I saw Cloud Control at XOYO the other day. It wasn't the best gig I've been to, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to. Cloud Control are a psychedelic indie folksy type band from Sydney (ok Blue Mountains) who have recently relocated to London. I'm a bit wary of folk as it's a bit of a trendy thing to be into (and I don't want to be into what everyone else is into, never mind the fact that I am a huge Mumford & Sons fan, and indie is also an 'in' thing, which is what I am undoubtedly into right now). So I was a little reluctant to admit to myself that I didn't mind their songs (but even more reluctant to admit that Georgia Fair are rather pleasant on the ear as well, who I was also listening to at the same time).
When I found out they were doing a London gig at a small venue for only £10 I thought it would be worth giving them a go. I usually try to listen to a band's music before I go to their gig - I find I enjoy it a lot more if I'm at least vaguely familiar with the songs being played. I listened to their stuff once or twice a few months before the gig, but didn't pick them up again as there didn't seem to be anything particularly striking about their music to me. And I am ashamed to admit that I found the backing vocals slightly monotonous and borderline annoying (but I also wish to say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Heidi Lenffer's voice - in fact it's amazing, I think it's more me having a slight aversion to female vocals more than anything else!)
So I went to the gig hoping for a good time, but not expecting too much. I came away wanting to hear the songs from their set all over again - the best sort of post-gig feeling. They are a great band to see live - they have so much energy on stage and their vocals are excellent. If you don't mind a bit of 60s style (psychedelic) indie folksy Aussieness, check out Bliss Release - it's a very good debut album.
This time on a completely unrelated topic, I've really wanted a cookie (preferably home-baked) every day for a few days now - does that mean I can try a new cookie recipe soon?
(Part of my recipe hunting last night included a search for hopefully soft and chewy cookies...)
Monday, 9 May 2011
Sunday, 8 May 2011
sad and other things
Just looking through the history of this blog, I can't help but feel a little disappointed at how it has turned out. It could have been so much better, captured so much more, but due to lack of time (or another way of looking at it - other priorities), mediocre writing ability, and mostly laziness it is what it is. But I've read enough blogs to know that there are some truly amazing and well-written blogs around - some people (my sister being one of them) have a gift for writing. I know that even if I had invested more time in my own blog, I probably still would have been disappointed because this would have turned out to be, at best, a poor imitation of the insightful and entertaining reading that I know is out there.
On a related and happier note, the best (but rather unproductive) way to spend an evening? Getting lost in food blogs on the internet :) The only drawback is having to go to sleep instead of being able to try out delicious new recipes.
On a related and happier note, the best (but rather unproductive) way to spend an evening? Getting lost in food blogs on the internet :) The only drawback is having to go to sleep instead of being able to try out delicious new recipes.
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
feeling a little bit mad...
Not mad as in angry, but mad as in crazy
This is what I baked last night
* 1 batch of Anzac biscuits
* 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies
* 1 chocolate mud cake with chocolate frosting, well 1 batch which I split over 2 small tins - so does that count as 1 mud cake or 2? :)
And this is what I have just finished baking
* 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies
* 1 butter/pound/madeira cake (call it what you will, I've decided they're all the same to me), and again the mixture was enough to split between two small tins
Now, at the beginning of the week I was actually planning to bake everything in the lists above, aside from the extra batch of choc chip cookies tonight, over 2 days (initially 1, before I realised that I was being far too ambitious if I didn't want to sacrifice my sleep - and I'm not *that* crazy yet). My excuse for this baking overall was that it is almost Anzac day, so the good people at work should be given the opportunity to experience the humble Anzac biscuit, and also being rather close to my birthday, additional treats would be permissible. And because of this birthday excuse, 2 cakes must surely be allowed, rather than one, with the added bonus of being able to use up the excess buttermilk from the mud cake in my butter cake (can't let all that buttermilk go to waste!).
The weak link here (if you don't consider this entire post a severe weakness) is that 2nd batch of chocolate chip cookies... I really wasn't intending on baking TWO batches. But I had the misfortune of not quite remembering which recipe I used to make some pretty close to perfect chocolate chip cookies (the question of what exactly is the perfect choc chip cookie deserves its own post, which I'll most likely end up posting in my baking blog, along with my recipe so I never find myself in this situation again!). So the batch I baked last night was severely disappointing. The cookies were too chewy in a cake-like way, rather than chewy in a perfect-cookie kind of way. I had a strong suspicion that it was the soft brown sugar I'd used, and the only way to know for sure was to bake the exact same recipe again but with golden caster sugar (like my instincts told me I should have done in the first place!) And lo and behold, tonight's cookies turned out just the way they were supposed to! So please remember, next time I bake choc chip cookies (and until I get around to posting my recipe on my baking blog) - always use caster sugar, NOT soft brown sugar like the original recipe says!
You can even *see* the difference...
So, mad, most definitely.
But the satisfaction of producing those gorgeous looking (and tasting!) cookies tonight was worth it.
