Lemon Drizzle Cake

Oh lemon drizzle cake, get in my mouth! This particularly delectable creation is a firm favourite of mine and old ladies alike, and for good reason – it's bloody amazing. The following recipe worked a treat, and stayed tasty for as long it lasted in our household (three days – a record!). After a recent wardrobe culling, I unearthed my rather amazing psycadelic sixties apron, which I promptly attatched to myself. So in honour of the occasion, I accompanied my cake making with some of the best 60's girl groups, and I strongly suggest you follow suit...

1) Pop the oven on, 'till it's at 180°c, and line your cake tin with foil. There, now the boring bit's over. Frantically mix 225g of butter and the same amount of sugar together until it's all creamy. Crack open four eggs, making sure to feel impressed with yourself when you don't accidently drop in any shell, and throw them into the mixture one at a time.

Suggested listening: Be My Little Baby – The Ronnettes

2) Weigh out 225g of self-raising flour, then sift it into your eggy/sugary/buttery concoction for minimum lumpiness. You might want to do a few warm up exercises and flex your muscles, as now you must do some serious whisking. Since I am seriously abysmal de-lumpifying, I very kindly gave it to my Ma to complete while I progressed to the next step. For those fools that do their own whisking, this song as rather appropriate, as you can dance around your kitchen, Twiggy style.

Suggested listening: Jimmy Mack – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

3) Rinse and dry two lemons, then, using a cheese grater, collect all the zest and pop that in the mixture too. Observe how curious and naked the lemons now look, but don't chuck their pale, exposed bodies away – you'll need them later for the drizzle!

These Boots Are Made For Walking – Nancy Sinatra

4) Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level out the surface, purely for aesthetic reasons. Proudly put it in the oven, and now the waiting game begins. Resist peeking at it whilst it's cooking, as opening the oven will make the cake go all sad and flat. You have an agonizing 50 minute wait on your hands (and then even longer for it to cool down) so you might want to have a little snack, to soften the blow. I opted for a little bowl of cherries.

Suggested listening: He's Got The Power – The Exciters

5) At last! Sieze it from the oven and place it on a wire rack. Whilst it cools down, you can begin with the drizzle making. Juice both the previously-zested lemons, then stir in 85g of caster sugar. Now, here comes your chance to release any pent up rage. Viciously stab your cake with a skewer until it's covered in little holes, then drizzle your, erm, drizzle all over it. Aaaand, you're done.... except not quite, as you've got to wait for the bloody thing to cool down and set - hence the song choice.

Suggested listening: You Keep Me Hangin' On – The Supremes

6) Finally, you're able to eat the fruit of your creation! Personally, I liked it best when it had completely cooled down, but if you really can't wait I bet it's divine with custard. We opted to have it with a generous helping of cream. For the ultimate taste test, why not serve it to the ultimate cake critic – an elderly woman? Woo your granny, your neighbour, or a passing stranger on the street, whichever. If she gives it the seal of approval, then you know you've done good.

Listening suggestions: Love Is Strange – Mickey & Sylvia

My Top Five: Animal Collective

Despite being nominated for the Brit Award's International Breakthrough Act award last year, Baltimore-born Animal Collective have actually been in the business for ten bloody years! The curiously named foursome first bonded over a shared love of Pavement and horror movies at the tender age of fifteen. Several years and a lot of hallucinogenics later, they have eight studio albums under their belt and are constantly compared to seminal bands such as Pink Floyd and The Grateful Dead. How about that!

Although the most normal-looking band ever, give or take the odd headlight worn on stage, they create some very strange, very lovely songs. After a fair amount of deliberation, here are my absolute favourites in descending order....

5. Leaf House

What a charming little video, set in what looks like the world's most snazzily-decorated doll's house full of cat memorabilia. I love me a bit of stop-motion, and it must be said, fire never looked so sweet and unassuming as it does when it's made out of paper. Am I the only one who thinks the bit with the doll and the dog looks a bit dodgy, though...? The highlight of this song, in my humble opinion, is right at the very end: Kitties! Meowww.

4. Grass

When there's a song that I can't get out my mind, whether I'm wandering the streets, having a shower or trying to sleep, I like to go on the Song Meanings website - not just to find out what the hell they're singing, you understand, but to see what the always-amusing forum posters have to say. Amongst all the 'I think this is about falling in love with your best girl friend' posts, I came across this genius:

'Nothing beats waking up, whacking this baby on at full volume and squawking the lyrics downstairs whilst making cheese on toast.'

That pretty much sums it up, really - a song for all occasions!

