A Perfect Example of the Title of this Blog . . .

. . . suddenly, we are cat-owners-by-proxy. Which is to say, our housekeeper's son took in a stray kitten, and I've taken some responsibility for it, dealing with vet care and so on, and letting it stay at our house during the day, when there's nobody home at their house. But these things snowball (guess what Joffre named the kitten?), and I have a feeling the shift of ownership is going to be inevitable. The kids are totally smitten, and it's heartwarming to see how loving and caring they are with the little guy.

But we can't take a kitty back to Canada with us.

I want a kitty.

sigh . . .

Uighur Nan Recipe

This is a bread I truly love. You have to cook it on a pizza stone or on the back of a cookie sheet in the oven at the highest heat you have - around 500 degrees.

Ingredients:
1.25 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp yeast
1/2 Tbsp salt
3.5 cups (approx) white flour

Garnish:
rock salt
chopped green onion
caraway seeds
cumin seeds

Mix the sugar with the water and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Once the yeast is nice and foamy, add the salt and flour and mix and knead till you have a nice elastic dough. Cover, but don't oil, and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm place.

Punch dough down, knead briefly, and let rise again for about a 1/2 hour.

Have a bowl of water handy for the next bit.

Roll dough out into a long snake and cut into eight equal pieces. Put the pizza stone or cookie sheet in the oven, and turn it on to 500 degrees. Shape pieces of dough into balls and roll out into 8-inch rounds (note: I cannot for the life of me make these rounds round). Using a fork, punch many many holes in the centre of the rounds. The idea is to leave the edges to puff up while the middle is flat and cracker-like. Wash a bit of the water over the surface of the round, sprinkle with rock salt, and toss a bit of green onion and spices over the centre. Place as many nans on the pizza stone as will easily fit without touching, and let bake until puffy and golden. When the nan comes out of the oven, brush it with a bit of melted butter while still hot.

Serve with curries, kebabs, Middle Eastern salads - - - anything you like, really.

Vague Nod at Food Category

I used to post recipes occasionally in my old blog, and I think I'll start doing it again. I'm lousy at recipes generally, since I usually just cook by instinct, but there is the odd recipe that is worth talking about:

Mediterranean Lamb Stew
Ingredients:
5-6 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp hot pepper sauce
2 tsps cumin
1 tsp cardamom (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ginger powder or small amount grated fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
3-4 lamb chops (neck)
1/2 chicken boullion cube or 1/2 tsp bouillion powder
4 large carrots
1.5 cups chopped zucchini, eggplant, or other squash
1 diced onion
1 cup fava or garbanzo beans, or substitute chopped green beans
1 large handful diced parsley or fresh coriander
juice of 1 small lemon
1 cup of green olives (or figs, or apricots, or raisins)

In a food processor or blender, combine everything before "lamb chops" (or just crush garlic and mix thoroughly with the rest). Coat chops with this mixture and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Put chops in a deep pot on the stove over a very low heat, and heat for ten or 15 minutes. Add water to cover, carrots, squash, onions and beans, cover, and let simmer over extremely low heat for 2 hours. Feel free to adjust quantities to taste.

Once lamb is well cooked, remove from stew and bring remaining ingredients to a boil, to thicken and reduce liquid. Cool lamb slightly and strip meat from bones. If you like, you can put the meat under the broiler at this point to crisp it and brown it a bit. When stew is nearly ready, reduce heat and add lemon juice, coriander or parsley, meat, and olives or fruit. Cook until olives or fruit are thoroughly heated.

Serve with steamed rice, couscous, or quinoa and fresh bread with butter.

Serves 4, or two really hungry people. ;)

What I've Been Waiting For

I got an email last night telling me that I'd been accepted at UBC. Only two days earlier, I'd received word that they finally had my LSAT score and had forwarded my application on for review.

It feels so wonderful to have this over with, and just be looking forward to the next step. I feel like looking into picking up textbooks ahead of time so I can get studying before the school year starts. That's gotta be a good sign!

Oh, the Glitches . . .

So, I finally followed up on the file status issue. It turns out that they were under the impression that my LSAT was not to be taken until February. I cringe when I think of the office staff rolling their eyes at the twit who wants to know if her file is complete, when she hasn't even written the test yet . . .

So I emailed with my score and my LSAC ID number, but got no response. For five days. So I phoned and talked with an administrator who was very sweet and friendly but not at all helpful - basically she told me not to worry, and that my file was not complete but that everything would be fine.

Today I called the woman with whom I'd been emailing, directly, and asked her about it. She said that when they try to get my score from LSAC, they get a "results unavailable, future test date" message, or something to that effect. So, it looks as though the problem is on LSAC's end, not mine (as in, mistake on application), or on the university's. So, I guess that's good? She said she would look into it, took my SIN and LSAC ID again, and said she'd let me know what she digs up.

At least I'm on their radar now, right?