...or at least, I hope so. I've finished all my applications, in the sense that I've finally finished filling out all their little forms. It only remains now to send my writing sample to the schools that didn't let me upload it electronically, and email my recommenders a final list of the schools they should be getting emails from, as well as envelopes for them to fill out if they have to mail one in.
So I'm still in the thick of things about this (and don't even get me started on the eleventy-billion other things I'm trying to do), but it is a major ratchet up.
The final schools to which I am applying this year are (in no particular order):
Rutgers
UCB
NYU
Columbia
Brown
UW
UMass Amherst
These are all really good schools, and everyone's trying to go back to grad schools these days, and those in programs don't want to get out because they can't find jobs, andschools have lost a lot of their fellowship money so they can't afford to have as many students. Still, we'll see what happens.
Read the Rest
Monday, November 09, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
a quick note
I'm still without internet access at my house, though I can walk half a block and sit outside the library 24/7, so there's that. As a result, I haven't been updating here much, and won't for the next few days. As a placeholder, I'll say that I have been ridiculously busy, but so far haven't dropped any of the umpty-ump balls I have up in the air. As for applications, I have ordered my GRE scores and transcripts to all schools, but am still working on a CV and a second personal statement before I can finish those.
Right. Back to work.
Read the Rest
Right. Back to work.
Read the Rest
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Grar
So busy as I am trying to get moved, get ready for Fiona's birthday party (jolly jeepers), and applying to grad programs, I was at least feeling happy that things were moving forward on all fronts, if not fast enough to avert disaster. Now I just found out that all the programs I applied to were done wrong. I misentered the GRE scores, so now I need to either find my GRE scores again in the chaos of the move or call them and pay 12 dollars to find out what they are, then call the universities, apologize, and give them the new info.
Grar.
Read the Rest
Grar.
Read the Rest
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
...And again
Just finished with the UW application as well. Now I need to email them and ask if I have to pay to have a transcript walked from one building to the other. I bet "yes".
Read the Rest
Read the Rest
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Reaching out from the great beyond
So I haven't posted here in a few days, mostly because I'm super busy moving, but also because the house to which I've moved doesn't have any internet access (unless I can figure out the school next door's password), so until it gets set up I can only post whilst at work, which has been hard this week. So a longer post later, but I just wanted to put up that I finished my application to UMass Amherst. Once I've finished applying to all my schools, I'll start working on getting transcripts, scores, letters, etc.
Read the Rest
Read the Rest
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Imagined tortilla soup
The way I make tortilla soup isn't the traditional one, but it does use all traditional ingredients, and besides I'm always willing to break with tradition to make something easier and (in my opinion) more delicious. Essentially, I made this recipe because when I first heard of "tortilla soup", I imagined what it would taste like, but what it actually is (while I do like it) differs quite a bit from my imaginary version. So I decided to make what I had imagined.
ingredients
~1 1/2 Cups dry black beans
~1 1/2 Cups dry pinto beans
Water for the beans
1 Large onion
2-3 Carrots
2-3 Celery stalks
1-2 Cans of tomatoes, or several large fresh tomatoes
Some olive oil for frying
Any other vegetables that suit your fancy. I quite like potatoes in this or sweet corn, but go see what you have lurking in your cupboards or freezer
Quite a few corn tortillas (more on this later). I buy those big bags of corn tortillas and keep them in my fridge so that I can do various things with them. Inevitably the top few become hard and unusable for other recipes, so I like to use those. Also acceptable are stale tortilla chips, but in that case reduce the salt content considerably.
1-2 Bay leaves, depending on how good your bay leaves are
A bit of salt, to taste
A bit of pepper, again to taste
Fresh cilantro if you have it
Cumin, powdered or seeds, to taste
Coriander, again powdered or seeds, again to taste
~1 Tablespoon molasses. This is a good idea to use even if you don't usually like molasses flavor, but you could substitute for a little brown sugar if you truly can't stand it.
You also need some heat. ~2 jalapenos would be fine, or you could use some paprika and cayenne, or whatever you have around, adjusted to your tolerances.
~1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Seriously! Not too much, but a little hint of it I've found to be excellent.
1-2 bottles of dark beer. I like Negro Modelo here.
Any other spices you'd like to experiment with. I put a bit of ginger in once and liked it, but feel free to mess around if you make this more than once.
A big pot. Really big.
A lot of time.
directions
1. I make the beans in a mixture of the "quick soak" and the "no soak" ways in Mark Bittman's book*, but you can do it any way you're comfortable with.
