Hello New Music: 3

The Aliens: She Don't Love Me No More (EMI, 2007)
I never wanted to like The Aliens. I avoided their album for months and months because I once interviewed The Beta Band (The Aliens with Steve Mason) and they were the single worst bunch of in-joking, unpleasant, unhelpful, unfunny bastards I've ever met (with the exception of Death In Vegas who were so far up their own fundament I danced a long and involved jig of joy the day it was announced they'd spilt up due no one giving a pish about them anymore).

Anyway - this track, the big, heartfelt ballad from the album is just brilliant. And do buy the record because it is very, very, very good indeed. As good as Amiina (*makes serious face*)...

Enjoy!

Records I Can't Stand 2

No Doubt: Hey Baby (Interscope, 2001)

Style icon?
On-trend fashonista?
I don't think so.
Gwen Stefani looks shocking if you ask me. She's been on a diet since she was 13 apparently. Robert says she's absolutely lovely in 'real life' and I'm sure she is but there's very little I like less than than someone with good self-discipline.

And my, this is one hell of a bad song.

Raspberry Souff

4 eggs
150g golden caster sugar
142 ml carton double cream
1 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp ground almonds
225g pack raspberries
Vanilla ice cream, to serve

1 Preheat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4. Using an electric whisk, beat the eggs and sugar for a good five minutes until pale and thick enough to leave a trail.

2 In a separate bowl, lightly whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. Carefully fold the cream into the egg mixture with the flour and almonds.

3 Pour the batter into a large, shallow baking dish and gently scatter over the raspberries – they will mostly sink beneath the surface but not quite all.

4 Bake for 20 minutes until set and golden – make sure it is not still wobbly in the centre. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Records I Can't Stand: 1

The Cure: The Walk (Fiction, 1983, like that's important in some way)

I don't know much about much but I have learnt how to post tracks - look! - and rather than ramble on about what I like, and why it's so 'amazing ', I am featuring instead the songs I bloody hate, the ones I turn off or shout at. Here are my Desert Island discs in reverse.

The Cure, I quite like. This song, I flipping hate! What say you?

Quiet Is The New Loud

Amiina: Kolapot (Ever, 2007)
I sort of have a new favourite band in the world (I know this happens a lot, it really can't be helped). Anyway, they're called Amiina and they're from Iceland and their new album is really tremendously good. And not just because they're knitting on the cover (although that helps, obv). They are much beloved of the Sigur Ros, Radiohead types, though I shouldn't hold that against them. I think this might be the quietest record I've ever heard. And, yes, all the album is like this. Hooray!


DJ Zinc: Super Sharp Shooter (Parousia, 1996)
The only knitting these mad junglist bastards will be doing is with their eyebrows as they prepare to beat the living bejeezus out of you. This record makes me think of a very naughty chap I used to know called Joe. We listened to this about 50 times as one long night became a new, rather more painful morning and it never, ever got boring. I stole this from this album which is out any day now. And there's not a bad track on it. Which is also hooray-ful, innit?

Hello Old Thing, Hello New Thing: 3

Meg Baird: River Song (Wichita, 2007)
Meg Baird is out of Espers - that's her on the bottom right. She's recorded this solo album that's really very good. She plucks mandolins and guitars and all that sort of thing. According to Billboard, Baird "has a long held an interest in rural, Appalachian-style balladry", well, haven't we all, sweetheart? Anyway, this is great.


Seefeel: Climactic Phase 3 (Too Pure, 1993)
This fantastic Seefeel record is getting a special re-release because it's 14 years old or something. Is that a valid reason for a re-release? I don't know - I don't make the rules, you know! Anyway, I played this album in the office yesterday. Half wanted to know what it was and how they could buy it while the other half wanted to throw it out of the window into the street. If you like records that sound a bit like they're broken but the people who made them are so walloped on naughty-sweeties that they just don't care then you'll love this. I know I do.

Thanks Mum

Scrap's been off colour for over a week now. Hot and bothered, clingy and waking up five or six times a night desperately upset. It clicked up a gear on the day of his birthday party and he cried during a lot of it, didn't eat anything and spend the next day telling me that he didn't have a nice time at his party and that he didn't like his cake.

