And finally it's sticking

Though a few hours ago I mentioned that it was starting to snow, it seems that that was something of a false start.  The snow only lasted for a few moments before disappearing (with one minor return) until just a few minutes ago.

So a snowfall that didn't end up starting until 2:30 PM ended up being the reason for school cancelation.

I just saw a snowflake...

...so maybe this pre-emptive school cancelling will manage to pay off in the end (and I am getting the sense that it is snowing heavily more towards Annapolis Royal).

Anyway, even with the few snowflakes I have seen things really aren't even approaching flurries yet.

Update: And I know everyone reading this cares very deeply about the weather conditions in Wolfville, NS - why wouldn't they?

Yo, this is Ann Arbor!

Though I grew up in Newfoundland, both of my parents are from Michigan.  And though Michigan isn't the most populous or the wealthiest state it's residents and places seem to pop up rather frequently, or more than you might expect for a state of its size, in various media.  Because of my somewhat tangential connection to the place (and because it is still where most of my extended family lives) I always take note of these Michigan connections, even if knowing that so-and-so or such-and-such is from Michigan will likely serve me no real purpose in my day-to-day life.

A few years ago, just after I had started listening to This American Life, I learned that contributor Davy Rothbart (also of Found Magazine fame) was from Ann Arbor, Michigan.  When I eventually made it to the Found Magazine website I had a sneaking suspicion that the magazine's mailing address was on the same street as an aunt and uncle's house.

When I got around to asking about this they confirmed that while the Rothbart kids were a little older than my cousins they did know one another.  Maybe more importantly, my asking my cousin about this lead her to re-connecting with Davy.  I know that at one point here were plans to meet in-person, but I don't know if those plans ever came to fruition.

Then, just a few days ago, I happened to come across a relatively new blog, Yo, is this racist? that seems to be making waves on the internets.  I happened to learn about the blog through the author's recent Grantland piece on racist portrayals in sit-coms (though I can no longer remember how I ended up reading this article).

After reading the blog for a while I happened to come across the fact that the blog's author, Andrew Ti, seems to be from Ann Arbor and is about the same age as my Davy-Rothbart-knowing cousin.  I decided to ask if she also knew this guy?

Much to my surprise, just last night I found out that she does/did know this guy (though she said she really knew his sister more).

I find it very exciting to have a cousin who is tapped into things/people on the internet and doesn't even always know that she is until I sporadically ask her about people from her past.

The real problem I have now is how I might possibly extend my streak.  Is there anyway I can organically find a third Ann Arbor/Michigan person that my cousin knows who I can ask her about?  Taking my streak from two to three seems like it might be implausible, but then I thought going from one to two would be implausible.

Snow day?

As we were listening to the radio this morning we learned that the school children in the region (Kings and Annapolis counties) have been given a snow day.

So far things don't look too bad, but maybe they'll get worse?

Of course, given the latest satellite imagery (or at least give my reading of the latest satellite imagery) this seems a little unlikely (at least in the next few hours).

Unfortunately for the kids without school there isn't any snow on the ground and it's hovering around 0, otherwise this would be a perfect day for taking part in your favourite winter activity.

We're getting close

Montifax's 4th Annual blog-off is almost upon us.

Unfortunately, Neil seems a little less than excited.  Sadly, this isn't much different than past years.

I have found that one of the best ways to encourage Neil's participation is to handicap myself to give Neil a real chance of success.  This year I have decided to give myself more of a handicap than ever before - Neil's posts will now be worth 6 points to the 1 point that I get for each of my posts.  Hopefully this will provide Neil with enough incentive to participate.

And that we have a longer month of February this year should allow for additional blogging activity and more blog-off excitement than usual.

I hope that you will all remember to check back frequently during the blog-off to follow the competition and cheer on your favourite blogger.

This is surprising

Just a few minutes ago I decided to find some census data from the US.  I was mainly curious to see how much things had changed between the early 1980s and now.

While looking at the United States' Census' QuickFacts page I came across a few quick facts that surprised me.

