This week I have been Reading
The 2011 Tour de France race guide.
Watching
An Idiot Abroad
Listening to
The xx
Discovering
(Or rediscovering) Hamlet - Nicki Greenberg's beautiful new version, thanks to the fabulous Snarkattack, who invited me along to see Nicki talk about the creative process behind the book.
Eating
- An enormous serve of bangers'n'mash and a nourishing pint of Kilkenny at the Town Hall one dismal Tuesday evening.
- A "Chachi" - chianina meatball sandwich - another brioche donut and some amazing chocolate tart at Beatrix, which Essjay has reviewed.
- A lazy Sunday lunch at The Crimean. The Polish hunter's stew (bigos) was just the thing to revive me after a chilly bike ride.
- Generous piles of fried food with oodles of chillies and sichuan peppercorns at Sichuan House
- Succulent suckling pig at Liberteene.
- An array of bright, zesty flavours at Chin Chin, where the only problem was having to choose only some of the items from what looks to be a menu that is all hits, no filler.
|
By Injera, on May 21st, 2010% It’s Nutter time, although it feels like it’s been that all day today. Nevertheless, this is the real deal, with baked goods, not just ranting on street corners. What does the baking Nutter have in store for us today, apart from a lemon shirt?
“We’re barring mad” is Nutter’s introduction. He’s pleased with the phrase, so repeats it. I think is meant to sound like “barking” with an intense glottal stop. What it means is there will be bars, and we’re hitting the recipes right out of the gate. (I’ve just realised why this is such a surprise to me – I’m so used to the drawn-out start of Masterchef, that any cooking within 10 minutes of opening credits appears to be unseemly haste).
The bars, after the jump.
Continue reading Simply baking – a Nutter, bar none
By Injera, on May 14th, 2010% I wish I could get a MPG file of the Simply Baking theme toon. As soon as it comes on, it makes me bounce more than George Calombaris in the Masterchef kitchen. I’m going to do a YouTube search. I need this in my iPod – I think it will go well in a shuffle with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
Today I am excited to report that Nutter is wearing the bright orange shirt that could well be the one he was wearing in the first episode I ever saw. He is excited to report that he will be making cakes. With a Nutter twist, of course.
The Nutter magic, after the jump…
Continue reading Simply baking… cakes!
By Injera, on May 10th, 2010% Reality Raver is away at the moment and has entrusted the Masterchef recaps to me. This means that I’ll be busy blogging over at Reality Ravings, trying to cover most episodes.
I was pleased to see that the tears have dried up (I’m hoping that last night’s challenge was the beginning of a new tear-free era), but less pleased that good and the bad were so clearly revealed by the editing, and displeased that so many faces – and, more to the point, dishes – didn’t make it to the screen last night.
My relationship with Masterchef last year was as hot and cold as the theme song, but for the most part I loved to hate it. If things continue the way they are now, though, I’ll be more tempted to kneecap than recap.
By Injera, on May 9th, 2010% Nadia Sawalha won Celebrity MasterChef in the UK. Who is Nadia Sawalha? I’ve no idea. Now, if it were Julie Sawalha, I’d be all over that, but Nadia is a mystery. Don’t you get up, though – I’ll google it myself1.
In Eating in the Sun, according to the TV guide,
Winner of Celebrity MasterChef, Nadia Sawalha, is sent to some of the most beautiful restaurants in Europe to cook for a mystery challenger. With her pride at stake she has just two days to perfect the complex dishes for her guest.
I had seen an ad for the show and thought it looked good, possibly because I was only paying scant attention to the details, so added it as a series link. It started on April 15 on Lifestyle Food, so the episodes are piling up as this is the first chance I’ve had to watch. I’m already disappointed, because I thought it was the real MasterChef winner, not the winner of the Celebrity version.
Continue reading Eating in the Sun, watching on the couch
By Injera, on May 7th, 2010% Today’s theme on Simply Baking is cheesecake. Our Nutter knows we’ll all be thinking with our sweet teeth right about now, but he’s changing it up a bit and starting with a savoury cheesecake (which some may prefer to think of as a quiche with cream cheese – I know that would appeal to me more than a savoury cheesecake). I’m hoping that he’s not going to be matching anything to the colour of this particular shirt today, unless he’s going to do a pea puree. Actually (it’s catching!), the shirt might be the result of the pea puree prepared earlier. I get the sense that today’s recipes might take a bit of time, given the speed at which Nutter is talking.
