a very bartlow merry christmas collage thingy

1. BUCHE DE NOEL (since 1990!)

4 lg eggs, room temperature
1 1/3 c. sugar
6 Tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 c. sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt

Line 12 x 17 jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with deep edges) with parchment. Preheat oven to 375.
Beat eggs at high speed in electric mixer until thick & white. Combine vanilla & water and stir by hand.
Combine dry ingredients and sift in. Combine quickly but thoroughly.
Pour into prepared pan and bake 12-15 minutes or until top springs back when touched and is lightly browned.
Meanwhile, sprinkle a towel with confectioners' sugar. Invert cake onto sugared towel and roll up from long side. Cake will be inside towel. Cool on rack.
Make butter cream (see below). Unroll cake and spread filling (cover butter cream to edges). Re-roll without the towel.
Cut a diagonal slice from each end and fasten each with icing to top and front of roll to resemble two tree "knots".
Ice cake and knots with mocha butter cream icing. Run tines of fork through icing to look like bark. Decorate with a holly sprig, meringue mushrooms and dust with confectioners' sugar. Keep refrigerated. Serves 12-16.

FRENCH BUTTER CREAM
1 c. sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/3 c. water
4 egg yolks
1/2 pound butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tsp. water
2 Tbsp cocoa

Combine sugar, cream of tartar and water in small saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until 244 degrees on candy thermometer. Cool 1 minute.
Beat egg yolks five minutes on high speed in electric mixer. At low speed, beat in sugar syrup in slow stream. Increase speed and add butter, one Tbsp at a time. Continue beating until mixture is spreadable. Add vanilla and coffee.
Remove 1/2 of butter cream to use as filling. Add cocoa to remainder to use for icing (you may want to wait until you spread the butter cream on the cake to add cocoa, since you can't make it yellow again it once the cocoa's in it). Can freeze icing & filling; reheat before using.

MERINGUE MUSHROOMS
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 c. sugar

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff, at high speed in electric mixer. At low speed, beat in sugar gradually until glossy and stiff. Pipe through pastry bag onto parchment in the shape of different size discs & stems (mushrooms, etc). Dust caps with cocoa.
Bake 30-40 minutes at 225 degree oven, or until completely firm. Can store in an airtight container. Fasten stem to cap with a little icing.

2. Dance for xmas 2008

Dance till the morning (brazilian girls)
Groove is in the heart (dee-lite)
Cryin’ for the queen (little jackie)
Paper planes (m.i.a.)
Creator (santogold vs. switch/freq nasty)
The cell (erykah badu)
Once in a lifetime (talking heads)
Under your skin (luscious jackson)
19th nervous breakdown (the rolling stones)
Single girl (lush)
Fortune teller (robert plant & alison krauss)
Sometimes in the fall (phoenix)
Lovefool (the cardigans)
Bruiseology (the waitresses)
Brand new colony (the postal service)

3. way below the radio

halfway home (tv on the radio)
way below the radio (lisa germano)
past in present (feist)
lights out (santogold
rally (phoenix)
houses of the holy (led zeppelin)
get me bodied (beyonce)
birds fly away (theresa andersson)
the healer/hip hop (erykah badu)
dork at 12 o’clock (solex)
is that all there is? (pj harvey)
that’s all there is (nina nastasia)
there is no there (the books)

4. Barty’s Mix O’Cheer 2009 a.k.a. inspiring songs for the new year

Christmas Wrapping Waitresses
Too Young Phoenix
Shout Me Out TV on the Radio
Captain Easychord Stereolab
Chicago Sufjan Stevens
Be Here Now Silver Lakes
Here Comes the Sun Again M. Ward
God’s Highway Theresa Andersson & Tobias Froburg
You Can’t Always Get What You Want The Rolling Stones
True Faith New Order
While We Have the Sun (4-track) Mirah
Take Time The Books
Don’t Be Afraid, You Have Just Got Your Eyes Closed Mum
All Is Full of Love Bjork