This is what I baked last night
* 1 batch of Anzac biscuits
* 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies
* 1 chocolate mud cake with chocolate frosting, well 1 batch which I split over 2 small tins - so does that count as 1 mud cake or 2? :)
And this is what I have just finished baking
* 1 batch of chocolate chip cookies
* 1 butter/pound/madeira cake (call it what you will, I've decided they're all the same to me), and again the mixture was enough to split between two small tins
Now, at the beginning of the week I was actually planning to bake everything in the lists above, aside from the extra batch of choc chip cookies tonight, over 2 days (initially 1, before I realised that I was being far too ambitious if I didn't want to sacrifice my sleep - and I'm not *that* crazy yet). My excuse for this baking overall was that it is almost Anzac day, so the good people at work should be given the opportunity to experience the humble Anzac biscuit, and also being rather close to my birthday, additional treats would be permissible. And because of this birthday excuse, 2 cakes must surely be allowed, rather than one, with the added bonus of being able to use up the excess buttermilk from the mud cake in my butter cake (can't let all that buttermilk go to waste!).
The weak link here (if you don't consider this entire post a severe weakness) is that 2nd batch of chocolate chip cookies... I really wasn't intending on baking TWO batches. But I had the misfortune of not quite remembering which recipe I used to make some pretty close to perfect chocolate chip cookies (the question of what exactly is the perfect choc chip cookie deserves its own post, which I'll most likely end up posting in my baking blog, along with my recipe so I never find myself in this situation again!). So the batch I baked last night was severely disappointing. The cookies were too chewy in a cake-like way, rather than chewy in a perfect-cookie kind of way. I had a strong suspicion that it was the soft brown sugar I'd used, and the only way to know for sure was to bake the exact same recipe again but with golden caster sugar (like my instincts told me I should have done in the first place!) And lo and behold, tonight's cookies turned out just the way they were supposed to! So please remember, next time I bake choc chip cookies (and until I get around to posting my recipe on my baking blog) - always use caster sugar, NOT soft brown sugar like the original recipe says!
You can even *see* the difference...
definitely looking like cake
don't these look so much better?
So, mad, most definitely.
But the satisfaction of producing those gorgeous looking (and tasting!) cookies tonight was worth it.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
words
Some words... I don't think any explanation is required here
And something related - I love how the French say 'wifi' :)
- data
- project
- pasta
- yoghurt
- router
And something related - I love how the French say 'wifi' :)
Monday, 10 January 2011
<3
I just wanted to share the lyrics of this song by mesita - they're so incredibly uplifting. You can hear the final edited version here, although the raw demo version of the song is much better. I don't normally warm to songs like this (the style is a bit 70s) but after hearing it the first time I was hooked - how could you not be with such beautiful lyrics?
living/breathing
i'm in love with the world today
and i want to give myself for all of you
i want to be the one you can count on
even in our darkest day
we are seeing
feeling
mystical
things
and we are beautiful
and we are worth it all
and we are living/breathing
i want to tell you all, you mean everything to me
and we are always one even when we disagree
there is something magical here
even when we don't believe
we are loving
bleeding
conscious
things
and we are beautiful
and we can change the world
and we are living/breathing
we are loving
bleeding
conscious
things
and we are beautiful
and we can change the world
and we are living/breathing
living/breathing
i'm in love with the world today
and i want to give myself for all of you
i want to be the one you can count on
even in our darkest day
we are seeing
feeling
mystical
things
and we are beautiful
and we are worth it all
and we are living/breathing
i want to tell you all, you mean everything to me
and we are always one even when we disagree
there is something magical here
even when we don't believe
we are loving
bleeding
conscious
things
and we are beautiful
and we can change the world
and we are living/breathing
we are loving
bleeding
conscious
things
and we are beautiful
and we can change the world
and we are living/breathing
Sunday, 9 January 2011
gigs, gigs, gigs, gigs, gigs: update
Yep, it's been a while - butt is clearly still very lazy.
I came here to start blogging about something (oooohhhh mysterious) but decided the last entry deserved a bit of an update -
2010
#01 01/03 mika @ hammersmith apollo
#02 11/03 stereophonics @ wembley arena
#03 18/03 mgmt @ heaven
#04 06/05 ash @ koko
#05 13/05 the big pink @ the forum
#06 21/05 faithless @ brixton o2 academy
#07 04/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#08 05/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#09 08/06 crowded house @ hammersmith apollo
#10 23/06 scissor sisters @ brixton o2 academy
#11 24/06 jamiroquai @ club debut (miraculously managed to get through and buy these limited tickets for dirt cheap!)
#12 04/07 foals/2 door cinema club @ roundhouse (won itunes festival tickets! yay!)
#13 12/07 the temper trap @ somerset house (thanks to wonderful vivian for having an amex)
#na 13/07 the middle east @ bush hall (didn't end up going to this because 1 - no one to go with, 2 - already saw them with ttt the night before, and 3 - we were moving house the coming weekend and some serious packing needed to be done... or started...)