Robert has got more than usual on at work and wants to stay late. For some reason I cannot explain, I chose this time to take on a few extra dates at work. Why? Why did I rock the careful balance of work and home - was it just for the extra cash or was it that as a freelancer it's often the worry that a good job will slip through your fingers and a valuable client will be gone forever if you say no too many times? So Scrap gets a few extra days at nursery and he and I skip our days together in the park.

The nursery has called every day this week for us to collect Scrap early as he has a temperature and is not himself. Is it the lack of days in the park that has caused this? Is he missing our time together? I walked off set early on both Monday and Tuesday and today Robert had to leave a meeting to get to the nursery. We're both going to get fired. On the way home tonight I called my mum in Derby and within an hour, she'd packed her bag, given my dad his tea, bought a ticket and got on the train to London. She will sort out our life like only mum can, she will cuddle Scrap all day long, tackle the laundry and ironing mountains and make several brilliant dinners from a chicken and couple of carrots and then go to bed at 9pm.

And Scrap? Seems alright now. This evening he was eating yogurt and watching Night Garden, happy as anything. 'You know our Scrap?' Robert just said to me 'Do you think he's playing silly buggers?'

Real Life Drama!

A shiny red helicopter just landed on the reservoir opposite our office. A load of blokes in yellow jump suits jumped out and clambered gingerly down onto the Pentonville Road where they were met by a portly (from here) looking copper (or was it a traffic warden?). Then they ran off up the road toward Angel so I lost sight of them. But it was definitely exciting for a minute there.


The helicopter naffed off almost straight away...

Wafer potato and Taleggio pizzas

When we were in New York just before Easter we shared this lovely slice of potato pizza. I’ve been thinking about making some ever since. I realise now that this is my fourth or fifth reference to pizza since we began this blog about six months ago so I clearly have yet another food addiction/obsession (hello cheese, cava, chocolate and pasta) that needs addressing.....

Serves 4
1 quantity of pizza dough
2 tbsp olive oil
350g red-skinned potatoes
leaves from 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200g Taleggio, diced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Divide the dough into four then roll each piece into wafer-thin oval shape about 28cm long and brush with half the oil.

Using a a mandolin or food processor, cut the potatoes into wafer-thin slices and toss with the rosemary, garlic and remaining oil. Lay a single layer of potato on the dough bases and season with salt and plenty of black pepper.

Carefully transfer the ovals to a hot pizza stone or baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes. Scatter over the chunks of cheese and cook for a further 5 - 10 minutes until crisp and golden.

Basic pizza dough

250g strong plain flour

1/2 tsp table salt
7g sachet easy-blend yeast
2 tbsp olive oil

125ml warm water


Mix together the flour, salt and yeast then make a well in the centre. Add the oil and water and bring together to make a soft dough. Sprinkle over a little flour if the mixture feels too sticky but make sure it’s not dry.

Tip the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, sprinkling with flour when needed, until the dough is smooth and stretchy.

Rub some oil over the surface of the dough then place in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave for about an hour until the mixture has doubled.

Knead the dough for two minutes until the excess air is knocked out then roll out and top. Leave for 20 mins or so to rise while the oven gets hot. Bake.

Hello Old Thing, Hello New Thing: 2

The Emotions: So I Can Love You (Stax, 1969)

This Stax compilation arrived the other day. You look down the list at Isaac Hayes, Booker T, Rufus Thomas and you think two things.
1. Jesus, look how many great records they put out.
2. Jesus, I've really heard a lot of those too many times.

But there are still some great tracks in there, and this Emotions track is chief among them. Listen to it and, while it slinks about in the background, your world will be a happier, more interesting place.


The National Fake Empire (Beggars Banquet, 2007)

The National are two sets of brothers and another bloke from Cincinatti, Ohio. Somehow, this makes them seem almost unbearably romantic what with all the huge corn fields, half-empty, twilight bars and over-sized trucks tootling down dusty roads and stuff. Of course, it's probably nothing like that, but what do I know? Anyway, they make me think a little of Leonard Cohen and Joy Division and Nick Cave. Their album includes breezy acoustic strums and gentle trumpet-parpery, there's the odd treacly pop shudder and one rattling, pointed distress-call. This track is just brilliant. That's part of their appeal. If not all of it.