2. Once they're rehydrated and cooking, I sautee all the vegetables and any spice seeds I'm using in the olive oil to give them all a deeper taste. When they're a little brown, add them to the pot, along with the cans of tomatoes and spices.
3. Take the tortillas (save a few out for step 5) and rip them up into strips, or alternately pulse them a few times in your food processor. Once they're small-ish, add them as well. Don't worry if they're a bit big, as you're going to cook them long enough that they'll basically dissolve into the soup.
4. Cook for a long time at medium-low, at minimum until the beans are cooked through, but the longer you cook it the more delicious it'll be. As the tortillas turn back into masa, they're going to thicken the soup up a lot, so when you know you're going to be done in ten or fifteen more minutes, add the beer. This will thin the soup back out and add a really good note to the flavor. You have to let it cook in for a while though to let the flavors come together and for some of the alcohol to cook off.
5. As that's happening, take 2-3 tortillas, cut them into strips, and broil them for a few minutes, flipping over when they brown. This is an omittable step, but it looks nice at the end.
6. Taste for spice and add more of whatever.
serves...I dunno, a lot. Five people?
-------------------------
Finished! when you put the soup into the bowls, top with the toasted tortilla strips from step 5. This soup is still pretty thick, which I love, and will go really well with whatever beer you put into it, since the flavors will complement. Enjoy!
* The method is to cover the beans in a couple inches of water, cover the pot, and put them on high until they boil. Then turn off the pot and let them rest for a couple hours until they're uncooked but not hard little rocks anymore. After that turn the heat back up to medium or medium-low and continue with the recipe. Don't wait until they're cooked all the way through, as this way you can infuse them with a bit of the flavors.
Read the Rest
ingredients
~1 1/2 Cups dry black beans
~1 1/2 Cups dry pinto beans
Water for the beans
1 Large onion
2-3 Carrots
2-3 Celery stalks
1-2 Cans of tomatoes, or several large fresh tomatoes
Some olive oil for frying
Any other vegetables that suit your fancy. I quite like potatoes in this or sweet corn, but go see what you have lurking in your cupboards or freezer
Quite a few corn tortillas (more on this later). I buy those big bags of corn tortillas and keep them in my fridge so that I can do various things with them. Inevitably the top few become hard and unusable for other recipes, so I like to use those. Also acceptable are stale tortilla chips, but in that case reduce the salt content considerably.
1-2 Bay leaves, depending on how good your bay leaves are
A bit of salt, to taste
A bit of pepper, again to taste
Fresh cilantro if you have it
Cumin, powdered or seeds, to taste
Coriander, again powdered or seeds, again to taste
~1 Tablespoon molasses. This is a good idea to use even if you don't usually like molasses flavor, but you could substitute for a little brown sugar if you truly can't stand it.
You also need some heat. ~2 jalapenos would be fine, or you could use some paprika and cayenne, or whatever you have around, adjusted to your tolerances.
~1 Tablespoon cinnamon. Seriously! Not too much, but a little hint of it I've found to be excellent.
1-2 bottles of dark beer. I like Negro Modelo here.
Any other spices you'd like to experiment with. I put a bit of ginger in once and liked it, but feel free to mess around if you make this more than once.
A big pot. Really big.
A lot of time.
directions
1. I make the beans in a mixture of the "quick soak" and the "no soak" ways in Mark Bittman's book*, but you can do it any way you're comfortable with.
2. Once they're rehydrated and cooking, I sautee all the vegetables and any spice seeds I'm using in the olive oil to give them all a deeper taste. When they're a little brown, add them to the pot, along with the cans of tomatoes and spices.
3. Take the tortillas (save a few out for step 5) and rip them up into strips, or alternately pulse them a few times in your food processor. Once they're small-ish, add them as well. Don't worry if they're a bit big, as you're going to cook them long enough that they'll basically dissolve into the soup.
4. Cook for a long time at medium-low, at minimum until the beans are cooked through, but the longer you cook it the more delicious it'll be. As the tortillas turn back into masa, they're going to thicken the soup up a lot, so when you know you're going to be done in ten or fifteen more minutes, add the beer. This will thin the soup back out and add a really good note to the flavor. You have to let it cook in for a while though to let the flavors come together and for some of the alcohol to cook off.
5. As that's happening, take 2-3 tortillas, cut them into strips, and broil them for a few minutes, flipping over when they brown. This is an omittable step, but it looks nice at the end.
6. Taste for spice and add more of whatever.
serves...I dunno, a lot. Five people?
