This weekend it’s back to World Cup madness with Spain v. Netherlands at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Here are tips on how to celebrate the game in Dutch style from Tal Nadari, a Dutchman living in New York and a member of the team behind Holland’s best-selling spirit, Bols Genever.

“This is a most exciting time for the Dutch as we have not reached the World Cup finals since 1978,” Nadari said in an email. For a true Dutch experience, Nadari says order up a Kopstootje (it means ‘little head butt’) - a shot of Genever with a glass of beer (preferably Pilsner).

If you’re more of a cocktail fan, mix up an Orange Collins:

Fill a shaker with ice, add 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters, ½ shot simple syrup, ½ shot Bols Dry Orange Curacao, 1 shot freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1½ shot Bols Genever. Shake for ten seconds. Double strain into a Collins glass. Squeeze an orange wedge and drop it into the glass. Top up with sparkling water and garnish with an orange wedge. Sip from a long straw.

Now what to drink to toast Spain? Leave your favorite sip in a comment below!

Ahh Fourth of July. That most wonderful of holidays. Beer? Barbecue? Fireworks? Sign me up!

In today’s Herald we published a guide to celebrating in style! Read on for some of the highlights.

On TV

Fashion and music - two great things that deserve each other.
Newbury Comics thinks so too. Earlier this year, the Boston-based music store launched Punk.com for all of your fashion needs. Or at least, those fashion needs you’ve come to love from the Doc Marten, Manic Panic-hocking indie store.

Case in point, this bathing suit top. Sure, patriotic and just in time for July 4, but will I sport it while taking in the fireworks on the Charles?

Or consider this Hell Bunny Love to Love Minidress. Cute, or scary? Jury’s out.

But the site is fun to peruse, there are certainly deals to be had and, if nothing else, it’s worth it for a nice little trip down memory lane.

Mum, mum, mum, mah

sh-sh-sh-shaker face, sh-sh-sh-shaker face.

No, this isn’t the boozehounds version of GaGa’s “Poker Face” (though now that you mention it…)

Welcome to Shaker Faces, an effort from premium distilled alcoholic beverage company, Combier, to bring you the best bartender shake face in the nation. They’ve gone to Houston, they’ve traipsed through Chicago, they’ve hit up New York and now it’s Boston’s turn for a shot at face-shaking gold. Enter Joy Richard of Franklin Cafe and LUPEC Boston fame. Today Joy’s facing off with PDT and Pegu Club’s Artemio Vasquez. Really, our girl’s got it in the bag.

But don’t take my word for it - go cast your vote and then hit up Joy at the Franklin, where she’ll shake, shake, shake for you any old day.

Joy Richard from Franklin Café in Boston from Shaker Faces on Vimeo.

Tomorrow (Tuesday), Vincent van Gogh’s “The Sower” goes on view at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA).

The painting, completed in the town of Arles in Southern France in 1888, is on loan from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, is on display through August 8 in the Rabb Gallery with a work that the artist apparently knew through reproductions, Jean-François Millet’s own “The Sower.” According to the MFA, that piece was probably painted around 1850 and arrived in Boston by 1855.

“The juxtaposition of these paintings is part of an ongoing series of encounters with great art from museums and private collections across the world - a series called ‘Visiting Masterpieces’,” reads the press release. “The Museum’s goal is to bring to Boston carefully chosen works by artists and cultures of all places and periods, in order to enliven our galleries and to allow our audiences the chance to see renowned objects in the context of our collections. The two Sowers—by Millet and by van Gogh—have never before been seen together in Boston.”

The MFA is free on Wednesdays after 4 p.m. - a perfect time to go see the art for yourself! Or stop by on Memorial Day, May 30, the museum’s next Community Day, for free admission between 10 and 4:45 p.m.

The eighth annual Independent Film Festival (IFF) officially kicks off next Wednesday, but as all good fest buffs know, things heat up before opening night and attendees start planning out their schedules days in advance.

This Wednesday night from 6-8 p.m. the gang is gathering at the Tech Superpowers Digital Lounge on Newbury Street to preview movies, nosh on treats and coffee from Wired Puppy and talk film with any and all of you interested! Plus its free - what’s not to love?

After that, things look pretty quiet until the week-long festival opens on the 21st with a screening of The Extra Man, starring Katie Holmes, Paul Dano (you may remember him from Juno), John C. Reilly and Kevin Kline (set to appear at the showing).

John C. Reilly fans have another film to look forward to in Cyrus, which screens Thursday at 9:30 p.m. and also stars one of my personal favorites, Catherine Keener, as well as Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Also on Thursday is a screening of Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee, which I’ve never seen, but which my trusted sources down at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival programmed last month - I’d watch anything they choose enthusiastically.

A sure-fire pick for Friday is Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. I heartily recommend the team of Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern (The Trials of Darryl Hunt) and, as the title reveals, the brash actress is indeed a piece of work.