Anyway, enjoy...

Three At Last, Three At Last!

Colleen: Echoes & Coral (The Leaf Label, 2007)

So, the little fellow had his third birthday party yesterday and what a do it was. JAGS sports hall welcomed 20 maniacally excited children, a bouncy castle, loads of mats to jump onto, some little bikes, buggies, footballs, slides, all that sort of thing. After an hour of high-intensity shouting, yelling, jumping, bouncing, racing, running and leaping (with some top-notch, over-whelmed crying thrown in, mainly from Scrap) everyone piled upstairs where Silvana had laid out a special party spread with each little darling getting an individual box-ette (like Roxette, only less annoying) with drink, grapes, chicken and cucumber wrap, jelly 'n' cupcake etcetc). It was quite a sight, seeing all his little pals sat there and everyone was so kind with their gifts. It wasn't just Scrap whom felt a bit overwhelmed by it all, I tell yer *sniffs*.

Anyway, you need a drink after that sort of thing, so we got everyone back to help us clear the cava build up we were suffering from. It was hot. Everyone took on a rosy, happy glow. The young 'uns began to give up the fight and gravitated towards the telly. Most of the older ones nicked off about 6:30. The last, heroic reveller stumbled back over the road to his house at 12:30am. Scrap woke up at about 5. Ouch. If I'd had this fantastically hypnotic little beauty from Colleen's new album to hand I'd have played it to him and we'd have all slept on peacefully til noon.

(Not Much) Park Life

Rumours circulating that Dulwich Park has become painfully over-popular recently - with some commentators suggesting there's barely a corner left for even the briefest spot of quiet contemplation - were today found to be completely without substance. Scrap, 3, who lives in the area added, "Is moine, daddy. Is atcherlee all moine."

Saturday, What A Day

It's Scrap's party today, so we were all over the place yesterday. Me and him had a list of tasks and were under strict instruction to keep out of Silvana's kitchen as she was up to her oxters in cherry cup cakes and the like. So, we were wandering round Wing Tai by about 8:30 looking for rice-paper wraps and started banging on the doors of the Horniman (every south London parent's second home) an hour later.

We all went to meet the newborn - and rather lovely - Eloise for the first time in the afternoon - hello Eloise! - then, in a moment of madness, decided to call in at Selfridges on the way home. My default setting is to not want to make any random moves at all at that point in the day, but Silvana is entirely the opposite. She revels in throwing in odd moves and just presuming it will all be fine. I always think it will always be a nightmare. When she suggested we take a hungry Scrap to an extremely busy Yo Sushi! I thought, 'This will be a disaster!'. Of course, it wasn't. It was great. Apart from the bit where he fell off the really high stool and banged his head. But an ice cream from the food hall seemed to sort that pretty quickly...

Things That Used To Be A Bit Better In The "Old" Days Than They Are Now 1: Adverts

Are there adverts on the telly at the moment that are anything like as joyous, silly and unashamedly colourful as this Japanese Wham! promo for Maxell from - I'm guessing - 1984?

No. There aren't.

Shame, isn't it?

Old People Are Cool

Gangstarr: Jazz Thing (Movie mix) (CBS, 1990)
Last Friday we went to Derby. That night Silvana's dad took me across the road to the Royal British Legion club to see the jazz band, Jazz Vibrations (great name). He was as excited about it as I was. They only play once a month and I've only seen them once before, but they are wonderful for a number of reasons. For one, there's not a member under 65 - old people in bands are about the coolest thing I can think of because they've got no aspirations other than to play the music they love. They're not trying to be pop stars or famous or blow anyone's minds, they just want to play. For another, the guy on vibes has clearly been playing the instrument for about 50 years and he is now so in tune with it he's hunched over it like it's a part of him. So we stood at the bar and sank very cheap drinks and smiled at each other not caring what the songs were called or what anyone was doing because it was all good. When the frontman guy put down his sax and picked up his clarinet Silvana's dad's smile got even bigger. 36 hours before I'd been in a cool restaurant in New York, but this was so much cooler. Old guys playing their hearts out - respect is due.