First of all, who knew that the population grew by almost 10% over from 2000 and 2010?  That seems like a pretty substantial growth rate.

Secondly, who had any idea that even with the aging baby boomer cohort and increasing life-spans that people over 65 only account for 13% of the population.  This is all the more impressive/surprising when it is contrasted with the 24% of the population that is under 18.  Who knew there were so many young'uns out there?  Presumably this kind of population dynamic will mean a safe future for Social Security?

Finally, apparently only 85% of those over 25 have graduated from high school in the United States.  This seems a little low to me, but what do I know.

Three ingredient bread pt. 7

Well, today's bread project has now drawn to a close - and I feel pretty comfortable deeming it a success.

While the bread doesn't have an overwhelming pumpkin flavour, it certainly does taste like a little more than just white bread (in a very good way).  Furthermore, eating a few slices will provide you with a serving of vegetables.  If I had just slipped some protein in this loaf would practically be a balanced meal.

The only problem with this dream recipe being a success is that I am already thinking about other foods that I might use to make waterless three ingredient breads.  Raspberries came to mind first, but just a few minutes ago Nutella popped into my head as a potential ingredient (or maybe raspberries and Nutella for a four ingredient waterless bread).

Whatever happens with these future attempts to make waterless breads I will at least know that I did have at least one successful attempt.

Three ingredient bread pt. 6

So it at least kind of looks like bread.

Even if I did slightly over-bake it.

The real test will be what it looks like on the inside (and what it tastes like).

So far it looks as though it might actually be something approaching a passable result.

Three ingredient bread pt. 5

After a seeming unending period of rising, the liquid-less pumpkin dream bread was finally approaching a level of risen-ness I was comfortable with.

Obviously, I then placed the risen dough in the oven.

Placing the dough in the oven reminded me how dirty our oven door window is.  Gross.  I need to get on this cleaning project soon.

Oh, and while I was fooling around with this project (and doing some work), Jeannette baked and iced another batch of vegan cupcakes. 

This batch is chocolate-zucchini with chia seeds replacing the eggs.  Unfortunately I have an issue with zucchini so I won't be able to try them, even though they look great. 

Three ingredient bread pt. 4

There, I did it.  I rolled the bread dough into something approximating a baguette shape.  Now I will let it rise for a while and then stick it in the oven.

It was actually a little stickier than I expected.  This is something I am hoping bodes well for this loaf, of course I am also hoping that there will be enough gluten to hold the whole thing together.

Three ingredient bread pt. 3

So the bread is still rising slowly.

I am starting to think I am about read to roll it into a baguette shape and just throw it in the oven.

This is definitely looking as though it was worth my while (and the ingredients).

Three ingredient bread pt. 2

Well, my no-real-liquid added/recipe-came-from-a-dream bread is progressing somewhat slowly.  The rising process seems to be taking a little longer than I might have expected given the sugar in the pumpkin puree.  Maybe the fact the puree was cold when I started is the reason for the slow gas creation?

Shortly after this photo was taken I was able to knead in a little more flour.  I am thinking I may try to repeat this step a few more times.  I am worried that if I don't get enough flour into the puree that the who thing may not stick together.

At least I started with a small batch.

Three ingredient bread pt. 1

Last night I had a dream, a very unexciting dream.  I dreamt that, like the French, I could make a three ingredient bread.  Unlike the classic French bread recipe my bread would not have water, flour, and yeast but pumpkin puree, flour, and yeast.  As far as crazy dream recipes go, this one at least seems not to be entirely implausible.

Well, I am now in the midst of turning my dream into reality.

I'm pretty sure this is exactly what people are talking about when they talk about hoping their dreams will come true.  

Does the romance novel have a non-fiction equivalent?

Romance novels are everywhere in North America.  New or used, they are easy to come by.  Obviously they are filling some kind of demand.

But let's say you want something that's accessible, cheap, and easy to read that's also non-fiction what are the options?

