Ms Fifikins

Another meme. Why not. It’s Friday night and I’m home alone! This one is rather bizarre. My iTunes Music Library contains 15,129 items, a lot of which I don’t necessarily listen to but are from my past, and even I was amazed with some of the ones that came up! Oh yeah, and I am beyond the tagging!

RULES:
1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Tag 25 people in your note that you want to do this activity. You must tag the person that sent you this note.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS ‘ARE YOU OKAY’ YOU SAY?
Take on Me (a-ha)

2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
I Want to Live (Grace)

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Hungry like the Wolf (Duran Duran)

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky)

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Reverence (Faithless)

6. WHAT’S YOUR MOTTO?
Come Down O Love Divine (Trinity College Choir)

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Uptown Girl (Billy Joel)

8. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Corelli: Sonata Da Camera In E Minor, Op. 2/4 – 4. Giga: Allegro

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Africa (Toto)

10. WHAT IS 2 + 2?
Disenchanted Hero (Xzibit)

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Strange, Strange (Augie March)

12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Revolution (Beatles)

13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
John Laws, In One Bucket (Martin Molloy)

14. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Fly Me Away (Goldfrapp)

15. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
It’s a Sin (Pet Shop Boys)

16. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The Honeymoon Song (The Beatles)

17. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST??
Covers are Thrown (Josh Pyke)

18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR??
Who do you Think (Interpol)

19. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Power Tool (Regurgitator)

20. WHAT DO YOU WANT RIGHT NOW?
Drop The Bomb (The Plan)

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
You Could Be Mine (Guns n Roses)

22. WHAT WILL YOUR CHILD’S FIRST WORDS BE?
Around the World (Red Hot Chilli Peppers)

23. WHAT DO YOU SAY WHEN YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR?
I Think I’m a Clone Now (Weird Al)

24. WHAT DID YOU SAY IN YOUR SLEEP LAST NIGHT?
Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode)

25. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Borg Destroyer (Kinetic A.T.O.M.)

I found this on Justine’s awesome blog. This guy is clever- way clever! And he has pretty good taste in shirts too.

Or when too much music is never enough!

For those who haven’t twigged it’s mah birfdai on Friday! MIML™ being the gorgeous lovely man he is suggested he get me an iPod for my birthday as mine was cactus, even after he had replaced the battery. Of course my big surprise was on Saturday when he gave it to me almost a week early! Hehe! Now to fill 120gb of Classic goodness!

So I have been ripping cds from my collection and filling the harddrive on Matilda the Macbook. A lot of this is classical and/or choral. A lot I have never listened to and some I have forgotten how beautiful it is.

Take:

The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons

Now this has to be one of the most beautiful pieces ever written and I remember singing it at school- I think it was a Speech Night or something. But anyway! I have also included other selections in my iTunes that I have never listened to- Franck, Scriabin, and Novák to name but 3, but also some classics that I know I will never listen to, like Nana Mouskouri!

I suppose at least in doing this I will never have to go hunting for them and, er, torrent pay to download them if/when I do want to listen.

Oh and the funny thing- CDs I paid $32 for in the early 1990s are now on iTunes for around $15. I really doubt we will be paying for music in the next 10 years anyway.

And for those wondering if MIML™ has anything up his sleave for my actual birthday- he has promised me a bukkit! I know! My own bukkit!I hear he has sent out a search party even…

more cat pictures

And as an aside for Shakespearian scholars who read my bog (you must be out there!) I am not saying that I need more music to gorge myself and stop listening and stop thinking about other people who I think about a lot (Hi MIML™!) I can haz iPod to fill!

This is floating in my head, so it might as well be floating in yours as you read on…

My family has always had weird names for some foods. Growing up, ice-cream was always ‘ICDC’ and tomato sauce the very Australian ‘Dead ‘Orse.’ My kids have developed their own food-isms- bean sprouts are known as ‘has beens.’

During the week, I saw someone at work eating caramel slice- you know the one, biscuit base, condensed milk caramel in the middle and chocolate on top. I have been thinking of it ever since and as I got into a cooking mode today decided to bake it.

Now the recipe I used is from Nigella’s How to be a Domestic Goddess. It is called ‘Roxanne’s Millionaire’s Shortbread.’ Now we always called it Caramel Slice when I was growing up, but after sampling it just now, I can see the millionaire bit comes from the richness! Immy said that it will last at least a week in the fridge. I suspect I will be freezing some. Now that is not to say it is not divine, for it is, but the tiniest of squares is enough really to round off a pleasant meal, or serve with a cup of tea,

The novel thing about this recipe is that the caramel filling is cooked in the microwave. I cooked it as Immy was watching a programme on microwaves being unsafe and leaking all sorts of nasties. Meh! They did say if there was something in there it was fine.

So the recipe:

Roxanne’s Millionaire’s Shortbread

This is the recipe, given to me by a fellow-mother at my daughter’s school, that introduced me to the notion of melting chocolate in the microwave. I am now a complete convert: it is truly the best way to do it. And you make the caramel in the microwave, too, so that what would normally take a good couple of hours takes only a few minutes. Another revelation. It’s not that I never used a microwave before, but I hadn’t ever realized it could do things better as opposed to just faster.

You can make this a good week in advance if you’d like. Keep the shortbread in a cold place or in an airtight tin, and it’ll be fine. Or you can even freeze it for up to 6 months. If frozen, the squares should be allowed to defrost for 3-4 hours at room temperature.

225g plain flour
75g caster sugar
375g unsalted butter
397g can sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons golden syrup
325g plain chocolate

1 x 23 cm square brownie tin or similar, greased and the bottom lined

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsuis/gas mark 3.

Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub in 175g of the butter, clumping the dough together to form a ball. Press this sandy shortbread mixture into the tin and smooth it either with you hands or a spatula. Prick it with a fork and cook for 5 minutes, then lower the oven to 150 degrees Celsius/gas mark 2, and cook it for a further 30-40 minutes until it is pale golden and no longer doughy. Let it cool in the tin.

Melt the remaining 200g of butter in the microwave (in a large microwavable bowl) for 2-3 minutes, then add the condensed milk and golden syrup. Whisk the mixture well until the butter is thoroughly incorporated. Heat for 6-7 minutes until it is boiling, stirring thoroughly every minute. As a microwave novice, I found this bit difficult and had to watch that I didn’t burn the toffee mixture (I did once), which is why I caution you to check and stir every minute. It’s ready when it’s thickened and turned a light golden brown. Pour this molten toffee evenly over the cooled shortbread and leave it to set.

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it in a bowl in a microwave. Pour and spread evenly over the fudge mixture (the less you touch it, the shinier it will be) and leave it to cool. Once set, cut the caramel shortbread into pieces. The squares can be stored in the fridge to keep them firm, though if it’s winter that shouldn’t be necessary.

Makes about 24. (Well I’ve cut 30 and will be cutting each of those in half in future!)

And the finished product:

Yes, it hadn’t quite set, but hey, I’m blaming the heat up here (have I mentioned how cold it is lately?) but oh my! I keep referring to it as Call Girl Slice in my head, but don’t fancy explaining that to the kids!

Not sure if this is going to work, but I will try. I may have lost most of my faith, or realised I never had any, but this is still my desert island piece of music. I could sit and listen for hours.

Allegri Miserere Mei Deus performed by the Westminster Abbey Choir under Martin Neary.

So what is your bit of desert Island music?