A new set...

...of photographs, taken in Slovenia, are now on Flickr.

50 Years of Doctrine and Practice on Displaced Persons Compressed into Three Pages i.e., ...

...a fact sheet on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, prepared for my course on International Policy Practice.

Maybe they just like Mariah Carey...

Sitting this afternoon in the CEU cafeteria, I turned and glared at the speakers blaring the broadcast from a local radio station. So jarring was the music that I continued to stare for a few seconds before resigning myself to eating my lunch. But even as I sat, slowly digesting my greasy midday meal, the thought remained in my head: it is far too early in the year for "Santa Claus is Coming to Town..."

What good are all those pixels if nobody can appreciate them?

I've been posting photographs from Budapest on my Facebook profile, but have been frustrated with the site's limited storage capacity and functionality. Enter Flickr, an online community where photographers of every ilk can share their work. (O, would that it were owned by Google and not Yahoo!...integration with Blogger would be a breeze!)

Issues of ownership aside, I've posted my first set of photos on Flickr, in glorious, full-resolution black and white. (There is a single color shot in the set which I'm quite fond of, actually, though I find my favorite is the dark, brooding image of István Bibó.)

Saturday Morning Coming Down

For any and all interested: an album of photos taken yesterday, October 13, 2007. I'm considering moving these to Flickr...perhaps, perhaps not...

Can't We All Just Get Along and Use the Same Damn Measurement System?

As in any scientific endeavor, it is difficult to manage a complete failure in baking, as even recipes that have gone far awry still hold some value: one can usually enjoy at least a modicum of success, if not the knowledge that, most likely, there was much done correctly in the process, with all of it being thrown off by possibly one small error, one minute miscalculation.

Of course, if dealing with a new recipe, it can be difficult to discern where such an error lies. However, when using a recipe one has previously made, it is considerably easier to track down the source of error in a recipe that resulted in a less-than-ideal product.

Thus, when the blueberry scones I baked this morning turned out soft and lacking the ideal flakiness, I compared my process to that I used when I last made the recipe, which resulted in firm, flaky scones, well-risen.

The most obvious difference is that I'm baked this most recent batch in Hungary and not in the U.S. This, of course, means that I am required to use the metric system when purchasing items and when measuring temperature. (I thankfully have a set of U.S. measuring cups and spoons graciously sent from home!) I did not, however, measure the amount of butter correctly: I grated about 24 tablespoons, despite only needing a third of that amount.

Another difference was the size of the recipe. Wanting a higher yield from this batch than my last, I multiplied the recipe by one-and-a-half.

Third, I made a significant substitution. The grocer's I visited Saturday to collect ingredients didn't stock baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). I did, however, find powdered baking ammonia (ammonium bicarbonate), which is similar in composition to baking soda and, supposedly, can be substituted for baking soda.

Fourth, there was a serious dearth of equipment in the kitchen. Most significantly, a lack of mixing bowls or stockpots left me using small saucepans to combine ingredients.

Finally, while I prepared the dough last night, I froze it overnight, baking it this morning.

In one of these above differences, in a combination thereof, or in some factor I have yet to consider (Sarah Lippek has suggested that perhaps a Hungarian effluvia of sorts effects the baking process here), lies the difference between the soft, flat, dense scones I have and the full, firm, flaky ones I once made.

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