Taste Me You Will See

2010-05-16T15:43:00.001-07:00

2009-10-05T03:08:00.000-07:00

Mickey Rourke Wins A BAFTA

2009-02-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

Mickey Rourke did the business tonight winning Best Actor at The BAFTAs for The Wrestler. This pleases me no end, as I caught the film last week. A totally deserved win, along with a great f**kin' speech. Great interveiw with Andrew Collins. I am a big fan of Rourke from his hey day were he had a streak of hits that made him an A-list movie star and then Nine 1/2 Weeks made him a heart throb.

Angel Heart is probably my favourite Rourke film, thats partly because its the best all round film, a great story and visuals that makes for an interesting mix of genres and boy does it keep you hooked till the end. Even the end credits have an unnerving quality that makes them totally watchable. It is hardly surprising, it is also my favourite Alan Parker film. I can remember watching The Outsiders (1983) and Rumblefish on Moviedrome as part of a Francis Ford Coppola double bill. What a great pair of films, both are in much need of a re-vist, as I probably haven't watched them since the late 80's. I can remember in 1990 when I was 15 going to see Wild Orchid with Rourke, Carre Otis his then girlfriend and Jacqueline Bisset. Sadly its nothing more than a softcore porn movie with Rourke banging his girlfriend in some very realistic scenes. At 15,,this probably ticked all the boxes.

Rourke films from the 80's to check out

Angel Heart (1987)
Nine 1/2 Weeks (1986)
Year of the Dragon (1985)
The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984)
Rumble Fish (1983)
Diner (1982)

Year Of The Dragon has a high pedigree as it was directed by the man behind The Deer Hunter Micheal Cimino and scripted by Oliver Stone. That said its not a perfect script or film, however it does have the tone and feel of an 70's cop film. This clip is one of reasons I keep coming back to this great film. Its a 1-take wonder, I love the long gliding tracking shot done with a Steadicam and with Rourke's motivational speech to his men for me is pitch perfect.

From what I can tell Rourke got into acting late as he spent most of the 70's as a amateur boxer. according to IMDB he finished with a record of 20-6, with 17 knockouts and was disqualified 4 times. He reportedly scored 12 consecutive first round knockouts. He must been pretty quick to avoid the punches. Making movies, earning lots of money and sleeping with Kim Basinger on screen couldn't have been enough. Rourke made a boxing movie Homeboy (1988) and stepped back in the ring as a professional in 1991. He retired in 1995 after 11x wins and 2x draws. The boxing and daily grind of sparring left him with short term memory loss and the need for reconstructive surgery on his face that ended his acting career as a A-list heart throb. After 15 years of bit roles he bounced back in Sin City (2003). Surprisingly roles have been sparse. Then came Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler. It has been said it was a role he was born to play. And boy does he become Randy "The Ram" Robinson, the truth is its almost impossible seeing anyone else as Randy. The success of this has led to Rourke winning a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and possibly an OSCAR,,,that would really be something special achieving a grand-slam sweep of the awards.

The 30 minutes or so of The BAFTAs I saw it seemed to be a very good show, although J. Ross is using his BBC suspension as part of his act. This had better stop soon,,,cos its getting boring now. To make things worse when the show had finished, just as most people, including me were about turn over they began showing highlights of the so called small awards like best animation. What got my goat is The BBC/BAFTA they started showing the credits over Nick Park and the other winners speeches. This totally riles me with anger as this shows a total lack of FUCKING respect for these artists. The OSCARS do it right and celebrate these awards mid-way through the main show.

The main highlight was seeing Terry Gilliam rightly become a fellow of BAFTA. I loved his gag about thanking all the little people of his movies. He proceeded to pull out a huge peice of paper and then named all the dwarf actors from Time Bandits. Very funny and a very Gilliam thing to do.

The role call of those sadly no longer with us, seemed longer than normal and filled with some greats, like Paul Newman, Charlton Heston, Sydney Pollack, Jules Dassin and Richard Widmark who starred in one of my fav films, Dassins' Night and The City. A surprise face to see on this list was FX wizard Stan Winston who worked on Predator, Aliens and Terminator 2. He sadly died of multiple myeloma or Bone Cancer, a condition I wasn't aware of until I googled it. Speaking of Bone Cancer they paid tribute during the England v Italy Six Nations game to a rugby player that also died of this dreadful condition.

Sadly a close friend of mine lost his dad to Cancer this weekend and so I just wanted to say my thoughts are with you and your family. I am feelin' for you mate.

SlideShow For A Freind 1

2009-01-28T07:15:00.001-08:00

SlideShow For A Freind 2

2009-01-28T07:12:00.001-08:00

Details for the above slideshow.

East Yorkshire Mortgage Co

http://www.eastyorkshiremortgageco.co.uk/

Xmas Time Warp

2009-01-27T02:40:00.000-08:00

As I have been down with the man-flu for the last week. Here is a time warp piece/blog entry from Xmas, that I never quite got round to posting.

As a warm up to Xmas, on Christmas Eve I tried a Jun Tanaka recipe for venison. The meat is pan fried /stir fried along with pears, apple and blackberries. In my case I opted for grapes, blueberries and blackberries, with some chard, onion and balsamic vinegar and I have to say it was quite revalationary. Venison traditionally like a lot of game is best friends with fruit. So it shouldn't have surprised me at how well this dish worked. The meal was enhanced by a nice glass of Wolf Blass Cabernet Sauvignon.

To accompany our Christmas feast of turkey and all the trimming, I brought out a bottle of Prosecco by La Gioiosa made from Pinot Grigio. Finding details about this wine online, I found it in a Taste test for The Guardian and Gennaro Contardo didn't even give this Prosecco 1*.

Prosecco is basically an Italian equivalent to Champagne, but half the price. As some one that isn't the biggest fan of Champagne due to its dryness, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Surprise, surprise I couldn't, the Prosecco had the same dry taste and lacked any real sweetness, just like a bottle of Champagne.

We didn’t even have a late tea, we just had a bottle of port and selection of biscuits and cheeses. I bought some Blackstone's Blue, which is one of my favourites . I am a fan of Cathedral City however I tried their 20 month vintage for the 1st time. It has not become my favourite cheese for simply eating on its own. The extra time has allowed salt crystals to form, it’s a bit more crumbly and tastier, but does not come with a really overpowering aftertaste that some mature cheddars might have.

Our Boxing Day meal was roast beef. To accompany this I made an excellent creamed horseradish. Like the preserved lemons I found there are many differing recipes online. I opted for an easy Jun Tanaka recipe from Market Kitchen. All you need is some fresh horseradish, creme frais or sour cream, Dijon mustard and some lemon juice.

To accompany the beef we drank one of my favourite wines and the best Rioja I know. Campo Viejo reserva. This is normally about £9 in Salisbury's, however just before Xmas it was £7 a bottle. Not sure if I will be able to find another one from 2001.

I also managed to drink some festive beers. Innis and Gunn brought out a nice boxed edition,,that I can seem to remember buying last year in the same offer of 3 for the price of 2. I also enjoyed a nice Simpson's inspired beer by Wychwood called Plum Duff. Another been Pickled Partridge. Speaking of beer one of my favourite presents was the excellent book called Beer that profiles some of the most famous and unusual beers from around the globe. I was able to flick through and say I had drank quite a few of the unusual European beers because I had ordered them from the excellent website http://www.beersofeurope.co.uk/

Punch Drunk Joe

2009-01-25T13:34:00.000-08:00

A pretty funny clip of former NY Jets superstar QB and Super Bowl winnder Joe Namath been a bit drunk and amourous to the female touchline reporter. Looking on YouTube it looks like he would and did sell just about anything.

Joe Namath selling tights

Joe Selling Brut

Countdown To The Super Bowl

2009-01-03T06:26:00.000-08:00

The road to Tampa and Super Bowl XLIII starts this weekend with the Wild Card play-off games. After 17 weeks and 16x games, we are definitely getting down to the business end of the season.

Like last years Patriots going 17-0, another team almost replicated that record only this time Detroit went 0-17. Miami have turned around their fortunes, last year they went 1-15. The appointment of Bill Parcell as GM, a new coach and players. They have surprised everybody with the speed of their turnaround to a 11-5 record to get to the play offs. All the ups and downs in Dallas and Philadelphia meant people took their Eye off the NY Giants, who quietly became division champs and made their way to the play-offs for a chance to repeat. That was until wide receiver Plexico Burres went to a nightclub and got in trouble when he accidentally shot himself in the leg.

The season started badly for The Patriots losing Tom Brady in the 1st week. Matt Cassel understandably looked shaky, however he found his feet and confidence. He started to look like Brady…almost. The irony is that Tom Brady got his break in 2001 when Drew Bledsoe, got injured early in the season and Brady took them to the Super Bowl and lifted the Vince Lombadi trophy.

Matt Cassel put in 2x back-to back games with 400+ yards, which is a new Patriots record, a feat Brady never managed. The Patriots will be feeling very sore missing out on the play-offs with an 11-5 record. That is pretty amazing, especially when you look at the AFC West division champs the San Diego Chargers who with a 3-5 record came good in the final straight to win their division with an 8-8 record. It is anomalies like this that leads to fans and critics object to the NFL’s current play-off system as it means that some of the better teams with a superior record can miss out.