My first thought is that the newspaper might be the non-fiction counterpart of the romance novel, but I am not entirely satisfied with that comparison.  Maybe magazines?

In the end magazines and newspapers both have the problem that their articles are much shorter than a romance novel, and I guess I am looking for something that is about as long (a very arbitrary requirement I know).

Is it possible that the romance novel just doesn't have a non-fiction analog?  Is such a thing needed?  Could we create something to fill this void?

A Few Quick Notes 559

-When I woke up yesterday it was close to -13 or -14.  By the time I went to bed last night the temperature was hovering around 0.  Today we reached a high of 11.  You may not be surprised to learn that the snow we received on Friday is now gone.

-This evening I borrowed a bread cookbook from my local public library.  Of course, I didn't even remember to consult this cookbook before beginning this evening's bread baking exercise (I ended up just going for a pumpkin/molasses/whole wheat/multigrain improvisation).

I may not be good a following recipes, but at least I am getting much better at making just one loaf of bread at a time.

-Listening to actors talk about acting is the worst, it's probably even worse than listening to pop musicians talk about what their music is about.

-Thanks to some inside info from my father about the relationship between meat consumption and kidney stone formation I have recently drastically reduced my consumption of meat.  So far I have been surprised how easy this has been to do, and how cheap.  If I learn to make it to foods more nutritious than rice it might even be healthy!

-Check out the hot plane puns the Judiciary Committe made in the title of its 2006 report on the Air Marshal's dress code.

How can it be so versatile?

I can't stop thinking about cotton and its various uses in clothing and other products.

Obviously I'm not the only one thinking about it.



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Baking update

When I posted yesterday about the weird chickpea based cake that I made last night I probably came to a few hasty conclusions based on incomplete knowledge.  Now that the cake is a few hours older I think I am in a better position to judge the recipe.

First of all, the cake definitely needs time to set.  I would guess that the 40 minutes suggested for baking is really fine.  Any gooeyness that I experienced last night was likely just because I didn't give the cake time to cool and set.  When I came back to it today the centre was not the least bit gooey.

Secondly, as the cake seems designed to be accessible for those with restricted diets the recipe is on the sparse side ingredientwise.  I think an easy way to really improve the cake would be to add a few walnut or pecan pieces, though this wouldn't work if you were preparing it for someone with a nut allergy.

This is definitely a recipe I will make again, if mainly for the novelty factor and to test my hunch about the  addition of nuts.

Oliver Sacks agrees (or is it the other way around?)

For the past few days I have been haphazardly picking at Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat (a book I first started reading in 2003).

Last night, while reading the section on Tourette's Syndrome I was struck by his discussion of a concept that seemed to parallel something I posted about a few days ago - our inclination to overlook concepts/ideas that aren't appropriately named.  Of course, Sacks's take on concepts without names, or johnny-come-lately re-remembered names, is a little more elegant than mine.

The day after seeing Ray, it seemed to me that I noticed three Touretters in the street in downtown New York.  I was confounded, for Tourette's syndrome was said to be excessively rare.  It had an incidence, I had read, of one in a million, yet I had apparently seen three examples in an hour.  I was thrown into a turmoil of bewilderment and wonder: was it possible that had been overlooking this all the time, either not seeing such patients or vaguely dismissing them as 'nervous', 'cracked', 'twitchy'?  Was it possible that everyone had been overlooking them?  Was it possible that Tourette's was not a rarity, but rather common - a thousand times more common, say, than previously supposed?  

Sacks also includes a nice footnote with another example of such an instance.

A very similar situation happened with muscular dystrophy, which was never seen until Duchenne described it in the 1850s.  By 1860, after his original description, many hundreds of cases had been recognised and described, so much so that Charcot said: "How come that a disease so common, so widespread, and so recognisable at a glance - a disease which has doubtless always existed - how come it is only recognised now?  Why did we need M. Duchenne to open our eyes?"

I can't help but wonder how many unnamed concepts are floating about whose naming would be of great use in my day to day life?