Let’s get baking!
Continue reading Cheesecakes, with a Nutter twist – Simply Baking
By Injera, on April 30th, 2010% And if it’s Simply Baking, then it must be time for my blog stats to jump dramatically, as fans of the Nutter search for the recipes they’ve seen on the show. Knowing how frustrating it is to search for one thing and land in something completely other, today’s post is dedicated to the recipes! (If, however, you are also interested in attempted analysis of recent junk food commercials, or exhaustive descriptions of crappy MTV/VH1 reality shows, please look around.)
Today Nutter promises classic French recipes. I hope my eyes can withstand the onslaught of his shirt, which is French-ish, I guess… possibly chartreuse? Anyway, let’s crack on.
Continue reading If it’s Friday, it must be Simply Baking
By Injera, on April 15th, 2010% It’s not Jersey Shore, which has been growing on me, but Flavor of Love: Charm School. I had such high hopes for it, partly because I find it difficult to resist any title sporting a colon, and partly because it was misrepresented in the TV guide as Rock of Love: Charm School. Flavor of Love – which I’ve never seen, nor knew existed – followed the antics of a group of women, competing for the affections of Flava Flav. It distresses me even to type that. Must go and listen to some cleansing Public Enemy to recover.
I’m back. Fight the power, people! Apparently some of the women vying for the Flav’s attention behaved badly. So badly, in one case, that an eviction took place before a nickname could be bestowed And so badly in other cases, if the interviews are anything to go by, that family disappointment followed. What’s a girl to do if she’s shamed her family by appearing on a trashy reality show? Why, sign up for another one, of course! The prospect of a $50,000 prize gives me some understanding of why these girls are involved; I have no idea why Mo’Nique is playing the part of ringmaster for this circus, though.
The combatants are women from two seasons of the pre-colon show and include:
- Goldie – The Puker, so named for her vomiting which, we are told, “smells like chicken”
- Serious – The Egomaniac. Her introductory clip shows her flashing her tits and saying “if they don’t look like this? Then it don’t matter”
- Hottie – The Crazy Girl. Judging from the first two, she’s got some stiff competition in the crazy stakes, so I’m expecting some serious nuttiness – more serious than eating a bit of undercooked turkey, which appears to be how she got her name
- Rain – who is known as The Screamer, but that must only be because The Crazy Girl is already taken. And probably because the producers thought it would be rude to just call her the Fugly Girl
- Smiley – The Crier (who also screams, comes off as crazy in her clip, and is not very attractive)
- Pumkin (sic) – The Spitter. I’m wondering if she spat more than once, or if the girls were nicknamed from one random clip. If she’s a serial spitter, then… ewwww. (Actually, if this is the only time? Then also ewwww, because we see her lobbing a really big gob of spit right in another girl’s face)
- Toastee – The Porn Girl (strangely, not the girl being called a “fuckin’ whore” in the Pumkin clip)
- Like Dat – The Slob. Drinking from a milk carton, burping, looking like a man
- Buckwild – the Blackest White Girl, so called, presumably, because she talks in Randy Jacksonisms, dawg
- Krazy and Buckee – the Balcony Brawlers. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Yes, they are having a fight. On a balcony
- Bootz – The Hater. Well, if she’s The Hater, what does that make me?
- Saaphyri – The Fighter. Perhaps she’s only distinguishable from The Balcony Brawlers by the fact that she’ll take her fightin’ anywhere
Given that the show starts with clips of the women behaving atrociously, the only shocks were the revelation that the names “Bootz”, “Goldie” etc were also nicknames – the nicknames given to them by Flava Flav – and, then, that Saaphyri was her real name1.
This show had no other surprises and surprise is what keeps otherwise formulaic TV entertaining. Shows such as Ladette to Lady and Australian Princess, which were fairly short on lasting entertainment value, at least had the novelty of a cast of gauche, reality TV newbies. These girls have already had more than their 15 minutes and are back for more; they’ve experienced the control of producers and editors and they have signed back up, possibly wiser this time around and, if not, then irredeemably stupid (and irredeemable stupidity is only fleetingly amusing).