The simple fact is that some divisions are just stronger than others. The NFC East is historically the toughest and the best division in the league as it has produced the most Super Bowl wins of x11 since 1966. This season the NFC South is probably the next toughest division. The New Orleans Saints ended the season with an 8-8 record, but last in their division. This NFC South is very topsy-turvy, I guess these teams in this division make full use of the draft and free agents. This division had a strange record for the last 5 years where the team that finished last, the next year would win the division. I have to say, knowing this in September I came awfully close to putting a bet on Atlanta winning the division. Rookie QB Matt Ryan has impressed me and everybody from week 1, looking very poised in the pocket, accurate with his passing and unflappable, all to rare for a rookie QB. He was so impressive that this week he won the award for Rookie MVP. Sadly Atlanta, no fault of Ryan ended up 1x game shy of winning the division with an 11-5 record. Division champs the Carolina Panthers looked impressive, even if they did wobble mid season. The trick was they played badly but won the games and finished with a 12-4 record. They ended up sharing the best record with The NY Giants and joining them as the No.1 and 2 seed for the NFC and earned themselves a week off.

The Cowboys started the season as everyone favourites to win the Super Bowl. They won their opening 3x games however they began to splutter, Romo injured his pinky finger and missed 4x games. They almost bounced back however the teams December blues returned they began losing, arguing and never recovered. The Eagles were looking out of the picture, they even tied a game, the first time in the NFL since 2002. McNabb was playing so badly head coach Andy Reid benched him. It had the desired effect as he came back swinging and hitting his receivers between the numbers. Finishing the season with a 4-1 streak that saw them thump The Cowboys 6-44 in the last game of the season. It turn out the tied game came in handy as it gave The Eagles 2nd place and helped knock The Cowboys out of the race for the play-offs.

The St. Louis Rams, Oakland Raiders and the San Fransisco 49ers made mid-season coaching changes. The end of the season brought the sacking of a couple of head coaches. The NY Jets fired Eric Mangini for not getting his team to the play-offs from an 8-4 start, winning only 1 game from the last 5. I hate to say it but, it sounds like the fans and pundits are laying some, if not most of the blame on QB Brett Fave. Mike Shannerhan, the 2nd longest tenured coach who won back-to-back Super Bowls in the 90’s for the Denver Broncos was fired for losing a 3x game lead to The Chargers resulting in no play-off birth. The Seahawks Mike Holmgren is taking a year out, the Indianpolalis Colts Tony Dunghi is retiring. Along the sidelines, the NFL will look significantly different next year with the lack of big names that have the big game experience of winning Super Bowls.

January games take on a new intensity, you lose, and you go home. The hitting gets harder, there is more on the line, every play becomes critical. Normally you get some snow or icebowl games, sadly Green Bay and New England did not make it. Aaron Rogers came in a looked good for Green Bay, sadly the defence and running back Grant did not stand up. Last years Green Bay Ice bowel game against The Giants was one of the best games of the season. The Colts and Peyton Manning are on a roll with a nine game win streak. This is very impressive considering Peyton Manning came off knee surgery last summer. He took a while to get going but has got his team in a position similar to 2006 when they won the Super Bowl. Manning’s skill and leadership has led to him been named the leagues MVP. Manning has received this award 3x time now, equaling Brett Favres run in the late 90’s.

Wild Card Weekend Schedule

Saturday Jan 3:
9pm Atlanta at Arizona,
1.30am Indianapolis at San Diego.

Sunday Jan 4:
6pm Baltimore at Miami

9pm Philadelphia at Minnesota.

There is talk of all the road teams winning this weekend, which would be quite something.

The Colts and Manning maybe the in form team, however they have a lousy record of 1-3 against The Chargers. The Chargers just know how to line up against The Colts and how to fluster Manning as he averages 3 interceptions per game. He has had some his worst games in San Diego. Both QBs will come out slinging, as ever it will be a close game with no more than 4 points in it.

Arizona have not made the play-offs since 1947, so they maybe pretty nervous. Thankfully they have home field advantage and they are always strong at home. Even though Atlanta have the rookie MVP at QB, he may have hit the rookie wall. Arizona have the rejuvenated QB Kurt Warner who has had his best year since his Super Bowl winning days in St.Louis. Combine that with the tall, physical and reliable wide receivers Boldin and Fitzgerald, the Atlanta defence may have a long day, especially if Arizona mix it up with a run game. If Arizona want to progress the defense will need to step up to stop Michal Tuner.

The Ravens and rookie QB Joe Flacco travel to Miami for a tough game. This will be a defensive game, as The Ravens can shut down any team. It will be interesting to see how Miami and QB Chad Pennington and their wildcat offence do against Ray Lewis’s Raven defence. I can see the Ravens winning this by 10-6

Philadelphia Eagles v Minnesota Vikings will be another defensive chess match, with two of the leagues best running backs in Brian Westbrook and Adrian Peterson. If Donovan McNabb can have a good game he may be the difference maker.

The Vikings QB Tarvaris Jackson will need to have a good game throeing he ball, to allow Peterson to find the holes. Jackson will be tested more than his 17 previous games as Philly's defensive wizard Jim Johnson, will blitz Jackson more than any other team he has seen all year. Because of that I can see Philly winning the game.

Happy Birthday Mary

2008-12-29T12:58:00.000-08:00

Mary Tyler Moore celebrated her 72nd birthday this week.

For a lot of people in the UK and of my age, the only reference people have for Mary Tyler Moore is from a lyric in the Weezer track Buddy Holly. Little do they know she was a hot brunette with great legs and a talent for comedy. In the 60's and 70's she appeared in two of the biggest and most celebrated US sitcoms ever made.

Her 1st starring role came in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66) when she was just 25. She played Laura Petrie, wife to Rob (Dick Van Dyke). Mary Tyler Moore soon became an instant sensation, with her Jackie Onasis bob and tight capri pants. Hollywood opened its arms to her once The Dick Van Dyke Show finished. Because of her clout she was able to pitch a new show to the network and get it made without a pilot, this was unheard of then and even today. She set up MTM productions in 1970 to produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show. By the third season MTM had made Saturday nights on CBS essential viewing with its double bill of Mary and The Bob Newhart Show, the addition of M*A*S*H* also helped.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show revolutionised TV sitcoms. Mary was a single, working, independent woman, not reliant on a man. The shows characters were not one dimensional and evolved as the show went on. The show lasted an impressive 168 episodes over 7 seasons and won a record breaking 29 Emmy's. This number has only recently been broken when Frasier won its 30th. Along with The Dick Van Dyke Show over a 12 year period Mary Tyler Moore won 6 EMMY awards for her acting and the shows won a combined total of 86 nominations and 44 trophies. This is why these two shows are held in such high regard. Plus the fans love them to bits.

This can be seen on The Simpson's 'And Maggie Makes Three' and Family Guy 'Wasted Talent' episodes where they have been homaged. For the Simpson's this is understandable as producer James L. Brooks created/wrote The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The city of Minneapolis where The Mary Tyler Moore Show was set even has a statue of Mary because of how the show put the city on the map. The show proved so successful that it spawned 3x spin-off series Rhoda, Phylis and Lou Grant.

One of the reasons people in the UK don't have an appreciation of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Is that when it was originally screened in the UK in the early 70's on BBC1 they only showed about 30 episodes. Then when CH4 launched in 1984, again only 30 episodes were screened. As far as I know no other repeats have been screened on any of the UK channels. I can just remember the end of Happy Days and Mork and Mindy, then the endless repeats of those shows on CH4. It baffles me why The Mary Tyler Moore show couldn't have been picked up for those 6pm repeat time slots or even daytime TV.

I Love The Mary Tyler Moore Show, its a great snapshot of the 70's. Every DVD boxset was welcomed with great joy. Sadly its run never finished on DVD, as they only released 4x seasons, sadly the same happened with The Bob Newhart Show. After a few years of misery, complaining and petitioning things were looking bleak. This year things began to turnaround, a groundswell of popularity for the show grew. The catalyst for this was a recent Oprah episode and cast reunion which resulted in a rise in DVD sales on Amazon. Perhaps the biggest reason was that the man with the power, the senior vice president of Fox, Steven Feldstein’s email address was found by Mary fans. This led to his inbox been swamped with emails pleading that seasons 5-7 to come out on DVD. Shortly after this Mary fans were rejoicing with news that FOX will be finishing the shows run on DVD. That was in September, however no release dates have been released yet. News should be forthcoming once we get into 2009. Hopefully they will decide to finish The Bob Newhart Show at the same time.

I cannot wait for Seasons 5-7 as apparently the best episode of the whole series is to come. Chuckles Bites The Dust was voted #1 in TV Guides 'Greatest Episodes Of All Time'. This was partly due the dealing of the death of a cast member, the episode dances precariously between tragedy and black comedy in how Chuckles dies and then how Chuckles colleagues mourn his passing.

