This is probably my favourite guitar of Metallica's lead guitarists Kirk Hammett. Hammett has even stated that it's his favourite. This custom ESP guitar (KH-2 M-II) features art from the The Mummy poster from 1932 and stars Boris Karloff. The guitar was first used on 1996's Load CD. He uses this guitar currently for Enter Sandman as seen on Jools Holland last week.
Honest to god I am not a stamp collector, but here is a cool stamp with Boris Karloff as The Mummy.
This is a beautiful guitar especially when you look at how even the picks ups have been painted and become part of the image. From a distance this guitar gives the illusion of no pick-ups.
A nice touch is the Eye of Horus inlays. Hammett in fact has a second Mummy guitar, the only difference been that it comes with cool Egyptian hieroglyphic inlays.
You got love Kurt in this DVD extra from Cunning Stunts smoking his big cigar and playing guitar at the same time....How cool is that
The Mummy guitar stands out because like his guitar tech/roadie said its his only guitar that's not black.
Some more cool Hammett guitars. this time with another iconic Boris Karloff image from James Whale's Frankenstein (1931). The great thing about these guitars is that the "Warning! The Monster Is Loose" inlay glows in the dark and the eyes of Boris light up. Gimmicky yes,,,but coool as hell
Finding a good close up of Hammett with his Dracula guitar and his hand not in the way of Bela Lugosi's face is pretty tough.
Phil Collen the lead guitarist from Def Leppard also has a cool Dracula/Lugosi custom guitar.
Weekdays for breakfast are a steady affair of toast and jam or a bagel (cinnamon and raisin) dunked in wholegrain strawberry yogurt.
Anyone spot the Dr on the TV
Weekends are a bit more luxurious, usually croissants, butter and jam, after a few weeks I need to have some US style pancakes and maple syrup, occasionally with streaky bacon and sometime with blueberries. That brings back memories of when I went to NY in '99, one of the things I really wanted to do was order a stack of blueberry pancakes and syrup in a traditional diner. We were staying in New Jersey and I can remember walking a few miles thought some back streets before I stumbled across a diner. With it been America it really was a stack and the chef wouldn’t serve it without butter. I think my fondness for pancakes goes back even further some 20 years when some family friends came over from Canada and brought back some pancake mix and maple syrup.
If I ever feel like I have had too many croissants and pancakes in a row I like to bring out my waffle machine (DeLonghiWR30). I don’t think you can beat the combination of waffles with crunchy streaky bacon covered in maple syrup with some quality coffee. This combo is probably more famous on pancakes. I have in the past opted for the healthy waffle option of Greek yogurt with mango and pineapple. I am sure it works just as good with assorted berries. On a weekend I normally opt for coffee via my Bialettistovetop espresso coffee maker, however this weekend for a change I opted shockingly for some instant espresso. As a big fan of fairtrade coffee and specifically the Percol brand. I noticed the other week in Waitrose that they had started doing an instant espresso powder. I normally opt for milk in my coffee but I thought I would give this a whirl, for when I needed a quick hit of caffeine. It is very good stuff, it’s a got a hazelnut aroma and taste that makes its very drinkable.
On Wikipedia it states proper Belgian Waffles are super light because they use yeast in the batter instead of baking powder. Next time I will have to try it with yeast. Apparently the traditional topping is icing sugar, whipped cream and chocolate spread. If that is the traditional topping, then for sake of this blog I will have to try that as well and report back to you my findings.
I am a Carry On fan and proud of it, there is no scoffing or proclaiming it a guilty pleasure like on SKY’s EPG. The series became a British institution pretty early on, in its run of 29 films (1958-78). Produced by Peter Rogers and Directed by Gerald Thomas. The series of films starred a band of familiar faces like Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Joan Simms, Charles Hawtrey and Kenneth Conner. Because of the Carry On films they became comedy legends.