= = = = = = = = = = = =
1. I wonder how Mo’Nique recovered from the awkward exchange with Saaphyri during the nickname-stripping ceremony: “That represented something ugly. What is your real name, baby?” “That is my real name.” (And, in case you’re wondering, it seems to be pronounced Safari.)
By Injera, on March 30th, 2010% It would be tempting to say that MTV keeps a special time slot for trashy reality programs, but that would be to deny the bulk of their programming. It’s more accurate to say that the 1.30pm trash timeslot is the only one I’m able to stomach, although I’m sure that Tool Academy is set to test that theory1.
Channel 9 first gave TA a go when it emerged that one of Tiger Woods’ (many) lovers had been a participant with her “tool” boyfriend. Classy of 9 to think that screening this would rate on the back of the golfer’s scandal. It’s surprising, but heartening, that it didn’t.
I’m joining TA a few episodes in. I’ve no idea what the structure is, what the reward is, what the entertainment value is… but I’m determined to get something of value out of it.
Continue reading Tool Academy
By Injera, on March 12th, 2010% It’s not all food TV and competitive dating around here. There is some commitment to serialised, script-written television, too.
Caprica
We were smitten – head over heels in love – with SciFi’s Battlestar Galactica. It was an obsession that completely took me by surprise. Sure, I watched some BSG and some Buck Rogers growing up. Yes, of course I went to the Star Trek exhibition at the Smithsonian. Okay, I can quote slabs of Hitchhikers Guide (but I still need to look up how to punctuate the title) and I’ve devoured all of Dune… but I don’t consider myself to be a Science Fiction type1.
When BSG was nearing its end, news started to emerge that a new series was in the works. A series set on Caprica, called Caprica. I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy this “new” show, given that there was going to be limited character crossover (and by “limited”, I mean “one”). Anyway, I couldn’t resist watching the first episode, and it’s incredibly engaging. It’s not necessary to have watched BSG – in fact, as much as I’m enjoying getting more backstory, I wish there was a way of watching it with none of those expectations, since I get a bit distracted by trivial things (like the Caprica Buccaneers Pyramid team, Anders’ old team, which here is owned by Daniel Greystone).
I’m not sure when (if?) SciFi here is going to pick this one up, but it’s become a Sunday night fixture here.
Lost
When Lost first started, there was a lot of hype. As we are nothing if not susceptible to advertising, we tuned into the first episode and called time-of-death after about 10 minutes. Of course, having done that, we failed to switch it off, and… are still watching. For the first few episodes, I watched in spite of it, but I was soon watching because I was hooked.
This is the final season, and the writers have tried to manage expectations by saying that all questions won’t be answered. I don’t care. I don’t even care that Terry O’Quinn is notLocke; I’m just happy that he’s still in the picture.
The Wire
I’ve started watching The Wire again, from the beginning of season one. This time, I’m not just watching it with the cats (and Crackers). In fact, the cats (and Crackers) seem less than interested in this go-around. I’m not watching it alone, though, I’m watching it “on Twitter” with whoever else wants to join in. This idea started when one of my Twitter people lamented coming to the end of season 5. We decided that the best way to deal with the end of The Wire was to keep going. At the moment, there are only three of us (we’re watching on Mondays at 8.30, which clashes with Four Corners, amongst other things). If you’re on Twitter and want to join in, follow @R_Wrd and the tag #reWired. Monday is episode three and, if I’m not mistaken… Omar comin’.
Masterchef Professionals
It’s finals time, and I’m trying to keep up with the episodes mounting up on the IQ. In the semis, the finalists duked it out in pairs, in Michelin-starred kitchens. It’s high stakes and all the other clichés, but I had a little weep when Gregg and Michel – unable to separate two of the finalists – worked the dramatic pauses to a level never seen before… and then put both of them through (as the Eric Clapton soundtrack wailed to a crescendo). Sob.
= = = = = = = = =
1. It’s quite possible that I’m in denial.
By Injera, on March 5th, 2010% **For Simply Baking recipes, click here**
Recipes from today’s program (Friday 18 June) will be posted tomorrow.
