This is a true family recipe. When I made it for dinner today, I had to call my sister to make sure I remembered it correctly. We don’t know any place to find it other than our family’s collective memory. It was my sister’s idea that I should share the recipe on the blog. I never would have thought to… Read more →
I am quite certain I would not have landed a permanent academic job without the amazing advice I received from my post-doc mentors and earlier on from my PhD advisor. So I’ll stop whining for a minute to pass their insights on to you, and add my two cents while I’m at it. If you’re likely to get the Fields Medal or the… Read more →
I’ve been a bit depressed lately, so I haven’t felt like writing. I considered writing about being a bit depressed, but I’ll never do it as well as Hyperbole and a Half so it seemed pointless. Besides, as far as depression goes mine is laughably mild, so why make it a big deal by devoting a blog post to it. That’s just… Read more →
Pink, Pixie and I have just returned from a two-month tour of the world where we caught up with countless friends and family members, many of whom are parents of young children. When you only see someone face to face once or twice a year, there is always an element of surprise: bellies have turned into babies, last year’s infants… Read more →
After this late Valentine’s Day post, here is the next in the series of badly timed holiday writing – published with my mom’s consent. The week before Mother’s day in fourth grade, my teacher suggested that we make the day special for our moms by preparing a nice breakfast for them. I loved to cook and bake, in fact, I was… Read more →
(TW: Weight-related feelings and some mild behaviours described. No specific numbers.) One of my friends in university was writing a psychology essay on the effects of the internet on young women suffering from eating disorders. She told me about forums and message boards she read as part of her research, where anorexia is encouraged as a “lifestyle choice”. Women and… Read more →
Post-docs inhabit the nether-land of academia between completing a PhD and landing a permanent, or tenure-track, job at a university. They work on fixed term contracts that could be as short as four months, or, in exceptional cases as long as four years; on average two to three years. They are better off than sessional instructors in that they stand… Read more →
These little pastries are an Eastern European version of pain au chocolat. I like them just as much as their more famous French cousin, but they are easier to make due to a lower butter content. When I was growing up chocolate snails were a breakfast treat, but they take a few hours to make and taste best fresh out… Read more →
I should have written this post for Valentine’s day. A little while ago a good friend of mine, who has been happily coupled to his now-wife since they were 20 years old, asked me how one messes up a relationship. (I hope he wasn’t looking for practical advice.) More specifically, he said: At the beginning, all you want to do… Read more →
This is the promised second post about being a woman, you can read the first one here. I would like to repeat that I’m not aiming for any grand conclusion: I am simply sharing an odd assortment of stories for my own entertainment and maybe yours. When I’m feeling ambitious, I might hope to contribute to a better, less polarised… Read more →