oat muffin recipe

Once when searching for a quick breakfast (out of yogurt, only one egg, not-so-fresh milk) I found the easiest oatmeal muffins – I've made them plain, with apples, and with fresh cranberries (for any of those, add ½–1 cup or so chopped). Now Scott has a muffin pan (a nifty silicone one, at that) so this note is mostly for him.

My scarf is done!

Scott is the best!

merry christmas from the drycleaner

So when I picked up some stuff friday the korean drycleaner lady reached under the desk, beamed, "happyyy horiday!" and produced a bag… I was intrigued, then joyed to find some tasty berry wine!

is there video of this??

The researchers blindfolded college students who crawled through grass to sniff out a chocolate-scented trail.

attrition rocks

Ha!

a sick twisted story

“Bottle service is prestigious,” said Quinn Bradley, 25, another customer at Y Bar. “I am not a vodka connoisseur, but a higher price usually means it’s better, right?” Marketers have spent millions trying to convince consumers of just that.

Also, Patrón tequila was created by one of the co-execs of john paul mitchell hair goop. What a mess! (NYT)

crazy hungarian jews

(yum!)

Negativity Friendships

NYT: “It’s not that we enjoy disliking people,” Bosson, a social psychologist at the University of South Florida, says. “It’s that we enjoy meeting people who dislike the same people.”

Salon on Mary Cheney:

As a price for their tolerance, however, they may expect you to reexamine certain issues – e.g., your implicit countenancing of same-sex-marriage amendments, your silence in the face of outrageous discrimination against gay parents, your collusion with some of the most virulent homophobes in America's history, etc.

neato nerdiness

damn.

Well, my 5-year-old Troika keychain (in a model they seem no longer to make) finally broke. Troika keychains are by far the best designed and therefore the only acceptable key-holding devices for me. Moreover, several models allow easy removal of groups of keys from the ring, a necessity so I don't have to carry my car key with me all the time, or anything more than a house key and bike key when I exercise. The one pictured is my top choice, but now I run into the problem of trying to find someone who has them and will sell me one.

food this week

• sweet potato crusted wild caught alaskan salmon with curry spinach, OR
• broiled salmon with mexican-caribbean rub, avocado, and tequila cream sauce
• thai prik king (fragrant no coconut milk) curry with green beans and chicken
• lentil soup with polish sausage, blackbear pumpernickel
• fajitas with avocado, chicken, and refried black beans
• pad kee mao (tofu and broccoli, chili basil sauce)

the first of several

Scott's dad asks about Margaret Cho. Well, not about her – but what her name is. She is described as "that musician you used to like. The Chinese girl. She played the violin. Or the piano."

Scott's parents

The whole visit will be co-blogged over at Scott's MD-PhD Adventure. Just finished the first day.

voting machines

slashdot interview

best response is… max ε?

It may sound like chaos, but it's only the lesson drawn from one of the insights of traffic psychology: Drivers will force the accelerator down ruthlessly only in situations where everything has been fully regulated. Where the situation is unclear, they're forced to drive more carefully and cautiously.

slashdot 'fortune' quote

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley

seared tuna, ginger mashed sweet potatoes, salad

seared tuna, ginger mashed sweet potatoes, salad
Originally uploaded by gay.goy.gourmet.

from the other day :)

food for this week

• afghan chicken biryani [pdf]
• crêpes with mushrooms and parsnips (inspired by this lovely NYT piece)
• curry fried rice (nasi goreng)
• seared tuna with garam masala
• ma po tofu

too good in too many ways

Holy Rollers: The city's bicycle zealots, by Ben McGrath. This article contains quote after quote that made me grin knowingly. Some examples:

Critical Mass, according to its participants, is not a group but a recurring event. “An organized coincidence,” one regular rider told me. “No, a disorganized coincidence—a ‘happening,’ a temporary reorganization of public space.” … Others passed out buttons that read, “Please Don’t Arrest Me—This is my permit.” On closer examination, they were recycled pins made by the antiwar group United for Peace and Justice, with customized paper labels glued over “No Blood for Oil.”

I introduced myself to the masked man and asked his name. “NYMAAN,” he said, pointing to his cape, which was adorned with the words “New York Metro Anarchist Alliance.” He added, “I am an idea, not a person.” (His outfit advertised a Web site that features the heading “Notes from the global intifada.”)

The hierarchy of urban piety is ever delicate. Still another Villager, a biking enthusiast, railed against the unctuousness of the anti-bike pedestrians. “I’m tired of joggers using the bike path, getting in the way,” he said. “They tell us to get off our bikes and jog because it’s more environmentally sensitive. To them bikes are manufactured things. The metals that go into them are mined. And there’s the plastic, too . . . made from oil.”