Hipster to be squared

Oh oh oh Mr. Darcy
oh oh oh Colin Firth
you wily old bastard, you wonderful specimen
you’ve messed up the hearts of young girls round the earth

How many of you subscribe to the cliché that women only like jerks?  Whether you are a woman who loves jerks or a man who thinks this is true—go on admit it, it’s okay to say you do.  The truth is a lot of women do wind up with complete assholes but it’s not an unavoidable situation and it’s also not nearly so confusing to know why we do.  I’m happy to observe that for the most part, people follow up that statement now with an acknowledgement that it isn’t really jerks women go for.  It’s confident men.  The problem is that bravado is often conflated with confidence and indeed it can be hard to tell the difference in some of the more clever bastards out there.

Or it’s all Mr. Darcy’s fault.

This past weekend I was thrilled to find out that a band I first heard at Comic Con last year would be playing in Oakland.  The DoubleClicks!  Oh yes a sister group playing folk music themed entirely around geek culture.  Playing at a store I didn’t even know existed—a store entirely dedicated to table top gaming and they host game nights.  Holy Stan Lee—Batman!  This was a most excellent discovery on both fronts.  Fairfield, the cultural wasteland that serves as a bathroom stop along the way to Sacramento, is not the place where you will find an awesome convergence of supreme nerdgasmry.  Oakland by contrast is definitely not lacking for culture.  Sure certain areas might have a bit too much—gangs and worse, hipsters, roam the streets freely.  I’m not sure which one scares me more but regardless I’ve been trying hard to avoid totally binging on Oakland’s options for nightlife.  Remember this year’s goal: balance.  I have this extremely bad habit of overloading myself so I need to be sure to not take on too many things at once.

Yes you could say I’m a little excited…but how does this relate back to my original topic?  I’m getting there, I’m getting there!

The DoubleClicks, in case you haven’t heard of them, are these adorable girls who sing music that will delight both your more traditional geek of yore and have a few great songs thrown in for the English geek in your life.  If like me you are both, then you need to check out their music.  I have to say they first ensnared me with “I fell in love with a Spock impersonator” though currently the song I find myself singing most in the shower is “Oh Mr. Darcy”  As a side note, I keep having this thought recently about how Worf reminds me a bit of Mr. Darcy.  Tall, dark, gruff, obsessed with family status and propriety, a fondness for opera and secretly capable of being quite caring….  I can’t believe I never saw it before.  Star Trek meets Victorian lit.  Come on, someone tell me this fanfic exists somewhere.  No?  Argh okay I guess I have to write it then.

When I first saw his furrowed brow
I knew the ideal man had come and found me somehow
I mean, what else could I think
When he looked me in the eyes and told me prune juice is a warriors drink

I fell in love with a Worf impersonator
from his forehead to his baldric and his badge communicator
I thought my search for love was at an end
but being strong and angry did not make him a very good boyfriend

I’ve got to admit that while I enjoyed Jane Austin’s masterpiece, it’s not where I turned for all my ideas about love.  I do know a number of girls who would say that it is—but I found myself swooning over other jerks as a wee lass.  Most notably Rhett Butler.  You want to talk about idealizing an asshole.  Oh “Gone with the Wind” you not only made me fall in love with a man who is a complete jerk but set me up to romanticize tragic, tortured love affairs.  Thankfully I had “Anne of Green Gables” to balance me out a bit.  Gilbert Blythe may have been a schoolyard bully at first, but he’s probably the most anti-jerk romantic figure I’ve ever gone to bed with.

I meant that I read the book in bed you pervs.  Sheesh.

But anyway these ladies are very clever…and witty…and pretty…and sweet!  Oh so sweet.  I got their CD, signatures and absolutely awful photos for which I entirely blame the photo taker and not the fact that I look completely HAGGARD.  Anyway check out the links above or their website here: http://www.thedoubleclicks.com/ They are TRUE geeks too.  None of this hipster nonsense.   I get extremely angry actually when people want to lump anyone now who looks like a nerd as a hipster. Urgh like the doubleclick song says:

You love my nerdy glasses — but I need them to see
and it’s not a matter of image that I got a job at the library
no I actually like star trek that was not supposed to be funny
and I’m not pretending when I act like I don’t have any money

Speaking to my soul!  I wear corrective lenses!  I worked in a library all throughout highschool and college!  I LOVE STAR TREK!  Stupid hipsters.

Meanwhile should you find yourself sitting down to tea with your Mr. Worf Darcy anytime soon, you’ll need something to serve to that stalwart and gruff object of your affections and what goes better with tea than…Lemon Squares.  This recipe is kind of a combination of a few recipes I’ve used in the past.  I was looking to use up some lemon curd and had a batch of some pecan shortbread cookie dough waiting for utilization.  Not hard to draw the most logical conclusion.

Lemon Squares

• 1 recipe pecan shortbread cookie dough, unbaked
• 3 cups lemon curd
• 1 egg
• Juice and zest of one lemon
• Powdered sugar (for dusting – optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare an 8 x 8 inch cake pan with non-stick spray, butter or line with parchment paper.

Press the cookie dough into the base of the pan and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes.  This will partially pre-bake the dough but you don’t want to bake it all the way through.  Remove and let cool.

Meanwhile whisk the lemon curd with the egg, lemon zest and juice.  Spread over the cooled crust and return to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes.  Remove and let cool fully before dusting with powdered sugar and slicing into squares.