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?

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.

Hollandaise sauce.

My Mum has taught me lots of things. The right way to hang your clothes on the line so that you don't have to iron anything, the proper way to do the washing up (glasses first, pots and pans last), how to wrap presents so they look pretty, how to look after my cat, how to get stains out of your clothes, how to sew the hem on your skirt. Useful things.

But one of the most important thing she taught me, was how to cook. She started teaching me when I was little so that now I feel like these cooking tips are basic things that everyone learnt, even if they're not.
Things like, how to tell if a cake is ready without sticking a tester in it, how to make bolognaise sauce, how to chop onions, how to get the skin off a garlic clove. Again, useful things (She's a handy type).

Don't get me wrong, my Dad has taught me lots of things too (how to flip pancakes, how to make a good omelette, how to make mayonnaise). But this isn't a blog post about Dads. It's a post about Mums. Because it's Mothers Day today. My Mum lives in a different state, so I don't get to see her very often. And although I rang her this morning, I thought it would be nice to tell her how much I love her.

There is one thing that Mum taught me to make really well. And I make this at least once a month, if not more. Usually on a Sunday, when Brent requests Eggs Benedict for breakfast. Actually, the first time I made this by myself, was when Brent and I started going out and I was trying to impress him. It must have worked because it's one of the only things that he actually asks me to make.

[Notice the burnt toast in the picture above? I can make hollandaise but I can't make toast.]

Mastering hollandaise sauce is a pretty useful skill. It doesn't just have to go on eggs, either. Think steamed asparagus and pan-fried salmon fillets. And it is really easy to scale up or down, depending on how many people you're feeding.
In my recipe book, the recipe for hollandaise goes a bit like this:
1 egg yolk, butter, lemon juice. Don't scramble the eggs. Serves two.
But that isn't very helpful to you, really. So I thought I'd write it up a bit better, so that you can impress your beloved, or make your Mum a nice breakfast.

Hollandaise Sauce.
Serves two

1 egg yolk
50-70g butter, chopped
 1-2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Set a small pan on the stove with 3/4 cup water. Bring to a simmer.
Put the egg yolk into a medium bowl and set the bowl over the pan. Make sure the bowl isn't touching the water. This is really important.
Whisk the egg yolk, and put one cube of butter in. Keep whisking until the butter is incorporated.
Add another cube of butter and keep whisking. When it is nearly all incorporated, add another butter.
When you've added a few cubes of butter, you can start putting in more than one cube at once.
Keep doing this until all the sauce starts to thicken and is a nice pale colour.
Make sure that the eggs don't start to scramble. If they look like they are beginning to scramble, quickly take the bowl off the water and whisk it like crazy. If they look really bad, or you're a bit nervous, you could plunge the bowl into some cold water to stop the cooking process.
When the sauce is thick and all the butter is mixed in, whisk in the lemon juice and some salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
If the sauce cools down too much, just set the bowl over the simmering pan of water again, and whisk until it heats through.
This amount of sauce is enough for two poached eggs.