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what it says in the title

the forresters pub

the forresters pub
Originally uploaded by h_cos.

trip home this weekend - taking pictures of places that seem endangered.
Here is one of Deal's finest hostelries.

Protopage

fast, pretty personal to do lists held online - like backpack, but simpler.

REMATERIALIZED

2005 National Scrabble Championship match

it was wicked awesome

My Rock-Snob album list

This was initially meant to be a selection of albums for Jean, whose iRiver didn't seem to contain any Beach Boys.
It actually turned out to be a 64 album Rock-Snob style compilation of albums from my collection, taking in my earliest forays into rock snobbery (the doors, the smiths, love, pet sounds, astral weeks), then into the Rock-Snob canon (village green, transformer, neil young, dusty) and my own preferences of who albums, the inclusion of the kinks' arthur, crooked rain, crooked rain and the earlier surf-obsessed beach boys.
Then a healthy smattering of more recent albums (shins, illinois, magic numbers, laura viers), some semi-tragic female country (laura cantrell, lucinda williams) along with a VA compilations of bollywood, cheesey pop hits and a couple of cracking OSTs.

The point was to imagine Jean in her car listening on random, the list isn't of my favorite albums ever, but not everyone would appreciate Tommy by the wedding present in quite the same way, indeed quite a few of my favorite albums are not included. The idea was to have a mix of the familiar and remarkable, but without resorting to the inclusion of Minor Threat's complete discography for shock value - this is essentially meant to be a mainstream listening experience, with the next track only a few minutes away.

So without further cogitation, my Virgin Radio 1974 playlist reads as follows:

ACDC-back in black
air-moon safari
anonymous 4-american angels
antony & the johnsons-i am a bird now
beach boys, the-pet sounds
beach boys, the-surfer girl-shut down vol 2
beatles, the-revolver
blunt, james-back to bedlam
bollywood for the skeptical
byrds, the-younger than yesterday
cantrell,laura-humming by the flowered wine
carlton, vanessa-be not nobody
crosby, stills nash and young-so far
decemberists, the-picaresque
doors, the-LA woman
drake, nick-way to blue, an introduction to
dylan, bob-blonde on blonde
fairport convention-leige & lief
flaming lips, the-yoshimi battles the pink robots
gillian welch-time (the revelator)
glass, philip-solo piano
graham, davy-folk, blues & beyond
hem-eveningland
killers, the-hot_fuss
kinks, the-arthur
kinks, the-village green preservation society
kraftwerk-1974-2004
led zepplin-III
love-forever changes
magic numbers, the-the magic numbers
merritt, tift-tambourine
mississippi john hurt-today!
mojave 3-excuses for travellers
nickel creek-this side
OST-lipstick on your collar
OST-oh brother where art thou
part, arvo-passio
parton, dolly-the grass is blue
pavement-cooked rain, cooked rain
presley, elvis-golden records vol1
radiohead-OK computer
reed, lou-transformer
REM-document
rice, damien-o
rolling stones, the-big hits
rolling stones, the-through the past darkly
saint etienne-too young to die
shins, the-chutes too narrow
smiths, the-hatful of hollow
springfield, dusty-dusty in memphis
springsteen, bruce-host of tom joad
stevens, sufjan-illinois
stone roses, the-the stone roses
the who-a quick one
the who-the who sell out
thompson, richard and linda-i want to see the bright lights tonight
U2-the joshua tree
van morrison-astral weeks
VA-the trip cd 1
VA-the trip cd 2
veirs, laura - carbon glacier
williams, lucinda-essence
young, neil-decade cd1
young, neil-decade cd2

Missing - albums that I woke up in the middle of the night thinking damn, must put that on:
queen-greatest hits vol1
VA-atlantic soul hits
van morrison-moondance
velvet underground, the-loaded

Missing, but not missed - albums that were considered and rejected, I don't own or I do not care for:
gaye, marvin-what's going on
parsons, gram - grievous angel
pixies-surfer rosa/come on pilgrim
nirvana-nevermind
cure, the-standing on the beach
captain beefheart-trout mask replica
waits-swordfish trombone

Comments, as always, welcome.

This year I want to go up the gherkin

Open house London 17th and 18th Sept this year

James Randi Educational Foundation — An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural

Via boing boing (I think) - the James Randi Educational Foundation — An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural has a lot to offer.

Pennys blueberry cake

As part of the recipe exchange here is Beth's friend Penny's blueberry cake.

cake:
150g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
200g blueberries
100g roughly chopped pecan nuts
100g chopped white chocolate
50ml vegetable/corn oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 heaped tsp cinnamon powder

frosting:
200g cream cheese
75g icing sugar
50g butter
1/2tsp vanilla essence
(reserve some blueberries & pecans to decorate!)

cake:

-preheat oven to 180c/gas 4.
-grease 1 8” loose-bottom cake tin
-sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon powder into a mixing bowl
-stir in the caster sugar, blueberries, chocolate and pecans
-pour in the vegetable/corn oil, eggs and vanilla essence
-stir to mix and then beat for one minute until everything is combined
-pour the cake batter into the tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch
-leave to cool completely

frosting:
-beat the butter until smooth
-add the cream cheese and vanilla essence
-gradually stir in the icing sugar
-sandwich the cake with half of the frosting and spread the remainder over the top
-scatter with blueberries and pecans

Whoopie pies

Thanks to everyone that came to ours at the weekend. For those of you that asked - here is Jean's whoopee pie recipe.

Whoopie Pies (Cakes):
1 stick (115g) butter
1 1/2c sugar
2 eggs
1 teasp vanilla
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c hot water
2 3/4 c flour
1 teasp baking powder
1 teasp baking soda
1/2 c sour cream

Cream the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Mix in cocoa & hot water. Add slowly flour, baking powder & baking soda. Add sour cream and mix well.

Drop by tablespoon onto cookie sheet, bake for 12 minutes at 350 deg F (180 deg C).
Cool thoroughly before filling.

Filling:
8 oz (200g) cream cheese
2 tablsp half & half (single cream)
2 tablsp sugar
3 c Cool Whip (extra thick double cream)

Mix cream cheese, (single) cream and sugar until well blended. Fold in Cool Whip (double cream). Do NOT use mixer for this!

Spread filling between two cakes.

Drunken Whoopie Pies:
For a british twist, use Bailey's instead of the cream in the filling, using as much as possible without making the filling too runny to spread - fold it in one or two tablespoons at a time after the cool whip (double cream). In addition, before filling, dip the cakes in spirits. Vodka, kahlua or peppermint schnapps all work well.

Just make sure no one who is driving gets more than one - they don't taste very strong but there's usually a full shot in each cake.