Posts Tagged ‘Neko Case’

Got to bake a cake today from scratch. It’s been some time since I’ve done any serious, for a bunch of folks baking. I gotta say I’ve missed it some. Definitely still out of sorts and getting tired of it. We did get the DVD’s up on the wall over the TV, which was the last project between both me and Jacob that was lingering.  That means that the DVD’s are out of my room and I should be able to finish the last little bit of setting up my room/office. Also have a lead on a few freelance writing gigs. We’ll see. Sometimes, you get fried on remaining hopeful while keeping your expectations low. It happens. This, too, shall pass. It always does and I just need to let it come and then go and not make it worse. On to the review:

CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE WITH VANILLA FROSTING

Mmmmmmmm!

One hundred percent homemade. No poseurs-from-a-box allowed in the B.O.H.

This, by the way is not the cake I baked today, though it looks a lot like it.

What better combo is there? I used to be a chocolate on chocolate guy. (Cecil’s Deli in St. Paul has the absolute greatest chocolate on chocolate three layer classic. That icing. Man! I’ve been trying for years to replicate that icing. I got in the ballpark once in Chicago, but I don’t know what I did.) But eventually, I migrated to the start contrast, born to melded in cake bliss forever combo of chocolate cake/vanilla frosting. Let’s take another look:

Callback: Mmmmmmmmmm!

I don’t even know what’s on top of that slice. Some kind of hat like icing decoration that is entirely unnecessary. The chocolate and vanilla just look perfect together, don’t they? And you know what? It tastes like one big Oreo. Which, come on, who doesn’t like that?

I utilize a recipe for a “Black Magic Cake” that I got off the internet. I’ve tried others. This recipe is by far the most moist and dense, chocolate flavored cake out there. Do not use instant coffee, as it calls for in that recipe. Do yourself a favor and either make or buy strong coffee. One cup’s worth is all you need (one measuring cup, not a mug.) The real, strong, bold flavored coffee makes all the difference in the world. Trust me. What you arrive at with it is a very moist, deeply flavored cake that’s really hard to overcook. The actual cake is beyond heavenly. As you can see, it’s a very basic recipe that can be whipped up (no pun intended) rather quickly and efficiently.

From the there I utilize a pretty standard homemade vanilla frosting recipe from an old cookbook that II got as a gift some years ago. The cookbook deals exclusively with the making of every kind of chocolate  cakes known to man. The cookbook is a wonderful resource. It’s by a woman by the name of Michelle Urvater, but the name of it escapes me at the moment. The recipe I use details the most basic vanilla except that I always put in extra Vanilla extract or actual vanilla bean, depending on. I like a nice, vanilla/sweet twang when you bite into the velvety cake.

Anyways. If you love cakes at all, make yourself one with black magic cake and vanilla frosting; then watch everyone flock to you!

The result: pure deliciouness. Okay, I’m gettingh/?

Looks like the public, professional looking blog is about to leave the dock here soon. Very exciting stuff. It’s coming at the perfect time to replace the old me.com family blog on film school life and all things north campus that hit a wall right after Showcase and Spring Quarter last year. Heck, I hit a wall back then. So many new and exciting things on the horizon as I build the bridge out of film school into a professional life with a few trusted collaborators. I’m excited to have any eyeballs – family, friends, and fellow wayfaring strangers travel through and share the thoughts, experiences and stories here. As a writer, I’ve always likened journaling (back in the days before the internets) and now blogging as a kind of calisthenics for the imagination. I hope to incorporate some measure of audio, visual, and words here as I engage more than just the film school life, but also other interests – unknown and known to me now. That may or may not include baseball, food, music, theater, television, movies, the civil war, sailing, california, and los angeles. We shall see.

Anyways, what I do want to say before I get rolling is THANK YOU! To Jason and his friend Joe (who work for Elany Arts)for all the awesome work in making Guided By Wire such a perfect place to work words. I owe you guys for all the wonderful work. The picture is of Francis Ford Coppola, who I have been likened to many times before(just last saturday at screenwriter Terry Rossio’s writing house by Terry (look him up here) for instance and who I’ve drawn some inspiration from at different times in my life. Pretty neat photo, huh? Once afain, THANK YOU! to the those that made this site come alive. It’s definitely something I couldn’t do.

All right. And some how it’s just perfect that Jessica left the first real live comment. Now, I know I have a blog. I still have to read Confederates in the Attic, Jess. I’m on it. I promise!

So what is Guided By Wire? Well, I’ll just start with this and get into why I like it/chose it at a later date. It’s a lyric from one of my most favorite singers, Chicago’s enigmatic noir  chanteuse, Neko Case who, in a word, is dangerous and who’s voice is divine.

Here are the lyrics:

GUIDED BY WIRE    (By Neko Case, from Furnance Room Lullaby)

Voices that did comfort me
Are furthest from my sanity
And come from places I have never seen
Even in my darkest recollection
There was singin’ my life back to me

The life you learn from someone else
That you can only trust yourself
Sometimes that is still too much to want

Gravity won’t get you through the mazes
You can never travel by the way you’ve come

I could never choose the ones to love
And the ones who took the credit left me reelin’
But I owe much to the nameless and all those surrogates
Those who’re singin’ my life back to me

Life is not a constant thing
It’s only made of short stories
I couldn’t even tell you where I’m from
Guided by the voices I’ve deflected
Guided by electric wires’ hum

I could never choose the ones to love
And the ones who took the credit left me reelin’
But I owe much to the nameless
Those who’re singin’ my life back to me

I see you in the future, skippin’ time
While the eyes of all the faithful rest in peace
Yet tonight I see the highway
And someone singin’ my life back to me

So welcome to the place where I’ll collect my short stories and capture the voices of all those faithful singing my life back to me.