Chocolate Guinness Cake

I'm an all American mutt, with a very muddied gene pool: Native American, Scottish, Dutch, and yes, rumors of a wee smidgen of Irish down the line somewhere. Enough to justify the fact that I love St. Patrick's Day. I'm not really sure why, because largely it's such a commercialized holiday at this point. But I can't help it. I like all the jolly green revelry. But, and some of you may find this sacrilegious, I just don't care for Guinness. Not at all. I'm not really a big beer drinker period, but Guinness is particularly icky to me. It's too dark, too bitter. BUT, I'm more than happy to eat it, especially in the form of Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness Cake which is absolutely amazing! You can't really taste the Guinness exactly, but it gives an earthy depth and subtle tang to an otherwise pretty standard chocolate cake. The cream cheese icing is lightened up (in texture obviously, not calories) by the addition of cream, and oh my, it's just heavenly. So, I raise my fork in cheers, wishing you and yours a happy St. Patrick's Day!

This cake was super easy to make. Here is the recipe with measurements already converted, if you're like me and too lazy to do the math. Cheers!

Top ephemera image via Suzee Que

Artsy Hijinks

I thought I had seen every Audrey Hepburn movie ever made, but while browsing through the Netflix Instant plays the other day, I stumbled across this film. What with all my years of Audrey idolization, especially during high school and college, I can't believe I missed this! Mark and I watched it last night, and what a treat! Peter O'Toole is dashing and Audrey is lovely as ever (only she can transform a pink nightgown and black rubber rain boots into the epitome of chic). Their zany foray into the world of high brow art collectors (and forgers!) is fabulous, and definitely a film we will watch again and again.

And on a somewhat related note, I came across this book during a lazy afternoon bookstore browsing session the other day, and was intrigued. The art world has always just seemed so glamorous; it would be interesting to read an insider's perspective. I didn't buy it then, but it's definitely on my ever growing list.

Natalie Merchant: Leave Your Sleep

My college roommate was a huge Natalie Merchant fan, so that was my first real exposure to her music. I vaguely remember liking the sound, but for whatever reason, it didn't really stay in the forefront of my consciousness, and until this past weekend, I had sort of forgotten about her. But over the course of our studio weekend (which, by the way, was quite a success, more about that later), I spent some of the down time catching up on this month's Paste magazine, which did a feature article about Natalie and her upcoming project, Leave Your Sleep, and I was hooked. Critics are calling this her most ambitious album to date, spanning genres and featuring a vast entourage of collaborators (some 130 artists! wow!), including Wynton Marsalis, Lunasa and the Klezmatics, The Memphis Boys, and Medeski Martin & Wood.

The project began five years ago. Basically, the songs on the record are poems, mostly about childhood, ranging from obscure nursery rhymes and lullabies, to poems by British Victorians, mid 20th century Americans, and a few contemporaries as well. The poets are both well known and obscure, the better known ones including: Odgen Nash, E.E. Cummings, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. The thing that really intrigued me is the sheer amount of historical research and curation involved in bringing this project about. Merchant hired three research assistants (what a cool gig that must have been!) to track down biographical information about the poets, and a fourth assistant to research photos. It sounds like quite an undertaking, but how inspiring! To not only be creating music, but unearthing obscure gems and preserving important history. The album will come in two versions: a "cheap and cheerful" 16 track CD and a 26 song edition that will include an 80 page book created based on the historical research. Part of the tour in support of this project will include a "library tour" starting at the New York Public Library that will be part performance and part lecture. Release date is April 13th on Nonesuch Records.

Catnaps and Studio Plans

This is what Friday afternoon looks like around these parts. Those two are the best of friends. Hope everyone is gearing up for a nice weekend. We've had an entire week of spring-esque weather, and I'm practically giddy from it. This afternoon turned a bit rainy, forcing us back indoors, but at least it's not snow.

We're staying cabin bound this weekend, but we have big plans. Miss Katie Mae is spending the entire weekend with the grandparents, and Mark and I are locking ourselves into the home studio to finish up some recording projects that have been lingering around for awhile. Because our little cabin is, well, little, we don't have a separate room to keep a studio set up permanently. That means every time we want to record, we have to set up mics and such all over the house, and that gets a bit dicy with a two year old running rampant.

So, we've set aside an entire kid free weekend where we can leave everything set up and pretty much plow through as needed. We have two new songs on the board, and a third waiting in the wings if we get really ambitious.

I'm determined to improve my production chops this weekend. Usually I've just let Mark handle all the computer and equipment stuff, and merely pushed buttons or whatnot, but this weekend I'm breaking out a pen and notebook and what I'm sure will be a slew of annoying questions. But, I am determined to learn. It would really speed up production if I had more than a mere working knowledge of the process. Besides, I'm really shooting for a co-producer credit, rather than production assistant. :) Baby steps.

Wish us luck! I'm almost nervous about it, even though essentially, we're just spending a weekend at home, but the stakes are high and the red light's coming on.

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite links from this week:

This poster pretty much sums up my life philosophy.

I can't wait to make this cake for St. Patrick's day next week.

When I look through my bank statement and realize that the grocery store somehow ends up with most of my money, this great article from Martha Stewart hits home: 12 Ways to Prevent Food Waste

Lilith Fair lineup looks AWESOME! Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Heart, Sheryl Crow! And so many others! Mark and I are just trying to figure out which concert to go to: probably Raleigh, Charlotte, or Nashville.

And don't forget we spring forward this week folks. Here's to long days again!

Ephemeratopia

I spent more time at this site than I probably should have this morning, browsing through this amazing collection of ephemera: antique trading cards, old advertisements, postcards, etc. I've always been fascinated by these sorts of treasures, and it's nice to see so many quirky, unusual ones all in one place. Lovely blog. A few of my favorites:

Chocolate Bread Pudding or Crazy Good Leftovers!

Ever since I started making my own bread regularly, I'm always trying to find ways to use up the leftover odds and ends. Throwing away half a loaf of store brought bread is wasteful, but throwing away the tiniest piece of homemade bread that you so lovingly kneaded and tended through pretty much the whole Little Red Hen process, well, that's just heartbreaking. So, I keep my nose to the ground for recipes like this. I first spotted this chocolate bread pudding over here, and it is indeed swoon worthy. Last night, we ate it fresh from the oven, drizzled with the butterscotch sauce (which is super easy and a keeper recipe on its own!), warm and gooey and rustic, and just perfect. Since I'm not known for my will power around anything chocolate, this morning I sprinkled powdered sugar over it and called it breakfast, and even cold, it will still make you turn cartwheels!

A few things: (1) Like Amy suggested, I doubled the chocolate and added 1 tsp. cinnamon. No espresso powder for me though, I'm not big on coffee flavored desserts (which is strange since I'm such a coffee hound!) (2) The original recipe calls for cinnamon raisin bread, but since I was using up old bread, I used a combination of a few days' old Who Bread and Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.

Jill Andrews: These Words

Mark and I went to see Jill Andrews a few weeks ago, at the Gray Eagle, and I was completely blown away. Her voice is mesmerizing. Smooth and ethereal, but still twangy and powerful. You can hear East Tennessee in every syllable, and in my book that's a good thing. This video is not from that show, but it features one of her songs that has been nominated for the International Songwriting Competition. I confess, I don't normally participate in these kind of things, but I was so floored by this song, that I hopped myself right over here and cast my vote. Whether or not you vote, please take a moment and listen to this song. Jill also showcases one cover song a month on her website, plus has a new EP out, so if you like what you hear, there's more.