Heck Of A Guy

Coming Attractions and Special Features from The Anjani Chronicles Director’s Cut

The next episode of The Anjani Chronicles¹ requires only a final cut and buffing before it goes online, an event now tentatively scheduled for the first of next week.

In acknowledgment of the long wait between episodes and as an aperitif prior to the publication of the next chapter, today’s post offers a few Anjani factoids that are not recorded elsewhere (or if they have been published, they have escaped my notice). This batch comes from a few of our email exchanges that produced data I don’t expect to use in The Anjani Chronicles.

Cute and Cats

DrHGuy: A blogger’s note read in part, “They [Leonard Cohen and Anjani] are too cute for words. I wish they’d come over for dinner. I wonder if they like cats.” So, do you like cats? (Puppies? Cockatoos? Lizards? …) … As for “too cute for words,” I must admit that “cute” is not the first characterization that comes to my mind but maybe I’ve overlooked something. Do you, for example, dot your i’s with little hearts?”

Anjani:

Work Habits

Anjani (written in an extended response to a query on another subject):

Church

DrHGuy: Were you raised in a church environment? If so, what kind? Did you sing Campbellite hymns, gospel songs, Gregorian Chant, or whatever in the choir?

Anjani:

Tattoos

DrHGuy: Do you have a tattoo. If so, where, what, when … ? If not, would you like one? (Christmas, after all, is just around the corner)

Anjani:

Veggies and Sweets

DrHGuy: I found a blog written by a guy who is very serious about cooking and very hot on Leonard Cohen so he asked the obvious question, “If Leonard Cohen were a vegetable, which vegetable would he be?”

I’m thinking something on the lines of asparagus, but you, no doubt, have a more interesting response.

Anjani:

DrHGuy: Extrapolating from the veggie quandary, my next question is, of course, “If Anjani were a candy bar, which candy bar would she be?”

Anjani:

Can I be a piece of cake instead? Because I’m not much of a candy eater but I am very big on cake. All kinds, as long as it is great. I won’t sully my love for it by eating less than great cake. I’d have a tough time choosing between fresh strawberry shortcake with whipped crème or the classic chocolate layer with an ice cold glass of milk. And another thing: I had to give up refined white sugar recently, (and this is more information than you asked for, I know) so ideally it should be made with half the amount of Rapadura sugar and with organic ingredients. But in a pinch, if someone’s mother has made it, I’ll just say a prayer and indulge.

I happen to have the easiest recipe for a shortbread that is so divine I had to stop baking it because I will eat half a batch before I can even think of sharing it. So if I were a cookie it would be this one. And just so you don’t wonder the rest of your life what it is, here ya go:

KICKASS SHORTBREAD
2 c. room temperature butter
2 c. sifted powdered sugar (I cut this to 1 1/4 cup)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2c flour

Cream butter and sugar.
Sift other dry ingredients and add to mixture.
Roll into 1” balls and flatten.
Bake at 325 degrees for 10 min.
Sift powdered sugar over them if you like.

And don’t blame me if you eat them all.

Links to all currently published posts of The Anjani Chronicles can be found at

The Anjani Chronicles – Posts Published

1. As ongoing readers know, the Heck Of A Guy Blog recently began publishing The Anjani Chronicles, a sequence of posts based on the content of my recent interviews with Anjani Thomas (“Anjani” and “Anjani Thomas” are, for the purposes of The Anjani Chronicles and the Heck of a Guy blog, synonymous names), the exquisite singer and keyboardist best known for her Blue Alert CD and her professional and romantic relationships with Leonard Cohen. A comprehensive introduction to The Anjani Chronicles is available at The Anjani Chronicles – Introduction. All published Anjani Chronicles posts can be found by clicking on Anjani Chronicles in the links listed under “Categories.”↩
2. This response was posted as a comment on the original blog, which is, I suspect, too obscure to have been read by many folks. Also, I admit that I had hoped for an answer that would have allowed me write something on the lines of “Anjani and Leonard report that cats are perfectly nice although they prefer pumas or puffer fish.”↩
3. The penchant for procrastination has been described before. As far as I know the carrot cake, kickass or otherwise, has not been↩
4. A portion of this was published in The Leonard Cohen Food Files↩