Christmas Presents

2008-12-27T05:18:00.000-08:00

We had a great Xmas in our house.

I got a couple of great cook books by Jon Torode and Atol Kochhar from my brother and sister.

I have sampled a recipe and some of the writing from this book, when there was some recipes and tips from the book in The Observer some months back. Avaible from http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/ for only £6.99, howver P+P is £3.50, unless you spend £25, either ways it is till cheaper than Amazon.

I am looking forward to trying some recipes from Atol Kochhar's new book, this guy knows how to make contemporary Indian cuisine and present it like haute cuisine. That's how and why he became the first Indian chef to be awarded a Michelin star for his restaurant Benares. Kochhar along with Reza Mahammad and Cyrus Todiwalla they have elevated Indian cuisine and given it a new sophistication. If I lived in London I would be in their restraunts all the time.

I have had a busy time leading upto Xmas. I gave away some Lemon Curd and some very festive Cranbery Curd to a couple of Friends. I ordered 24x Italian (Amalfi) lemons from http://www.natoora.co.uk/ which cost me nearly £10. I have 1x left, 2x went mouldy and I used about 8x for the Lemon Curd and the rest I preserved. Preserved lemons are quite expensive in the shops. A shredded lemon really adds a Moroccan touch to any tagine or couscous recipes. Speaking of preserving, I also confit some duck. In other words I slow cooked some duck legs for two hours submerged in a deep dish full of duck fat. You know when its ready, as the flesh is almost falling off the bone. I let the duck cool and then put it in a sterilised kilner jar and covered the duck with all the flavoursome fat. This duck confit will sit in my pantry for months till a recipe calls for it or I finally get round making a cassoulet. When you want to use it, you put the duck along with some of the fat into a very hot oven for 5 mins and you will have the crispiest duck. The rest of the duck fat can be used to make the best roast potatoes you will ever taste. I have always been put off attempting duck confit as it sounded very daunting. But with the help of a good recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Meat book. I found the whole process very easy.

Peter Serafinowicz Does Macca

2008-12-23T01:16:00.000-08:00

Saw this Paul McCartney spoof a few weeks ago on a repeat of The Peter Serafinowicz Show and I thought it was funny as hell.

His sketch on Al Pacino ia also pretty hysterical

And Finally I can't talk about Peter Serafinowicz without mentioning his Darth Vader In Love sketches.

A Very Star Wars Christmas

2008-12-21T16:50:00.000-08:00

I love this Yoda picture so much that I bought the figure and it comes out at Xmas and sits on the mantelpiece.

Listening To.....

2008-12-18T02:50:00.000-08:00

The brilliant Dusty Springfield. My interest in her was reawakened by a beer ad over the summer that used her track Spooky.

Anyway trying to find this song is very hard. Because Spooky is a cover, Dusty couldn't release her version before Classic IV made it a hit in the UK. So the record company released it as a B-Side to How Can I Be Sure in 1968 . This is why its so hard to track down.

That's why I was so excited when I found it on The Complete A and B Sides 1963-70. this is a fantastic CD, as you get 41 tracks on 2xCDs. The CD includes all the greats like I Only Want To Be With You, I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself and Son Of A Preacher Man. Whats really impressive is that a lot of disc 2 (B-Sides) is just as good as disc 1 (A-Sides). A keynote for Audiophiles is that the CD set contains the original mono versions.

This great CD set is available on Amazon for a criminal price of 4.99. Do yourself a favour buy it for yourself, or give it to friends as an Xmas present.

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Xmas

2008-12-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

As Da the advert goes.

- .

You either love it or hate it.

I love it, this Bing Crosby tune started getting me in a jolly mood and looking forward to Xmas at the end of November when it was 1st shown.

9 Days to go, the presents are all sorted, I made some mince pies at the weekend and my Guinness home brew is ready for supping.

Had a quick scan through the Xmas TV Times. Not sure what this says about Christmas TV, I spotted count 'em 7x Carry On films in 9 days, across 3x channels on terrestial TV. I would say its lazy and the schedulers are filling up airtime because when I started this blog in September, I am sure 3x of the films were screened then.

List of Carry On's over Xmas are:

Carry On Follow That Camel *
BBC1 Xmas Day/Night 1.40 am

Carry On Jack *
ITV Mon 29th 11.25 am

Carry On Behind *
CH4 Mon 29th 12.20pm

Carry On Cowboy *
ITV Tue 30th 12.55pm

Carry On Cleo *
ITV New Years Eve 11.25 am

Carry On Screaming
ITV Fri 2nd Jan '09 12.55 pm

Carry On Girls
BBC1 Fri 2nd Jan '09 12.10 am

*To Sky+

Carry On Behind Trailer

I will watch /Sky+ most of them, however I have seen them all bar a couple. Carry On Behind (1976) is lots of fun with Elke Sommer as a sexy Russian archaeologist chasing Kenneth William's Pofessor Crumpet around (another) campsite. Sommer who for some will be best remembered for her role alongside Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther's first sequel A Shot In The Dark (1964). There is some interesting stuff on her IMDB page, for example she guest starred on The Muppet Show in 1978. Peter Rogers must have really wanted her because she joined Phil Silvers (Carry On...Follow That Camel) (1967) as the highest paid performer with £30,000. To put her fee into to context Kenneth Williams was only paid £5,000. For Horror Hounds she will be best remembered for starring in Mario Bava's Baron Blood (1972) and Lisa And The Devil (1973).

If you need some more convincing here is a stylish picture of Elke Sommer in her prime posing for Playboy about 10 years before Carry On Behind.

Cupcake Heaven

2008-12-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

Had some fun this last month practicing making cupcakes for myself and for a couple of friends birthdays. I kind of got inspired after reading Kate Shirazi's book Cupcake Magic.

It’s a great little book,,I got mine on offer from The Book People for £2.99, sadly they don’t stock it anymore, You can get it from Amazon for £5.99

Cup cakes seem to be the “In“ thing this year, there has been a rise in specialist bakers for cupcakes and similar goods. And not just in NY, London,,but Yorkshire, I was reading in Yorkshire Relish how Maggie Stratton setup a cupcake shop (The Cupcake Shoppe) near Wakefield. Dare I say it, it probably started with Sex and The City. As café culture has exploded big time in this country in the last 10-15 years, it would only be natural that Carrie wannabes shop till they drop buying sexy lingerie and cute couture shoes and handbags followed by skinny caramel lattes with soya milk and a designer cup cake at the most chicest tea house/coffee shop.

Anyway…here is a selection of my Cupcakes.

1st attempt a Mocha cupcake with butter cream icing

Here are some unadulterated plain Red Velvet cupcakes with a yummy cream cheese icing

Red Blobs and Pink Balls

Red Sparkles

Yellow cream cheese icing with Pink Glitter and Pink Flowers

A beautiful birthday box of cupcakes

A party size box of cup cakes.

This was the first time I had chance to use my eggshell and green food paste. I think they turned out really well. So well that I am toying with the idea of taking my cakes to market, well a farmers market if I can, or the car-boot at the very least.

I Got My Eye On You

2008-12-01T15:30:00.001-08:00

Some jelly I made for Halloween.

Happy Birthday Samuel

2008-11-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

I Had a blast earlier this week at my nephews 2nd birthday party.

Sam with his Aunt Sally

My sister put on the usual party food spread of sausage rolls, twiglets, tortillas, dips and for my dad some cheese straws. To finish the meal there was some lovely slow cooked chilli-con-carne, with chunks of beef....not mince. Present time was a hoot, Sam bless him, unwrapped some and casually put them to one side and asked for “More”, others he howled with delight and had to rip them open there and then. He will need to have his own little garage for the amount of tryches and ride on toys he has now. Christmass this year is going to be so much fun for Sam.

And then came the cake.

I was busy making the birthday cake on Sunday night whilst watching the NFL. I chose a standard Victoria Sponge from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. This is probably the one book of hers I keep coming back to the most. It's easily worth £12 of any ones money.

I bought a kilo of baby blue sugar paste to cover my 9 inch/23 cm cake. I rolled out and covered the cake on Monday. The videos on YouTube, make this look a lot easier than it is. It arrives in a kind of hardish block. You treat it like a dough, knead and stretch it to warm it up and to make it pliable. For the 1st attempt I think I did OK. I had a go at some fancy building blocks. I also had a go at some letter icing for the first time. I would have liked more time to practise, however my cake supplies only came on the day of the party. And by the time I had got my sugar paste on the cake, cut out the building blocks. I only had about 30 minutes to ice the cake. I gotta say I got the hang of it after I remembered some tips from Rachel Allen's Bake series. The beauty of icing on the sugar paste is its quite forgiving, you can make a mess of it and you can scrape it off and start again, which I did 2-3 times. I am looking forward to practicing some more and getting the hang of it. I thought the red sparkly gel and green edible glitter gave the cake a bit of a WOW factor.