Saturday’s lineup puts heartthrob Adrian Grenier (Entourage) behind the camera for Teenage Paparazzo, a documentary profile of a 13-year-old photographer of Hollywood celebrities. Cameos include Boston boy Matt Damon, Paris Hilton, Alec Baldwin, Lindsay Lohan and more.

The festival wraps the 28th with another film by another PYT - James Franco’s Saturday Night, a behind-the-scenes peek at Saturday Night Live. In between, there are movies aplenty for short film fans, documentary lovers, musicians and anyone else in between.

For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the IFF on Twitter or friend them on Facebook. For tickets (purchasing online in advance saves $1 per ticket), schedules, etc., head to the homepage.

Boston Ballet begins its spring season tonight with a company premiere of George Balanchine’s “Coppelia.” The run continues through April 18.

“I have wanted to present Balanchine’s version of this ballet for some time and it’s thrilling to see the ballet come together in the studios,” Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen said in a press release last month. “‘Coppelia’ is beautiful in its simplicity, full of lively comedy and also contains intricate dancing and musicality that audiences will truly appreciate.”

Originally choreographed by Arthur St. Léon in 1870, the ballet is based on the book by Charles Nuitter. The tale, a light-hearted comedy set in a country village, tells the story of a life-sized dancing doll that goes on to spell trouble for a local couple.

Below is a video on the making of the ballet (which showcases the talent of 20 of young dancers from the Ballet’s school). Enjoy, and to the company - break a leg!

Faces of Boston Ballet: Misa Kuranaga from Genevieve Klim on Vimeo.

One week from today, the city’s top chefs and mixologists will come together to serve up a slew of tasty dishes and drinks all in the fight against hunger. It’s the 22nd annual Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, a nationwide culinary event, and it goes down this year at the Hynes Convention Center. Starting at 5:30, VIP guests will get to mingle and munch. Doors open at 6:30 and more than 65 of Boston’s best will be represented from chefs Andy Husbands (Tremont 647 and “Hell’s Kitchen”) and Jody Adams to restaurants like Eastern Standard and Blue Ribbon BBQ. There’s a silent auction, too, for those in the bidding mood.

Tickets to the event ($85 in advance; $95 at door for General Admission and $135 in advance; $145 at the door for VIP) go to benefit a number of Boston non-profits, including The Greater Boston Food Bank, Food for Free Committee, Operation Frontline – Massachusetts, and Project Bread/The Walk for Hunger.

To get you in the mood, we’ve got our hands on two of the super-secret recipes that Hub chefs will be cooking up, including a frisee salad from Hamersley’s Bistro’s Gordon Hamersley and Andy Husbands’ famous chicken chicarones.

Frisée Salad with Lardons and Poached Egg

Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:

3½ inch-thick slices French or Italian bread
2 teaspoons olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 slices of thick-cut bacon, cut crosswise into ¼-inch sticks
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon white or white wine vinegar
4 eggs
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 heads frisée (curly endive)
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Remove the crust from bread slices, and cut them into 1-inch squares. Toss the squares with the olive oil sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste; place squares on a sided baking sheet. Toast, turning once, until golden brown on both sides, about 10 minutes, to make croutons.
Cook the bacon in a skillet over low heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp. Lift the bacon out of the pan with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels. Reserve the bacon fat and keep it warm.
In a small bowl, combine the mustard, shallot, garlic, thyme, and red wine vinegar. Bring about 2 quarts of water to a boil in a saucepan. Add the white vinegar and lower the heat to a steady simmer.
Break each egg into a small cup or ramekin. Fill a medium bowl with warm water and position it near the pot. Gently slide each egg into the saucepan of simmering water by bringing the small cup close to the water’s surface and letting the egg slide out. Adjust the heat to just under a boil. Cook the eggs until the whites are cooked and the yolks are just set, about 4 minutes. Lift the eggs out of the cooking water with a slotted spoon and place them in the bowl of warm water. The eggs will stay warm in this water for a few minutes but will not overcook.
Whisk the extra virgin olive oil and about 2 Tablespoons of the warm bacon fat into the shallot-vinegar mixture until the fat is incorporated and an emulsion forms.
Remove the outer leaves and tough core of the frisée. Separate and wash the remaining leaves, making sure to dry them well. Put the frisée and the croutons in a large bowl and toss with enough vinaigrette to coat lightly. (You should have at least 2 Tablespoons of vinaigrette left over.)
To Assemble and Serve: Divide the frisée and the croutons among four plates. Lift the eggs out of the warm water with a slotted spoon, let them drain briefly, and trim off any straggly ends. Put an egg on top of the greens on each plate and sprinkle each salad with some bacon pieces and the parsley. Drizzle the remaining dressing over each salad and serve immediately.

