Tomorrow is LSAT Day. For this reason, I am at home today relaxing, running a few light errands (hair cut! yes! it's been 12 weeks!), baking bread and oh yes preparing for the test (printing my ticket, gathering my pencils, etc). Tomorrow promises to be a long day; the test does not begin until 2pm here (for the record, the sun sets at 3:30pm; brain sets at 5:00pm) to align with the US test start time of 9am (the poor kids in OZ and NZ have to test on Sunday). Fortunately, I'll be taking the test in London which is an easy 45 minute train ride from Cambridge. Hopefully everything will go as it should and we test takers won't be held anywhere close to the 7 hours that the LSAC allots for testing (just in case).
So what is the LSAT? I've been getting lots of questions about what exactly the test entails from family, friends, and of course non-Americans. The LSAT (Law School Admission Test) is an exam administered by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) that attempts to measure logical and verbal reasoning skills. It is, as its name indicates, one of the many requirements for admission to American Bar Association approved law schools. The test in its modern incarnation (since the early 90s) consists of 4 scored sections, 1 non-scored experimental section, and 1 non-scored writing sample which is sent to law schools along with your LSAT score. Each of 4 scored sections contain 25-28 questions which you have 35 minutes to complete. These scored sections include logical reasoning (2 sections), logic games (1 section), and reading comprehension (1 section). When I started studying (British English: revising) for the LSAT a couple of months ago, I felt unsure about the logical reasoning sections. I had encountered basic conditional logic ('If p, then q' stuff) before in 10th geometry and 12 grade philosophy and hated it. Logical reasoning on the LSAT, however, is more than 'If p then q' (sometimes the LR question might be as simple as 'what is the main point of the argument?'), and my study books were extremely helpful in explaining why 'If p then q' when it came to that (current & future teachers take note: "because it is" is never a helpful answer). As a result, I feel much more confident with the logical reasoning sections, though I still don't find them as fun (yes, I said fun) as the logic games or as easy as reading comprehension (what can I say, it's always been my standardised testing forte). Following the test, the performances on each of the sections are tallied. This raw number is then converted into a scaled score from 120 to 180. The higher up the scale, the better the score. Do I have a particular score in mind? Well, I have an idea of where I would like to be of course. Depending on how I perform, I could take the test again; you can take the LSAT multiple times, however when applying to law school, the LSAC sends all scores regardless. Schools then tend to average the scores so it could hurt or help. But right now, I'm not thinking about that. I'm focusing on tomorrow and doing my best.
And so, I'm off to relax! Thanks to everyone for all the well-wishes and encouragement; I'll let you know how it goes. :o)
Friday, December 5, 2008
LSAT Day
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Sub-Zero!
We're currently experiencing a week-long cold spell resulting in SUB-ZERO temperatures!
Well, sub-zero on the Celsius scale that is.
(It's also sunny. So, really, it's not too bad. We prefer the cold and crisp winter weather to the damp, dark, and chilly winters characteristic of England.)
Nevertheless, it is freezing and we are cold. Who would have thought that one winter away from truly cold weather would weaken us so? Even Will is wearing extra layers! He is now donning a sweatshirt with his usual t-shirt and shorts when hanging around the flat. Jackie, who gets cold easily, is up to 3 or 4 layers, and plans to single-handedly save the American economy by buying lots and lots of smartwool socks (seriously, I only wear socks in winter, why should I waste my time/money with wussy cotton blends?). Needless to say, this week's cold winter weather has been good preparation for the weather we anticipate experiencing during our upcoming trip to the US (2 weeks! ahh! so excited!).
In other news, Will finishes up supervisions this week and Jackie finishes up work next week. Both of us will resume these activities in January. At that time, Jackie will also *officially* resume the full-time job hunt. Watch this space!
Regarding other *official* matters, Will is *officially* a Cambridge graduate student. Hurrah! Following his successful First Year Meeting held last month, Will finally received the *official* letter confirming his retroactive registration as a PhD student. Sometime soon he should also receive an *official* letter outlining his PhD schedule and submission deadline. To celebrate Will's *official* PhD student status and Jackie's completion of the LSAT (well, the completion of her first -potentially final- test anyway), we'll be going out Saturday evening for "the highest quality authentic Mexican fare this side of the Atlantic". Oh, and we'll also be watching a very important football game. Very important, don't forget.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
SMB: Granola
Wow, we woke up late today - 10am! That's unusual for us. Guess we needed the rest. Anyway, we hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving and have recovered from the inevitable Thanksgiving Day food coma. While we missed out on the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie, we thoroughly enjoyed an excellent takeaway curry from one of our favorite Indian restaurants in Cambridge. Now, before you start thinking "curry is just not Thanksgiving fare," perhaps you should consider the following:
1. It involves Indians.
2. India was a British colony too (far more important than America; the 'jewel in the Empire's crown' if you will).
3. Having lived in Britain, we can assure you that the pilgrims would have totally served takeaway curry (or more likely, ready-made meals from Sainsburys/Tesco) at the first Thanksgiving if they had access to it at the time.
4. Most importantly, it's how we spent our first Thanksgiving in a 'new' land.
Of course no Thanksgiving meal would have been complete without dessert. However, gulab jamun was [cruelly] not available for takeaway. As a result, we had something a bit more traditional. Our last veggie box included a lovely, intelligent sweet potato (Brit English: yam) that magically transformed itself into a delicious adaptation of this recipe Will's mom shared with us [last fall].
