Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

It would be easy to deal with this record in relative terms.  To judge it by it’s process.  Recorded over 4 Fridays with the bulk of it done in 4 hours on the final Friday.  But to do that would be improper.
It’s a return to the old days of recording.  The beatles first record please please me saw 14 songs recorded in one day.  So the famously fastidious Neil has done this one even quicker
But a record is a record and has to be judged on what comes out of the speakers.  And what came out my speakers this morning was sad, sumptuous and elegiac
It’s a sad album full on loneliness, indeed the song co performed with Tim is called Alone.  And yet Neil is not alone.  This is the biggest band he’s ever had.  String section.  Cor Anglais with people like Don McGlashan, Tiny Ruins and dozens other
The other glaring fact is that there is very little guitar or drums in the album.  Composed on the piano...there are only 2 songs with drum on them.  Chameleon Days and Second nature.
It has the feeling of a musical.  A Les Mis.  Especially on the song Terrorise Me which is about the bataclan atrocity which has a Parisian sadness to it.  An Erik Satie to it or a Serge Gainsburgh
But on a song like Widow’s Peak which has echoes of Four Seasons in One day you know this could only be Neil
But not as we know him.  This is a side project but the best he’s done.  A symphonic Finns Brother.  The Pyjama club on a sad day when they’ve left their instruments at home.
You have to be in the mood for it though.  The sadness and the piano and strings can become oppressive and there’s always a feeling of relief when the drums return in track 7 of 10 with Second nature the most typically Neil song on the album.
But this morning with a cup of coffee and some sourdough toast with the rain hammering down it sounded amazing
The sound of a late autumn or early spring chilly morning.
It’s a real work of art and I’m hugely impressed 9 out of 10.

Jack Tame discusses the issue of how to get young voters engaged enough vote.

MY FOOD BAG
 
Cecilia Robinson
Entrepreneur
 
The My Food Bag and Bargain Box business is the brainchild of entrepreneur Cecilia Robinson, founder and co-CEO alongside her husband James Robinson.
 
Cecilia’s passion from My Food Bag comes from a genuine love of food and cooking. The My Food Bag concept of home delivered recipes and ingredients is one Cecilia had experienced in her Swedish homeland.
 
As founder and creator of not one (but two) of New Zealand's most successful startups - My Food Bag and Au Pair Link - Cecilia is one of NZ's most successful young female entrepreneurs.
 
A serial entrepreneur with sass, Cecilia has won more awards than you can shake a stick at (Next Magazine Businesswoman of the Year 2014, EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2013, HER Businesswoman of the Year 2012 to name a few). Devoted mum to four-year-old Thomas and baby Leila, Cecilia is passionate about helping women in business and solving the everyday problems of working mums and dads.

If it’s possible to have a ‘rustic’ cake then carrot cake wins. With its wholemeal flour and vegetables (and I even cram in some seeds) a carrot cake is as robust as it is delicious. This one is light and airy and huge so tuck in! 
 Makes one 24x24cm cake
 4 large eggs
1 cup white sugar
½ cup loosely packed brown sugar
1 ¼ cups neutral tasting oil (i used sunflower)
2 tsp lemon juice
2 cups high grade flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
½ tsp ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
3 cups grated carrots
½ cup pumpkin & sunflower seeds
½ cup toasted & chopped walnuts to garnish
 

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 24cm square tin with baking paper.
Beat eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Add oil and beat again until well blended. Add sifted dry ingredients - flours, spices, baking soda and baking powder – and mix thoroughly but with a light hand. Fold in carrots and seeds.
Pour into prepared tin.
Bake for one hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin until warm before turning out onto a wire rack.
Ice with cream cheese icing once completely cooled and shower with toasted walnuts.

 Nici’s note: Using some wholemeal flour and adding pumpkin and sunflower seeds adds texture to this beautiful cake.
 Cream cheese icing
200g cream cheese, room temperature
30g butter, softened 
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
 
Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Screen time with Tara Ward
Can’t decide what to watch?  Tara is here to help …
LISTEN TO SCREEN TIME ABOVE

Nici Wickes joins Jack Tame to discuss the best way to cook lamb
LISTEN TO NICI WICKES ABOVE

This week's movie review covers the releases of  Logan Lucky and The Trip to Spain
LISTEN TO JACK TAME GET THE LATEST MOVIES ABOVE

Kevin Milne joins Jack Tame to discuss wills.
LISTEN TO KEVIN MILNE TALK TO JACK ABOVE

Screen time with Tara Ward
Can’t decide what to watch?  Tara is here to help …
LISTEN TO SCREEN TIME ABOVE

Nici Wickes joins Jack Tame to discuss the best way to cook lamb
LISTEN TO NICI WICKES ABOVE