Q) Who is hungryandfrozen?
A) Me. Laura Vincent. I grew up, descended from Maori (Ngati Mahanga) German, Irish and Scottish among others, with my family, more family close by, and many cats in a tiny rural village south of the Bombays. Not on a farm, but next door to one. In hindsight you could say I felt things very, very deeply as I was growing up, possibly (oh all right, definitely) to my detriment socially at the time. After seeing Jesus Christ Superstar in 1994, I drew page after page of pictures of Mary Magdalene, wearing Janet Jackson-style microphones (as Margaret Urlich, who played her, did) and I still remember the looks of confusion when Heaven On Their Minds was my pass the parcel music at my birthday party that year. I wore a black ribbon in my hair for a week after Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls. I would put a stack of books on my desk at school to read in-between being taught things. I hated and feared sports, so one year for our compulsory "cross country run" I took muesli bars and a book in a small (Baby Spice-inspired) backpack, and turned it into a kind of picnicky ramble, pausing occasionally to snack and read under a tree. I once slept with my pointe shoes on to try and break them in (as I was not ever going to be a prima ballerina, this dedication was fairly misguided.)
I recognise that this intensity of feeling is still with me, which is why I really can't start talking about why butter and margarine are distinctly not interchangeable, and butter is far superior, or I get a bit hysterical. I cried while rewatching Wizard of Oz during the melting scene, after reading Wicked. Actually I cried during Somewhere Over The Rainbow too, but Judy Garland's tragic life really manifested itself in that performance. Anyway: things have been, and remain occasionally awkward.
My love of finding and cooking recipes had gained momentum over the years and really became one of my 'things' in the early 2000s. In 2005 I went to England to do a gap year, working in a prestigious school for the performing arts. It was here, on the other side of the world, that I met Tim. From Wairoa. We returned home in 2006, and moved in together in Wellington, starting at Victoria University. In 2007 I began this blog. I'd seen other blogs - some were inspiring, some made me realise it wasn't that difficult - and since a lot of my time was spent cold, thinking about where my next meal was coming from, and listening to RENT, I called it Hungry and Frozen.
Q) Food? Were you always into it?
A) I always had a huge appetite. I do remember my first encounter with Nigella Lawson, ten years ago (she was on the telly, by the way. It wasn't a hug or anything) and, if you could indulge me with some retrospective fancifulness, I'm sure I remember seeing her and feeling some kind of connection, that she'd be someone important in my life. Which, in a roundabout way, she has been. My love of her recipes and writing = wanting to do my own writing = making a blog = lots of new friends and good times and a magazine cover and two free pots of honey mailed to me.
Q) Favourite food to eat?
A) Ice cream, cornbread, butter. Food at family parties and Christmas leftovers.
Q) Favourite food to make?
A) Ice cream. Bread. Cakes. Anything from Nigella Lawson's books. Dinner for Tim.
Q) Favourite music?
A) Plenty of things (that's not a band by the way) but if I were to reach into iTunes and grab a fistful of most-played, best-loved files, it could include the following: Idina Menzel, Neil Young, Modern Lovers, Notorious B.I.G, Tourettes, White Stripes, Erykah Badu, Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, M.I.A, PNC, Mariah Carey, Ladi6 and...the soundtrack to The Wire.
Q) Favourite Broadway Cast Recordings?
Don't be fooled. This is a concise list.
- RENT...of course.
- Grey Gardens (I actually lean towards the Off-Broadway cast recording, because of Body Beautiful Beale)
- Hair Original Broadway Cast Recording
- See What I Wanna See
- The Wild Party (Lippa's)
- Chess (the Albert Hall recording)
- Songs For A New World
- Gypsy (both LuPone AND Lansbury)
- A Chorus Line
- Everyday Rapture
- Company - all casts recordings have their place in my heart and ears.
- Little Fish
- Godspell - one of the rare musicals where the movie stands up to the original.
- [title of show]
- Jesus Christ Superstar (the 1994 NZ cast recording, the production is stupefying).
- 42nd Street, my first musical. Australian and Original Broadway cast.
Q) As Mary Magdalene asks in I Don't Know How To Love Him, what's it all about?
A) I love to cook and eat and feed. I also have many, many thoughts. So while you'll find recipes here, there's plenty of music, culture and life tucked like a soft woolly blanket around those recipes. I find my recipes from a combination of books old and new, magazines, blogs and my brain. You should know that while I'll provide recipes from other people, I never, ever copy one word for word - not the ingredients list, I mean the actual words that the author of the recipe wrote. I will rewrite the recipe in my own words, which feels fairer, plus I mean, I'm a writer, not a photocopier.
As of 2012 I have been approached by a publishing company to make a cookbook: this is my dream come true and I'm still processing it, but I'll update with more details once I have them.
As of 2012 I have been approached by a publishing company to make a cookbook: this is my dream come true and I'm still processing it, but I'll update with more details once I have them.
