Books

"I love to read," confesses a friend. "My favourite thing to do right after I wake up is pick up a book and read it in bed. It's like a slow start to the day."

I merely nod - my favourite thing to do right after I wake up is stare at the ceiling and think, but I'm not one to judge. "So do you have physical books, or a Kindle?"

My friend stares at me with some degree of horror. "A real book, of course."

Now don't get me wrong. The future of books is probably the Kindle. Given the ease of storage, the savings on both paper and printing, and the increased speed at which a digital book can be acquired compared to a real one, I don't see paper books lasting too much longer. That said, I grew up with books that were a weight in my lap, which had pages which had to be grasped to be turned. Part of my notion of reading involves curling up on a sofa or a comfortable chair with my back to a well-lit window, the feel of paper between my fingers. Maybe future generations will have a different idea of what is involved in reading. I don't know.

About a week ago I ordered some books from Amazon.com, including Machine of Death (a fantastic anthology, I might talk a bit more about it at some point) and What Do You Care What Other People Think? by the absolutely brilliant Richard Feynman. When they arrived, I unpacked the books and put them away, with the exception of Feynman's book, which I intended to read immediately. I plopped myself   onto my bed, a pillow at my back, and opened the book. Within seconds I was in the world the author had woven. There were only words on the paper, but my mind supplied the details - the sights, sounds, even smells - which each new word implied. I barely noticed the turning of the pages - they hardly registered as a break in the narrative's flow.

I don't think there's anything else out there which can quite compare to the experience of reading.

Recipe: Brioche Nanterre

I made a loaf of Brioche Nanterre for my (bread-obsessed) supervisor's birthday. He was extremely pleased with it, and shared it with the rest of the lab. I was told that there was some debate as to whether I had bought or made the bread.

Uh, gee. This was only my second foray into bread-making, and the loaf was rather misshapen. Also, not being a connoisseur when it comes to bread, I couldn't tell you if it was genuinely good. Nevertheless, here is the recipe for any interested parties.

Brioche Nanterre

(Adapted from a whole bunch of different recipes)

Ingredients

1 sachet (7 g) active dried yeast

1/4 cup warm milk

1/5 cup caster sugar

2 4/5 cups bread flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

125g soft butter, cut into 2 cm cubes

1 extra beaten egg, for egg wash

1 tbs poppy seeds

Combine yeast, milk and 1 tbs of the caster sugar in a small bowl. Leave for 5 minutes until it turns frothy and the yeast floats to the top. 

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and the remaining sugar. Make a well in the centre. Stir in the yeast mixture first, then gradually add the beaten eggs. Stir until just combined; a rather tough dough will form. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth.

Add 1-2 pieces of butter and work them into the dough until well combined. Continue to add butter cubes, a few at a time. The dough will gain a yellowish tinge and become stickier.

Place the dough in a bowl and set aside in a warm place (about 30-40 degrees C - I turned my oven into a makeshift incubator for this purpose) for one hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch down the dough and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth. Cover with a lightly-floured cling film and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.

The next morning, grease a standard loaf pan (for a non-stick pan, you can skip the greasing). Punch down the dough again and knead it for 5-10 minutes until it warms slightly and is easier to mould. Split the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece tightly between your hands until it forms a compact ball. Arrange the balls in two rows of three at the bottom of the loaf pan. Place the pain in a warm location (about 30-40 degrees C) for about 1 hour, until the dough has risen to about 2-3 cm above the edge of the pan. Alternatively, the dough can be left to rise at room temperature, but this will take about 3-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Brush the top of the dough with the beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Place the dough in the oven and immediately adjust the temperature to 190 degrees C. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 160 degrees C. Bake for another 20-35 minutes. (The timing will depend on the loaf pan you use - bread in a darker pan will bake a lot faster). The bread is done when it is a deep golden-brown on the top and sides, and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Turn out the bread onto a wire rack. Rest the loaf on its side and cool for 5 minutes, then turn it onto the other side. When hot, the bread can be wrapped in a clean tea-towel or some other breathable fabric. (Never wrap a warm loaf in plastic!) Otherwise, allow it to completely cool before packaging it.

The bread can be stored at room temperature for about two days, or in the refrigerator for a week.

The Ultimate Achievement

People, people. I have created something great.

A loaf of bread. It is delicious, and I may never buy bread ever again.

Hey, where are all of you going?

Numbers and Letters

I came across an interesting little factoid recently: the number four is the only number which has the same number of letters in its spelling as its definition. This may be true, but that sparked off another idea. How about equations?

The first I thought of was THREE TIMES FIVE. Fourteen characters without counting spaces - so close! I went higher - SEVENTY-TWO DIVIDED BY THREE. Twenty-five - again, off by one. If I didn't count the hyphen, it would be correct, but "seventy two" is so ungrammatical. My grammar sensibilities did allow "SEVENTY-TWO DIVIDE BY THREE", which had the correct number of characters.

In this vein, I found several more.

SIXTY-SIX DIVIDE BY THREE
SIXTY-NINE DIVIDE BY THREE
FIVE MULTIPLIED BY FOUR
TWENTY MINUS FIVE
TWELVE PLUS THREE
THIRTY-FOUR MINUS TWELVE
THIRTY TIMES TEN TO THE POWER OF ZERO


Okay, I admit I cheated a little with the last one.

New one! π ROUNDED TO THE TENTH PLACE TIMES TEN

A Momentous Occasion

Today, I started writing my PhD thesis.

The end has begun!

On an entirely different note, while the MRT Rap is largely cringe-worthy, the chorus is good and catchy. The bilingual lyrics just gave it a touch of Singaporean flavour to a performance which was otherwise trying too hard to imitate American rappers.

We'll take the MRT
It's where you want to be
No need for ERP
Mari kita!

Let's take the MRT
Come in and ride with me
This is equality
Mari kita!

And I did enjoy the parade. I got shivers from the theme song and the main performance, which was heartfelt and genuine. OK, the puppets were creepy. But the rest was great.

(Did you notice at the end, when President Nathan was shaking hands with some of the performers, he said  something to Gurmit Singh who promptly burst out laughing and patted the president on the back? I really want to know what he said!)

Window Message

I'm staring at the block of apartments opposite my own, or more specifically at a group of four windows.

Each window belongs to a different apartment. The top left one has the letters H, A, P, P, Y arranged out, one letter to a single A4 sheet, across its length. The window next to it bears a message which is harder to read - as it is handwritten using a thin marker on more A4 paper - but a little squinting proves that it spells "BDAY". The bottom left window, just like the one at the top left, also has a printed message, and reads "S'PORE". The last window, at the bottom right, has no writing. It simply has a large and familiar red-and-white flag stretched out across it.

Happy birthday, indeed.