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The Stepford Wives (2004), dir. Frank Oz

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Fran: [singing]

Niles: [bouncing]

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that girl, will get whatever she wants

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Let’s talk about The Magic School Bus for a second

Not only was it a great show that taught science to kids, but it also included diverse characters. 

We had Carlos, Wanda, Tim, and Keesha who were Hispanic, Asian, and African American.

And it featured members of the class’s family who had disabilities. (Phoebe’s father and Carlos’s brother to be specific).

And none of them were ever ostracized or treated differently, and were along for all the adventures.

Way to go, Magic School Bus!

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JURASSIC PARK (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg

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60s hairstyles I can’t take my mind off of...

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yeolmu__

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A Banana and Coffee Cake for Maddy Magellan (Jonathan Creek)

“I get nervous, I have to eat. It’s a good combo! You’ve never put them together as ice cream flavours?”

Jonathan Creek used to terrify me. My parents were never interested in any kind of age guidance, which is why I ended up watching a woman being sawn in half (lengthways, I might add) at the age of six. I vividly remember sitting on the living room floor, making a desperate attempt to prove (or disprove) the square eyes theory, thinking that I didn’t want to be here anymore.  It’s all very well watching something on television, but even I could see having a buzzsaw cutting up your undercrackers was not an ideal way to go. It didn’t matter that it was fictional (I hoped it was fictional, at that age it’s hard to tell). I was having second thoughts about living in a world where someone could think this up, write it down, get it bought by the TV people, act it out and eventually wave it in front of my freshly grown eyes. 

I didn’t end up going back to Jonathan Creek until last year. and I felt very brave completely ensconced in the duvet (I’d like to see a buzzsaw get through THAT - no, wait, no, I don’t). I did find something to love though; Maddy Magellan. She makes no apologies. I greatly admire people that are themselves and continue to be themselves even when the rest of the world is telling them they are wrong. Our first introduction to Maddy’s repellent behaviour comes through her love of raw onion rings. I’m allergic to onions, always have been, so I found this to be both frightful and fascinating (as does Jonathan). But she’s eaten them before and she’ll eat them again, and she’s my hero for it. 

“I don’t know what I want. I’m not even hungry. Drop of chilli will do me, with some rice. A spot of salad. Some garlic bread. A jacket potato. Oh, and some crisps." 

By the third episode she’s dipping a banana into her coffee, so you can see how I’ve ended up here. Jonathan looks aghast but she’s not wrong; banana and coffee can pair beautifully, it’s just that no one ever thinks to put them together. Banoffee pie used to have a coffee cream before we forgot how to live. There is a danger with banana cakes for them to turn into a cloying stomach ache, but strong coffee and toasted hazelnuts help to keep it on the right track. The hazelnuts are purely for decoration, but I think Maddy would approve of the slight Ferrero Rocher element.  The buttercream here is slightly unusual. It’s made to a ‘depression era’ method from the 1920s. It may seem strange at first but the texture is like silk.  For the cake:  375g butter, very soft 270g light brown sugar  4 large eggs plus 1 large egg yolk  3 ripe bananas  400g self-raising flour  1.5 tsp baking powder  30ml strong coffee  For the unusual buttercream:  310g milk  280g butter, super soft  280g caster sugar  5 tablespoons plain flour  3 tsp strong coffee, depending on how strong you like it.  125g hazelnuts Preheat the oven 180C/160C fan/Gas mark 4. Put the hazelnuts on a tray in a single layer and toast for 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the skins have started to crack off. Put the hazelnuts onto a clean, dry tea towel and carefully rub off the skins as much as possible. Leave the nuts to cool. You can chop them if you like but I just threw them on whole.  Butter and line the base of three 20cm round cake tins and set aside. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg and mix to combine everything. Mash the bananas and add them to the mixture along with the flour. Mix everything until it is just combined, then divide equally into the tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Poke some holes into the top of the cakes with the skewer and pour over the coffee, about 10ml for each. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.  To make the buttercream, heat the milk, coffee and flour in a saucepan over a medium heat until the mixture thickens. Stir continually as it heats up to prevent it all clumping together. When you think it’s ready, continue to cook it for a further minute or so to dry it all out so it doesn’t taste like flour. Pour this onto a plate and cover in cling film and leave to cool fully.  Beat the butter on its own for a while to make sure it’s super soft but not runny, then cream together with the sugar until it’s incredibly light and fluffy (it will go white). Add the thick milk mixture to the creamed butter and mix for around 10 minutes or until fully incorporated and fluffy.  What I usually do is remove a portion of the buttercream and mix with a little more milk to loosen it. This allows it to spread more easily onto the tops of each cake to sandwich them together and create a crumb coat.  Set one cake onto a plate and spread with some of this slightly looser mixture. Leave this to set/pop it into the fridge for half an hour, then when it’s set, smooth some of the firmer mixture round the sides as you go along stacking the cakes on top of each other. Continue to smooth buttercream over the cakes until everything is stacked. Sprinkle over the hazelnuts and serve.

Next time on Baking The Detectives…

"Beside every good man is a good woman. And she must always be ready to step in front” Going back to where it all began with Phryne Fisher and Jack Robinson *swoons*  

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The many outfits of Fran Fine from The Nanny 

 I had so much fun drawing her, the big hair, lively poses and colorful clothing, really fun!! 

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Cats (2019) critics: What a monstrosity. How dare they subject our eyes to this. They wasted perfectly good toilet paper to record this film.

Maxwell Sheffield: