Two weeks to go

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I hope this is my first and last semester with 5 final exams.

29 Apr, Monday: Introductory Bioinformatics
30 Apr, Tuesday: Making Sense of Society
2 May, Thursday: The Biophysical Environment of Singapore
6 May, Monday: Cell Biology
7 May, Tuesday: Statistics for Life Sciences

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

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The big ‘why’

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Not a great morning to wake up to. I’m in a state of incredulity where all I feel like doing is stay home and do work and not talk to anyone.

The Boston Marathon, which coincided with Patriots Day, concluded with two major explosions at the finish line just before 3pm (3am Singapore time, about 5 hours ago). The reports (1, 2, 3) say that 2 people are dead, with over a hundred injured, including some who are in critical conditions. The pictures are frightening and worrisome but I’m sure it doesn’t match up to the scene there presently.

I am so relieved that Zaff is safe, Alhamdulillah.

Man-made (or man-controlled) disasters makes my heart ache, regardless of the cause. I can’t understand the reasons why someone (or people) would show their feelings by harming other innocent (or even like-feeling) people. It makes me question the goodness of mankind, which is so evident in large and small ways everyday. Though, it somewhat helps to remember that for each person suffering, a lot more people are there to hug, help and/or support them.

I can only hope that the reasons behind the cause are addressed appropriately. That in time to come, less big ‘why’s come our way. That the future (and my children’s) will be brighter, and not dimmer, than the world is today.

Sorry for the incoherence and overuse of parantheses. Not a great morning, but good morning anyway.

EDIT: Thanks for the reminder Hank. [Gifset: x, Video: x]

 
 

EDIT 2: And thanks John. [Video: x]

“Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” – Fred Rogers
“We can always look and hope to the helpers, and endeavour to be among them.” – John Green

Dark chocolate cranberry oat cookies

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Back story:

  1. I bought a pack of dried cranberries some time ago to make scones, but never found time to do so past my first attempt.
  2. I was sick of studying during recess week, so Googled “cranberry cookie recipe,” and this one appeared on the first page. I chose it because it had the best-sounding website name. Pretty happy with the outcome :D

Domain names aren’t my only criteria for choosing a recipe, of course. There’s stuff like ease of obtaining ingredients (whether I have them at home), simplicity of recipe (the fewer dishes to clean, the better), and on most occasions, my tastebuds (do I feel like eating this?).

Note: I have a tendency to produce more than the suggested serving size. It’s not a bad thing, but might mislead some of you. I got about 50 cookies from this while the original recipe only produced 30.

I think it’s better to make more (small) cookies, so that you feel less guilty after each piece. Plus there’s more to share as well.

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Originally from twopeasandtheirpod

Makes 50 cookies

1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups oats
1 cup chopped dark chocolate [The original recipe uses dark chocolate chips, but I went with 100g of Cadbury's dark chocolate bar. I liked that this produced uneven pieces.]
3/4 cup dried cranberries [My 100g pack of dried cranberries sufficed.]

  1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Line baking tray with baking paper.
  2. Cream sugars and butter for a few minutes, until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Mix until well combined.
  3. In a separate bowl, add salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour. Stir to combine.
  4. Add flour mixture slowly to the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated.
  5. Stir in oats, chocolate, and dried cranberries.
  6. Make 1-tbsp dough balls, flatten slightly before placing on baking sheet. These will spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned. Remove and cool on baking sheet for three minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

These were deeelightful. They were soft when warm from the oven, slightly crunchy once they cooled, then chewy after stored in an airtight container overnight.

I separated the full batch into three; I baked the first one and froze the other two in Ziploc bags to get fresh cookies for the rest of the week :)

Pancakes for one

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I recently learnt that there’s a difference between American and British pancakes. It turns out that the “hotcakes” that McDonald’s sells locally are closer to the former.

American pancakes are fluffy and thicker while British pancakes contain no raising agent and are hence thinner (like crepes).

American pancakes

British pancakes

To add to the distinction, the IHOP (International House of Pancakes) in the USA started National Pancake Day in 2006 to raise money for charity. The dates vary but have been contained within February. This year on February 5, IHOP offered a free stack to each customer to encourage donations to their selected charities.

In the UK and several other countries, Pancake Day coincides with Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. The latter is the first day of Lent which marks the start of a ritual fast until Easter Sunday. Because Easter varies each year with the lunar cycle, the dates of Pancake Day also differ. It fell on 12th February this year, two days ago. Shrove Tuesday also generated Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) – I learnt this from my Soci module!

Anyway, the point of this post is to share the recipes I used to make the pancakes above. I’m more well-acquainted with American pancakes so it seems tastier to me. I think I might enjoy British pancakes better as crepes, i.e. with some good ol’ filling.

When I made these (pretty much whenever I cook, actually), I was cooking for one. There’s usually no one at home and when there is, it means my grandma is cooking. So I cut down the recipes from the original to prevent wastage. Most times I round measurements up or down to make life easier ;)

1) American pancakes
Adapted from ItsRaphaBlueBerry (full recipe in video’s description box)

Makes 3 medium pancakes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 rounded tsp baking powder
1/4 rounded tsp salt
1 tsp white sugar
1/3 egg, beaten (I scrambled the remainder with black pepper)
10g butter, melted (It’s supposedly 15g, but I already have 10g mini-packets of butter)
1/3 cup milk

  1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) together.
  2. Stir in egg and butter to form an even, dry mixture. (You don’t have to beat the egg first if you’re using the full recipe. I did it to get as close to 1/3 of an egg as possible.)
  3. Add milk gradually. Beat well after each addition to minimise lumps.
  4. Heat a pan on the stove over low heat. Pour a third of the batter, then use a spoon to make it circular and level it out. Once bubbles begin to appear and the edges have lifted off the pan, flip the pancake over. Once both sides have reached a light brown colour, remove from heat. Do the same for the rest of the batter.
  5. Enjoy with your choice of toppings.

You could actually add the toppings directly to the batter once you pour it onto the pan, e.g. chocolate chips, blueberries, chopped strawberries. These pancakes are thick enough to hold them in place. I like mine with a drizzle of honey, most of the time :D

2) British pancakes

I craved for pancakes after watching Dan and Phil cook them, and immediately made some! Since I made these early last month, I don’t remember the reduced measurements from this recipe by Delia Smith. They were really tasty, but not fluffy enough for my liking. I’d love to try them with lemon and sugar – an apparently common way to eat them.