I was very busy on Sunday making the Sunday roast. I also made probably my favourite chocolate cake from Nigella's How To Be A Domestic Goddess. The delicious Chocolate Marsala cake is very tasty and heaven for dark chocolate fans, with its light almost moussey base and dark chocolate icing that sits on top. Only the best double cream poured over the top will do.

Philadelphia Phillies World Champions

2008-11-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

Brad Lidge throws the series winning strike

Last week saw The Philly’s win the baseball World Series for the 2nd time in their 125-year history. Their last success came in 1980. Philadelphia has been dry of sporting championships since 1983 when Dr.J and The 76ers won the NBA Finals. The Philly’s were often referred to as perennial losers, because of their long history they hold the record for the most losses in the MLB. They have lost a whopping 10,000+ games.

This Philly’s turned things around with some choice draft picks and free agent signings a couple of years ago. They won back-to-back division titles in 2007 & 2008, this year they finished with a 90-72 record and beat The Brewers and The Dodgers in the play-offs. In The World Series The Philly’s came up against the underrated Tampa Bay Rays, who had cause for celebration as they had reached their 1st World Series in only their 10th year of existence, incidently it took the Phillys 32 years to reach their 1st, and 98 years to win one. The Rays came into the World Series hot as they had come off impressive wins against The White Sox and The Red Sox.

The Philly’s proved too strong and won the 5 game series 4-1, in Philadelphia. That sounds quite one-sided, it wasn’t, only one game was a blowout. Game 4 ended 10-2, the rest were won by only a run or two. Game 5 had lots of twists and turns, the biggest been how rain suspended the game. This was the first time a in a World Series the game was delayed because of rain. The game was resumed 2 days later 2-2 in the bottom of the 6th innings. 4 innings left and it was some the most exciting baseball I had ever seen, it is such a shame The Rays couldn’t have pulled out a win to take the series back to Tampa for a 6th and 7th game.

Unlike UK Sports, The owners of the Franchise in the US lift the trophy

I gotta say I am not the biggest baseball fan, I check out the odd game in the early hours till I fall a sleep in front of the TV. My biggest moan is its loaded towards the pitchers and that I hardly ever see any homers. However this World Series really caught my interest. I only missed one game, sadly that was the blowout game that included 7 homers. I just wish I had caught some of the play-offs. As I am not an avid watcher of games, I learnt that pitchers do not play back-to-back games, they need 3 days rest. This is quite understandable when you think about it as they play a 162 game season in about 6 months, it really is the endurance game of the big four US Sports. Although I would say it’s the least physical, Football is only 16 regular season games, Basketball and Ice Hockey play 82 games in a season.

Channel 5’s coverage of the World Series was 1st class, a “Proper Hardcore” goes out to Jonny Gould and Josh Chetwynd, for the times were they effortlessly filled dead air waiting for delayed games to start. A great feature was how one of the shows US reporters reviewed the fast food at the stadiums. This feature definitely got my taste buds salivating. The traditional king of fast food from Philadelphia is a Philly cheese steak sandwich. After watching this I went to my local farm shop (Club Hill Farm) and Paul my butcher sliced some thinly cut prime Aberdeen Angus ribeye. I have to say I felt a bit guilty as I comment on how gorgeous the deep red ribeye looked and Paul told me it had been hung/aged for 6 weeks.

Knowing I needed some choice bread to enhance this sandwich. I used my basic Farl recipe and split the dough in two, I made a small loaf and a sausage shape to make a baguette. The beauty of having a baguette pan/tray. Is that you get the little dimples on the underside that makes it feel like you are eating the genuine article.

To start with I gently fried a couple of sliced onions for like 20-30 mins, till they are sweet and brown, but not burnt. To enhance the beefiness I included some of the beef fat to render down with the onions.. I warmed the baguette and buttered it, then gently fried the beef. I Layered the meat, onions and then some smoked Monterrey Jack to melt on top. The beef on its own was very nice, but the addition of onions and cheese made this probably the best steak sandwich I have ever had. And about as authentic a Philly cheese teak sandwich, I am going to taste outside of visiting Philadelphia for myself.

The steak was about 2 inch thick and cost me about £6.50. That is expensive, however it was basically 2 x steaks and I got a foot long sandwich out of it. I had one half for dinner and then the 2nd half as a midnight snack with a cool Michelob beer whilst watching Smokey and The Bandit (1977) on ITV 2 or 3. Watching the film perhaps I should have been drinking Coors, a beer I love, as Reynolds aim in the film is to bootleg 400 cases of Coors from Texas to Georgia, plus I saw someone wearing a Coors T-Shirt in the film. Another interesting side note, apparently Reynolds Pontiac Trans-Am SE, sale price with all the extras cost about $8000 back in '77. Second interesting fact in just 2 years by the time of '79 sales of the car had almost doubled from 70,000 to 120,000. Third fact a 1980 version of this car pops up in Kill Bill 2 (2004). Final Fact, The Prodigy borrowed a Jackie Gleeson (Sheriff Buford T. Justice) line from the film "What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law" for the song Their Law..

Anyway back to the sandwich, I baked it in the oven for 30mins, the sandwich was even better, the baguette crisper, the cheese gooier and the meat and onions even more sweeter. I have to say for sheer satisfaction whilst eating, The Philly just beats out The Muff. Its all about the fried meat and the juices… that's the secret

My local Farmshop

Club Hill Farm

Drain Lane,

Newport,

Brough,

Yorkshire

HU15 2QQ

Tel.no : 01430 440338

What More Carry Ons!!

2008-10-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

(William Hartnell, Bill Owen and Eric Barker in Carry On Sergeant)

Since my last Carry On blog entry in September I have clocked up another four and a half films. I managed to catch some early gems on UKTV Drama, as they were having a season of the early films on Sunday mornings. Sadly this came to end recently, as some of the UKTV channels have been re-named and re-branded.

Carry On Marathon Part 2:

Carry On Sergeant (1958)
Carry On Nurse (1959)
Carry On Teacher (1959)
Carry On Cabby (1963)
Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)

First up appropriately is Carry On Sergeant (1958) the very 1st film in the franchise. It was great to see William Hartnell the first Dr.Who, in a different role and looking a little younger. My mum told me he got the role because he played a tough Sergeant in The Army Game (1957-61) which incidentally also starred Carry On regulars Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslaw. Looking at Hartnell's list of films on IMDB, it is obvious he suffered from been typecast, as he played 6x Sergeants, was promoted to Major and then Colonel.

I had a strange feeling I had seen Carry On Sergeant before, the only thing that I seemed to remember was Kenneth Conner been chased by a lovesick tealady. The clip on YouTube is superb, probably the best scene in the film, for all the stars and Carry On regulars, the bit that cracks me up most is for Private Gallowway and his “Andy…A“ line. Bob Monkhouse is excellent, he starts the film getting hitched to Bond girl to be Shirley Eaton. Sadly he gets called up before he can consummate the relationship. I gotta say I didn't recognise Eaton with her clothes on and without her gold make-up on. The film also starred Last Of The Summer Wine's Compo (Bill Owen) as Hartnell's right hand man Corporal Copping . Owen pops up in quite a few of the early films.

(Shirley Eaton publicity shot for Carry On Nurse)

I then followed this with the 2nd film in the series Carry On Nurse (1959). One of the most apparent things with watching these early Carry On films is that they are a lot more innocent than the smuttier late 60s/70s films. They have more in common with the post war Will Hay or Ealing comedies that were been made from about 1944-1964. One of the joys of watching the first couple of films, was discovering the beautiful Shirley Eaton. She really stood out for me, she had the looks with her striking blonde hair and some very dark eyebrows. What surprised me the most was that she could act and had a very effotless natural acting style, that glued me to the spot for every scene that she was in. She is probably one of the most recognizable Bond girls of the 60’s if not the franchise. We all remember her in her gold birthday suit,,but I can’t even remember if she had a speaking role. I find it a real shame that Eaton stopped acting in 1969, perhaps she found it hard getting jobs that didn’t call for her to be naked or sprayed gold.

I really need to check out Goldfinger (1964) again, especially with all the Bond razzmatazz for Quantum Of Solace. I had to agree with Andrew Collins recent blog entry Quantum of Sellers about the colossus Bond advertising machine and how shameless it has become.

(Shirley Eaton on the cover of Life magazine in 1964)

Carry On Nurse is a lot of fun and a prototype for future Carry On films as they would return to the hospital ward for three more outings in Carry On Doctor (1967), Carry On Again Doctor (1969) and finally Carry On Matron (1972). Carry On Nurse sees Hatti Jacques get a larger role than the previous film and one that she would become synonymous with. Of the 14 Carry On films she made, she would play Matron five times. It made me chuckle whenever Matron said “Carry on Nurse”. Another great thing about the early films is that it’s great watching the regulars before they started playing caricatures of themselves. A fine example of this is Carry On Cabby. Kenneth Conner, Sid James and Hattie Jacques really shine in this one.

Carry On Teacher is pretty funny although it is a blatant take off of the St. Trinianians films, with a mob of riotous kids sabotaging a school inspection. Leslie Philips is a scream delivering his trademark "Ding Dong" line as he sets eyes on Joan Simms. Double checking Philips "Ding Dong" catchphrase it turn s out it originated in Carry On Nurse. The film also features an early role for Dick Turpin and Man About The House Richard O'Sullivan as the lead saboteur.