My recent Carry On mini-marathon includes
Carry On Camping (1969) Carry On Matron (1972) Carry On Cruising (1962) Carry On Admiral (1957) * Carry On Regardless (1961) Carry On Spying (1964) Carry On Up The Khyber (1969) Carry On Doctor (1967) Carry On Screaming (1966) Cor Blimey! (2000) **
* Is not an official Carry On film, it was made a year before Peter Rogers 1st film Carry On Sergeant (1958)
** Is a TV drama about the Carry On actors, films and specifically Sid James and Barbara Windsor’s affair.
My introduction to this great institution probably came in the early 80’s with the highlights series What A Carry On (1983). Often dismissed by long time fans and hated by the actors themselves as it represented the death nail in the coffin for the Carry On franchise. This series however made me want to check out all the Carry On films.
I have a deep fondness for Carry On Camping and Carry On Behind (1975) not because of Barbara Windsor loosing her bikini top, but because they were set in campsites. During our school holidays we would always go away caravaning to The Lakes, it rained quite a bit in The Lakes. So I have fond recollections of rain pitter-patting on the caravan roof whilst trying to get to sleep. I think that’s why I love a good down poor, especially in the middle of a heatwave.
These two particular Carry On films help create a certain amount of nostalgia for when I was young and I guess a snapshot of England of yesteryear. I can even remember seeing Carry On Screaming on a camping holiday. I was quite surprised when I saw the film a second time some years later and that it was in colour. Our caravan TV was an old portable b/w TV. It kind of enhanced it and gave it the feel of the old Universal monster movies or Abbott & Costello spoofs, rather than the Hammer films that it was trying to recreate. This is probably my favorite Carry On, in part because I love the old Hammer Films, Fenella Fielding is smoking hot and the script is tight. Kenneth Williams is excellent as Dr.Watt, which leads to a great scene with Harry Corbett, Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth and a play on words of Dr Watt and Dr. Who. Carry On Screaming even features a small role from future Dr.Who Jon Pertwee, ironically as Dr. Fettle. Although you need to look past the make up, dark hair and you might spot him, to see what I mean check out the clip below. And of course you cannot forget Charles Hawtrey as Dan Dann. Poor old Fenella Feilding is quite a sight now although she is 80, how accurate that is I am not sure as between IMDB and Wikipedia there is a 8 year gap between birthdates. I hate to say it, but with her hairdo and eyes she reminds me of the lead from Eyes Without A Face / Les Yeux Sans Visage (1960)
Carry On Screaming starred Harry Corbett from Steptoe & Son as Sid James was recovering from a mild heart attack at the time. In fact he missed Carry On Follow That Camel (1967) because of his health, so Phil Silvers took the role. In Carry On Doctor, Sid James was recovering from another heart attack, so he took a less physical role and so Frankie Howard has top billing. Sid James heart problems eventually caught up with him in 1976 as he died on stage of the opening night of a play (The Mating Season).
My mini-marathon began a couple of months back with The BBC’s Carry On evening of films and Cor Blimey!. The final film I watched fittingly was Carry On Screaming, over the bank holiday. I have roughly watched about a quarter of films from the franchise. Sadly I missed Carry On Jack (1963) recently so I will have to keep my eyes peeled for the rarer Carry On films.
Whilst in the Post Office a month or two ago, an advertisement for these stamps caught my eye. I have to say, as two British film institutions The Carry On films and Hammer Films you would think they have both earned the right to be honoured separately and not just 3x films each in a set of 6. These are some glorious film posters.
