Sammy's Dot

According to Wikipedia, a “tian” is defined thus:

A tian is a tall, conical earthenware cooking vessel used in the Alpes-Maritimes area of France. Today, most of these vessels are produced in the town of Mougins. It is traditionally made from red clay and can be either glazed or unglazed. A modern tian can come lidded or not and sometimes has a looped handle on one side.

Apparently, the word has undergone a significant shift, though: the cranberry orange tian I made for the March Daring Bakers challenge is certainly very far removed from clay pots.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

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From an ex-student at my university, about to be sentenced for the rape of two teenage students in their residence in 2007:

In a pre-sentence report, Katsnelson said he hoped “some day the victim would be able to take something positive away from this, as he has … that maybe she will know to keep her doors locked,” Locke told the court.

All I can say is, well, fuck you, Katsnelson. Thanks for demonstrating how much you haven’t learned, though. The only person who needs to learn something from your actions is you, and that is to not go around raping women. It’s not that hard for most people.

It’s rare for me to read an article about a trial or a sentencing and root for the maximum. In this case, I certainly hope that the judge accepts the recommendation of the prosecutor. I don’t think three years is going to be long enough for this person to learn how to be a human being instead of a piece of shit, since apparently the first 25 years of his life weren’t sufficient – and neither was “coming from a good family” or his “good background” which apparently are some of the “mitigating factors” the judge will consider.

I just got accepted to the master’s in environmental studies program! My whole life is validated and vindicated.

I feel as relaxed as Sputnik.

I applied for graduate school on 1 February. Acceptances are going out – several friends in my faculty have been accepted. I’m happy for them, but I’m also freaking out; I know that the acceptances go out in waves and depend on variable admission committee schedules, but I haven’t heard anything yet. The last couple weeks have been stressful.

So, when I get an envelope from the university, I tear it open, heart pounding, hoping, hoping…

And when it turns out to be yet another invitation to join the “Golden Key Honour Society”, my opinion of which is admirably summed up by the ever-topical xkcd, I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry.

Does want grad school. Does not want weirdo academic scam.

I could never, ever do a low carb diet. (In fact, the very idea horrifies me.) When I go out for Korean barbeque, my friends all go straight for the meat and say that they don’t want to fill up on the rice; mixed with the kimchi and other vegetables, that’s my favourite part!  A spicy vegetarian riff on gallo pinto just became my go-to for breakfast. My brother and I have to fight over the nasi goreng when my family gets Malaysian take-out – and oh, how I envy my parents’ proximity to that restaurant!

Yeah, this month’s Daring Cooks challenge was straight up my alley. Risotto. Mmm.

I make risotto a lot, but I took the opportunity to play around and try a few new things: a roasted vegetable stock, a different play of flavours in the risotto itself, arancini, and an Indian-inspired “sweet risotto” (yes, it’s rice pudding in my lexicon – but made using the general risotto method).

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

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If you can sit outside on a sunny day.