Chicken Chicharrones with Lime-Yogurt Sauce and Salsa

Serves 2 as an entrée

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
10 ounces skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2‐inch squares
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 medium cloves garlic
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
¼ cup white vinegar
½ lime
4 (6-inch) corn flour tortillas
½ cup iceberg lettuce, shredded

Method:

In a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium‐high heat, heat oil until it is hot but not smoking. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and add chicken to the skillet. Cook until it turns golden brown and starts to fall apart, 7 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping as it sticks to the bottom of the pan. Peel and mince garlic, add to chicken and cook 2 more minutes, stirring constantly so the garlic doesn’t burn. Add the chili powder, cumin and coriander, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the vinegar and cook until the chicken is glazed, about 1 minute more. Remove from heat. Squeeze the ½ lime to distribute juices over the chicken and serve inside warm tortillas, topped with shredded lettuce, a Tablespoon of Lime-Yogurt Sauce and a dollop of fresh Salsa (recipes below)

Lime-Yogurt Sauce

Makes ½ cup

Ingredients:

1 lime
½ cup nonfat plain yogurt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 dried chipotle pepper, rehydrated and minced or one canned chipotle pepper, squeezed of extra liquid
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Method:

Rinse, cut lime in half and squeeze juice into a small mixing bowl. Add yogurt, cumin, salt, and pepper, and stir until well combined. If you can’t find Chipotle peppers, ¼ to ½ teaspoon minced jalapeño can be used instead. Sauce will keep for 1 week if refrigerated in an airtight container.

Salsa 101

Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:

1 large ripe tomato, cut into ¼‐inch dice
½ small red or green bell pepper
½ small red onion
2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
1 lime
1 tablespoon extra‐virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Method:

Rinse tomato and bell pepper, remove cores, and cut into ¼-inch cubes.  Add to medium mixing bowl. Peel and rinse onion.  Mince onion, and add to bowl. Rinse and chop cilantro, and add to bowl. Rinse jalapeño, remove seeds, mince, and add to bowl. Rinse lime, cut in half, and squeeze juice from both halves into bowl. Add olive oil, salt and pepper, and stir gently until well combined. The salsa will keep for up to 1 week if refrigerated in an airtight container.

Spring is in the air.

And, lucky for us, it’s in the cocktails, too.

At a blogger dinner at Trina’s Starlite Lounge on Tuesday, this little drink crossed my path.

Floral with just the tiniest hint of sweet, it was the perfect way to usher out the rain and wind and greet this early-spring sun.

Hibiscus Cooler
1.5 oz hibiscus-infused Cachaca*
1/2 oz lime juice
Shake and top with Ginger Beer
Serve in a highball glass.

* for hibiscus-infused Cachaca: use 1/4 hibiscus petals per bottle. Let steep until dark purple (about 2 hours). If steeped for too long it can get bitter.

photo courtesy of the talented Lingbo Li

Two great articles crossed my desk today that deal with food: its future and its past. And the stories came from two different and appropriate sources - the endangered-and-constantly-shrinking magazine and the flourishing-and-constantly-growing online magazine.

From Time, and on the heels of last week’s firing of the Wall Street Journal’s Raymond Sokolov, comes a wonderful and spot-on lament on the loss of seasoned, well-versed food critics.

“Real foodies should be concerned that restaurant critics like Sokolov are an endangered species,” writes Josh Ozersky. “Sokolov is a rarity even among big-paper critics: a food lifer, he has been covering the restaurant beat for decades, and brought a wealth of cumulative knowledge to the baffling array of weird foods, concepts and trends that a 21st century eater has to face. Critics, even at potent establishments like the New York Times, tend to be younger, and are often former reporters or freelancers who don’t have much of a food background…The list of writers who bring that kind of perspective can be counted on one maimed hand. There’s Alan Richman at GQ; Jeffrey Steingarten at Vogue; Corby Kummer at the Atlantic, and Ruth Reichl at … Gourmet — that is before Condé Nast shut down Gourmet last year.”

It’s a good point and a sad one.

On the future-of-food front comes a piece from Salon about hipsters on food stamps (or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, as they’ve been rebranded).

“(Sarah) Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding — and her usual gigs — to dry up,” writes Jennifer Bleyer. “She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in the neighborhood of Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away.”

The story goes on to interview Magida’s shopping companion, 31-year-old Gerry Mak:

“‘I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. ‘I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.’”

The writer takes a solid look at soaring use of food stamps, interviews some 20- and 30-somethings who are embarrassed about their use of the program, and ultimately concludes “food stamp-using foodies might be applauded for demonstrating that one can, indeed, eat healthy and make delicious home-cooked meals on a tight budget.”

To read that article in its entirety, see http://www.salon.com/news/us_economy/index.html?story=/mwt/pinched/2010/03/15/hipsters_food_stamps_pinched.

Interesting food for thought all around.