably thrilled when Argentina won their first international trophy in this year's Copa America Tournament. Before this year, Messi and the Argentine National Team had reached 3 Copa America finals and one World Cup final, losing each time.  He does have an international Olympic gold medal and one from the Under-20 World Cup.

I was just thrilled for him.  His joy was visible for all to see. I think mine was too!  In the bottom photo he is calling his family just after the awards ceremony.  How I would have loved to see those little boys celebrate with their Dad!

By the way, this tournament also saw him take home awards for the Top Player and the Top Scorer.  Does this settle the Greatest of All Time debate?  At our house YES....for the rest of the world, probably not. 

USA!! USA!!!

We bought tickets for three Copa America games but we didn't know who would be playing in the 3rd since it was a quarter-final.  So fun for us that it turned out to be the USA against Ecuador! 

 

People were all decked out in red, white and blue to cheer enthusiastically for the USA!

 

Seattle has lots of soccer fans and they turned out to support the team. It was so much fun to be in such an enthusiastic crowd and to get to watch such a thrilling game!  The US went up 2 goals but Ecuador battled back to score one and then, in the words of one commentary, 'threw everything but the kitchen sink' at the goal but just couldn't get the ball in the net.  The US defense did a lot of frantic scrambling but they were successful at keeping out the goal that would have tied the game.

Players and fans were super excited after the game!

 

A date with Argentina in the semis looms....#1 team in the world, with the best player in the world.  Soccer is a funny game when anything can happen but if I were a betting person I wouldn't put my money on the US!

Argentina and Messi!

Check another one off the bucket list!  I've seen Leo Messi pay soccer.  I also added one to the list, "See Messi score" so hopefully we get to go to Barcelona again to see a game before I'm too old or Messi retires!

I think the majority of the fans had come to see one man play!  Never have I heard the subs be cheered so much as they walked onto the pitch!

There he is!  Best in the world!  #10 Leo Messi!

But before we would see him play we did have some other world class players to watch. Like Gonzalo Higuaín #9, formerly of Real Madrid (but I'm not holding that against him) and now playing for Napoli where he was the top scorer in the Italian league last year! And Sergio Agüero  #11 who plays for Manchester United.

Argentina played well.  Love that I caught this goal.

And the celebration afterwards!

Three times the roar went up from the crowd, "Messi, Messi, Messi!" At the beginning of the 2nd half to thunderous applause, he came on the field. Unfortunately just as I snapped the perfect photo of his entrance, the woman in front of me decided to stand up.  Oh well!  Here he is on the pitch just about to take a free kick, which almost went in!

 

And here he is making one of his famous moves!  In this game he managed to nutmeg the keeper but the goal was disallowed for off-sides.  Messi can mesmerize with his speed and dribbling skill....or he can make a perfectly placed pass to a teammate!   I actually felt sorry for #4 who had to man-mark him!  I'm sure the coaches instructions were something like, "Don't let him out of your sight." At least at the end they traded shirts!

 

Definitely a night I'll always remember!

Oh and one senior moment that could have been a disaster - George came home from work early so that we could make the 3 hour drive to Seattle, get checked into the hotel, and walk to the game.  Portland traffic can be bad so we got over the bridges to Vancouver, Washington and decided to stop at Quiznos for lunch.  As we finished eating George looked at me and asked if I had the tickets!  No I didn't and neither did he!   So back to LO we went, got the tickets and started out again!  I was nervous as the traffic was even worse and this little glitch added about 2 hours to our travel time but we made it just in time to hear the national anthems!  Could have been much worse!

Obsessed???

One of my cousins thinks that we are obsessed with soccer!  And I think he may be right!  When I heard that the Copa America was going to be in the USA this year and that there would be games in Seattle, I knew we had to go.  George agreed and we got tickets to the 3 games at Century Link Field!

The first one was last Saturday so we drove up for the day.  I always think that it is a long way to Seattle but it is actually only about 3 hours!  I wasn't super excited about the game - Peru vs. Haiti

 

Actually it turned out to be really fun.  I loved watching a game without that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach that I get watching Barcelona!  This time I didn't even care who won.  I spent a lot of time playing with my camera and practicing action shots.  

Look at that concentration as he watches the ball come!

 Peru almost gets a goal.

Haiti almost scored near the end of the game.

 

The game ended with this score.  I do think Peru was the better team.

 

It's the next match we're really excited about!

I do care who wins this one!  As a Barca fan I have to support Leo Messi and also my Argentine daughter-in-law!

And the cutest Argentina fan in all the world - Isabella!

Argentine Dinner

And speaking of Monica, she is a great cook!  John is a lucky man!  One night she made us a typical Argentine dinner.

 Handmade gnocchi

Delicious but a lot of work!

Chicken Milanese which is breaded chicken served with a tomato sauce and melted cheese.  Yummy!

 

Very fun to taste a bit of her Argentine culture! Thanks Monica for sharing with us!

2014 World Cup

Four years ago at the last World Cup, our favorite team Spain won it all.  It was a thrilling month as we nervously watched game after game and kept seeing our team advance.  This World Cup I spent the first 3 weeks in Africa in a house with no electricity hence no TV.  Each morning I got a report from one of the Africans, who lived in place with electricity and a computer, who dutifully checked the scores for me.  For Spain it was a horrible world cup....they were the first team eliminated and were humiliated by the Netherlands 5-1 and also lost to Chile.  Goodbye Spain!

My friend Tsuma Jira did agree to escort me to the local bar in Taru, Kenya to watch Nigeria play Argentina, my 2nd favorite team.  When we talked to Rinda (the Kenya Keys director) about going to watch the game, I felt like a teenager talking to Mom before going on my first date!  Tsuma promised to walk me home and to get me out of there if there were problems.  I was under strict orders NOT to cheer for Argentina against the African team!  I almost forgot once when Messi scored but was quickly reminded of my promise!  When I remembered that Argentina was going to advance to the next round even if they tied Nigeria, I decided I could cheer for them. The man by me asked which team I supported and I could honestly say, "I want Nigeria to score but I do love Leo Messi".

Since I didn't have the nerve to stand up and take a photo, you will have to just picture this, one lone white person, an elderly woman - ME in a sleazy bar with all these African men and my 22 year old 'date'.  The only other woman was the waitress in her tight jeans and shirt!  I think Tsuma was very brave to be my escort.  I'll never forget that night.  I had fun!  He is a wonderful young man who is about to start his 3rd year at the university!  In some ways I think of him as my 4th son!

Today Argentina beat the Netherlands in the Semi-finals in a very close and emotional game that ended in a shoot-out.  John and Monica said that Buenos Aires was just one big party with people cheering and chanting on every corner plus fireworks and horns honking non-stop.  Here is a picture they sent from the TV.

                         

Look at that crowd! And here are my own favorite Argentina fans out in the street celebrating!

This celebration is just for making it to the finals.  Can you imagine what it will be like on Sunday when and if they win the whole thing?  I'm hoping that happens so Johnny and Monica can experience the celebration.  It will be something to share with their kids someday!