Friday I'm In Love: Dance dance dance.

Most of these songs have featured on apples & almonds at one point or another, but there's good reason for that. All these songs make me wanna bust a move in the lounge room, and sometimes even on the street. Most of these songs have been around for a while, but they're still good, if you ask me. It's an odd mix of songs, but put your dancing shoes on for Friday.

The Strokes: Last Nite.
I really like proper British songs where you can hear their cute accents. I often listen to this album on my way to work and this song always comes on just as I'm starting to walk through the park, and sometimes I have to stop myself from dancing in the middle of the park.
 

Kimbra: Cameo Lover.
I've talked about how much I like Kimbra before. But her new album just came out and it's really great. She's really pop-y and dance-y, and I have to admit that I really like pop music. There. I said it. I like pop music.
 

The Knife: Heatbeats.
This song reminds me of parties at my friend's house back in the day when we used to drink vodka cruisers. Those were some good times.


Foster The People: Call It What You Want.
I'm not normally into dance music, but this song is just really good.
 

 Florence And The Machine: Drumming Song.
I like to turn this song up really loud on my headphones and jump around. Those drums sure get me going!
 

The Cure: Close To Me.
I've always liked The Cure, but my love grew stronger when I lived with some other girls who loved them as much as I did. It reminds me of drinking tea on our front porch.

Michael Jackson: Billie Jean.
You can't go past Michael Jackson to get your feet tapping. Classic.

Friday I'm In Love: Too many pots of tea and Cameo Lover.

Since confessing that I'm both obsessive and fickle, I've decided to put this into practice with a new weekly post: Friday I'm In Love

It will show you what I'm loving each week, and will force me to post here more often. The only thing is, I didn't really want this blog to turn into a place for me to post lots of pictures of myself that I've taken in the mirror (because, lets face it, I'm not 16 anymore. Thank god). But this is my blog, and I can write posts about whatever I want! I've already done a couple of craft posts here before, so I guess it's ok to branch out a little bit. And I promise there won't be any photo's of me that I've taken of myself in a mirror (well, not too many anyway).

And who knows, it might only last two weeks before I find something else to do...

This week I'm going to share two things with you.
I drink way too many cups of tea. I think I'm addicted.

The other thing I'm sharing is this song by ex-New Zealand artist, Kimbra. I've had this song stuck in my head all week. I love the video for it too. Everything from the fluoro colours to the tambourine. I can't wait till her album comes out.
There is one line in the song that I can't work out what the lyrics are.
It goes: "everyday's like talking in your sleep, love is like a ..........., open up your heart."
What goes there? Huh? Silhouette in teams? Silhouette in Jeans? Cigarette and tea? I don't know.
Either way, the song is great.

And there you have it! The first Friday I'm in Love. Hopefully there will be more of these to come!

The Ultimate Choc Chip Cookie.

The other day I was feeling a bit under the weather. I tried hanging out with some friends, but they all work sensible hours (like, during the day. Weekdays.), and I hardly work at all (seriously, I need to get another job). So I did as any self respecting girl would do: I shaved my legs, did my hair, put on a dress, and made some choc chip cookies.

Surprisingly, I didn't actually make these cookies for myself. My lovely stepmum convinced me that I should make them for the School Fete. I do my teaching placement at this school, and my little brother goes to this school, so, seeing as I'm now part of the School Community, it would be lovely of me to make something. "You could put it on your blog!"

I've seen this recipe on lots of sites, and I decided that I wanted to make them too. To add my contribution to the blogosphere, if I may be so bold. The original recipe is from David Leite who wrote an article for the New York Times about the consummate choc chip cookie. I think he did a pretty good job.
These cookies actually need to be kept in the fridge for up to 36 hours before you bake them (!). So after making the mixture, I sat around for 2 days before I baked them (not really, I did other things too. Like reading "Anna Karenina" and watching the best movie ever). Honestly, I did succumb to tasting these cookies before their 24 hours were up, so I baked just two. One for me and one for Brent (I think they tasted really good without being left in the fridge for a day. But, whatever, I follow the rules).

These cookies are really great though. They spread and crack on top, just the right amount. The choc chip discs (you have to use discs, not buttons) really made the cookies. Although, I do think there were too many chips in the recipe. I ended up with all this chocolate left over and no dough to bake them in. They also take a while to do, because you can really only bake one tray with six cookies on it at a time. So to get through 30 cookies, it could take you a while. But it's a little bit zen to do it this way. I do think you should make these though, if only for a special occasion. I don't think they're an everyday sort of a cookie. Definitely not a I-have-a-craving-for-choc-chip-cookies-and-I-need-them-right-now sort of a cookie. But I'll leave that recipe for another day...

The biggest changes I made to the recipe was to use half plain flour and half "00" flour instead of bread flour and cake flour, and I think it worked out fine. The recipe called for sifting, but I never sift anything (I don't own a sieve), but it didn't make a difference really. I changed the weights into grams, rather than ounces. I didn't put any vanilla extract in mine, because I'd run out, but I'll leave it in the recipe for you. I reduced the amount of choc chips because, as I said already, I ended up with heaps left over. You could probably reduce this amount a little bit more, if you felt like it. Also, the original recipe said to sprinkle salt on top of the cookies before baking them, but I kept forgetting, but the ones that did have salt on them tasted super good.

Special Occasion Choc Chip Cookies.
Adapted from David Leite.

240g "00" flour
240g plain flour
1 1/4 tsps baking soda
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 1/2 tsps coarse salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
280g light brown sugar
280g granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsps natural vanilla extract
550g dark choc chips (try and use discs, rather than buttons)
extra salt, for sprinkling, optional

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, beating after each one. Add vanilla.
Add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
Mix in choc chips.
Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 24-36 hours (can be refrigerated for 72 hours).
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 170C.
Scoop 6 cookies the size of golf balls and place on a lined baking tray. (Bake one tray at a time.)
Sprinkle with sea salt before baking (optional).
Bake for 18-20 mins until golden but still soft, they harden up as they cool.
(N.B. While waiting for one tray to bake, get another tray ready with 6 cookies and leave in the fridge until ready. The cookies bake better if they're chilled.)
These cookies are best eaten while they're still warm.