Come the mid-sixties there was a writing change as Talbot Rothwell replaced Norman Hudis in 1963. Around this time they switched to shooting just in colour, bigger budgets and began to spoof period films like Cleopatra (1963), The Scarlet Pimpernel(1934) and Dracula (1958). Couple that with the women's lib movement and relaxtion of nudity and censorship laws Gerald Thomas and Peter Rogers took full advantage and pushed it to its limits. This came to a head in 1978 with Carry On Emmannuelle which turned out to be the final film, . I only caught the 2nd half of this film on BBC3, it was mildly amusing, very soft and at least I can say I have seen it.

I wish I could say it was my first Emmanuelle film. I can't that honour goes to Emmanuelle (1974), and the unofficial Black Emanuelle film Emanuelle and The Cannibal Jungle (1977) . For some the mix of gratuitous sex and bloody gore is heaven. For a short period this became a popular sub-genre of cannibal films, that were all the rage in the 70's Even Bond girl No.1 Ursula Andress went bare chested for some good frolicking fun deep down in the Amazon jungle in The Mountain of the Cannibal God (1978). And then you can't forget L'Infermiera (1975) aka The Sensuous Nurse, where she played a saucy nurse.

For me when Carry On films did a pastiche or spoof of a genre of film like in Carry on Cowboy or Carry On Screaming, it was done well with plenty of genre markers that iconic moments to allow you to identify the film been referenced. The key point is that they were always first and foremost Carry On film. Carry On Emmannuelle sadly forgot this as it is very much an Emmanuelle film first, with some aging Carry On stars in small roles to satisfy die hard fans and to help sell the film. I had to laugh when I read the story that Barbra Windsor turned down the film because of the films opening scene on a airplane with her character giving oral sex in a toilet. I won't even mention Carry On Columbus (1993).

I make it I am about half way through the 29 films that they made.

The Man Without The Digital Camera

2008-10-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

I have been lost the last few weeks. The unimaginable happened...my flash stopped working on my camera. Thankfully it was within its warranty and I sent it back to Ricoh to get fixed. Anyone spot the nod in the blog title to a classic film of Russian cinema?

The past few weeks I have got a bit behind with listing some new DVDs on Ebay,,but more importantly I have not been able to document stuff for this blog. What goodies have you missed, well I made, some gorgeous treacle pudding and custard this weekend, tiramisu the weekend before, I made a Cyrus Todiwalla inspired curry on Friday night.

Curry Recipe
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/607286

This one is a tomato and coconut milk based curry, served separately with fried coconut (grated) and sweetcorn, the trick of this dish is to toast the coconut in its own natural fat till its brown. I added prawns instead of Orkney crab...with some rice,,it was very tasty.

I was very impressed with Cyrus Todiwalla stint on Market Kitchen (UKTV Food Sky Channel 249) a couple of weeks back. He came across well and I found his recipes to be very original. He even did an Indian Sheppard's pie, normally I wouldn't even look at this,,as I have a thing about mince,,all I will say is I had a traumatic time at primary school eating the stuff. Anyway Todiwalla's ingenious twist, besides spicing up this British classic was to use small chunks of lamb and not mince. So for that reason i will be trying it in the coming weeks.

Keanu's Sausage

2008-10-10T04:38:00.001-07:00

This hilarious send up of Keanu Reeves is from series 1 of Robot Chicken. Robot Chicken is the creatuion of Seth Green, who made his name in Buffy, Austin Powers and as Chris, Peter Griffin's son in Family Guy.

I had to put this clip up on my blog as the Christopher Walken bit is priceless. Check out the Robot Chicken Star Wars Special as it's as good,,if not better than the Family Guy DVD.

More Bread

2008-10-06T01:34:00.000-07:00

This is the same Farl recipe from September.

http://tastemeyouwillsee.blogspot.com/2008/09/so-you-want-to-make-so-bread.html

The only difference is that I used a selction of brown/rye flours to make a qualtiy Brown Bread. This rustic brown Farl had a lovely tatse, texture and bite to it because of the wholesome grain in the Granery and Seeded Brown Flour.

My Flour Mix:

100g Granery
100g Strong Seeded Brown
100g Super Strong Premuim White
100g Wholemeal Rye
100g Plain Wholemeal

South Park

2008-10-03T01:52:00.000-07:00

Man I love this show,,I don't catch it as much as I should. Caught the More Crap episode from Season 11 on Paramount 2 last night. My god its as funny as hell. Bono is so funny in this.

Chip

2008-10-01T14:36:00.001-07:00

Chip is our family dog. Chip is a pedigree chocolate Labrador, because of that my siblings and I clubbed together as Chip was a present for my dads birthday. We have had him about 4 years now. Chip is a great guard dog, he eventually becomes friends with new people, once he has barked at them for about 5 minutes. Then he just wants his tummy rubbing and to rest under your feet.

My Favourite Kirk Hammett Guitar

2008-09-24T05:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Kirk's Ouija board Guitar

Sunday Brunch

2008-09-16T10:40:00.003-07:00

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 (DeLonghi WR30). 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 Bialetti stovetop 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.

The waffle recipe I used was by Ed Baines on the UKTVfood website
http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/517482

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.

What A Carry On....

2008-09-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

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.

And then the Hammer Films Stamps

NFL Week 1

2008-09-09T04:39:00.003-07:00

Results

Thur Sep 4th
WAS 7 @ NYG 16

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.

Downloads Of The Week

2008-09-07T15:44:00.000-07:00

In short

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.

So You Want To Make Some Bread

2008-09-05T02:37:00.000-07:00

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.

Next ...... The Sandwich

The Sandwich

2008-09-02T14:55:00.001-07:00

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......

The Muffuletta

2008-08-30T17:12:00.000-07:00

The Muffuletta is a Sicilian specialty sandwich that is affectionately called The Muff. When the Italians came to America The Muff was adopted by the southern states and specifically New Orleans. The Muff was made famous in 1906 by the Central Grocery shop of New Orleans. The Muff is like the ultimate club sandwich and then some. The Muff is made of a 10 inch wide round loaf or ciabatta. The loaf is traditionally hollowed out and stuffed full of cured meats like Parma ham, Mortadella, Pepperoni and Milano salami layered upon eachother. Then add a couple of different types of cheese like mozzarella and provolone and to finish it off with an olive salad made up of sundried tomatoes, black and green olives, capers, basil, parsley and extra virgin olive oil. Idealy you make up an olive salad the day before to let the flavours marry.

Once The Muff is made press it all down, wrap in shrink-wrap and leave in the fridge for 2-3 hours. It is best to add some added weight to compress the sandwich and so that the oils and flavours get absorbed into the meat, cheese and bread. I think the type of holed cheeses I used enhances this process. I like it warmed slightly in the oven for 5 minutes so that the fats run out of the meat into the bread and the cheese melts. This creates the ultimate warm ham and cheese sandwich or manwich might be more accurate. Apparently warming the sandwich is a big no, no for a Muffuletta. I also made mine more into a Mediterranean sandwich and not strictly Italian. I added Chorizo and Serrano ham, mainly because I couldn't’t get Parma ham. I also added German peppered salami and Jarlsberg and Emmental cheese. I have seen Peter Gordon do a version were he added some beetroot and carrot, I guess to put a New Zealand spin on The Muff. When I did mine I added the roasted beetroot, but not the carrot. The addition of the beetroot adds a wonderful vibrant colour to the layers when you cut into The Muff. Making and eating this sandwich is an experience, one that needs a napkin for all the juices that dribble down your chin.

Hope you like the slideshow and that it inspires you to give it a go.

My ingredients bill came to about £15, a proper sized sandwich will feed four, or 2 really hungry people.

Peter Griffin's Side-Boob Hour

2008-08-28T03:18:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best clips from Family Guy

I have seen this clip countless times and it still makes me laugh

PTV is a great episode , possibly the best.

I Found this on Wikipedia:
While exclusively airing the sixth season of Family Guy for British audiences, BBC Three aired this episode as part of the Family Guy 100th Anniversary special, declaring it to be "The Best Episode...So Far."

PTV was originally from season 4.

The FCC Song is a blast

My favourite line is when the FCC have started censoring some of Peter's favourite shows like Threes Company and the one with the guy from Mary Poppins.

"The D**K Van D**E Show Starring D**K Van D**E"

Why I Love Bread

2008-08-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

I have lot say about bread, so I am gonna do it in 3x parts over the next week.

I love to make my own bread, by hand. I find it really rewarding, when you put in the time and hard work of kneading and to see it rise. Then to taste the first slice, still warm with melting butter, for me that is heavenly.

I don’t really look down my nose at people that use bread machines. As I played about with my dads machine, way back when . It is partly what got me excited about bread and made me want to advance to making my bread by hand. Ultimately they have done some good as it leads to people not buying as much poor quality supermarket bread.