As TV shows end, there are new ones to attract my devotion. Knowing that Bret Michaels had found love with one of the gawjus laydeez in Rock of Love II might be good news for the Poison singer, but bad news for this fan of his poignant search for a meaningful relationship1. Fortunately I mentioned the approaching end of the show to a friend at lunch and she reminded me to check out Simply Baking on 7Two on Friday afternoons.
Simply Baking is hosted by Andrew Nutter, a celebrity chef from Lancashire who isn’t shy about capitalising on his surname (one of his books is called Utter Nutter). I’m so lucky that my first viewing of Simply Baking featured puff pastry, because I can’t get enough of hearing a northern accent say “puff pastry”. And three minutes in, he’d said “puff pastry” more times than I can count. I’d been warned that he’s also fond of the word “actually” – he did say it a lot, but it definitely came second to “puff pastry” in this ep2.
It’s possible (probable) that the show has the backing of a proper production company, but the look and feel is of a public television spot shot in Nutter’s bedsit. Cooking shows these days are all about the slick appliances; Simply Baking features real whitegoods! There’s not an inch of stainless steel in sight. I did spy a KitchenAid on the bench, but it was in muted green (or navy?) and was hidden away. More eyecatching was what looked like a prop from the TV version of Hitchhikers Guide. It turned out to be a ridiculously small fridge.
Everything about the show is daggy and old-school. Nutter demonstrates the recipes, then reads through them again while the ingredients and amounts are displayed on the screen – I’m pretty sure that, before this section, he even reminded viewers to grab a pen and piece of paper. Bless! Wardrobe consisted of the largest, orangest shirt I’ve ever seen and it coordinated nicely with the collection of orange tea-towels. It wasn’t until he popped over to the oven (gas mark 5!) that I could confirm that it was actually a shirt and not a dhoti of some description.
Simply Baking is a nice little cooking show. The host is chirpy (“personable” would be damning with faint praise, I guess) and the recipes – today at least – were simple and looked reasonably tasty. Plus, I’m now prouder of my knife skills than I was before viewing; Nutter’s crowing about being able to slice leeks finely whilst looking at the camera and talking (wow! Multi-tasking!) elicited a snort and “call that fine?!” from me (and a startled leap from the cat, who still isn’t used to the fact that I talk back to the TV)3.
If you are seeking recipes from the show, try the Simply Baking tag in the left side bar – I’ve been recapping episodes since this one and transcribed the baked delights, after a fashion…
Not long after the Nutter half hour is Tamasin’s Weekend. The eponymous Tamasin is the sister of Daniel Day Lewis and the show is a longer version of Posh Nosh, without any satire (and without Richard E. Grant, of course). In today’s episode, Tamasin’s uni student daughter was “cooking” for some friends, which offered her mother both the opportunity to say “darling” more than Nutter said both “puff pastry” and “actually” combined and the chance to make all sorts of dated judgements about students and their pot noodle dependencies. Tamasin also indulged in some self-congratulatory “I’ve taught her all about cooking” stuff, and then did all the cooking while her daughter got dressed and made up. The “cooking” involved slicing raw vegies, making a bagna cauda, and cooking some pasta to be served with what turned out to be some stringy-looking chicken. They also said “hoomus” a lot, which might be the correct pronuciation for all I know. I’m glad I’ve seen Tamasin and, while I’d like to say I won’t watch it again, it has just enough fingernails-on-the-chalkboard appeal to make it a keeper.
The last new show that hasn’t made it onto the recording schedule, but is still ridiculously addictive (and is probably the one that is the true successor to RoL) is RuPaul’s Drag Race. Basically, it’s America’s Next Top Model with a more appealing host and, in some cases – Ongina! – more attractive contestants. The contestants are vying for the honour of winning the race, I guess. To be honest, I haven’t paid much attention to the endgame, since the challenges are the major entertainment focus. Once contestants have passed the challenge, the bottom two “lip-synch for their lives” and the loser is eliminated. It’s a fun show and I’m enjoying seeing Project Runway‘s Santino on the judging panel.
= = = = = = = = = =
1. The fact that I know there’s another RoL series is some comfort to me here.
2. One of the recipes also featured mushrooms. Mushrooms! And “bootton mooshrooms” at that.
3. I see that quite a few new visitors have come here looking for Nutter recipes. Sorry! No recipes here, but there are some here, here and here. Enjoy!
|
|