Sun, Sep 07 DET 21 @ ATL 34 CIN 10 @ BAL 17 SEA 10 @ BUF 34 NYJ 20 @ MIA 14 KC 10 @ NE 17 TB 20 @ NO 24 STL 3 @ PHI 38 HOU 17 @ PIT 38 JAX 10 @ TEN 17 DAL 28 @ CLE 10 CAR 26 @ SD 24 ARI 23 @ SF 13 CHI 29 @ IND 13
Mon 8th Sep MIN 19 @ GB 24 DEN 41 @ OAK 14
The NFL Kicked off with a long 5-day weekend, with plenty of division match ups, some huge hits and a few blowouts. Starting on Thursday 4th with last years Super Bowl winner NY Giants V Washington Redskins. The Giants dominated the 1st half but only scored a TD and 3x field goals, but with two minutes left in the half the Redskins had the ball and with 20 seconds to go they got a TD. The quality of the coaches in the NFL is highlighted in games like this when defence co-ordinators make adjustments and shut out opposing teams in the second half of the game. The Redskins were more successful running and throwing the ball in the second half,,however they couldn't penetrate The Giants goal line or even get close enough for a field goal.
Disaster struck in New England as The Patriots lost their star QB Tom Brady, who missed the pre-season and didn’t last the 1st quarter. Brady left the field with a knee injury that has been confirmed as an ACL tear and is the end of his '08 season.. The good news is The Patriots beat The Chiefs.
Arron Rogers #12 proved the naysayers wrong by having a blinding game as the new QB for Green Bay in the big lights of MNF. Throwing a few Favre like passes, 1x for a TD and even scoring a QB sneek TD that earned him the right of the Lambeau Leap. This is a Green Bay ritual were the TD scorer, jumps above the barrier and into the arms of the end zone fans.
Nice to hear new and old Metallica tracks used as background music, on the 2x MNF games every time they went to an ad breaks.
1. Metallica - That Day That Never Comes, Cyanide & My Apocalypse from Death Magnetic.
2. Fleetwood Mac - Brown Eyes from Tusk
3. Glasvegas - Daddy’s Gone
4. David Bowie – Live in Santa Monica ‘72
5. Bob Seger - Turn The Page from Back in ’72 / Live Bullet / Greatest Hits
In Depth
1. Metallica
Metallica return with three stunners. Riffs & solos reminiscent of Metallica circa ’89 make me a happy man. Metallica will be unhappy as the new CD has been leaked. I succumbed to download an extra track That Was Just Your Life and it’s a peach. When Metallica tour this new CD the crowds will be screaming out the chorus’.
2. Fleetwood Mac
Revisited this track as I am thinking of buying it as Amazon have the expanded and remastered 2xCD version of this great album for only £6.47. Plus apparently DJ Shadow sampled this song on an early track.
3. Glasvegas
Great song from their forthcoming self-titled debut CD, saw this live on TV the other week at Reading, great introduction to a new band.
4. David Bowie
Great 2xCD set of 18 tracks of Bowie at his best whilst on the Ziggy Stardust tour. Bowie's output during the 70s is near perfect for me anyway, you could never accuse Bowie of been boring or doing the same album twice. No one was as prolific with 11x CDs during that era, not counting 1969's Space Oddity and 1980's Ashes To Ashes.. Bowie's stage show was constantly evolving to accommodate his changing characters. His other live CD from the 70's are Ziggy Stardust ('73 - The Final Concert), David Live ('74) , Stage (78) , and finally you cannot ignore the great Bowie @ The Beeb (68-72).
5. Bob Segar
Turn The Page was originally released as a single in 1973, however it never made the charts. It wasn't until 1976 that a live version of the track from the Live Bullet album that it became a rock radio hit for Bob Seger and his new band The Silver Bullet Band.
Metallica covered Turn The Page on 1998’s Garage Inc. This was the best new track on that CD and probably my favourite track of theirs from the last 15 years. The original has a kind of soft rock ring to it, not too much country and kicks off with a great saxophone riff. Needless to say Metallica replaced the sax with a slide guitar. The lyrics are all about the highs and lows of been in a band on the road. Metallica are the ultimate road band of the last 30 years and that’s why Hetfield identified with the song and lyrics so much. This has a standout video starring veteran porn actress Ginger Lynn. The video tells the harrowing tale of a stripper who sells herself and the side affects on her kid. What helps make it so good and helps you connect with the character is the interview Ginger Lynn's character gives at various points in the video. The video was Directed by Jonas Akerlund famous for his Smack Your Bitch Up & Ray Of Light videos for The Prodigy and Madonna.
