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Excitement in Brazil over World Cup stickers

12 May 2014

In Brazil completing the World Cup sticker album has become a popular past-time ahead of the first match in Sao Paulo on 12 June.
It takes 640 stickers to complete the album and Brazilians of all ages have been swapping with other collectors to achieve their goal.

The run-up to a World Cup is a time when children start collecting football stickers and cards. But there are also adults who get worryingly misty-eyed, including Ian Shoesmith.

I rip the packets of stickers open with all the excitement and anticipation of the 10-year-old boy that I used to be, and inhale their long-forgotten but oh-so-familiar odour of glue mixed with sticky tape and paper.
Instantly, I'm back in 1986 and my penultimate year at primary school, when the most important thing in my life was how an England squad featuring Gary Lineker, Peter Shilton and John Barnes would fare at the World Cup.
I am a 38-year-old father with a mortgage and a four-year-old son, Danny.
But my childhood passion - the thrill of racing to the paper shop, handing over all of my pocket money, desperate to be greeted by the mulleted head of a Soviet-bloc defender - is dismissed, out-of-hand, by my son. But I will persist in collecting them - for when he changes his mind. I'm most definitely not collecting them for myself. Definitely not.

Can you write 200 words about something that you have collected and how it was?
 

World's best pizza not in Italy

Australian pizza is now officially the best in the world.

Well, sort of.

Judges at last weekend's Campionato Mondiale Della Pizza (Pizza World Championship) held in Parma, Italy, awarded the world's top margherita pizza title to Australian chef Johnny Di Francesco, owner of the 400 Gradi restaurant in Brunswick, a Melbourne suburb.

Di Francesco, 36, beat more than 600 competitors from 35 countries to take home the Specialita Traditionale Garantita pizza prize in the annual competition.

The win and subsequent publicity has made the small restaurant he owns in his hometown an overnight sensation.

"It's been an amazing reaction," Di Francesco tells CNN. "Honestly, I just went to Naples to do what I love. I didn't think it was going to make such a stir."

"A lot of people think it is easy to produce a margherita but it is one of the hardest (pizzas) to produce," Di Francesco told Australian website Good Food.

"With a lot of other pizzas it's easy to mask the flavor with toppings so you don't really get the flavor out of the dough. With a margherita there is no hiding anything that isn't right."

Competition rules are strict on what ingredients can top the dough on the margherita: only peeled tomatoes, certain types of mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, salt and fresh basil leaves are used.

Can you give us your pizza recipe? Please explain with detail. We are not master chefs...

Seville April Fair

The Seville Fair takes place just two weeks after Semana Santa, in a huge area in Los Remedios, to the south-west of the city, next to the river. This is a week of serious dancing, drinking, eating and socialising, with late nights - or all-nighters - the norm. The sheer size of the April Fair's spectacle is extraordinary. From around midday until early evening - especially on Tuesday, the first official day - Sevilla society parades around the fairground in carriages or on horseback. There are also daily bullfights , generally considered the best of the season.

What are casetas and what happens in them?
The "Real de la Feria", where the Feria takes place, covers 1.2 km2 and includes the amusement park, `called ´Calle de Infierno' (Hell Street), and the casetas, canvas tent pavillions of varying sizes arranged along 12 streets. Numbering over 1,000, they belong to eminent local families, groups of friends, businesses, clubs, trade associations and political parties. Most of the casetas are private and open only to members and their guests. If you have a Sevillano friend with a caseta, you could be lucky enough to receive a much-coveted invite. Alternatively, there are also seven public casetas - the "caseta municipal" and one for each of six districts of Seville.
Inside the tents the drinks begin to flow, and tapas are served, from around 1:30pm till early next morning. Each caseta is equipped with a bar, kitchen and sound system or live entertainment playing Sevillanas . This is the official genre of folk music in Seville, which has its own set dance. It's worth taking a few classes before the Feria so you don't have to be a wallflower.
As a non-native, pay attention to how the authentic "Sevillanos" (natives of Seville) pace themselves in order to make it full-force right through to the end. Also, a little effort goes a long way - whatever your level of Spanish, make sure you use it (again, why not brush up a little before going, by taking some classes). You´re a guest at their party, so express your appreciation by joining in!

Have you ever felt a "guiri" anywhere? Tell me 200 words.