-------------------------
Finished! when you put the soup into the bowls, top with the toasted tortilla strips from step 5. This soup is still pretty thick, which I love, and will go really well with whatever beer you put into it, since the flavors will complement. Enjoy!
* The method is to cover the beans in a couple inches of water, cover the pot, and put them on high until they boil. Then turn off the pot and let them rest for a couple hours until they're uncooked but not hard little rocks anymore. After that turn the heat back up to medium or medium-low and continue with the recipe. Don't wait until they're cooked all the way through, as this way you can infuse them with a bit of the flavors.
Read the Rest
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Vegan okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki loosely translates to "fried whatever-you-like", yet the traditional version always contains egg, plus almost-always a lot of meat, neither of which I like. In fact, when Erin and I went to an okonomiyaki place in London, our first since becoming vegan, we were told that not only could they not hold the egg, but that were they to do so it "would not be okonomiyaki." Friends, this is bullshit. In fact we have made vegan okonomiyaki many times, and while the recipe is still a work in progress, the results are pretty darn good. Okonomiyaki, especially in Kansai, fills the same ecological niche as pizza does in the US: go have a beer with your friends, or a low-key date, and eat fatty yet delicious food. Here's my recipe with a few different versions, but this, again like pizza, is definitely a recipe you should feel free to amend:
Version 1: Basic Recipe
Batter
* ~2 cups flour (we've only ever used AP flour, but trying it with a mixture of whole wheat flour might be interesting)
* ~1 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
* 1 block of silken tofu
* 1 head of nappa cabbage
* whatever vegetables you might like to add. Common in Japan are thinly-sliced potato, corn for some reason, any kind of fake bacon (obviously real bacon is what they have in Japan), pumpkin, etc.
* a very little amount of oil for the pan
toppings
* ao-nori flakes for sprinkling
* some kind of sauce, either vegan okonomiyaki sauce if you can find it, or any sweet, not-too-spicy bbq sauce
* vegan mayonnaise
directions
1. This first direction is the secret key to true okonomiyaki, so don't skip it: mix the flour and most of the water together, making a thick batter (don't worry, the silken tofu and the remaining ~1/4 cup of water will thin it out later) and place the batter in the fridge for at least an hour. This allows the gluten in the flour to come out and form long strands, making the batter much stronger and improving the taste. Although I have not tried it, you could also leave the batter out of the fridge and for a longer time to get a quasi-sourdough action going.
2. After the dough has come together, take the block of silken tofu and whizz it up in a blender with a bit of remaining water. Add this to the dough and mix it in, trying to get it into a thick pancake consistancy. If you need to add a little more water or flour you can, but it doesn't need to be too perfect: this is cooking, not baking.
3. Cut the cabbage into strips a few inches long, and mix this in to the batter. At this point you could add the other vegetables you're using, or you could save them out if, for example with potatoes, you want them to become crispy by placing them on top.
4. Pre-heat a pan on medium-high, then oil it with a cloth or paper towel (if you're a baby, you can oil it and then heat it, but that isn't the traditional way.) Take enough of the batter to make a large pancake and put it in the pan.
5. Once it looks like the batter has mostly cooked through, flip it over. At this point you could place potatoes or any other topping you want to brown on the now-cooked side.
6. When the other side has browned, flip the okonomiyaki over again to brown the first side, being careful not to lose any toppings you placed there. After just a couple minutes, remove and serve.
Makes ~4-6 pancakes.
------------------
That's it! Top with sauces and aonori and enjoy! If you find that you're having a hard time cooking it all the way through, use less heat or smaller pancakes. Presentation is important here - in traditional okonomiyaki restaurants in Japan, diners sit in front of a hot plate and watch their food cook while drinking a beer. The anticipation adds a lot to the experience, as does the waiters running around and telling you not to touch it until they give you permission, so why not replicate this experience for dinners by using a hotplate or electric griddle? Just make them sign some kind of damage and indemnity waiver first so they don't sue you whent they burn their hands reaching uncontrollably for the food that smells so good in front of them.
Version 2: Negiyaki
This is the same as version 1, but instead of using cabbage, substitute green onion (negi in Japanese) chopped up small. The taste is very different, but also delicious, and green onion cooks faster, so if you are having trouble with your cabbage cooking all the way through before it burns, this recipe is a lot easier to get right.