3. Fireworks

Ahhhhhhhhh this song! My love for this knows no limits (well, except in a top five context), and I can't imagine I'll ever grow bored of it. I can't help but get a silly little smile on my face when I hear the line 'I was dreaming of just you, now my cereal, it is warm!' - and when you learn that the album it's from, 'Strawberry Jam', was written as Avey Tare fell in love with his future-wife, it makes it all the more sweet.

2. Brother Sport

The video is pretty wonderful, what with the dancing children, the dog vision and the rather psychedelic interlude... but the song is even better. From their critically-acclaimed Merriweather Post Pavillion album, this rather exhilarating little number urges Panda Bear's brother to 'open up his throat' about his grief for their late father. The thing I love most about this is how it sounds like several songs all seamlessly mashed together, culminating in a hypnotic chant; what a treat!

1. The Purple Bottle

I'd better be honest with you straight away - this one doesn't come with an amazing little video. Too many ill-advised film students have taken it upon themselves to make interpretive videos for this, but it is my favourite A.C. song, so I thought I'd just keep it nice 'n' simple. Believe it or not, the modest group consider themselves 'definitely not good musicians' but I beg to differ... just listen! Plus the lyrics in this song are absolute perfection. All in all, it is sheer audio-loveliness, miraculously condensed into a mere 6:51. I would gladly sacrifice my left leg, if only I could see this performed live.

Honorable mentions: Who Could Win A Rabbit, In The Flowers, Bluish, Summertime Clothes.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

On a swoon-worthy summer day like today, there really is nothing like taking a little jaunt on the ol' bicycle. You get to simultaneously explore the country side, enjoy the sun and get a pleasant breeze going through your locks. Amazing! My current favourite route is particularly dashing, as I get to ride through a field with daisies on one side, buttercups on the other.

I also secretly hope that there is some sort of correlation between this fine summertime activity and greatness. Aside from the obligatory middle aged men with their buns of steel encapsulated in Lycra, some rather fine and dandy people favour the odd bike ride or two. To name a few....

Brigitte!

Audrey!

Morrissey!

Chloe!

Albert!

Jarvis!

Elvis!

Nathasha!

Paul, John, Ringo & George!

So, if it's good enough for them, it's more than good enough for a mere mortal like myself. Plus, I will soon have thighs you could crack walnuts with (or maybe not). Now, if I could somehow get my hands on a sweet ride like this bad-boy, I will be absolutely set for life. 

Manech Aime Mathilde.

It takes a rare film that can make me shed a tear, but A Very Long Engagement managed with ease to make me do a little weep. To put this revelation in context, Titanic only nearly moistened my tear ducts. However, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's wartime romance is far from a bog-standard 'weepy', that would be far too straight forward for him. This absolute cinematic dreamboat tells the tale of Mathilde (played by the ridiculously beautiful Audrey Tautou) who is determined to find her fiance, Manech, who's been missing since he was drafted to fight in the first world war. 

Despite all the odds, she just knows he is still alive. So, using her lame leg to garner sympathy, she hires a private detective, and the two go about exploring every tiny possibility and any lead to find out what has happened. She discovers that Manech was one of five soldiers condemned for self-mutilation, which he did in attempt to return to her sooner. She learns several inconclusive accounts of his fate from fellow soldiers in the Bingo Crepuscule trench. As the plot thickens, we are treated to a series of deliriously lovely flashbacks which shows just how she and Manech met and fell in love. 

As well as being a romantic film, it is really quite war-heavy and graphic, and at several points I had to shield my eyes! The all-too-realistic portrayal of the horrors of war ensures that this film never verges on being too saccharine-sweet or twee. The regular revelations of character's little quirks has become something of a trademark for Jeunet, and this includes gems such as her aunt saying 'Doggie fart, gladdens the heart!' every time their dog lets rip, Manech constantly engraving M.M.M. (Manech Aime Mathilde) wherever opportunity strikes, and Mathilde setting herself little challenges, for example 'If I don't break the peel, Manech is alive'.

Die-hard fans of Jeunet's work will recognise several of the cast members that he loves to re-use, in particular Dominique Pinon and, of course, Tautou. The very handsome and incredibly French-looking Gaspard Ulliel is wonderful in this as the lovelorn and traumatised Manech, and Marion Cotillard puts in a brief yet very impressive cameo as the murderous Tina Lombardi. The director's ever-present surrealist feel manifests itself in the creative death scenes (look out for the annihilation-by-mirror and Lombardi's brilliant spectacles to gun pulley-contraption) not to mention a certain barman's fully functional wooden hand!

