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2009 VW Scirocco

Not a good morning for Volkswagen. These first official pictures of the all-new Scirocco coupé, due to have its worldwide debut at the 78th Geneva Motor Show next week, leaked online yesterday evening. The car world now waits to see whether VW will be forced to reluctantly announce official details early, or whether it will stay tight-lipped and unveil the car on Tuesday as planned.

2009 VW Scirocco

It’s big news, as it’s a big launch for the German car giant. Resurrecting a name and model beloved by VW enthusiasts, the first generation shone in the Geneva spotlight 34 years ago, spawning a second generation in 1982. The company says that the new car ‘is the most dynamic and technologically-advanced production hatchback Volkswagen has ever built’. Will they now elaborate further?

All we do know is that the new Scirocco will be powered by a 198bhp, 2.0-litre T-FSI petrol engine when it comes to these shores in September, and with prices starting around £20,000, it should provide stiff in-house competition to its Golf GTI cousin. Based on the Iroc concept car of 2006, the styling is very similar, though it has predictably been toned down in its journey from concept to production.

If you can’t wait until Tuesday, there’s a teaser minisite here. 

(Pictures: worldcarfans)

Congratulations to the marketing brain at M&S who thought up this bottle of campness. Could it be the new Lambrini?

A traditional gingerbread recipe was used to make these tasty cats, but the ingredients can be used to make biscuits, decorations, and of course, gingerbread people. This recipe is also suitable for vegetarians.

Ingredients
To make around 60 cats, we doubled the quantities of ingredients from the original recipe (double quantities shown below), upping the quantity of ground ginger in the second batch to make them extra gingery.

6 tsp of ground ginger
650g (23oz) of plain flour
2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
300g (11oz) of dark muscovado sugar
8 tbsp of golden syrup
250g (9oz) of unsalted butter

Method
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius, gas mark 3, and line baking trays with greaseproof paper. Gently melt the sugar, syrup, and butter in a medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until all the ingredients have melted, and then remove from the heat before burning.

Sieve the bicarbonate of soda, flour, and ginger into a bowl, and stir the melted ingredients into the dry ingredients to make a stiff dough. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll to a thickness of 5mm. Dip shaped biscuit cutters into flour before cutting the dough, and place the shapes onto the lined baking trays and bake, in batches, for 9-10 minutes until golden brown.

When baked, remove the gingerbread from the oven, and place on cooling racks, before placing into boxes or bags to store (can be kept in an airtight container for up to two weeks). If making gingerbread yuletide decorations, use a skewer to make holes for ribbon to be threaded through for hanging up on a Christmas tree. Then, decorate with icing if so desired.

The purrfect treat with a cup of tea or coffee, and something children can enjoy making, too.

An entertaining and busy Saturday has flowed into a very productive Sunday.

Yesterday saw us cycle to town to buy a cycle helmet (it was for me, and it’s very fashionable) and rucksack-packed groceries, take Oscar to the vet’s, and buzz down to Lakeside for the afternoon to enjoy a birthday Strada lunch the family.

Today though, has been even busier.

As the sun was shining, we thought we’d get out into the garden this afternoon to pull up the remaining carrots, pull off the remaining sprouts, and tip out one bag of the remaining potatoes. We reaped more rewards than we thought we would, with the haul of carrots being rather substantial (if not the best), the sprouts being very green, and the potatoes looking very (surprisingly) nice, and rot-free.

After our outdoor garden adventures, we spent a baking afternoon in the kitchen. As the spring day-like sun set and twilight crept around everything outside, the cooking room of the house was filled with light and warmth, as we baked gingerbread cats, made doorstep thickness fruit scones, and blitzed our homegrown carrots, which quickly became ingredients for carrot and coriander soup.

Sloe gin has been quietly distilling for 5 months

And, after a very easy supper, we even managed to finally open the sloe gin which has been slowly but surely distilling on the outhouse and pantry shelves. Now deep red in colour, and very, very, sweet in taste, we felt that after our enjoyable and productive weekend we’d definitely earned our late evening nightcap.

Today saw Kylie unleash the second weapon in her X single arsenal, as Wow finally hit the shops with a physical CD release. The song has been languishing around the Top 20 for a few weeks now, even before it was officially confirmed as a single, after she performed it on the X Factor final at Christmas.

Returning to her roots, the influence of 2002’s Fever album is clear, the new track sounding like previous hit Love at First Sight, 2008 style. From the moment it bounces into life, it’s a joyous, happy, and effervescent track, and a highlight from the long player with which Kylie is touring later in the year.

The video is one of the best for a while, too. With Doctor Who meets Sarah Brightman I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper meets Pet Shop Boys Minimal styling; it’s infused with bright costumes and brighter neon backdrops. Kylie even wears a very space-age white bobbed wig.

The new chart formats mean that infinite remixes are available, and as well as CD releases, a plethora of downloads can be had, with iTunes selling at least three EPs. A quick listen on the Apple download service tonight ascertained that the bonus tracks Do It Again, Cherry Bomb, and Carried Away are almost better than the single itself.

But of course, all this means that the super fan like me will be seriously out of pocket, because we have to buy everything…

And it’s made worse by the fact that Wow hasn’t been chosen for release on the continent. In Europe, In My Arms is the single of choice. Slightly edgier, and no doubt cooler, it could easily be a track to relaunch Kylie in the US. The video reflects this too, and shot at the same time as Wow, features a very eighties-looking Kylie wearing some very Grace Jones-like sunglasses, and singing in what appears to be a Tardis.

As with Wow, physical releases have been made available, with two digital bundles and iTunes ‘exclusives’ following. Both singles are also released on 12” picture discs for vinyl lovers and collectors. It is getting to the point now where buying a single will cost more than the album from which it came.

It remains to be seen whether the physical releases of Wow will send it to the top of the charts, as it’s been hovering around for so long now, but both territory singles deserve to do well. Camp Kylie must be hoping that any success the songs have, bode well for the KylieX2008 tour which rolls into Europe in time for the summer.