People have been baking bread for thousands of years, taking what they grew in the fields and turning it into food and nourishment. Bread was the building block of societies past and present. That’s why it was mentioned in the lords payer and the Magna Carta. You only need to look at how we have adopted Bread into the English language and into a multitude of sayings like, "Bread-winner", "Putting Bread on the table", "Greatest thing since sliced bread". "Upper crust" is derived from how the well off took the top half of the loaf , the softest part and the harder and often burnt base was given to the less well off. Bread was used as a currency, that explains why bread is often used as slang for cash/money.

Bread is the cornerstone of one the most important foodstuffs we put in our mouths……The Sandwich.

Check back for Part 2: The Sandwich in a few days.

Did I Mention....

2008-08-26T16:53:00.000-07:00

I Love Star Wars.

Whenever I look up from my PC for a rest or some inspiration I get to check out some cool Star Wars posters. I love the various classic Empire Strikes Back posters, however I opted for the eye-popping colour of the radio drama poster.

Plans To Change and Other Fables’

2008-08-17T07:14:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, I didn’t have a pizza, didn’t watch the rugby, instead I went to a poetry and acoustic music night at Hull Uni. I would never normally go to such a gathering. However my sister was launching her first book of poetry ‘Plans To change and Other Fables’. The turn out was good for a student Uni bar, considering the students were away. There were about 30 people there, mainly made up of family and friends.

My sister had some good talent supporting her from Alex Stork, Fudgey, and Tom Gorringe. There was a good mix of original material and some choice covers like Dolly Parton’s Jolene (Fudgey), Tom Gorringe did three that stuck out, Paolo Nutini’s New Shows, Green Day's Time Of Your Life and Elton John’s Your Song. Alex Stork was in the Hull Daily Mail this weekend, as he won a contest to appear at a Bob Dylan tribute festival.

As part of the open mic Mike Watts, was king. He has a real way with words, I would describe him as a kind of street poet come rapper. It was quite refreshing that he took pride in been from Hull and had a passion for the city. My brother Steve and his friend Bob got up and did a turn. My brother did a pretty good cover of Dire Strait's Sultans Of Swing and an original song about Kiefer Sutherland’s 24 character Jack Bauer. Bob aka Bob Cassidy of the Sheffield band The Interiors performed 2-3 self-penned tracks, before he lost the battle of keeping his guitar in tune.

My sister of course did some readings from her book. I was quite surprised; she didn’t come across as nervous and had plenty of confidence on stage. I think she has done a few readings previously at poetry weekends. Her banter between poems was first class as she tried to add context to some of the poems. The best was trying to explain what an ankle pit was, she thought it should be a word and that it should be in the dictionary. Or possibly an anatomical medical dictionary and it would read: The Ankle Pit, like an armpit, but located somewhere around the ankle. She had us laughing, as if she was a comic. It has to be said, she has a comedy style all to her self. I think she should have recorded the gig, to give to those that couldn't make it, or to sell on her site or giveaway with the rest of the books.

My sister has been writing and saving up the money for the book for two or three years now. She published the book herself through an online publisher and got 250 books printed up. She even has a few copies in the Hull branch of Waterstones. To help sales on the night she offered a free cookie with the book. I think she was confident judging by the pile of cookies, I think she made about 200. That is easiest the biggest pile of cookies I have ever seen. She had spent the best part of a day baking them. We are still eating them now. By the way my sister is a vegan, so they were vegan cookies, and I have to say they tasted very good, considering; they didn’t have any eggs or butter in them.

Here is my favorite poem by my sister, it’s got a bit of piss and vinegar or simply punk rock attitude about it, which is probably why I like it.

Let Your Hair Down

O Rapunzel, Rapunzel with your long
Glistening locks of L’Oreal hair,
Because you think you’re worth it
F*ck off and get yourself a criminal mastermind
To free you or your fortress of solitude and misery,
With your confining chains of brick and stone
And lock and key, bolted from the outside and in,
This free riding stranger is mine alone
And I don’t appreciate compromise, or time wasting,
After all it’s one and the same,
And to the death I fight, with fire and fright,
So I warn you girl,
And I’ll say it only the once
If you toss that main once more
I’ll scalp it off your head
To keep you away from my man and me!
Batting those baby blues
Like some caged, foreign fiend
Disguised as fragile things,
But if I were you girl
I’d stay up in that tower of yours,
As you have been warned
And it’s one strike and you’re out
For the Count
Who won’t ever get this deep underground,
While I’ll ride off with the Knight
That won’t ever be yours,
For I called dibs first on his wares,
And you best not cross me
Or that tower will be the least of your worries,
And it’ll seem like heaven up there

Compared to me and my ways!

If you like it check out her website for some more poems or you can buy the book for: £9.50 inc P+P

http://www.hollyroach.com/

Here is a list of sites for the support artists, check them out cos they are very good

Alex Stork

- www.myspace.com/alexstorkmusic

Fudgey

- www.myspace.com/acousticfudge
- www.youtube.com/acousticfudge

Tom Gorringe

- www.myspace.com/tomgorringe

Mike Watts

- http://www.thisisull.com/writers/mikewattsmedia.html

http://www.myspace.com/soundslikemikewatts

or on YouTube

You can also find Bob Cassidy’s band The Interiors on MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/theinteriorsband

My Top 10 Metallica Gigs

2008-08-14T12:59:00.000-07:00

1. Milton Keynes – Nowhere Else To Roam Tour - 5/6/93

My 1st open air gig with Metallica,1st time I ever heard Of Wolf And Man followed by some true golden oldies like The The Thing That Should Not Be and Disposable Heroes. Was near the front for most of the gig.

2. Madison Square Gardens, NY, USA - S & M (Symphony & Metallica) - 23/11/99

Metallica in NY with an Orchestra and Michael Kamen conducting....nuff said. A once in a lifetime trip/gig. They only did this show 4x times, twice in San Fransisco to record the CD in April, '99. Then 2x gigs in Germany and the US to promote the CD

3. Manchester G-Mex - Wherever I May Roam Tour - 3/11/92

I was so blown away by my 1st gig,,that the day after I bought a ticket and coach package for the G-Mex. 2nd gig in the space of 3 days, 1st gig standing,,only 2 or 3 rows from the front. It was mental,,moshing and headbanging.

4. Wembley Staduim – Sick Of The Studio 07 Tour – 8/07/07
Great venue, Metallica rocked, great support from Machine Head

5. Sheffield Arena - Wherever I May Roam Tour - 1/11/92
1st Metallica gig,way back in the stands, but hey ho,,,amazing gig from the black album era, with the arrowhead stage and snakepit.

6. Milton Keynes - The Big Day Out - 7/7/99

As part of the covers CD Garage Inc tour. This was a great gig with Whiskey in the Jar and Until It Sleeps followed by Battery to close the gig. a superb venue

7. Donnington – Escape From The Studio Tour - 26/8/95
4th appearance at the home of Heavy Metal, very rare performance of The God That Failed and Holier Than Thou. I Can remember thinking how good it was to finish with Enter Sandman and started making tracks to leave and then to hear the guitar and obscenities of So What come booming out of the PA. I started headbanging with the biggest smile, playing air guitar and singing along to this great song.

8. Reading Festival – Blitzkrieg ’97 Tour – 24/8/97
Took a coach down with my sister to reading for the weekend.

9. Sheffield Arena - Pour Touring Me Tour – 16/10/96
Up in the stands again, great gig, memorable stage design and the theatrics near the end of the gig. Crewmen were falling out of the light rigging. It really did make you thing if there was danger a foot. What with Hetfields real life accident of walking in front of a pyro in 1992. Maybe this should be higher in the top.10 as I didn't forget this one. Strangely for this tour they retired Ennio Morrricone's Ecstasy of Gold from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and just came out jamming.

10. Leeds Festival – Summer Sanitarium Tour - 24/8/03
St.Anger rocked out and one of the best Kirk Hammett solos I have heard him play for Enter Sandman.

Spiritually I was at Woodstock ’93. BBC Radio 1 broadcast the whole festival and that included Metallica's headline set on the Saturday night. I can remember listening to it at about 3 or 4 in the morning, outside with some cold beers in the warm night air. It was great. They blew me away when opened up with Breadfan.

I would like to see Metallica in a few weeks at the Leeds Festival,,however I am on a stag do,,and quite frankly I am tired of seeing them outdoors and at festivals. I will save my money for the indoor tour in 09, hopefully they will play some gigs north of London.

Me and a few Metallica chums outside Madison Square Garden.

If it wasn't for the Metallicaworld website I wouldn't have been able to confirm dates and the setlists of my top 10.

http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/metallica_tour_dates.htm

Isaac Hayes

2008-08-11T01:28:00.000-07:00

1942 - 2008

Issac Hayes died yesterday (10/08/08) in Memphis Tennessee, 10 days shy of his 66th birthday. He was found unconscious next to a still running treadmill. It is believed he suffered from a massive stroke and later died in Memphis Baptist Memorial Hospital. He married 4x times and left behind 12 children.

For me Isaac Hayes is one of the seminal artists of the 70's.