I couldn't talk about it so much and not include the Metallica video for Turn The Page.
I worked it out a plain white loaf (Farl recipe) costs me about 50p to produce, using a supermarkets basic strong white floor. I was going to say I found it relaxing, however bread needs kneading for about for 5 minutes, I am a fast kneader, if there is such a thing and so I tend get a sweat on.
I have my favourite bread book ‘100 Great Breads’ by Paul Hollywood. The Farl and Pain de Campagne recipes listed below are from this book. I was introduced to Paul Hollywood and his philosophy of baking, when he used to appear on the now defunct UKTV Food show Great Food Live with Jeni Barnett. Sadly he has disappeared from our screens.
Another great book I got recently is called Bread Matters and goes into great depth about the failings of the industry and the bland bread that’s become the norm. I haven’t really done much from this book yet, there looks to be some good recipes and apparently the sourdough recipe is first class. I go through phases of making sourdough bread; you really do get into a daily ritual, as there a quite a few process for the sourdough. The main principle of sourdough is that there is no yeast in the dough, it is made from cultures naturally in the air. It’s that simple, its how they made bread 1000 years ago.
my favourite bread recipes :
Farl
500g Strong White Bread Flour 60g butter 30g fresh yeast 300ml of water
1 tblsp of Salt
Add the flour and salt to a bowl, and mix thoroughly so that too much salt doesn’t come into contact with the yeast, as salt will kill yeast, add all the other ingredients and combine into a ball, that’s not too dry or too wet.
Flour a clean working surface and knead your ball of dough for 5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and leave for an hour. To give the proofing/rising process a kick-start, I always place it near a grill or somewhere warm, I turn the grill on full blast for a couple of minutes. Then leave for an hour. Turn the bowl upside down, and because of the oiled bowl, the dough will simply and theatrically fall out. Shape into a ball, flatten slightly so that it’s about 2 inches deep and place on an oiled/lined tray. Give the bread a good covering of flour Then with a very sharp knife make a slash in the center of the bread, then work outward, so that you have 5 groves, or however many feel right. Then leave for another hour for the 2nd proof/rising. The book says the bread needs to be slashed just before going into the oven. I find if you do that, you simply deflate the dough and all the good work you have done disappears.
Put in a preheated oven at 220 Celsius / 225 F / mark 7 and bake for 30 minutes, remove from the over and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Pane de Campagne
400g Strong White Bread Flour 100g Rye Flour 30g fresh yeast 50g butter, softened 1x large bunch of fresh oregano (de-stalked and chopped) or a teaspoon of dried oregano 300 ml of water
For this recipe, add all the ingredients into a bowl except the water. Slowly add the water and bring the dough together. Knead for 6 minutes, put back in an oiled bowl and leave for two hours. Take the dough out of the bowl and shape into a ball, flatten slightly and dust with flour, place on an oiled/lined tray and then mark out a square on the top of the dough. Leave to proof for an hour
Put in a preheated oven at 220 Celsius / 225 F / mark 7 and bake for 30 minutes, remove from the over and allow to cool on a wire rack.
As I didn't have any fresh oregano I added a teaspoon of dried oregano. I didn't over do it as the bread had a very subtle flavour of oregano. If you want a more pronounced flavour maybe try it with 2 teaspoons. I think that's what I will be doing next time.
The Farl recipe I use as my basic white loaf, Its good for baking round loafs, standard rectangle loafs and even baguettes. However if I know ahead of time I want to make a baguette I would use the traditionally recipe that lets the a batter stand overnight to develop its flavour. From doing the various recipes in Hollywood's book I have gone from been a fan of a cottage loaf, that only needs 1 hour proofing. To understanding why the best breads need a double proofing. It may take a couple of hours before the bread even goes in the oven however its worth it. If you cannot stand the wait try soda bread, because as soon as the dough is mixed and ready, you just put it on a tray and it goes into the oven without any proofing. This is simply because Soda bread uses baking powder instead of fresh yeast, which needs the proofing time to activate and do its magic.
