Entries from October 2007 ↓

Wrong Time Capsule by Deerhoof

In the words of dylansharmonica, “I love”.

And The Go! Team – Doing it Right:

Oh that’s a bad pun, but they are good. Dr. Dog that is. And they are coming to Australia in December (playing the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney).

They do a pretty sweet cover of Architecture in Helsinki’s Heart it Races. It’s a bit hard to find it, being on a Polyvinyl AIH ep and all, but it’s currently on their MySpace and you can download it from spin.com

This is a live version of “We All Belong” – the sound’s not the greatest, but you might get the idea…

I really like this guy’s art, he’s blind but has worked out a way to paint.

University of North Texas (UNT) student John Bramblitt paints beautiful works of art in vivid colors, despite the fact that he’s been blind for years. [link]

I found his description of how the different colours of paint have different textures really beautiful. It is moot to say we take so much for granted, for the most part we need to do this because otherwise we’d just get overloaded. Still, it’s good to occassionally remind ourselves what we do ignore.

Also, I want the dog painting.

You can find and purchase his works from his website and Sightless Works – it also explains John’s process which is something that the video doesn’t really do.

…at least on this blog, recently. See, even Kitty loves the red cape. What a fashionable cat.

You can check out more catty fashion at My Cat Wears Clothes.

The name, that is. I love it.

Where did that come from? Stumbled on this cookbook by Thomasina Miers. Don’t know if it’s any good but her name is cool and the reviews are great.

This one looks interesting too – according to reviews it really does teach you how to cook restaurant dishes at home.

It’s not a question of ability but of pure chuzpah (or insanity – same diff) and she’s got plenty.

Roisin Murphy’s video for “Let me Know” (via Mattbites):

I do like this version by the Clef Hangers (the video is set to Teen Titans for some reason?!).

Stupid catchy song. Which is a good excuse as any to find more pics of little red riding hoods!

So retro!

So classic

These two I think are brilliant! They’re both french… stupid talented french people.

I could marry the Internet – I have been searching for years for an obscure Israeli folk band called The High Windows (Trio) for years and years and the Internet has Finally Delivered.

The band’s members (in particular Arik Einstein ) were all well known in their native land, but they all went on to other things after just one album. I used to put their name into Google and all I would get would be pages in Hebrew that I couldn’t read, but now they have a Wikipedia entry and I could download the MP3s from Amazon if I were in the US.

I only know of them because their eponymous album formed the soundtrack of one of my all time favourite films – Shirat Ha’Sirena (English title was Talila – Song of the Siren) by Israeli director Eyton Fox (such a cool name). It’s set in the Gulf War but it stays away from that sort of politics. It has been described as an Isreali Bridget Jones but coming out in 1994, it predates Bridget by a year. In any case it was based on a novel of the same name by Irit Linur and is one of the most wonderfully romantic films ever produced. High praise, but true. It is much better than Bridget Jones, I think anyway and I did like it, and the main star, Dalit Kahan (as Talila Katz) is utterly charming.

Yalda k’tana (Little Girl) is truly one of the most beautiful songs ever written.

Fortunately, I discovered Israeli Music will send me a new edition of the album that appears to have more songs on it for US$21 (including postage to Australia)! YAY!

David Lebovitz in his fabulous blog tries out Heidi Swanson’s Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies which were a bit of a secret themselves and now more so that she’s taken it off her blog because it was revised for her new book and doesn’t want people to become confused(?!). Fortunately, David has still got his variation online.

Mesquite flour is supposed to be a bit of a wonder flour, low-GI and full of flavour and fibre. It’s not the easiest to find, but there is one source in Australia: Raw Pleasure stocks it for $22.95 for 500g – it’s also not cheap! Heidi also raves about Alter Ego organic ground cane sugar – I found an Australian source, but I will have to do some more investigation to see if I can find a locally produced equivalent.

I am very tempted to fork out the dough (no pun intended or avoided) to try out the mesquite flour, but as far as regular chocolate chip cookies go, I was pretty happy with the results from my standby chocolate chip recipe. While it is obvious to say that it all starts with a good recipe, are there any special tips not included in the standard text that make the difference between good and great?

My secret would be to keep an eye on how they are going and under-cook them slightly to give that soft chewy Mrs Field’s texture (if that’s what you’re into, if you like them crispy – and yes, that can be very good too – you might need to go with a different recipe or spread them out thinner) -  don’t wait until they’re brown all over, golden brown and brown on the edges is just right.