Hayes began as a session musician, staff writer and producer for Stax Records. During the 60's he co-wrote with David Porter many of the labels most famous tunes like Soul Man and Hold On, I'm Comin' for Sam and Dave. Hayes breakthrough solo album came in 1969 with Hot Buttered Soul. After becoming a master of the 3 minute pop single, Hot Buttered Soul allowed him to flex his musical muscles. The album may only contain just 4 tracks but is filled with some extended orchestral workouts and funky beats. The longest been the 18 minute marathon cover of Jim Webb's By The Time I Get to Phoenix.

Isaac Hayes in 1971 composed the OST for Shaft and won The OSCAR for Best Original Song for Theme from Shaft. Hayes was loved by the people and critics. A Stax executive took to calling Hayes Black Moses because of his respect for his African roots and because of how his fans revered him. This led to the double album of Black Moses been released at the end of '71. Because of his record sales and impressive Live show he became the face of Stax. When Stax was organising the charity concert for the people of Watts, it was an obvious choice that Hayes headline the Wattstax concert and movie. During the early 70s he released 5x killer albums,an OSCAR winning OST and a live record. Hayes was never afraid of doing cover versions, he had a love of Bacharach and David and their timeless classic pop songs. Hayes included one on every record he made during this era, in fact it almost became his trademark.

Because of his iconic look of a shaved head, sunglasses, gold jewellery and not forgetting his unmistakable deep voice. He found himself not just writing blaxsploitation OST but starring in them like Truck Turner and Tough Guys both from '74. On the big screen he will probably be best remembered as The Duke in John Carpenters Escape From New York (1981).

Hayes did record the occasional album in the 80s'/90's however he would become more famous for his Chef character in the animated TV series South Park and his UK No.1 hit single Chocolate Salty Balls (1998). Hayes was a practising Scientologist, this led to him leaving the show in 2006,,because of the infamous Trapped In The Closet episode that mocked Tom Cruise and Scientology.

I will always remember Isaac Hayes and the extended opening to the Theme from Shaft as he came on stage. I had the good fortune to see him live at a festival in about 1996. I had Isaac on my mind last week as I watched the excellent documentary Respect Yourself about Stax Records on BBC4. Due to the synergy between Hayes and Stax you cannot tell one story without the other. The documentary included some good interviews with Hayes discussing his time at Stax. Hayes is just as relevant now, after nearly 40 years since Hot Buttered Soul. He was the 1st person to rap on record, and even call it a rap as in Ike's Rap from Black Moses. Hayes can spend half a record surmising or rapping solo, building the emotion before the band and strings come in. Today's artist like Portishead and Massive Attack love to sample and recycle Hayes beats and innovative arrangements. All I will say is I am Never Gonna Give You Up.

Isaac Hayes Essential CD's

Hot Buttered Soul (1969)

Black Moses (1971)

Shaft OST (1971)

The Isaac Hayes Movement (1970)

Joy (1973)

...To Be Continued (1970)

Branded (1995)

Live @ The Sahara Tahoe (1973)

Live @ Wattstax in '73 (2003)

Music from the Wattstax Festival and Film '73 (2003)

Friday Night Rugby

2008-08-08T17:49:00.000-07:00

In the world of Rugby League, derby matches don’t get much bigger than the Leeds v Bradford Rivalry. Okay, maybe its on a par with Wigan v Saints and Hull FC v Hull KR.

Last nights game was a brutal match with 2x players sin binned in the first 10 minutes, after a big brawl. The ol’ claret was flowing from Rob Burrows forehead.

Both teams needed the win, Last weekend Leeds lost to Warrington and so they need a win just to draw level with Saints at the top of the league....for tonight anyway.

Bradford need some wins to guarantee their place in the play-offs, If they fail, it will be the first time in Super League history (13 years) they will miss out on playing in the play-offs in September.

Leeds ended up winning 28-18, making it 4x wins against Bradford this season. This will change next year thankfully with 2 extra clubs joining the Super League and making it a 14x team competition which means Leeds will only play Bradford twice ( home and away).

To accompany my Pizza and the rugby, I enjoyed some choice ales :

Green King IPA,
Fuller's London Pride,
Wells Bombardier,
Theakston's Old Perculier.

This pretty much is my standard 4, that I get in my local supermarket in their 4 for £5 offer.

How To Make A Pizza

2008-08-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Before I made my Pizza I had to make some Italian Tomato Sauce. The recipe is on the previous post.

Pizza Base
From Jamie Oliver’s book Jamie’s Italy

Ingredients :
800g Strong White Floor
200g Semolina flour or more strong bread flour
1 level tablespoon of fine sea salt
2x7g sachets of dried yeast
.....or 30g of fresh yeast
1 tablespoon of golden caster sugar
About 650 ml of tepid water

Pizza Topping

Ingredients :
Pizza Sauce
Bail Leaves
Mozzarella (Cows Milk)
A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

The recipe states it will make 6-8 medium sized thin crust pizzas. I halved the ingredients and made use of some Italian type “00” flour I had. The breakdown of the flours I used was

200g Strong Bread Flour
200g Italian type “00” flour
100g semolina floor.

1. Put the flours and salt in a bowl or on a clean surface. Add the yeast and sugar to the water, leave for a couple of minutes. Then combine the water/yeast mix to the flour, bring it together with a spoon/fork and then your hands, so it becomes one big ball. Make sure it isn’t too wet or too dry.

2. Then knead for about 10 minutes or till you have a soft and pliable dough. Flour the top of the dough and add it to the oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave for 15 to 30 minutes.

3. Divide the ball of dough into however many pizzas you want. The dough wants to be rolled out about 15-30 minutes before it goes in the over. If using a pizza stone, sprinkle some semolina flour or regular flour on the stone and it will stop the pizza sticking to it.

4. Once the dough is ready I add a thin layer of tomato sauce, and put it in a pre-heated oven at 220 Celsius/ / 225 F / gas mark 7 for about 5 minutes. Bring it out and add the basil leaves and then cover them with the mozzarella. For making pizza it is actually best to use cows milk mozzarella because it has less liquid in the cheese compared with the pricier buffalo mozzarella. Buffalo mozzeralla should be enjoyed simpley with some good olive,,a little salt and pepper or as part of a salad calprese. Add some olive oil to the cheese and then put back in the for 15-20 minute or until the chese has melted and the base is a nice golden colour to it.

This is pretty much the classic Neapolitan pizza. This pizza is the epitome of Italian cuisine, 3-4 amazing ingredients, cooked perfectly it makes the sauce, basil and mozzarella the star. Simplicity is the key.

As I had two pizza bases, I made some garlic bread and with the leftover dough, I made a baby calzone.

Next time I will make 3x pizzas and they will fit my pizza stones perfectly. Next time it be a case of squeezing as mush meat as I can onto the pizza. After using an old Pizza recipe from the Italian cookbook The Silver Spoon, it is nice that you don't have to wait 2 or 3 hours for the dough to rise. I think the addition of semolina does make a difference, however it is not critical.

The beer was cold, the rugby was tight and the food was Superb.

Italian Tomato Sauce

2008-08-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

Ingredients :
1x onion
1x garlic clove
A pinch of Salt
1x Jar of Passata (preferably for Pizza Sauce)
...or 2x tins of good quality Tomatoes (preferably for Pasta Sauce)
...or a kilo of ripe tomatoes
1x Tablespoon of sugar

Add the onion and a pinch of salt, preferably Malden Sea Salt. Fry them off for about 10 minutes, in olive oil, slowly on a medium heat. Be careful you do not want to colour the onion. After 5 minutes add the garlic, you can crush the garlic with salt to create a paste. However I used the Goodfellas method, well I used my sharp chefs knife rather than a razor blade. You can always add half a chili if you want to make an Arrabiata sauce. If using passata, I like to add sliced sundried tomatoes as they add an extra bit of texture and depth to the sauce

You might want to rinse out your bottle/can with some water and add the juice to the pan or add a little wine. Taste for seasoning, I normally add a little sugar, to help bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes. Let the sauce gently simmer on the lowest hear for an hour or two. The sauce will thicken up, and you will have the perfect tomato sauce for a pizza. If making Pasta sauce add the Basil leaves at the last minute.

This is pretty much the basic recipe for any good tomato sauce.

Brett Favre News

2008-08-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

After a long drawn out summer of a million and one Brett Favre storylines about him possibly returning to the NFL after his 6 month retirement. The 38 year old Quarterback who holds multiple QB records including the NFL TD pass record of 442 and counting, finally knows where he will be playing football in September. After 16 years in the NFL, 15 years with The Green Bay Packers and 1x Super Bowl ring. Favre will switch from the green and yellow to the green and white of The NY Jets in a quest for a 2nd ring.

Records and Mlestones :

Most AP NFL MVP awards: 3 (1995, 1996, 1997)

Most consecutive starts by a quarterback (NFL): 253 (275 including playoffs)

Most wins by a starting quarterback (NFL) regular season career: 160 (Regular season record: 160-93)

Most career passing touchdowns: 442

Most career passing yards: 61,655

Most career pass completions: 5,377

Most career pass attempts: 8,758

Most career interceptions thrown: 288

Most career games with at least three touchdowns: 63

Harry Anderson

2008-08-06T02:44:00.000-07:00

Harry Anderson is a 6.4ft American magician turned comedy actor.