Version 3: Okonomiyaki Modern Style
I think they're saying "modern style" on their menues; it's hard to be sure, since it's just them sounding out words in English using katakana. Whatever the actual translation, this phrase is used in Kansai to mean okonomiyaki with noodles added in step 5 as the topping you want to brown. Cook spaghetti noodles or soba noodles in the usual way, then put some of them on before you flip the okonomiyaki back over to brown. this crisps the noodles and welds them to the pancake, and is my favorite way to eat okonomiyaki in restaurants. (You might want to add a bit more oil before flipping the okonomiyaki so the noodles don't stick, depending on what kind of pan you're using.)
-------------------
Many cultures have savory pancakes (Korean chijimi is quite similar), so I hope this recipe opens your eyes to a whole new way of cooking. It is a good example of "junk food", or "fast food", which is surprisingly good for you.
Read the Rest
Version 1: Basic Recipe
Batter
* ~2 cups flour (we've only ever used AP flour, but trying it with a mixture of whole wheat flour might be interesting)
* ~1 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
* 1 block of silken tofu
* 1 head of nappa cabbage
* whatever vegetables you might like to add. Common in Japan are thinly-sliced potato, corn for some reason, any kind of fake bacon (obviously real bacon is what they have in Japan), pumpkin, etc.
* a very little amount of oil for the pan
toppings
* ao-nori flakes for sprinkling
* some kind of sauce, either vegan okonomiyaki sauce if you can find it, or any sweet, not-too-spicy bbq sauce
* vegan mayonnaise
directions
1. This first direction is the secret key to true okonomiyaki, so don't skip it: mix the flour and most of the water together, making a thick batter (don't worry, the silken tofu and the remaining ~1/4 cup of water will thin it out later) and place the batter in the fridge for at least an hour. This allows the gluten in the flour to come out and form long strands, making the batter much stronger and improving the taste. Although I have not tried it, you could also leave the batter out of the fridge and for a longer time to get a quasi-sourdough action going.
2. After the dough has come together, take the block of silken tofu and whizz it up in a blender with a bit of remaining water. Add this to the dough and mix it in, trying to get it into a thick pancake consistancy. If you need to add a little more water or flour you can, but it doesn't need to be too perfect: this is cooking, not baking.
3. Cut the cabbage into strips a few inches long, and mix this in to the batter. At this point you could add the other vegetables you're using, or you could save them out if, for example with potatoes, you want them to become crispy by placing them on top.
4. Pre-heat a pan on medium-high, then oil it with a cloth or paper towel (if you're a baby, you can oil it and then heat it, but that isn't the traditional way.) Take enough of the batter to make a large pancake and put it in the pan.
5. Once it looks like the batter has mostly cooked through, flip it over. At this point you could place potatoes or any other topping you want to brown on the now-cooked side.
6. When the other side has browned, flip the okonomiyaki over again to brown the first side, being careful not to lose any toppings you placed there. After just a couple minutes, remove and serve.
Makes ~4-6 pancakes.
------------------
That's it! Top with sauces and aonori and enjoy! If you find that you're having a hard time cooking it all the way through, use less heat or smaller pancakes. Presentation is important here - in traditional okonomiyaki restaurants in Japan, diners sit in front of a hot plate and watch their food cook while drinking a beer. The anticipation adds a lot to the experience, as does the waiters running around and telling you not to touch it until they give you permission, so why not replicate this experience for dinners by using a hotplate or electric griddle? Just make them sign some kind of damage and indemnity waiver first so they don't sue you whent they burn their hands reaching uncontrollably for the food that smells so good in front of them.
Version 2: Negiyaki
This is the same as version 1, but instead of using cabbage, substitute green onion (negi in Japanese) chopped up small. The taste is very different, but also delicious, and green onion cooks faster, so if you are having trouble with your cabbage cooking all the way through before it burns, this recipe is a lot easier to get right.
Version 3: Okonomiyaki Modern Style
I think they're saying "modern style" on their menues; it's hard to be sure, since it's just them sounding out words in English using katakana. Whatever the actual translation, this phrase is used in Kansai to mean okonomiyaki with noodles added in step 5 as the topping you want to brown. Cook spaghetti noodles or soba noodles in the usual way, then put some of them on before you flip the okonomiyaki back over to brown. this crisps the noodles and welds them to the pancake, and is my favorite way to eat okonomiyaki in restaurants. (You might want to add a bit more oil before flipping the okonomiyaki so the noodles don't stick, depending on what kind of pan you're using.)
-------------------
Many cultures have savory pancakes (Korean chijimi is quite similar), so I hope this recipe opens your eyes to a whole new way of cooking. It is a good example of "junk food", or "fast food", which is surprisingly good for you.
Read the Rest
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