That being said, let's move on to the weekend. Specifically, weekend breakfast. Though we did not suffer the food coma, after cinnamon rolls last weekend and curry on Thanksgiving, we were in the mood for something a bit lighter and healthier for breakfast (oh yeah and easier to make too). 
We'd never made granola before, but found it to be quite simple. The basic granola components (oats, syrups, nuts and dried fruits) are suited to customization which allowed us to play around according to our tastes, the seasons, etc. Since Thanksgiving is over and it is now officially acceptable to listen to Christmas music, decorate the tree, and engage in other Christmas-related activities, we're calling this particular mixture of spices and flavors 'Holiday Granola' (and by 'we" you should know by know that we mean Jackie). It still needs some tweaking, but it was tasty nonetheless.
Our Holiday Granola
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup dried cranberries
3 tbsp vegetable oil (we use grapeseed; canola is good too)
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp vanilla or 1 vanilla bean split open and seeds scraped out
Put the honey, maple syrup, orange juice and zest, oil, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then stop heat and let sit, covered for 30 minutes to infuse.
Preheat oven to 300 F/150 C. Prepare baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients (except for dried cranberries). Pour liquid mixture over dry and mix well.
Spread granola on baking sheet and bake for 45-60 minutes. After taking out, let cool completely, then add dried cranberries.
Makes 2-4 servings. Enjoy with milk or yogurt. Add fresh berries too if you'd like.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
SMB: Cinnamon Rolls & Company!
Our friend Michael is visiting from Bath this weekend. Apparently, the promise of cinnamon rolls on Saturday morning helped him decide whether to book his train to Cambridge for Friday night or Saturday afternoon. We hope they lived up to the hype, especially since we (and by 'we', we mean Jackie) had never before made them from scratch. We prepared the rolls on Friday night (it helped that Michael's train wasn't arriving until 10pm, so we were going to be up late anyway), so that we would be able to pop them in the oven as soon as we woke up. The past few Saturdays we have found ourselves rising after 9am, having to make breakfast and not finishing our meal until after 11am, so preparing the cinnamon rolls the night before worked marvelously. In fact, it's not yet 11am and Will and Michael have already taken off to visit the Engineering Department and the Fitzwilliam Museum, and I (Jackie) will shortly commence my LSAT studying for the day.
But right now it's all about the cinnamon rolls and their deliciousness.
Cinnamon rolls or cinnamon buns do not appear to be very common here. The UK has several sweet roll and bun varieties, notably Chelsea Buns or Bath Buns, most of which are made with Lyle's Golden Syrup and sultanas rather than icing, cinnamon-sugar and nuts and eaten at tea, not breakfast. This lack of cinnamon rolls/buns is probably due to the fact that breakfast pastries and such are more of a continental thing.; the traditional 'full English' breakfast consists of various fried and hearty items, but nothing sweet. Furthermore, cinnamon rolls specifically are Swedish in origin, which explains why they can be found fairly easily in the US (lots of Swedish immigrants), but not in Britain (not a lot of Swedish immigrants).
Hence to satisfy any cinnamon roll/bun craving, we have had to learn how to make our own. So "we" did.
Cinnamon Rolls
Dough
2x 7g sachets dried yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup milk
125g/8.5 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
4 cups plain all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Filling
80g/5.5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Icing
1 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp warm water
1/2 tsp tsp vanilla
For the dough
Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.
Place milk, cubed butter in a small saucepan and heat until butter is melted.
Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Add sugar and stir to combine.
Make a well in the center and add the eggs, and milk and yeast mixtures.
Stir until a smooth dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes, working in extra flour if dough is too sticky.
Place the dough into a large lightly floured bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Keep the bowl in a warm area and allow to rise for 30 minutes to an hour. The dough should have doubled in size.
Punch the dough down and on a floured surface roll into a large rectangle.
Brush generously with melted butter, reserving some for later, and sprinkle some brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the surface.
Roll the dough up, to make a log.
With the seam-side down, cut the roll into 1 inch thick slices and place on baking trays 1.5 cm apart.
Brush the tops of the rolls with the remaining butter.
Cover loosely and leave to rise until doubled again.*
To bake, preheat oven to 180 C/350 F
Bake rolls for 15-25 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes then drizzle with icing.
For the icing
Dissolve icing sugar in warm water and add vanilla in a mixing bowl.*
Stir until smooth. Add extra water if the icing is too thick to drizzle.
*Notes*
1. You can obviously add chopped nuts or chopped dried fruit etc to your cinnamon rolls if you want. To do this, add the nuts/fruit to the dough in the last 2 minutes of the initial kneading.
2. After the cut rolls had doubled, we put the baking trays in the fridge overnight. There didn't seem to be too much deflation in the morning, and it made making the Saturday morning part of SMB much quicker.
3. I also made orange flavored icing for our cinnamon rolls. Growing up, my family used to buy the Pillsbury/THWACK! Tube cinnamon rolls, and the ones with orange icing were always my favorite. To make orange flavored icing, add the zest of 1/2 an orange and a little bit of orange juice to the icing mixture.
4. It's probably pretty clear to you right now that I do most of the cooking, particularly the baking. So what does Will do? Well, if I cook, then he washes the dishes (and vice versa). See?
