Nigel Slater - god of desserts or devil incarnate?

People are complex. Fact. No-one is entirely angelic and blemish free, we all have a dark side. A case in point is Nigel Slater.

On the one hand Mr Slater is an unequivocal dessert recipe genius. The composition of ingredients, textures and flavours are a day trip to paradise. But, the man has a fatal flaw. He is a consummate liar when it comes to cooking times.

The first time I try a new Nigel Slater pudding it invariably results in burnt offerings. It took me three attempts to crack his chocolate brownies, by reducing the cooking time from the recommended 30 minutes to 20 minutes, (The Kitchen Diaries p.325). It was worth persevering because they are the taste bud equivalent of a trip to Willy Wonkers factory with the oompa loompas. They are amazin.

Last night I finally cracked the Bramley Apple Shortcake (The Kitchen Diaries p.124). I managed to cremate it on Easter Sunday for Janice and John. Tres embarassing because Janice is a culinary goddess of the highest order and I regard every meal I prepare for her in much the same way as the Romans would a ritual offering to the goddess Juno.

So you can imagine how determined I was last night that I was not going to take such paltry offerings to Andy and Jen's for dinner. Last time we went for dinner at their house I took an almond and chocolate cake which can only really be described as an supersized jaffa cake without the orange, the moisture or the flavour - it was in fact a cake frisbee. So I had to get the apple pie right on the money.

And so reader... I did it. But only be reducing the recommended cooking time by half! Nigel Slater what are you playing at?

So to cut a long story long, a heartfelt plea to you all. Please do try Nigel Slaters' Bramley Apple Shortcake - it is pure pie heaven. But don't pay a blind bit of notice to the recommended cooking time, simply pop it in the oven for 20 minutes and then check it to see if it's golden brown.

And that's all I have to say about that.

A test - Can I judge a book by it's cover

Well, can I judge a book by it's blurb to be exact. I thought that whilst I'm busy waiting for my lovely parcels of books to arrive I'd have a go at guessing which books from the Orange Prize Longlist I'm going to like the best. All I have to go on is the blurb on the back of the book.

So I'm going to take a stab at predicting my favourites and will update this list as I get through the books. It'll be a test of my abilities to sniff out a great book, and how effective publishers are at writing decent marketing spiel. Here goes;

1. Elif Shafak - The Bastard of Istanbul
2. Lauren Liebenberg - The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam
3. Dalia Sofer - The Septembers of Shiraz
4. Gail Jones - Sorry
5. Anne Enright - The Gathering
6. Linda Grant - The Clothes on Their Backs
7. Heather O'Neill - Lullabies for Little Criminals
8. Anita Amirrezvani - The Blood of Flowers
9. Nancy Huston - Fault Lines
10. Deborah Moggach - In The Dark
11. Rose Tremain - The Road Home
12. Patricia Wood - Lottery
13. Charlotte Mendelson - When We Were Bad
14. Carol Topolski - Monster Love
15. Anita Nair - Mistress
16. Stella Duffy - The Room of Lost Things
17. Sadie Jones - The Outcast
18. Jennifer Egan - The Keep
19. Scarlett Thomas - The End of Mr. Y
20. Tessa Hadley - The Master Bedroom

So what has informed my choices? Basically I'm a sucker for translated novels and stories of far away lands, so African/Australian/Asian authors typically do well with me (just look at my top 4). Plus I can't bear books end up just being about someone having a mid-life crisis and trying to get their leg over (Master Bedroom).

Time will tell whether I have been shrewd or just a snob.

Lovely song... weird video

Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy of the Lost (Recommended by Colin Murray BBC Radio 1)

Orange Prize for Fiction - beat the judges

The Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction longlist was announced last week http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/. No surprises that Booker winner Anne Enright is on there with her book "The Gathering". I guess this means I really must get my finger out and read it.

Of all the book prizes it's my opinion the Orange Prize is the one to watch as it invariably results in a winning novel that you will a) actually read and b) enjoy reading. And it makes me feel slightly more high brow than Richard and Judy's book club. Last years' winner Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie "Half of a Yellow Sun", although disturbing was without doubt one of my highlights of 2007.

Of course, it's not always the case that the best book wins, Nicole Krauss "The History of Love" being a case in point, but at least the shortlist isn't typically made up of airy fairy poncey prose...

I attempt to read the longlist every year before the winner is announced which this year will be 4th June. My main motivation being that it's nice to be able to have an opinion about something that is apparently cultural and intellectual. So when am I going to start reading?

In between Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury's book "Gardens in Time and Space" and Beth Chatto's "Dry Garden" I've been dipping in and out of Charlotte Mosleys book, "Letters Between Six Sisters", which records the private correspondence between the Mitford sisters. Unity has just croaked it and the dynamics in the family have shifted, so it would feel wrong to put it aside just now.

Perhaps an Orange start to the weekend?