Mexico 1 - Argentina 3

After the Festival (by all accounts a great day)(so hot!) I arrived home late and sunburned to find the tall bloke much chirpier than I had expected, after the obvious disappointment of the day. He said it was typical England and he was used to it. Well, that is very philosophical of you tall man, but what's for dinner tonight? Steak and chips was the short answer, which didn't exactly fill me with inspiration. I get the Argentinian connection, but considering the quality of research and creativity so far, I have come to expect more. However, ever the epitome of tact and diplomacy, I said nothing. What arrived on my plate moments later, was so impressive, as to make me very glad I never mentioned my inner thoughts. Tall bloke had made a red peppper chimichurri - a summery, tasty accompaniment to a perfectly grilled steak (the rarer side of medium) and home made chips.

USA 1 - Ghana 2

The match went into extra time but still, the team which topped Group C ahead of England crashed out of the last 16. Ghana scored during the first part of extra time and you could see on the players' exhausted faces, that they knew at that point, the game was won. This means Ghana is the last remaining African team in the 2010 World Cup. I've no doubt they will have wide support in South Africa.

In honour of the American "soccer" effort, the tall bloke ordered an "American Hot" pizza from our favourite, local pizza delivery place: Pizza Max. This pizza place doesn't look like much from outside, but the proof is in the deep pan Margherita, which I order without fail, every time we have a lazy supper. So good are the pizzas from this place, that I feel a slight anxiety about you getting too hooked on them. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Please cut us some slack for not cooking from scratch tonight (again) - it is the night before the Lavender Festival - an event I organise in Battersea (on Lavender Hill) every June. 10,000 people came last year, so as you can imagine, this household has been rather tied up in all the planning and preparations for the Festival!

Portugal 0 - Brazil 0

As today is Friday (so I'm wiped from this week at work) and the tall bloke has surpassed himself with the offerings from the home v. world kitchen, I agreed that we should go out. However! We did not break the spirit of our World Cup food diary, so we went to Nandos restaurant for some Portuguese chicken and chips.

My apologies for the low quality image - it was taken with my Blackberry but this is no reflection of its capabilities, only a display of my poor talents as a photographer. I'm not entirely sure why I didn't snap it with the tall bloke's brand new i-phone 4, which arrived this morning. He hasn't stopped playing with it all day. I'm afraid he's going to become another one of those "its changed my life" type i-phone owners. Oh well, must remember tall bloke now has that bit of kit.

My Mum makes the meanest coleslaw I've ever tasted - perhaps this is because it is the original version of it for me, but I've tasted a great many world wide and really nothing beats Mum's recipe. She says it is much cheaper to make it yourself, especially if you are feeding the 5000 at a BBQ.

Mum uses the food processor to cut up the carrot, white cabbage and onion, but you can use a mandolin (if you are brave enough!). After all these raw ingredients are chopped, add full fat mayonnaise, a large splash of orange juice and 2 dashes of vinegar. Stir in each element, before adding the next. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Denmark 1 - Japan 3

Tonight's menu was chosen from the cuisine of Denmark. Not so good on the pitch this evening (another European team bites the dust) but absolutely delicious on the plate! The tall bloke pulled out another blinding bit of research-sourcing-cooking (wearing his Canderel apron of course, which is now filthy!)

Menu:

Copenhagan potatoes and Chicken Fricassee - Hønsefrikassé

The chicken had a delicious creamy-mushroom gravy and the potatoes were light and fluffy, with an unusual but most pleasant smoked bacon flavour and bits. I have requested that this menu be also added to the usual repertoire of meals served.

COME ON ENGLAND!

A very happy household enjoyed Serbian food whilst Capello's boys turned on the magic and won 1-0, putting us through to the final 16 of the competition. Next match is Germany at 3pm on Sunday, which is right in the middle of the Lavender Festival in Battersea, an event which I am managing.

The photo above is of Cevapcici, a sort of sausage made from lamb and beef mince. The tall bloke couldn't find bell pepper powder (not available in ASDA!) and instead, used chopped up red chillies.

The Serbian salad was absolutely delicious - spot on for a hot summer's evening. It was refreshing on the tongue and accompanied the Cevapcici perfectly. High recommendation points scored for this dish.

France 1 - South Africa 2

I cannot believe France have gone out of the World Cup already! Bit of shame that the host nation went out before the last 16 stage, especially as they won against the sorry looking side from France. The tall bloke was out, so the best I could muster unsupervised, was baked Camembert (studded with olive oil and Rosemary) and some fresh bread, served with a salad (French dressing of course). It was a lovely, light supper for 1 small person.

Here is the link to my photo of said meal: http://tweetphoto.com/28922506

Spain 2 - Honduras 0

As the tournament rolls on, it is getting increasingly difficult to avoid repeats. After some feed back about my diner's diary, the tall bloke is determined to keep cooking different meals. So tonight, I returned home from work to find a huge Honduran menu being prepared. He handed me a ripe avocado when I went into the kitchen to see what was happening (every surface covered with bowls of different ingredients) and I knew immediately that a guacamole was required for this meal. Tall bloke said he had expected this cuisine to be similar to Mexico, but there were a few new things to me, including this weird sounding sweet potato salad with buttermilk dressing.

Here are the recipes he used - I had seconds, which says a lot about the delicious rating of this meal:

Baleadas (in Mexico: Burrito)

Sweet potato and cheese salad

San Pedro Sula Simmered Beef