Tangy Lemon Tea Cookies

I woke up this morning thinking of how I should drown my football-related sorrows, and I figured I would do it with baking! Yes, this is me being overdramatic about Spain losing in their friendly against Argentina yesterday. But let's face it, it's not like we saw the Spain that we know (no Iker, no Sergio, no Xavi?!). And because of that loss, I am permanently traumatized every time Iker is not the goalkeeper. Not to take anything away from Pepé, we have to admit Iker is always the safer choice because he's got the experience (And this coming from someone who likes both Real Madrid and Liverpool).

But if there's one important lesson I learned, it's that I would like to shove my foot down the throat of the people who say Xabi Alonso is not Captain material. Puh-lease. 

On the upside, the U-21 team won against Poland in a Euro qualifier thanks to Sergio Canales! That guy has a bright future ahead of him. He's my age and he's already a star footballer. Makes me think about what significant thing I've done all these years... And also, my pichichi scored a goal for Argentina! I have to say I love Gonzalo Higuain more and more everyday! And even though Argentina's keeper scares me a bit, to see Gabi Heinze was a treat for me, though I do miss Puyi and his luscious locks. And Messi finally cut his hair short[er], though I could tell you what's messy is the hairdont's the other Argentine players are sporting, as was pointed out by unamadridista. I got to get the name of the salon where Carlos Tevez gets his hair electrocuted.

In any case, thank goodness International Duty is over for now. And I just hope Alvaro tweets again because I miss him, and it seems he's taking this loss pretty heavily considering he usually tweets like crazy. On Saturday we will see Real Madrid back in action against Osasuna in their debut at the Bernabéu! Everyone is dubbing them the "new" Real Madrid. Eh, I just want Benzema and Higuain to go on a scoring spree. And of course if Xabi decides to do a couple who am I to complain?!

The reason why I decided to make these Lemon Tea Cookies were simple. I was craving something lemony. And yes I was bored, and yes there were some leftover lemons in the fridge calling out to me. The other day my Mum brought home some my favorite Lemon Squares but she also ate them all without asking me if I wanted more. Of course I did! I just ate one square! :( But yeah, my Mum loves that stuff too and she teases me about making Lemon Squares, because I've failed before and I'm still looking for the perfect recipe. But let's not talk about the lemon squares, let's talk about these cookies.

They were really really easy to make. And these were literally cookies you consume with tea because they were kind of flaky when you bite into them. The lemon drop on top makes them really yummy, especially if you're into pastries with lemon. I had mine with a cup of Milk Tea and the sensation of the cookies in your mouth when they get wet is totally worth it! I wouldn't suggest the cookies to be eaten alone though. They don't taste like anything except butter, and the sugar is pretty minimal so it's not a sweet kind of butter cookie either. I guess you can eat it with your favorite jam, but I would recommend eating it with the lemon drop/filling. 

Lemon Tea Cookies

Yields at least 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients for the cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tspn vanilla
1 2/3 cups flour
1 tbsp. powdered sugar (for dusting)

Procedure for the cookies:
In the mixer bowl, beat cookies, powdered sugar and vanilla at medium speed until well-blended. Stir in flour until the dough forms. Cover the dough and refrigerated for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven at 350F and take out dough from the fridge. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place them about 2 inches apart from each other. Use your thumb to push down the center of each ball to make a deep indentation. Make it a bit deep because as it bakes, the cookies kind of puff up and expand a little.

Bake for around 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to cooling racks and cool completely. In the meantime, do the filling.

Ingredients for the lemon filling:
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tspn. grated lemon peel
3 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (around 1 and 1/2 lemons)
1 tbsp. butter
1 tspn. cornstarch
1/4 tspn. salt
1 egg, beaten

Procedure:
In a saucepan, heat all the filling ingredients over low heat, constantly stirring to avoid burning and clumping. The mixture will gradually turn smooth and thick after about 25 minutes. Cool for about 15 minutes before handling.

Fill each cookie's indentation with the lemon filling shaped using a 1/4 measuring spoon. Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon powdered sugar over the cookies.

And now comes the best part: CONSUME! These cookies didn't even last a day in our home. My brothers are vultures. I had to hide away a few pieces so my Dad could have a taste. :D

He's alive!! (On Twitter)

La Roja has been training in Buenos Aires and I believe they will be meeting with the President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in Casa Rosada. I'm not sure what time that's happening tomorrow because I am in constant limbo when it comes to timezones.

As the title suggests, this is all about Tweets and I really could not let this one pass! I waited and waited and finally Sergio Ramos tweeted again after such a long time! Because I'm iffy about punctuation and sentence structures, reading Sergio's tweets always make me cringe a little but I do adore him so much! On the other hand, Alvaro tweets rather nicely, even using quotation marks when quoting lines from movies to tease Xabi, "Mess with the best, die like the rest..." Alvaro's tweets are always way more interesting and humorous than Sergio's!