Footnote: The Gangstarr track is taken from the original UK CD single release. Spike Lee's sleevenotes - written on July 13, 1990 - give props to "Duke, Coltrane, Monk, Diz, Mingus..." etcetc. But he also makes room for Biz Markie, Queen Latifah and "Hammer". It's easily forgotten that, for a short time only, MC Hammer wasn't the cheesy joke character he became, but a serious hip hop voice. History is a funny beast, no?

Shoes: A Growing Problem

This is just the pile in the bedroom. If I collected all the ones from the downstairs cupboard and the ones behind the sofa in the front room and the ones left in the back of the car and the ones that we've worn while walking in the woods that are all muddy and have been left in the garden then things would seem really out of hand... There are shoes from London, Munich, LA, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago. We are useless in the face of our addiction. Something must be done.

Caramel Ripple Brownies

My friend Myriam's food blog Once Upon A Tart is fast becoming the best around. She is hosting her first food event Browniebabe of the Month and here is my entry. I've made this brownie for years and it's lovely - two thirds brownie, one third caramel cheesecake.

Makes 16
100 g plain chocolate
100 g unsalted butter
2 eggs, beaten
150 g light muscovado sugar
50 g plain flour
FOR THE CARAMEL RIPPLE
225 g soft cheese
50 g dark muscovado sugar
few drops vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 170C, gas mark 3. Line a 20cm square shallow cake tin with silicone paper.

Break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl then add the butter and set over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring from time to time until melted.

Meanwhile, make the caramel ripple mixture, mix together the soft cheese, muscovado sugar, vanilla and egg and set aside.

Stir the eggs and sugar into the chocolate mixture then sift over the flour and gently fold in.

Spoon half of the brownie mixture into the tin then alternately dollop teaspoonfuls of the caramel mixture and the remaining brownie mixture into the tin. Using a chop stick or skewer, lightly ripple together to make a marbled top.

Bake for 30 minutes until just set. Leave to cool in the tin then cut into squares and cool completely on a wire rack.

Stop, Potential Thief!

A courier has just arrived with the new Queens Of The Stone Age album, Era Vulgaris. I was about to put it on, but was faced with this BURST of AGGRESSIVE stickery. I'm not sure I want to open it at all now (although Make It With Chu and Misfit Love promise cheap thrills...).

Old Music Wednesday: Soundsystem Special

Mikey Dread: Everybody Needs A Proper Education (12" mix) (Trojan, 1979)
A great record just plopped on my desk. It looks like this and you might want to buy it as it's rather good. This Mikey Dread track is a little bit on the great side

Mark Stewart: These Things Happen (On-U Sound, 1990)
Bim Sherman: Slummy Ghetto (On-U Sound, 1992)
In other reggae news - no, come back! - I'd always thought I wouldn't like On-U Sound stuff as I'd assumed it was for pot-smoking Fall fans (I used to sell a lot of On-U records to a pot-smoking Fall fan), but this is fantastic. Me and my pal Ronnie remixed a Bim Sherman record once. It wasn't as good as this one even by the time we'd finished with it.

London Cat Eats Chips

I saw this story today on an American website about a cat in London who catches the bus to the chippy every day. When I clicked on the link I was very disappointed to discover that:
a) the story was from the Daily Mail
b) the cat lives in Wolverhampton
c) it didn't actually go to the chippy

Simple Roasted Tomato Soup

I'm happy today. It was my lovely Scrappy's 3rd birthday and what a sunny day it has been. The days are warmer and longer and the summer's fruit and veg are well on their way. Even English tomatoes are starting to taste good.
Serves 4
1 kg ripe tomatoes, halved
1 red onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1.5 litre chicken or vegetable stock
1 large white potato, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
balsamic vinegar OR freshly grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Place the tomatoes and red onion in a roasting tin and drizzle over the olive oil. Season and roast for 45 minutes until the tomatoes are softened and a little charred.

Meanwhile, place the stock, potatoes and garlic in a pan. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 20 minutes until tender. Add the tomato mixture then using a hand-held blender, whizz until thick and fairly smooth.