One of the things I love about making my own bread is that when it comes to slashing the bread. You can do what you want, some days I feel like a Z, other days its a traditional Farl slash, sometimes its a simple cross. When the bread comes out of the oven it is only then the beauty of slashing can be seen. The bread should have a nice contrast. almost a two-tone effect, with the floured parts next to the bare slashed parts. I think my pictures should highlight this. now what to do with a nice warm loaf out of the oven, just add butter or make a sandwich.
Sandwiches get a bad wrap in this country, whether it is those dreadful pre-packed ones or an unfresh limp pack up for work. People dismiss them all too easily as a snack or a fast food. They are not simply just a foodstuff to convert into energy or a stopgap until the main meal of the day. A sandwich should be made with love and every bite should be savored.
When done right, with quality bread and fresh fillings/ingredients its magical. Like a simple cucumber sandwich, with a little salad cream and most importantly salt & pepper it becomes a beautiful thing. Perfect for hot summer days, when it’s too hot to even turn the hob or oven on. Cucumber sandwiches evokes such memories for me that it takes me back to my Gran’s house after school cricket matches and sitting in her old fashioned kitchen. This is when I truly discovered what pepper was all about as its piquancy of heat danced along my taste buds. Before then it was just something my dad reached for at mealtimes, dare I say it to spice up my mum's cooking. I have to admit to having a slight bias, as my dad grows Cucumbers commercially and I have spent what seems like a lifetime sweating for this prickly fruit.
Sandwiches are so flexible from the classic cucumber, to the famous Ploughman’s, ham and mustard, beef and horseradish, the American club sandwich and tuna and mayo. Or as I prefer it tuna and salad cream, normally with some spring onion, black olives, olive oil and if I am in the mood a few slithers of chili. Then there is possibly the greatest, the bacon sandwich or the BLT with warm crisp bacon sitting on a bed of fresh lettuce with tomato on top. I am sure purists might say “no” to some ketchup, I kind of compromise and have half with ketchup and the other half naked.
I saw Heston Blumenthal on TV recently discussing his research into the Ploughman’s, as he wanted to re-imagine this dish as only Heston can. He believed, like everybody, that it had a long history of been the food of the workingman. That farmers and labourers ate their Ploughman' in the fields and in the oldie worldie pubs of yesteryear. Well I was surprised at Heston’s results that the Ploughman' was a creation of a major company to help sell pickle back in the 60’s. Fancy that.
(Since I wrote this piece The Hairy Bikers have also mentioned this fact in their series The Hairy Bakers)
I would even go, as far to say that hot dogs and hamburgers are a form of a sandwich, they are just a cultural and regional variation just like tortillas and chapattis. They all serve the same function of surrounding a filling and making it easier pick up and put in your mouth or a lunchbox
Then there is the wackiest sandwich of them all, a national institution from the US, the jam and peanut butter sandwich. I have never tried this crazy concoction, as I am not the biggest fan of peanut butter. However I do feel that one-day I will have to give this sandwich a whirl. As I love American pancakes and streaky bacon smothered in maple syrup. I think they are pretty similar, in that they both satisfy the salty and sweet areas of the tongue that’s probably why these bizarre flavor combinations work so well.
I think my love of baking bread stems from my insistence on quality bread for a quality sandwich. Sometimes its all about the simplicity of a cucumber sandwich or to the extreme of The Muffuletta......
Cucumber farmer during the week, masked masterbaker come the weekend. From lovingly handmade artisan breads, cupcakes of all sizes, pies to pancakes, there is nothing I wont throw my hat at. I don't eat to live, I live to eat. I can't get enough Triple D, I would love to be a MasterChef, do something with food, hopefully this blog will help me crystallise just were my path should lead.
Anyone spot the Dr on the TV
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