Sergio presents us with a photo of himself in La Boca, Buenos Aires, inside the home field of one of Argentina's most famous clubs the Boca Juniors. The stadium is called La Bombonera, which is actually a different stadium from where they're playing.

On one of his first Tweets yesterday, he tells us about arriving in the beautiful country of Argentina. He's pretty happy about how La Roja started their campaign with a win (you're not the only one!), and how he is looking forward to the Amistoso, which he says will not be a friendly one. Frankly I'm pretty excited about what Gonzalo Higuain will do. I'm not really a big Messi fan though he is quite talented. This one's going to be quite a match to watch!

On the other end, we see a similar photo posted by Alvaro Arbeloa in the same place (well, duh!) with none other than mi favorito Xabi Alonso! They posed with numbers 1 and 2 on their fingers, imitating the 12 in the box behind them. I wonder if one of these guys took Sergio's picture. I'm glad Sergio and Alvaro tweeted different photos but why don't they have a photo together?! I miss my mosqueteros!

Our futbolistas are getting rather Twitter-savvy and that just makes my life a little happier, waking up each day to their fun tweets! Until now I haven't gotten the chance to appreciate Alvaro Arbeloa other than for his role in La Roja's defense on the pitch, but this guy's one of the funniest around! Plus he's pretty addicted to Twitter, which I love, because it's contagious apparently. I never really expected Xabi to get on with it. So now Alvaro cannot drink Coca-Cola for two years because as we recall, he had said he would stop drinking Coke for a year if La Roja wins the World Cup. Recently he added that he would add another year to that if Xabi gets on Twitter. Maybe he will switch to Pepsi instead?

I'm not sure if this is a recent photo, seems like a World Cup photo because El Chori is here with them. Anyway, I jump at any photo with the boys in a suit! I mean, just look at the yumminess that is Jesus Navas!

If you're tuning in to all of La Roja's qualifying matches, here's a schedule of the rest of the qualifiers. After their match against Scotland they'll be taking a break from International Duties, and will hopefully still be sane enough to play well in their Club games. And by that I mean their respective National Leagues and the Champions League. I'm feeling tired for them already.

EURO 2012 Qualifying Matches

October 8, 2010- Spain V. Lithuania

October 12, 2010- Scotland V. Spain

March 3, 2011- Spain V. Czech Republic

March 29, 2011- Lithuania V. Spain

June 9, 2011- Spain V. Liechtenstein

July 10, 2011- Czech Republic V. Spain

October 11, 2011- Spain V. Scotland

The Return of El Niño and other things

So La Selección had their first Eurocopa qualifier last night and I have to say I am mighty pleased with the result! Judging by the photo it seems David Villa knew this was the night he was going to tie, or possibly top, Raul's record for Spain's all-time top goalscorer. Being as I am a huge fan of Raul, it's a bit sad for me to let go of this honor of his (especially because he's been bypassed for selection in the national team for quite some time now). And it doesn't help that Liechtenstein's blue jersey reminds me of Raul's new Schalke jersey. Aww. I watch Schalke games just to see him get tossed around and kicked in the face. It's totally sad for me. :|

It appears El Niño is back in business! His form was rather fine, in my opinion, and I feel so happy for him! After that goal with Liverpool it seems he has woken up from this mental lull we saw him in during the World Cup. I understand he wasn't fit at the time, but let's admit he wasn't the Nando we are used to seeing. Well, the Friendly on the 7th with Argentina should be more interesting now! And we see that David Silva is going on a roll. As for me, I'm pretty happy as long as it's not always David Villa who does the goal-scoring duties. I am still waiting for Xabi to do one of his long-range goals ala his Liverpool days. I must admit, I do miss Puyi and his hair...

FULL TIME:

Liechtenstein 0-4 Spain

18' 53' Fernando Torres

37' David Villa

62' David Silva

In other totally related news, Germany won 1-0 against Belgium during their qualifying match! I obviously didn't get to see that one since this all happened at the same time, but it's a Win-win for me! Of course Arne Friedrich was out because of his slip-disc and my Little Lahm is no longer first captain (BOO!). In any case, he word the band in the match last night, and the one and only Miroslav Klose did the goal-scoring honors. I do love me some Miro back-flips! :)

On a final note, I just love how dorky Xabi and Alvaro are! They tweeted about playing trivia games on the bus. Xabi won several times until Alvaro won in the end, prompting him to give out his favorite line, "This is Sparta!!" XD

PS. I'm still sad about the whole episode with Rafa Van Der Vaart. The management from Real Madrid are doing an absolutely pleasant job giving fans reasons to doubt/hate them. Seriously, you really can't treat the players like that. They're the ones doing all the work on the pitch, aren't they?

Communication barriers

I was sorely disappointed by the results of the match between my Real Madrid and Mallorca the other night. I didn't get a chance to see it but they tell me it wasn't as one would expect from a coach of Mourinho's caliber. In other words, it was a rather bland game. Well I can tell you that just by looking at the scoreboard. Not even a 1-1 draw, but a 0-0 draw.