#14 15/07 florence @ somerset house
#15 27/08 reading festival
#16 09/09 white rabbits @ relentless garage (so so glad they scheduled a warmup gig last minute!)
#17 11/09 muse @ wembley stadium
#18 22/09 2 door cinema club @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#19 02/10 mumford & sons @ manchester apollo (after having already toured the uk a few times I didn't think they would squeeze in one more round - again so so glad they did!)
#20 04/10 lifehouse @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#21 23/10 mark ronson & the bus. intl @ hmv forum (won tickets! free gig!)
#22 03/11 the black keys @ brixton academy (thanks jim for the free tickets)
#23 27/11 primal scream @ olympia
#24 30/11 the hoosiers @ hmv forum (won tickets *again*!)
so the final count went from 17 to 24...
And 2011? I think the loss of my gigging stalwart (aka Vivian) really will mean that I'm not going to be so gig crazy - really :) So far I only have Lifehouse (yes I really do need to see them again) and Take That. And with Take That I didn't even buy the tickets on the first, or second release of tickets, being rather dubious about whether I really wanted to see them given the cringeworthy duet Robbie and Gary had done, and seeing the very bizarre and cringeworthy video clip for The Flood. But when they released another (final?) round of tickets, I thought I'd try my luck, and I am now the owner of two (currently virtual) tickets to see Take That. I'd been dreading listening to their album for the aforementioned reasons, as well as being slightly disappointed by the reformed TT's 2nd album. But like a good TT supporter I still learnt to enjoy the circus, and thoroughly enjoyed myself at their gig (I did go 3 times... they really do put on a good show!). But I decided to bite the bullet a couple of weeks ago, and acquire the album to give it a listen. And it was surprising. I really think The Flood is a great song now (ignore the video clip). It has some rather dark material in it and their sound has become very electric, clearly Robbie's influence for the former, and likely for the latter too. The first half of the album is actually really good. Second half, is ok, but overall, I am really surprised at how good this album is.
I came here to start blogging about something (oooohhhh mysterious) but decided the last entry deserved a bit of an update -
2010
#01 01/03 mika @ hammersmith apollo
#02 11/03 stereophonics @ wembley arena
#03 18/03 mgmt @ heaven
#04 06/05 ash @ koko
#05 13/05 the big pink @ the forum
#06 21/05 faithless @ brixton o2 academy
#07 04/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#08 05/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#09 08/06 crowded house @ hammersmith apollo
#10 23/06 scissor sisters @ brixton o2 academy
#11 24/06 jamiroquai @ club debut (miraculously managed to get through and buy these limited tickets for dirt cheap!)
#12 04/07 foals/2 door cinema club @ roundhouse (won itunes festival tickets! yay!)
#13 12/07 the temper trap @ somerset house (thanks to wonderful vivian for having an amex)
#na 13/07 the middle east @ bush hall (didn't end up going to this because 1 - no one to go with, 2 - already saw them with ttt the night before, and 3 - we were moving house the coming weekend and some serious packing needed to be done... or started...)
#14 15/07 florence @ somerset house
#15 27/08 reading festival
#16 09/09 white rabbits @ relentless garage (so so glad they scheduled a warmup gig last minute!)
#17 11/09 muse @ wembley stadium
#18 22/09 2 door cinema club @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#19 02/10 mumford & sons @ manchester apollo (after having already toured the uk a few times I didn't think they would squeeze in one more round - again so so glad they did!)
#20 04/10 lifehouse @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#21 23/10 mark ronson & the bus. intl @ hmv forum (won tickets! free gig!)
#22 03/11 the black keys @ brixton academy (thanks jim for the free tickets)
#23 27/11 primal scream @ olympia
#24 30/11 the hoosiers @ hmv forum (won tickets *again*!)
so the final count went from 17 to 24...
And 2011? I think the loss of my gigging stalwart (aka Vivian) really will mean that I'm not going to be so gig crazy - really :) So far I only have Lifehouse (yes I really do need to see them again) and Take That. And with Take That I didn't even buy the tickets on the first, or second release of tickets, being rather dubious about whether I really wanted to see them given the cringeworthy duet Robbie and Gary had done, and seeing the very bizarre and cringeworthy video clip for The Flood. But when they released another (final?) round of tickets, I thought I'd try my luck, and I am now the owner of two (currently virtual) tickets to see Take That. I'd been dreading listening to their album for the aforementioned reasons, as well as being slightly disappointed by the reformed TT's 2nd album. But like a good TT supporter I still learnt to enjoy the circus, and thoroughly enjoyed myself at their gig (I did go 3 times... they really do put on a good show!). But I decided to bite the bullet a couple of weeks ago, and acquire the album to give it a listen. And it was surprising. I really think The Flood is a great song now (ignore the video clip). It has some rather dark material in it and their sound has become very electric, clearly Robbie's influence for the former, and likely for the latter too. The first half of the album is actually really good. Second half, is ok, but overall, I am really surprised at how good this album is.
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