First attempt at bread baking

With my lovely new-ish Emile Henry stoneware crock (purchased from Costco at about half the average online price) and a jar of active dry yeast found in the fridge, I thought I should finally try the famous No-Knead Bread that has made it's way around the baking blogosphere.

It came together well at first:


But then, perhaps precisely that the yeast has been in the fridge for an indeterminate amount of time, it never really rose much from this:


I baked it anyways, and it was ok. Much more successful was the lentil soup I made to go along with it. But I'm going to get some fresh yeast, and try again this weekend - this time the chocolate-cherry pecan version.

Our neighborhood goes Vegas

About a week or two ago, I was pleased to see a line of red lanterns snaking up the hill to the temple next to my home. "Great!" I thought to myself, "If anyone comes and visits, all they need to do is follow the lanterns."

Then, as I turned around the corner on my way home a week ago, I ran into this:


The local neighborhood temple had gone Vegas. We had flashing Christmas lights, colored landscape lighting, lit animal sculptures, and more. I'm not quite sure what the temple was celebrating, but after a week or so of a very colorful spectacle (including a two-day Chinese opera-looking performance in a temporary theater set up by the side of the road) and some firecrackers, they packed everything up yesterday.

It was fun while it lasted.

Woo!

Yay! One big step forward for the U.S. and the world!

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama!

And lastly, I was struck by this photo on the NYTimes website:



To me, it just sums up this election, with the multi-language voting sign and the long line of voters waiting. The caption was: Voters waited for as long as an hour and a half to cast their ballots at the Ronald Emonds Learning Center in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. The rest of the photo essay is worth looking at. The photographer was Robert Stolarik.

Return to the peak and beach

Went to the beach for the first time in a long time and boogie boarded. Thankfully, the water is not yet cold!



I've fully recovered from my second trek up Jade Mountain. I was definitely less fit this time around, which probably explains my small bout with altitude sickness. But, we had great weather, and the peak was so much more pleasant with windproof gear!



It's beautiful up there, but I think that will be my last time to the peak - been there, done that (and my knees will thank me).

History: doomed to repeat itself?

I've been listening to the Leonard Lopate Show on podcast; a recent episode on the Panic of 1873 was absolutely fascinating. Professor Scott Reynolds Nelson of the College of William & Mary was the guest describing parallels between the current financial crisis with the Panic of 1873. It's completely compelling and alarming. Basically, the start of the crash happened in Europe due to rampant real estate speculation that occurred while their underlying economies were fundamentally unsound - "wheat exporters from Russia and Central Europe faced a new international competitor who drastically undersold them" - American farmers. The effects soon spread throughout the world and eventually caused American railroad companies to collapse. Financiers Marcus Goldman (founder of Goldman Sachs) and J.P. Morgan emerged as the winners of this period. Other parallels and lessons: poor economic conditions caused voters to turn against the Republican Party, and anti-semitism increased in Central and Eastern Europe, and anti-Jewish pogroms followed. (There's an article in Reuters today on ugly election incidents due to U.S. racism.) The New York Times has an article on Nelson's argument, along with some clips from their archive. I highly recommend listening to the podcast, at the very least, and then reading the articles for more color

Interesting widget from OpenSecrets.org

Back from Paris and London

I just got back from my holiday to London and Paris. A big thank you to Eve, Tom, Nicky, Caroline, Camil, and Candice for their hospitality - 'twas a lovely trip! Some thoughts:

• We walked a lot - we averaged about 20,000 steps a day. Note that the health professionals recommend 10,000 steps a day, so we really went above and beyond.
  
• Great weather in London, too chilly for my acclimated sub-tropical self in Paris. Gloves and a hat would've made my visit so much more pleasant.
• Favorite London museum: National Portrait Gallery (thanks Tom, for taking us there!)
• Pret a Manger is to London like 7-11 is to Taiwan. Unlike 7-11 in Taiwan, it is not open 24/7, you cannot buy everything from socks to piping hot fish balls on a stick, and you cannot pay your utility bills and send DHL packages. But they are all over the place. And they offer tasty food.
  

Wall of cheese at Neal's Yard Dairy. Borough Market was great, but incredibly crowded on Saturdays. No offense to the Brits, but I didn't take to the meat pies. I did like the cheddar's at Neal's Yard Dairy (there was a really fabulous floral one, the Isle of Mull?).

I prefer the macarons at Pierre Hermé (pictured above) to Ladureé's. If you are a filling person, go to Ladureé, but the appeal of the macaron is the texture of the cookie. We had an amazing passionfruit and chocolate macaron at Pierre Hermé.

Amazing yogurt and peach gelato at Pozetto. Neil had nocciola (hazelnut) and fior di latte (literally, milk's flower - pure fresh milk) - also very good:

Fresh figs!

We spent much more than budgeted at Denise Acabo's chocolaterie. She is a hoot - very engaging and an excellent salewoman.

More impressions later.