I shan't ruin the ending for you, but I will say that I honestly didn't breathe for about five minutes, it was so tense! As the film came to a conclusion, I definitely had to pull that old 'oh, just something in my eye...' excuse. And as testament to the universal appeal of this outright masterpiece, even my parents - who thought Amelie was 'a bit whimsical' and Pan's Labyrinth 'not very realistic' - absolutely loved it. At two and a half hours, it is A Very Long Film, but if you sat through Titanic or Atonement you can sit through this - it's much better!

Swearing's For Art Students

Today, I'm going to show off some pretty damn amazing pieces by an artist very dear to me... Laura Dixon, a.k.a. my sis! Lo is in her second year of Illustration at the prestigious Edinburgh College Of Art, where she spends her days drawing pretty things, watching amazing bands and creating mad culinary concoctions. I am rather jealous, I must confess. When she reads this (Oh hi, Laura!) she will no doubt be blushing furiously, but if you have such wonderful skills, why not show them off, eh? Here are some of my favourite creations of hers to date....

Now, I don't care for mushrooms but this still makes me salivate slightly. 

If a robin flies overhead on St. Valentines Day, you shall marry a sailor!

One of a series of bearded men portraits, this is our favourite artist, Mister Gustav Klimt.

Laura's homage to one of the most fascinating races in the world, surely!

Another bearded man, this time one that makes her swoon - Bill The Butcher/ Daniel Day Lewis 

Well, now I'm blushing! 

She's really quite talented, don't you think? 

Can't You Feel The Knife?

For a while now, I have been torn between two very different renditions of one very lovely song - which do I love slightly more? In fact, do I really have to choose? Who says you can't love two versions at the same time, anyway! I have plenty o' room in my life for them both.

For starters, here is the stupidly talented Grizzly Bear, singin' their own song a cappella. No instruments, yet it still sounds like heaven! I particularly enjoy how thoroughly uncomfortable Ed Droste looks to be wandering around Paris singing his heart out - see how he keeps trying to obscure his face with his hands and jumper, bless him. (Interesting little tidbit for you - the name 'Grizzly Bear' comes from Ed's nickname for an old boyfriend. How sweet.)

For dessert, here is a slightly sloppier, but nonetheless charming, version of the song. We all like a drunken sing-song with our friends after a night out on the razz, but if you happen to be Zach Condon and your friends are the La Blogotheque crew, it's gonna go on the Internet the next day. Not to mention sound infinitely better than anything most of us could muster, sad times. 

Personal highlights include; when they all forget the words, the sassy little dancing friend, and when the camera turns to the smoking, completely deadpan French lady - she clearly does this all the time. He gets definite brownie points for managing to sounds so divine after several drinks.... what a man!

The jury really is out on this one.

Tastiest Ever Scones.

Despite being a bit of a scone afficionado, I've never actually attempted to make 'em before. But today was to be the day I finally manned up and went for it, with the help of my darling sis, Lo. To our extreme joy, they came out pretty damn delicious! If you fancy giving it a whirl, here's how you do it.

1) First thing's first, pre-heat your oven to 220 degrees. Weigh out 225g of self-raising flour and then sieve it into a mixing bowl, so that it looks all fluffy and lovely, like so.

2) Throw in a pinch of salt and weigh out 55g of butter. Then - this is the rather messy bit - rub the butter into the floury mixture.... it feels a bit like 'pinching bits off a really fat person', Laura reckoned. Once it's all bread-crumby, add 25g of caster sugar and 150 ml of milk to your mixture. At this stage in life, it does look a bit like vomit, I must say.

3) This bit's optional, just to add a little somethin' somethin' to the scone. It could be chocolate chips, flakes of almond or slivers of cherry... or if you're a bit boring you can always make plain scones. But we're not boring, so we sliced up 100g of crystalized ginger and stirred it in! 

Here's an action shot of Lo mixing up scones, and clearly loving it.

4) Here comes the fun bit. Throw flour all over your work top with reckless abandon! Don't worry too much about cleaning this up when you're all done and dusted, the idea is your family/housemates will be so grateful for the delicious scones, that they'll do it for you. If not, one word - vacuum. Anyway. Grab the mixture and knead it on your surface, until it's about 2cm thick.

5) Using a pastry cutter, stamp out as many future scones as you possibly can, because you're gonna want the lot. Now, place them on a pre-greased baking tray. Utilise your artistic skills, and brush them with milk! Pop them into the oven for fifteen minutes until they're all golden and delicious-lookin'. We used this agonizing wait to invent a new summer playlist, I reccomend you follow suit.

6) Once they're finally out, leave 'em to cool on a wire rack for a further twenty minutes or so. Personally, I rather like them a bit warm, so if you really can't wait, just go for it! They would be pretty amazing served with Nuttella and/or clotted cream, or just some good ol' fashioned butter. Naturally a cup of tea is pre-requisite. 

Bon Appetit!