A big chunk of Sunday was lost to a wretched cold– despite a two-hour afternoon nap, I was asleep by 10pm– but I did get the camera out for a bit while doing some late-season grilling: Not the most amazing photo, I know (though it does take deliberate work to get those cross-hatched grill marks…),… Continue reading 034/366: Dinner
Category: Food
026/366: Pancakes in Infrared
The image here of a pancake cooking isn’t particularly interesting in its own right, other than as documentation of our weekend ritual at Chateau Steelypips. Saturday and sunday mornings, Kate sleeps in while the kids watch cartoons and I cook pancakes for them. SteelyKid absolutely drowns hers in maple syrup, then refuses to eat them,… Continue reading 026/366: Pancakes in Infrared
Advent Calendar of Science Stories 8: The First GMO
This entry doesn’t have a fictionalized story both because I’m on vacation, and because I don’t think there’s a single dramatic turning point in this particular story. It’s probably one of the most impressive human accomplishments of the last umpteen thousand years, though, and definitely deserves a place in any rundown of wonders of science.… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 8: The First GMO
Advent Calendar of Science Stories 6: Party in Mesopotamia
Borne of the flowing water (…) Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag, Borne of the flowing water (…) Tenderly cared for by the Ninhursag, Having founded your town by the sacred lake, She finished its great walls for you, Ninkasi, having founded your town by the sacred lake, She finished its great walls for you… Continue reading Advent Calendar of Science Stories 6: Party in Mesopotamia
Pubs in London
While I kill time waiting for it to be a reasonable time to call Kate and the kids back in the US, a list of most of the pubs I’ve visited during this trip to London. Because why not? In more or less chronological order: The Victoria in Lancaster Gate. Or maybe Paddington, going from… Continue reading Pubs in London
The Evolution of Random Comfort Food
One of the slighter slight flaws in my character is an unaccountable fondness for bad Americanized Chinese food. When I go to Starbucks to write, I walk right past a Chinese buffet restaurant, and it’s a real effort not to run in and overdo it. I occasionally try to cook stuff in this general category… Continue reading The Evolution of Random Comfort Food
It May or May Not be 2012 Somewhere
A while back, a reader from Bulgaria sent me a photo of a highly topical bottle of local spirits: You can either know where you are, or how much you’ve drunk, but not both… Having spent my last day of 2011 taking SteelyKid to the mall for bouncy-bounce and midway games, and then having her… Continue reading It May or May Not be 2012 Somewhere
The Stupidest Thing You’ll Read Today
Shockingly, it does not seem to involve right-wing politics in any way. It’s this explanation of why swirling wine in your glass clockwise produces different effects than swirling it counter-clockwise. a sample: Like all living things wine cells have a magnetic polarity, just like humans and the Earth. The positive pole is more highly charged,… Continue reading The Stupidest Thing You’ll Read Today
“Quantum Kitchen” Ought to Mean Something Else
I am less enthralled by the “molecular gastronomy” thing than someone with my geek credentials ought to be. As a result, I was a little disappointed when I clicked the link (from Jennifer Ouellette on Twitter) to this Wired story about a new tv show called Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen. Because, you know, there are much… Continue reading “Quantum Kitchen” Ought to Mean Something Else
Bakery Poll: The _____ on the Cake
Having posted not one but two snarky political entries in recent days, I feel like I owe the Internet a couple of ResearchBlogging posts to make up for it. It’s the last week of classes here, though, which means I have a lot of frantic work to do. Thus, a frivolous poll inspired by the… Continue reading Bakery Poll: The _____ on the Cake