I find that’s enough but it seems there are a whole lot more secrets out there to that yummy cookie texture…

David gave up his secret to perfectly moist chocolate chip cookies:

Here’s a tip to help keep chocolate chip cookies moist when they cool: When you pull the cookies out of the oven, take a tablespoon and tap the top of each cookie once or twice to flatten any peaks and level them. Then let them cool as usual for the moistest, chewiest chocolate chip cookies imaginable!

In David’s comments, suzanne has another secret:

Another tip for keeping the cookies moist is to add an extra egg yolk (or, if there are 2 or more eggs called for, eliminate the whites from one of the eggs in the recipe).

Then you can use the extra egg white in David’s Banana Cake! [I thinks she is talking about this banana cake recipe, but there's also this healthy one and this decadent chocolate one.]

He also links to Adam’s tips/cookie tricks who also mentions under-cooking (which I think is more to the point):

• Use a flat baking sheet with no sides for perfect even cooking or turn a baking tray with sides upside down and place baking paper on the base so that it effectively loses its sides.
• Use an ice-cream scoop to dole out the batter and flatten them with a wet hand.

David had some tips a while back on how to keep cookies from spreading (though this can sometimes be the intended result – see this video for cookie slice. I actually quite like the spread myself where the cookies squish on the sides and get wrinkles similar to what someone described in Adam’s blog as the “shar pei” effect. I will try out the strong flour tip though – I do like chewy):

• Don’t whip cookie mixture – only beat the butter and sugar long enough so they’re blended well but not fluffy.
• Don’t butter baking sheets, just line them with parchment/baking paper or use a non-stick silicone baking mat
• Use stronger flour – one that’s higher in protein. This is the opposite of a cake flour. Sometimes stronger flours are called pasta flour as the chewy stretchy-ness is what you need for good pasta – the complete opposite of what you need for a light and airy sponge. I think the Italian type 00 flour is this from memory (but do check!). Strong flour is especially recommended for cut-out biscuits where you want them to hold their shape.
• Avoid super fine sugars. I guess this is castor sugar. His reasoning is they melt too quickly and cause the dough to be wet and spread.
• Chill/Freeze the dough beforehand.
• Check the temperature of your oven is not to too low. Otherwise it will prolong the spread time!

Some more cookie recipes (and a stray brownie one) I found writing this:
Adam’s Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Stewart* (mel recommended sprinkling sugar on top before baking as a cheat).
Alton Brown’s Chewy Cookies (using bread flour – ie a strong high protein flour, sometimes known as pasta flour).
Cook’s Illustrated Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: subscription only but try Recipe Czar or this cookie Google group.
A whole lot linked at “Ahh, the Chocolate Chip Cookie“
Cook’s Illustrated Thin, Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies: subscription only (boo!).
Sunset Magazine “Seeking the perfect chocolate chip cookie“.
Neiman Marcus – Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (and the also the recipe from that stupid email urban legend)
Original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Meg Hourihan’s Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Search and her subsequent findings.
Words to eat by’s Unbelievably Good Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
Karol’s Comfort Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (she also has some healthier food – after seeing so many sugary cookies (and having brownies for breakfast), I have to admit her Guacamole recipe and her detox soup are looking pretty damn fine).
David Lebovitz tries out Clotilde’s Very Chocolate Cookies.
Foodbeam’s Rage syndrome inducing Pierre Hermé’s sablés au chocolat et à la fleur de sel.
Heidi Swanson trying out David Lebovitz’s Chocolate Chip Recipe.

And the brownie recipe, Trial and Error’s Dark Chocolate Brownies.

It’s like going down the white rabbit’s tunnel… So many chocolate chip recipes, so little time and so few arteries to ruin!

*ie Martha, the boyfriend and I call her this because of a typo in a newspaper article on her release from jail, since she has always been know as The Stewart.

Kate Sylvester’s centerpiece item in her Wolf winter 2007 collection was a little red riding hood. Hers is super cool, but the one in my head (I WILL make it someday, I even wrote it on a list…) is a lot less full. I think it would also make a dishy raincoat with wellies!

While I was looking for the Lil’ Red Riding Hood clips, I also found this cute tee by Famous Forever, love the cut but it is not cheap (24.99 quid)…