Chocolate Souffle

I've taken to reading Mark Bittman's food blog on the NYT website. When he published an "easy" chocolate souffle recipe, I decided to go for it. Dad used to make souffle's all the time when I was a kid. And I distinctly remember discussion about the dessert "falling" before we could eat it. Dad sounded skeptical when I told him Bittman's recipe called for no roux, just eggs, cream of tartar, some salt, sugar, and chocolate. I made it tonight, and it was excellent. I think next time around I'll put more chocolate than he calls for, after consulting Dad about whether or not that will screw up the chemistry of the whole affair. I also think I left it in the oven about 3 minutes too long, because the top half is a little dry. But! For a first effort, I'm pleased. Picture and recipe below. I took the picture after I'd already enjoyed a bit... apologies.


Preheat oven to 350.
Butter dishes, sprinkle with sugar, invert dishes to get rid of excess.
Melt 2 oz. (good!) bittersweet baking chocolate in a double boiler.
Separate 3 eggs
In a medium bowl, whip egg yolks and 1 Tbsp. sugar until very light (in color) and thick. It is important that the yolks get white-it took about 5 minutes.
Stir melted chocolate into the yolk mix until well incorporated. Set aside.
Wash beaters well.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites, a pinch of salt, and a 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar until the whites hold soft peaks. Beat 1 Tbsp. sugar into the whites for just a few seconds, until the whites are glossy.
Stir a spoonful of the whites into the yolk and chocolate mixture to lighten it up.
Fold the remaining egg whites into the yolk and chocolate, carefully and slowly.
Once all the whites are in (don't over mix!), transfer the mixture into your prepared dish(es).
bake 20 minutes (for individual) and 25-30 minutes for one.

Third Grade Maps

Maps for orientation's sake. If you can't tell from this, I'll be crossing the equator more than a few times. Jinja, the nearest city to where I'll be is an equatorial town.


For more detail, I'll be about half the distance between Kampala and Jinja east of Jinja, if that makes sense. Nearer to the Kenyan border than the Congolese. Which is good.

Gallup is my new friend

So a few weeks ago I posted about a Gallup poll that showed the 50 states party-affiliations. Now they've released a nifty study on religiosity in the 50 states and around the world. Rhody (home of religious freedom), turns up on the right (read: progressive) side of the spectrum.

Note: I mean this as no offense, just look at the numbers and you will see that once you get above 75 percent religious fervor, you're dealing with states that often choose to ignore that pesky separation of church and state idea embedded in the Constitution.

New England as a whole is less religious than Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Louisiana, which round out the top 5 most religious states in the Union. Irony is that Alabama is about as religious as Iran. If only we understood better how much more similar we are to our enemies than even sometimes to our friends. Find the rest of the report here.

Uganda Village Project

It's been a while, but I got great news last night. I was accepted as a summer volunteer with the Uganda Village Project in the Iganga district in southeaster Uganda. I'm only slightly torn about committing to this project prior to hearing about the UN position. The UN job would be with the Department of Disarmament Affairs--my resume made it through the first round of "cuts" a few weeks ago--but I won't hear until March. My instinct is to believe that hanging out in the Ugandan jungle for 9 weeks is greater than pushing paper at an office in New York but it's still the UN. But really, it's been a really long time since I've been out of the country--save those 5 days in Thailand last March--and I'm really excited about the prospect of spending 9 weeks in a completely different environment. So yes, in the run-up to what I expect with be an incredible summer, I will try to write more, and then I will write a lot once I'm there.

Heart and Liver Failure

So it may appear that I've become obsessed with bacon this week. Trust me, this is nothing new. Bacon in all its glory is incapable of doing anything except making something awesome more awesome or something mediocre excellent. But this. This takes the cake.

Rhody Pride

Gallup has published a the first of a four-part survey on political allegiance in the 50 states. It details percentages of citizens who identify themselves as one of either major party, using that to determine the most democratic and most republican states in the nation. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Hawaii are the most democratic states as well as the District of Columbia. Utah and Wyoming rank number 1 and 2 on the elephant side. In addition to obviously being seriously proud of my little home state, the implications of the study are huge.

There are only 5 states that have large pluralities of people who identify themselves as Republicans. The two mentioned previously plus Nebraska, Alaska, and Idaho. Tell me again what happens in those states. I don't mean to be rude--honestly--but the major industries or economic activity in those five states seems to be potato farming and snowmobiling. Throw in fundraising to defeat civil rights legislation in neighboring California and you have yourself a hell of a trifecta. Let's look at the Donkey-loving states. We have Rhode Island, home of Roger Williams, America's first pioneer for religious freedom; and there is Massachusetts--where the shot heard round the world was fired and where Paul Revere led his men by the light of the Old North Church. Hawaii just happens to be tropical and the home of President Barack Obama (never. gets. old.).

So I ask you, would you rather follow a party whose base resides in a world where Joseph Smith and his golden tablets run the show, or where Paul Revere and Roger Williams--America's early patriots--are remembered and loved? All this talk about patriotism and Americana has me remembering what it was like to grow up in the fertile crescent of America's democracy. Inspiring.

Bacon is sexy

Don't even bother arguing with me. You know this is the most incredible thing you've ever heard of.