Check for seasoning and finish with either a dash of vinegar or a handful of cheese.

Basement Crates: Religious Special

Alan McGill: Gentle Hands (Supreme, 1972)
Alan McGill: He Walks With Me (Canaan Records, 1971)

It's Easter Monday, so it seemed an appropriate time to post some of the religious treats I picked up when I should have been watching the magician at a three year old's party recently.

Alan McGill looks a bit like my late Great Aunt Beryl, so, for that alone, I think he is a wonderful chap. He was known as "the smiling face of Gospel" - who, I wonder, was "the snarling grimace of Gospel" and where could I get his LPs? - and he spent many years in California before moving to the heaving fleshpots of Baltimore in Maryland. Has any English person ever been to Baltimore (other than to try and find John Waters?) Anyway, perhaps unsurprisingly for someone called Alan McGill, this kindly hearted soul was of the Gaelic persuasion as his cockle-warming tenor brogue can't help but reveal. He Walks With Me is almost jazzy while Gentle Hands is pure, old-time Christian radio schmaltz and all the more wonderful for it. As far as the internet's concerned, he's still alive and making appearances. But probably only in Maryland. By the way, Hands is taken from an LP called He Touched Me which features a ghostly, godly hand coming down out of the sky. Sadly, instead of inducing awe, this just makes me snigger into my hand every time I see it. Sorry Alan :(

The Glorylanders: When I Found Out About Jesus (IBA, 1972)
The Glorylanders are still going too. They're selling their old tour bus at the moment. They may have bought it with the money they made from this LP - a gospel-folk-pop classic from 1972. I say classic like I knew anything about it, but you only have to look at that typeface or see the stand-up bass and acoustic guitar to know something kewl is going on here. This track is nearly brilliant, it's clear the 'Landers had a big thing for The Beatles, particularly John Lennon 1965/66 era, as you will hear in its series of direct stylistic steals. Great attmept at a "Scouse" accent too...


Dick Saunders: Jesus Bids Us Shine (Echo Recording, 1972)
Jimmy Owens' Come Together Singers: Tell The World (Word/Light, 1973)
The rest of the Dick Saunders LP is a load of no-partner-having, nylon-wearing librarians singing bad hymns to each other, but Shine is a little slice of instrumental heaven. Nice picture of Piccadilly Circus on the cover too. And, anyway, what do you want for 20p (or in your case, nothing)? I've covered Jimmy Owens before, but I was tricked by the different sleeve on this one. Those Christian bastards, always with the stealing and the trickery... However, buying it again did make me revisit it and rediscover Tell The World. Unlike Saunders' lily-livered, Bible-stroking milk-sop pals, Jimmy, Carol (and the Come Together Singers) sound like they're at it all the bloody time.

Joy Is Like The Rain: Speak To Me, Wind (Avant Garde, 1966)
This seems very, um, advanced for 1966, but that's when it was, so there we go. Singing nuns can get pretty tiresome, pretty quickly, but this track is great - a wispy-voiced, knock-kneed, wimple-rocker so In Love With The Lord it can't even breathe in His presence, never mind meet his steely gaze. Don't, like us, go looking for Avante Garde Records on 57th Street as rather like the Electric Banana, it's not there anymore.



Happy Easter!

Staunton Harold Reservoir

My sister Angela likes cooking and eating as much as I do but baking cakes are her speciality. This morning, she baked cherry fairy cakes in two sizes, a brack and a chocolate cake for tomorrow. After we'd sat in garden and eaten the sausages and garlic-and-rosemary-chicken she'd cooked us on the barbecue, she packed up her cakes and a camping kettle and we all set off for Staunton Harold and enjoyed a cup of tea in the great outdoors. Tonight we have a plan to go into Burton for local beer and a balti. Yipee!

Angela's Brack
This is a classic tea loaf. It has no added fat. Mix together 425g mixed dried fruit, 175g demerara sugar and 150ml hot black tea. Cover and leave overnight. Stir in a beaten egg and 225g of self raising flour. Spoon into a lined loaf tin and bake for 11/2 - 13/4 hours until firm.

Rush Of Rush To The Head

If, 25 years ago, you'd told me someone was going take me to America on an aeroplane, then float me 28 floors into the Manhattan skyline in order for me to meet the two blokes from Rush then I would have died of excitement.

