International Sentiment

This pretty much sums it up.

Anathems

I've not yet started Anathem. I'm dreading it. I fear I'll read it and go into a 5000-word diatribe on the criticality of resurrecting professional editing. Please tell me I should start reading it and that I won't go mad.

Anthems

Today's Saints-Chargers game at Wembley featured live solo performances of both The Star-Spangled Banner and God Save The Queen. The US anthem works fine as a solo but is pretty lousy as a singalong (crowd cheering, rather than singing, is the perfect accompaniment), whereas the UK anthem is a fantastic crowd song but really weird as a solo.

Bojo Backs Barack

London's Tory Mayor has endorsed Obama. Yes, he's a blue-blood conservative, but the thinking kind that seems to have disappeared from the US.

uhoh... radical bunny agenda

I'm not sure how a "human culling program" will help with the rabbit problem, but kudos to South African officials for thinking outside the box! SA public, on the other hand, might want to start worrying in earnest, and keep indoors until this is all over.

Calibrating the Beef Curve

I'm calling it: 50 days is too much. I've followed the dry-aging curve right up to 45 days with great success. Just had 50. Not good. We've fallen off the backside of the curve. 28-45 days: great. That's plenty, we'll stop there from now on.

Too Late To Appear Reasonable, John

Well after the McCain/Palin campaign has shifted into overdrive down the "rile the angry mobs" road, McCain half-heartedly (or perhaps stagedly) attempts to appear reasonable. Campaign tactics, which he ostensibly controls, don't seem to have changed.

Bad News For Fish

One of the comets in our cold-water tank has disappeared. Vanished into thin air. No trace, no evidence, nothing left behind. Lacking any better explanation, I must conclude that the Fish Rapture has occurred and he was the only one pure enough of heart and deed to qualify. The remaining fish are really in for it, I guess. Maybe the shiny one is the anti-carp.

First Since Ford

Did Gerald Ford have a combover? This election might be of historic significance in that we could have the first president (Obama) since Gerald Ford who wasn't a dick, or the first president (McCain) since Gerald Ford to have a combover.

Pancakes

I make pancakes nearly every Sunday. I'm not much of a baker, and pancakes seem a bit bakerish in that they use dry, powdery ingredients and recipes expect you to be fussy about measurements. Fortunately, they are more cookish and forgiving than I expected.

I started with the basic recipe from Joy and tweaked it. I added another egg, a bit more baking powder, apples, soaked oats. Sometimes corn meal. Often whole wheat flour. I'm not strict about measuring. We're now in prime apple season, so definitely time to head back to the market and stock up, but over the summer I'd reverted to the much thinner & quicker plain, whole wheat pancakes:

mix together dry ingredients
1 1/2 C wholewheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 T Sugar

mix together wet ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 C milk (warmed is best, you don't want the butter solidfying; and I just use my yellow mug to measure and heat the milk -- I have no idea how much milk it is, 1.5 C is close enough I think)
3 T butter, melted (just guess, don't bother measuring, or use at least 45g if you've got a kitchen scale)
1 t vanilla

fold the egg mix into the dry ingredients, don't overmix (although hard to avoid if kids are "helping")

cook pancakes on hot buttered skillet
yes, add more butter before each round of batter goes into the pan, this is no time to get shy (it's ok, we all love butter)

The recipe can be adjusted to make them as thin & eggy or thick and fluffy as you like. To the above, throw some dry rolled rolled oats into the dry ingredients before folding in the egg mixture, or add ground pecans or other nuts.


Now, for the full Apple Pancakes treatment, I have dialed in the following

mix together dry ingredients
1 1/2 C plain white, unbleached flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 T Sugar

mix together wet ingredients
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 C milk, warmed
3 T/45g butter, melted
1 t vanilla

soak oats
put 1 C dry rolled oats into large, heatproof bowl, and
add a litre or so of boiling (or close enough) water
let stand 3-4 minutes (too short is better than too long)
drain/strain and rinse in cold water
make sure thoroughly drained and not hot -- oats should still
be have some texture to them

grate or shred + finely chop apples
Bramleys are by far the best. I use 2 ginormous ones or 3 merely very large ones. If Bramleys aren't available, go with something really flavorful rather than sweet. Use more than seems reasonable. I think I regularly put well over a pound of apple into this. I shred them on the big metal grater then chop the shredded mound of autumn goodness much more finely with the big knife on the big cutting board.

add egg mix to dry ingredients and combine gently
(don't overmix)

fold in soaked oats and grated apples
(both at same time) -- it will be a very thick mix now

cook on hot buttered skillet or griddle
seriously, go crazy with the butter, anyone who drops pancake batter onto a dry skillet deserves what they get

serve with maple syrup & butter
I prefer the darker grade B syrup but that's impossible to get in the UK. There's good canadian pure maple syrup available at just about every major grocery store here though. Alternatively: honey, sugar+cinammon, and/or jam.

As the Gap Widens, the Gap Narrows

As Obama's lead over McCain grows, the separation between McCain/Palin official campaign rhetoric and those unofficial attack-spam missives ("Obama is a crypto-muslim terrorist") will shrink. In other words, the close Obama is to the white house, the lower McCain will sink.

Now I Need A Better-Calibrated Oven

Succesfully cooked some eggs inspired by Herve This's experiments. My oven is not calibrated well enough to simply bake at 65C or 70C, so I had to put the eggs in a pot of water, put that in the oven, leave the temp up higher, and check frequently with a thermometer. So my eggs were in the upper 60s. Cooked, but not at all like hard-boiled. Custardy whites, yolks firm but not at all dry. Fun stuff.

Credit goes to Muse magazine for carrying a good article on Herve This.