Teams March 3rd, part 1

Hi all

Last Saturday the teams season closed. We occupied a solid spot in the middle, but a lot happened in the top, favourite teams losing to underdogs. If we had scored 50 VIP out of 2 matches (instead of 36) then promotion would have been ours. Alas!

I was kibitzing Sjoerd in the second match (René and I played just the first match):

South
A
AKQJ52
A743
AQ

Nice. Sjoerd and Wim play some crazy system: Utrechtse Klaver. Canapé style with a strong 1NT opening. And by strong I mean 23+ balanced or 21+ unbalanced. DONT or Landy are not advised unless you are prepared for a massacre. The hand above fits nicely in their system, but it’s not your turn yet. Your LHO opens 1, passed to you.

Sjoerd started with double, buying the hand in 4.

West Dealer
All Vul
North
9832
63
T92
T432
West
KQJ54
84
KJ
K876
East
T76
T97
Q865
J95
South
A
AKQJ52
A743
AQ

Too bad the didn’t split. There are some remote chances of establishing an endplay if West takes a nap on the run of trumps, but 4 can always be defeated (West should keep a small ). Sjoerd had some fantasies of finding partner with a magic hand, but later he agreed to my practical suggestion: 3NT. You have 9 solid tricks, so do the obvious thing.

Arroz Con Pollo

Hi all

Here’s a very nice recipe. The first time I prepared it, it made me feel all glowy inside. True soulfood. It’s called Arroz con Pollo, which means Rice with Chicken in Spanish. It’s an easy, stove-top, one-pan dish.

Chicken
olive oil
2.5 to 3 pounds of chicken thighs or breasts, bone-in, with skin on, rinsed and patted dry
flour for dredging
paprika powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Rice
olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 cups of medium or long-grain white rice
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup of diced fresh or cooked tomatoes, strained
pinch of oregano
salt

Directions
1. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet (a skillet that has a cover) on medium high heat. Put the flour in a wide bowl, mix in a generous sprinkling of salt, paprika powder and pepper. Dredge the chicken pieces lightly in the flour mixture and put in the pan to brown. (You can skip the flour dredging part if you want, it just makes a nicer coating for the chicken.) Cook a few minutes on each side, just enough so that the chicken has browned. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Add the rice to the pan to brown. Add a little more olive oil if necessary. Stir first to coat the rice with the olive oil in the pan. Then don’t stir too much or you will prevent it from browning. Let it brown and then stir a little to let more of it brown. Then add the onion and garlic. Cook the onion, garlic and rice mixture, stirring frequently, until the onions have softened, about 4 minutes.

3. Place the chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of the rice. In a separate bowl, mix together the stock, tomato, salt, and oregano. Pour the stock mixture over the rice and chicken. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to low, and cover. Let cook for 20-25 minutes, depending on the type of rice until the rice and chicken are done. Fluff the rice with a fork. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

You can also add chopped bell peppers (cook with the onions), peas (mix in at the end), or use a bit of saffron with the rice.

Serves 4-6, thumbs up!

Leaping Michaels’

Hi all

Last Tuesday wasn’t a rich day. René cancelled because of the flu, so I played with Martin. But it wasn’t a good day for both of us. I had full values and good spots for a vulnerable Muiderberg, but the opponents grabbed hold of me for -800. A couple more disasters: -500 against triggerhappy opponents in some partscore, -1100 because I thought our run-away-system didn’t apply. All disasters were quite expensive, especially when it’s imps. Here’s a nice one, it still makes me smile.

East Dealer
EW Vul
North
7
Q96
KT763
J632
West
AT85
732
AQ842
Q
East
KQJ9643
J4
J5
84
South
2
AKT85
9
AKT975

East preempted 3 and I had a very, very clean Leaping Michaels’ with 4, West raised to 4 and Martin bid the game. West pondered for some time and eventually bid 5, doubled by Martin. East immediately commented West: “Heb je de kwetsbaarheid gezien? Rukker!”. It’s near impossible to translate, maybe something like: “Did you check the vulnerability? Wanker!”. I wet myself from laughter.

Actually bidding 5 won them two imp, because West’s other option was to double 5, and that would’ve been -550.