Well, it happened this week and I didn't die of excitement, but I did get to meet Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson and they were absolutely lovely, I'm happy to say. Despite being behind only The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, KISS and Aerosmith in the list of the most consecutive gold and platinum albums awarded to any rock band ever, I'm fairly convinced their proudest moment would now be handling the Rush pig I made when I was 12 - Alex, right - and reading the review I wrote of A Farewell To Kings in Mr Lewis' English class of '83 - Geddy, left.

Sincere thanks to them both for making the 12 year old in this 37 year old very happy indeed. There will be a lot more about this momentous occasion in WORD's June issue, out May 10, you'll be thrilled to hear...

Di Lieto

So we left the snow and biting winds of NYC and landed this morning in a bright and sunny London. After zooming home to Landcroft House, saying thanks and goodbye to my parents-in-law, we tucked a few of Scrap’s clean clothes, some books and his toothbrush into our case of dirty clothes and set off for the M1 and Derby and Easter with my family.

Whenever we go to Derby we always, always stop on the South Lambeth Road for bread rolls, cured ham, peach and pear juices and fizzy continental water and I make us sandwiches on my knee as Robert drives. If it’s early we go to Lisboa but if it’s after about 10.30 then our favourite Italian bakery Di Lieto is usually open and if we time it right, we get there just as the pizzas are coming out. Today, we struck the jackpot and got there just as the hot cross buns were coming out.

The shop closes for a month in the summer and opens late because in the morning the bread is still proving and baking so when the doors open it’s still hot from the oven. By the time it’s cooled down, the racks are pretty well empty so you always feel lucky if you manage to come out of the shop with what you went in for. As well as the bakery you will also find a limited selection of ham, cheese, dried pasta, biscuits and soft drinks (they had Italian Easter eggs today and at Christmas they have slabs of baccalà). All you’ll ever need, really. All we seem to ever need, anyway…

Katz's Deli

So on our last day, Robert went off to do his interview and I trotted about on Fifth Avenue looking for a gift for Jackie's new baby daughter. We met up again and set off for NY's oldest deli Katz's (thanks for recommendation Dis). It's been there since 1888 and is positioned in the Lower East Side which is not the nicest part of town.

Anyway, it's quite a joint. It's jam-packed with locals who all know the drill - one ticket per person, left side for service, right side to queue at the bar, give ticket to cashier on way out. We chose a soup each (Rob the chicken noodle and me the chicken matzo ball) then shared a giant pastrami on rye with pickles. It was fantastic.



Unfortunately, I lost my ticket which turned out to be almost a criminal offence with a fine of $50, in the end, the server told me to leave him a good tip on the table and he'd see what he could do. I left $10 and he slipped me the dodgy ticket and we were allowed to leave. Go there, it's amazing but don't let go of your ticket.

Otto

Last summer I read - and very much enjoyed - Heat by Bill Buford, the story of the former New Yorker literary editor's adventures as a "kitchen bitch" at Babbo, the hugely successful restaurant owned and run by The Ginger-Haired Wild Man of New York chefery, Mario Batali. Towards the end of the book, after many months spent being burnt, exhausted and delighted in equal measures, Buford moves to Italy to learn about butchery and pasta making. Meanwhile, Batali dreams up Otto, one of a string of restaurants he now has in New York. As far as I can remember, Buford suggested that the smart money said an up-scale, local pizza place just wouldn't work. Well, the smart money was wrong.

We arrived at 7:28 for a 7:30 booking and were wafted through an enormous crowd to our table. The place was packed and a scrum was forming at the desk. We ordered quickly - the seafood anti-pasti selection ($21), one pizza lardo and one anchovy pizza.

The wine took a while to arrive and the anti-pasti was vey average, but the pizzas were incredibly good - thin and crunchy bottomed. And then we chose two ice creams - Olive oil with Maldon sea-salt and Sweetcorn. Both were fantastic, actually, y'know, exciting, which is not something you often get to say about ice cream.

Great prosecco grappa too. Hic.