I think Benzema is having confidence issues. And here I had thought after his performance in the match against Hercules he was going to go on a roll for RM but I guess not. I'm just surprised that El Pipita Higuain didn't score a thing. So much for wanting to become the pichichi... Heck I would even settle for Di Maria's goal celebration if it meant a goal. But that doesn't make me love them any less.

I came across an interview article on AS.com with Mou talking about the game, his decision to take on the job at Real Madrid, and his two German signings. Here's my favorite Q&A.

So the interviewer is basically asking about Mou's surprise decision to let Ozil and Khedira stay on the bench (for the most part) when in the first place he specifically requested to have these two signed to RM. Mou goes on to respond that at the moment it's very difficult for the Germans to have to adjust to their new life in Madrid in such short notice. It doesn't help that the only Spanish words they know are "Buenos dias" and "Hola", and that their English isn't spectacular. So Mou thanks the heavens that he has an assistant coach who speaks German, but he feels like his instructions have to be given directly by him instead of through a translator.

Plus, the two German boys don't particularly feel at home yet as they don't spend much time with the team, and prefer spending time with each other. Which makes sense since they wouldn't understand what everybody else is saying anyway. No English, no Spanish, eso es difícil! Methinks they should kick up the Spanish language lessons a notch. Then again, German and Spanish aren't exactly sister languages. I suppose the two are relieved that they temporarily get to be back with their familiar German Teammates for their International call-ups. (Did I mention Germany is my second favorite National Team?)

In fairness to Mou, his job isn't easy. And he's right to say he's no Harry Potter. I think the team is slowly improving their on-pitch, off-pitch relationships based on what I've seen so far. Things like these take time, and I'm sure the boys will pull it off and make us all proud. And like Mou says, "Pacencia, hay que darles tiempo."

On a sad note, I seem to be losing quite a few of my favorite players of late. I lost Raul to Schalke04, Kaka to injury, and now Rafa Van Der Vaart has confirmed his transfer to Tottenham because we have an overflowing supply of Midfielders. Can I just cry now? God forbid I lose my Xabi Alonso.

And as it seems we have an overflowing amount of injuries as well, I wonder what Mou will do. But boy am I glad he signed Carvalho when he did because Sergio Ramos can't do it all alone. This weekend Real Madrid will face Osasuna, and just thinking about the Champions League makes my heart skip a beat. But I have faith. ¡Hala Madrid!

Here's something to look forward to for La Roja fans:

Sept. 3 Eurocopa 2012 Qualifying versus Liechtenstein

Sept. 7 International Friendly versus Argentina

Belatedly professing my love

It's been more than a week since my Spanish National Team was declared as the World Champions in South Africa. Everything is swell in the world, even despite the fact that my week after was hellishly full of things to do for school. Allow me this late moment of celebration, as this is the first time in two weeks I manage to have my brain intact for thoughts other than academic ones.

I cannot forget how happy I was in the face of this hard-earned victory, especially for my favorite players like Xabi Alonso, Jesus Navas, Cesc Fabregas or Sergio Ramos. Sometimes I feel like a lot of fans give more attention to their good looks rather than their contributions on the pitch, which are of course, excellent ones. Admittedly though, the game could have been "better" in terms of looks and play, I cannot blame the tension and nerves that was so very apparent from both sides. The De Young Kung-Fu kick was unforgivable for someone like me whose top most favorite player of all players is Xabi Alonso, but I do respect the talented players from Oranje.

It didn't matter that I stayed up until 5.30AM just to watch every minute, every second count down until they lifted the trophy. And immediately I wanted to go out and get myself a 'Campeones del Mundo' shirt with the star above the RFEF patch. It doesn't even matter that my body clock is messed up until this day, and that I'm sleepy in the mornings and wide awake in the evenings. I'm sure it'll fall back to pattern soon anyway.

Oh the things I do for the love of football.

I dream about Brazil 2014 starting today. And what's more, I dream about being in Brazil and actually watching the matches with my own eyes. I can only hope the players I so dearly love are still present for me to cheer for.

Seré siempre fiel a la Roja.

¡Que Viva España!

I've always been a huge Spain supporter. The pride I felt after the win against Germany yesterday was so overwhelming you'd think I were a Spanish National! I was ecstatic! It was an excellent game from both sides that kept me on my toes! Germany is my second favorite national team but I just can't stop myself from cheering for La Roja.

This shot at the title is the first in the History of Spanish football. Let's hope it doesn't stay a shot. I'm praying for it to become a reality.

Mi favorito: Well I do like all of them. But my number 1 favorite player in the world is Xabi Alonso. Cesc Fabregas is noteworthy as well.

The World Cup is truly a joy to watch in the midst of all the stress school gives me.

¡España es el mejor! ¡Viva La Furia Roja!