Friday I'm In Love: Before I die.

The other day at work, my friend asked me what bands I would most like to see before I died. 

I couldn't think of a single band. 

When people put me on the spot I get all flustered and I could only think of stupid bands (The Spice Girls), or ones that I've seen already (Tegan & Sara). And to make matters worse, her answers were all trendy (Radiohead, Daft Punk, Portishead) and so were everyone else's. 

But I couldn't stop thinking about it. What bands would I most like to see? Out of all the bands, ever, there must be someone that I would most like to see. Surely.

I didn't take my first steps on a dance floor as a baby just to have no answer to this question. 

But I thought long and hard about it, and I came up with a list, and I could probably tell you one memory related to each song: 

Bjork. 

I think my dad introduced me to Bjork. Or maybe when I was a kid I just really liked the umbrella dance routine in 'It's oh so quiet', either way, I now own all her albums and went through a stage when I wanted to listen to Hyperballad every day. 

The Cure.

I like their upbeat stuff more than their gothic stuff, but I just can pass up all that big hair. I liked 'Love Cats' long before I realised who The Cure actually were. And then in year 11 it was really cool to listen to them, and I jumped on that bandwagon for life. 

The Smiths.

I listened to The Smiths a lot in years 11 and 12. They remind me of my friends Leah and Susan, when we'd stay at each others' houses and drink cheap champagne. Those were the days... 

Arcade Fire.

I'm pretty sure that my aformentioned friend Susan introduced me to Arcade Fire. When Brent and I were in  Glasgow, we went to a pub that had this album playing on repeat. Now that's all I can think about when I listen to them. Ahhh... Scotland.

Tom Waits.

Mostly I like the way Tom Waits sounds like he's been drinking lots of whisky and smoking even more cigarettes for a really long time. But it's all beautiful. I think my dad also introduced me to Tom Waits. I remember him listening to it as a kid, and I had no idea why he wanted to listen to that weird guy with the deep, crackly voice.

What bands would you most like to see before you die?

My Dad's hot cross buns.

What do you get if you put rabbits into a sauna?

Hot Cross Bunnies!

Every Good Friday morning, my dad gets up and makes bread. Not just any old bread, though. Hot cross buns. Made from a special recipe that comes from a really old book that is falling apart at the seams. He's had to change and adapt this recipe over the years: change the measurements into metric, rather than gils and pints, change the yeast content from fresh to (more convenient) dried. 

He's been making this recipe for as long as I can remember. I haven't attempted to make this myself yet, because it's Good Friday and nothing is open and I forgot to buy the ingredients yesterday. 

But you can trust me that this recipe is good. It must be good if Dad has been making it for so long. 

I'm going to try and make these on Sunday, even though that's not really the right day to be making them. And I'll post some pictures so you can see how great the buns really are. But for now, here's a picture of me and my dad together.

My Dad's Hot Cross Buns Recipe.

2x 7g Pack Dried Yeast

1 ½ Cups  (400 ml) warm milk ( temperature of your finger )
2 tbs  caster Sugar

50g Butter
500g white Bread Flour
1/3 Cup (50 g) Mixed Peel

2/3 Cup  (100 g) Currants

1tsp Mixed Spice

 ½ cup warm Milk, 1 egg and tsp. caster sugar, mixed

PASTRY crosses
 75 g plain Flour
2 tsps Caster Sugar
30 g Butter

Dissolve the yeast and sugar into the milk and let it froth

Rub The butter into Flour, add the currants peel ,spice.  Make a well in the flour pour in the warm milk mix. Mix to a smooth dough, it will be sticky so use plenty of flour to work it. Let rise in the bowl covered in plastic wrap for 1 1/2 hours. Turn out onto a board, cut up into 15 portions. Roll them into balls, aiming for a good smooth skin on the top side of each bun. Place on baking tray leaving enough room for the buns to double in size. Leave for 45 mins – 1 hour to rise.

Preheat the oven to 200*C

Make the pastry Crosses by combining flour and sugar, then rubbing in butter. Mix in a few tsps. of cold water to make a firmish dough. Roll out thin and cut into skinny strips.

Brush the tops of the buns with a little water and cross the strips on top.

This step can be omitted and just a cut made in the top of the buns.

Cook about 15 -20 mins till brown. Just before they’re done brush all with the milk egg sugar mix (cook 1 or 2 more minutes)

Apple & cinnamon muffins.

My gorgeous friend Alex, actor, musician, writer,  breakfast cereal connoisseur, always said that he didn't understand how baking worked. How can you mix ingredients that don't seem to go together into a sticky, wet mess, which turns into a delicious baked good. When we used to have dinner together, Alex would often make a curry and I would make some cupcakes. He'd sit with me while I measured, stirred and baked our dessert, always curious as to how the mix would turn into something completely different when it was done. Now, I'll admit that I don't understand the exact science of baking, I guess it's something to do with chemical reactions of flour and wet ingredients, but I don't let that deter me from baking anything. I know how to follow a recipe, and I understand the basic principles of baking, and that'll do for me.

I know that Alex would enjoy these muffins, if we still lived in the same state. I miss Alex a lot. I miss those times when we'd spend nights watching tv together and eating nachos. That was a really good year for me. Maybe I'll have to send him some muffins in the post, and try and recreate those days with a wonderful friend.

These apple and cinnamon muffins are warm with spice and moist with chunks of apple. I don't always like muffins that use oil instead of butter, because I think it leaves a funny taste in your mouth, but I couldn't tell with these ones, so that's a bonus! *The original recipe instructed to mix the dry ingredients into the wet, which I thought was a bit weird, and it ended up being a bit lumpy. If I made these again, I'd do it the other way around. Other than that, there's no cons at all to these muffins. You should make some now. Right now.

apple & cinnamon muffins:
Adapted from Meg kat

Makes 12.

1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
2 cups plain flour (you could use half plain, half whole wheat, if you prefer)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
3 tsps baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 large, or 3 small, apples; peeled, cored and diced.

Preheat oven to 200C.
Mix egg, milk, oil in a bowl.
In a separate large bowl, combine everything from flour to nutmeg.
Pour half of the wet mix into the dry and combine. (*see note). Repeat.
Stir in the diced apple.
Spoon mix into 12 muffin cases.
Bake for 20 mins. A skewer inserted into the middle will come out clean.