Grand Central Station Oyster Bar & Restaurant

Have you ever been to Grand Central Station? It's really, really bloody grand! The terminal houses a fantastic food market, lots of shops and a bustling dining concourse. I've always wanted to eat at the oyster bar and I wasn't at all disappointed. Yeah, I know, I'm easily pleased. But it was great and so, so much cheaper than you'd expect. The menu is changed daily and today they had over 30 different oysters, loads of fresh fish as well as pan roasts and fish from their own smokehouse. We tried The Grand Central Oyster Platter, New England Clam Chowder and the Deep Fried Oysters. With a glass of fizz each the bill was just $64! Sorry about the pictures - it's so dark today!

The adidas Store

So we finally made it through the rain - and there has been a tremendous amount of rain since about 7am - and reached the adidas originals store on Wooster. We went on the subway - a first for me, despite this being my fourth time here - and, thanks to Silvana's excellent map-reading skills, it was the quickest, simplest thing imaginable.

We spent about half an hour wandering around in near silence at this trefoil'd temple to the shoe before deciding on the following: some Superstar Wides, Superstar Skates and - heaven's above! - a hooded top for me; Superstar Skates and Superstar 1's (in the incredible Memphis Grizzlies colourway above) for S and a pair of pure white shelltoes for Scrap. A quick trip to American Eagle Outfitters - aka Gapacrombie - for a pair of jeans (20 quid, squire) and it was back on the subway to Grand Central Station for bivalves and booze.

Dean and Deluca

We woke up early to a dark and very rainy day. With any idea of a walk in Central Park scrapped, we headed into Soho for Dean and Deluca on the corner of Broadway and Prince Street. After I'd finished stroking the kitchenware and expensive metal cylinders of tea and spices we stood by the window and enjoyed a coffee and jam donut. Next to a hung-over-looking Pete Tong. Isn't it a small world! We didn't say hello but ran off through the rain and round the corner to the Adidas Store.

Air India

Robert switched his fancy flight to come cheap and cheerful Air India with me. And it was great! Loads of leg room, nice fabric, really courteous service, generous drinks with spicy lentil snacks and chicken curry for lunch and we landed early! In house entertainment let it down a bit - wobbly and fuzzy but exciting Bollywood thriller with double agents, look-alike-imposters and beautiful women singing and dancing. Didn't quite manage to follow the plot but still, very enjoyable.

In the Hotel now - very swish, very gay (feels like I'm in Ugly Betty) and right in the middle of Manhattan. Tiny little room but super-stylish and with super-fast internet connection for the laptop which will help as we have to try and stay awake for at least 5 hours. Martinis I think....

You'll like this. Not a lot.

We went to Henry and John's joint birthday party at The Salvation Army Hall on Norwood Road on Saturday and had a great time. As we approached it we could see a charity sale going on outside and Robert got all over-excited and came back with a huge pile of religious albums by people like the Jimmy Owens' Come Together Singers for £1.25. No doubt he'll be getting his special little turn table out so he can post them for us all later, so there's something to look forward to.
Anyway, there was a magician at the party with an actual live rabbit in a hat! Talking of which did you seen that sinister Paul Daniels on Wife Swap last night? Poor old Debbie McGee.

Start Spreading The News...

Talib Kweli and Jean Grae: New York Shit (Bootleg, 2006)
Blonde Redhead: Spring & By Summer Fall (4AD, 2007)

... We're leaving tomorrow. The bags aren't packed (my argument is we take next to nothing and come back with shedloads), but the parking is booked and I'm thinking about that bloody mary on the plane and the chance to sit and read five newspapers on the trot. Grand Central Station for dinner on Tues, lunch at Otto, dinner at Peter Luger on Wed and something from Dean & Deluca before we fly back (maybe, this is very likely to change at any moment). Meanwhile, I hammer the adidas originals store ("store", you see, I'm halfway there already!) on Wooster and perhaps pick up some LPs and books on my travels too.

I know it's frightfully boring to post a hip hop track when you're going to New York (almost as boring as misquoting Frank), but I do genuinely like this track. Blonde Redhead are also from New York, but they are more yer actual indie / psych / pop sort of thing. This is taken from their wonderful new album which is out in a few weeks.

Enjoy!