I can remeber first seeing him in a rather funny slapstick spoof spy film 'Spies, Lies & Naked Thighs' (1988) when we first got SKY,,,in roundabout 1990. The film co-stars Ed Begley, jr and Wendy Crewson. Do your self a favour and check out this funny film as its on today at 12pm/1pm on FiveUS/FiveUS+1 and again on Friday at the same time. I know I will be SKY+ it to see if it is as funny as I remember it.

Harry Anderson will probably be best remembered by Americans at least for his role as the wacky Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone in the hughely popular 80's comedy Night Court, that ran for 8 years from 1984-92. Apparently only the 1st season of 13 episodes were screened in the UK. I have this on DVD and its pretty funny. Apparently the studio execs were a bit nervous about giving a leading role to a TV magician. In 1982 during a pefornace on Saturday Night Live he did a trick that is
reffered to in the trade as a 'geek trick'. To do the trick you simply put a needle through the soft tissue at the top of your forearm. Whilst doing the feat Anderson reassured the nervous audience "it was a magic trick". To prove this he flexed his arm and pushed the needle in and out. This resulted in a bloody wound.

FiveUS must be having a season of Anderson films as tomorrow(Thur) at the same time they are showing 'Harvey' a 1996 remake with Anderson in the role Jimmy Stewart made famous. This could be really bad, hopefully it will surprise me and by OK.

Downloads Of The Week

2008-08-06T02:28:00.000-07:00

1. Beck - Paper Tiger from Sea Change

2. George Carlin - Baseball v Football (comedy sketch)

3. The Wire And All The Pieces Matter - OST Five Years Of Music From The Wire

4. Janis Joplin - I Got Dem Ol' Kozmic Blues Again Mama

5. Goblin - The Fantastic Voyage Of Goblin (The Sweet Sound Of Hell)

Brand Upon The Brain

2008-08-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

At the top of my page I say I like innovative films and TV.

Well, whilst browsing the new Criterion DVD reviews on http://www.dvdtalk.com/ I stumbled across this curious looking DVD and director (Guy Maddin) that I had never heard of. The review intrigued me and I instantly set about finding the trailer. I definitely feel a need to check this film out. Apparently Maddin has made a career of making modern silent films, which of course are in b/w.

Brand Upon The Brain (2006) was apparently written in 5 weeks and shot in 1 week. What gets me intrigued is the live performance they gave for the film in NY, they had a live orchestra which is par for the course for silent features. The novelty was they had live foley artists* and live narration from Isabella Rossellini. From what I have read online they had different narrators on different nights like Lou Reed. On the DVD there is a audio option to choose your preferred narrator from the likes of Isabella Rossellini, Laurie Anderson, John Ashbery, Crispin Glover, Guy Maddin, Louis Negin, and Eli Wallach. I think I would choose The Ugly aka Eli Wallach option.

*the person who creates many of the natural, everyday sound effects in a film (Wikipedia)

Brand Of The Brain looks good but I think I like the look of Maddin's take on Dracula better. Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary (2002) looks amazing, to me anyway. Maddin has taken Bram Stoker's tale and made a film that is part horror film and part ballet with the music of Gustav Mahler. This might sound like a weird mix, but to me its inspired. It might not appeal to die hard Dracula fans of the Hammer films or Coppola's take on the old fanged menace of the night. If you go back further to F.W. Murnau's Nosfetratu (1922), the 1st filmed version of Dracula, there isn't much difference as they are both silent and b/w, oh and one has a dancing count. However you cannot compare the directors, editing or pace of these films as there is about 76 years between them. Murnau was a genius in his day but was limited by massive cameras and a static lens. Back then the camera didn't follow the action, the action was orchestrated to be within the frame. Maddin on the other hand has a very fluid camera and distinct editing style.

The only question now is do I buy or rent?

I think my 5 years of studying film has come out in this post.

The Culture Show

2008-08-05T04:45:00.000-07:00

Looks like a good one tonight on BBC2 at 10pm or the extended repeat on Thursday at 11.20.

As Verity Sharp goes on tour with Metallica around Norway.

You can watch the episode on The Culture Show website, the good news is that Metallica is the first item....Enjoy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cywbc

A True Forgotten Gem Of 70's Cinema

2008-08-04T11:48:00.000-07:00

Catch Thunderbolt & Lightfoot tonight on Ch5 at 11.05.

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot was made in 1974 and sadly gets lost in the mix with all the cutting edge American films of the 70's. Even in 1974, it struggled to make a mark, with such prestigious films as The Godfather Part 2, Chinatown, The Conversation, Lenny, The Towering Inferno, all nominated for Best Picture. The winner was of course The Godfather, Part 2, which became the first sequel to win an OSCAR.

When was the last time 2x films by the same director (Francis Ford Coppola) were in the Best Picture category? Coppola's The Conversation would go on to win the Palm D'or . When did Coppola last direct two great films in a decade? That would be the 80's with the back-to-back productions of Rumble Fish and The Outsiders from 1983. Talk about forgotten gems, that's two for you list.

Anyway back to Thunderbolt a & Lightfoot. This film is even a lost gem in the careers of the three principle people behind this film. Michael Cimino would later go onto direct The Deer Hunter (1978), Clint Eastwood had just starred in Dirty Harry (1971) and its sequel Magnum Force (1973) and Jeff Bridges was OSCAR nominated for his role in Peter Bogdanovich's amazing second feature The Last Picture Show (1971). Bridges would later pop up in Cimino's 3rd film Heaven's Gate (1980).

What is there to say about Thunderbolt & Lightfoot, well its a great road film and buddy movie rolled into one. Eastwood and Bridges have a great chemistry, almost as good as Newman & Redford. Eastwood (Thunderbolt) an ageing bank robber is teaching Bridges (Lightfoot) the tricks of the trade. Just reading the cast list I had forgotten what great talent is in this film. Geoffrey Lewis (Juliette's Father) co-stars, Daisy Duke from The Dukes Of Hazzard aka Catherine Bach pops up,,in her hot pants I wonder? Finally Gary Busey the man with the big teeth from Lethal Weapon/Point Break makes a youthful appearance.

I first saw Thunderbolt & Lightfoot as part of the BBC 2's Moviedrome series sometime during the 90's.

Hope you can watch this, SKY+ it, or even buy the DVD as I can remember it been an excellant film.

Hall Of Fame Update

2008-08-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

I managed to stay up for half the game.

The final result was The Colts 16 - The Redskins 30.,

The good ole team of John Madden & Al Michaels were commentating.

Both teams looked pretty good,,considering it was the first game back.
The Colts were trying out their back up QBs, as Peyton Manning is recovering from knee surgery and is questionable for the start of the season.

Things are looking good for The Redskins as they have a new coach and system in place. They have also acquired Defensive End Jason Taylor from The Dolphins. Taylor was on the sidelines, but didn't play.

During August star players or starters may only play a quarter or two per game so as to prevent the risk of injury. This month of games is to check out the rookies and the 2nd string players lowdown on the depth chart and to see who can cut the mustard for special teams. The coach's hardest job for these games and the July/August training camps is to whittle the teams roster of 80 players down to 53 for the start of the season.

Death Magnetic

2008-08-03T18:30:00.000-07:00

I gotta say I am not too keen on this cover for Metallica's new CD.

The tracklisting for Death Magnetic is:

1. That Was Just Your Life

2. The End Of The Line

3. Broken, Beat & Scarred

4. The Day That Never Comes

5. All Nightmare Long

6. Cyanide

7. The Unforgiven III

8. The Judas Kiss

9. Suicide & Redemption

10. My Apocalypse

The first single will be 'The Day That Never Comes'.

Do we need another part to The Unforgiven song?

Hello Everyone

2008-08-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog, my sister has one, my friend has just got one. So I thought why not join them.

This blog might be quite varied, in that there will probably be plenty of TV and film reports, heck I might even let you know what brandy and cigar I enjoyed during the film. I will give the lowdown on my cooking triumphs and dare I say it the occasional disaster. Friday nights are all about what Pizza or Curry I will make to accompany the rugby league match on TV.

Sunday nights I will be glued to my TV set, not for Dexter (which I do love), but for another weekly sporting ritual. Tonight after a 6-month hiatus, my passion for the NFL will get re-ignited when The Colts take on The Redskins in The Hall Of Fame game. This is an important weekend in the NFL calendar as 6 great players* from the past receive their yellow jackets amd get inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame. The weekends festivities from Canton, Ohio begins a month of pre-season friendlies, each team has 4x games before the start of the season on Sept 4th.

*Class of 2008

Fred Dean DE (1975-85)
Darrell Green CB (1983-2002)
Art Monk WR (1980-95)
Emmitt Thomas CB (1966-78)
Andre Tippett LB (1982-93)
Gary Zimmerman OT (1986-97)