What happens during this time?

This.

And this.

But not much of anything else, like cooking or housecleaning…

This homemade version, on the other hand, was a warm and tasty way to use up just a small quantity of loaf. I expect I will make it again several times this winter because it’s that kind of cozy curl-up-with-a-cup-of-tea-or-coffee type of dessert.

My bread pudding looked kinda like this. (Image by Rocky Yeh)

Other success: these oatmeal muffins, another successful find from 101 Cookbooks which turned out less like a muffin and more like, well, a breakfast bread pudding or not-very-eggy custard. I know that might sound weird but these were probably the tastiest muffins I have ever had. (Not the healthiest ones, mind you! I should do something a little more nutritious for breakfast muffins next week…) These even turned out just like the picture on the original recipe post, WIN.

Found on Etsy

Found at Anthropologie (I don’t think they sell this anymore…)

P.S.

There is a new episode of Cooking with Dog today!

Qwiki could be thought of as an animated and abbreviated version of Wikipedia. You give it a topic and it generates a very nice slideshow of images related to that topic (which you can click on to get more info) and begins a short narration of related facts. The digital voice isn’t perfectly human yet, but it is getting fairly close (and personally I feel it sounds quite authoritative – computers are supposed to be correct about stuff after all, aren’t they? :P). At the end of the presentation there are related topics suggested for you; if that isn’t enough, during the narration you can click on highlighted words to be shown those other topics as well.

But what is the best part about this? You can watch it with other people. It is difficult for two people to sit and read Wikipedia together – everyone reads at a different speed. This is more like watching a short clip from, say, PBS or something.

From the website:

“Whether you’re planning a vacation on the web, evaluating restaurants on your phone, or helping with homework in front of the family Google TV, Qwiki is working to deliver information in a format that’s quintessentially human – via storytelling instead of search.”

You can even embed Qwikis into another web page, like I did with this one about cats.

View Cat and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

Don’t like cats? How about chocolate?

View Chocolate and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.

If you end up playing around with Qwiki for a few hours after reading this, leave me a comment and let me know what your favorite topic was (or better yet, leave me the link to it)!

Adonna Khare, Chimp with Ibex & Kiwi Bird, 2008

Adonna Khare, The Lioness, 2008

Guards custard innards from the

Heating element

If you make one recipe this year, it had better be this one.

101 Cookbooks’ Oatmeal Muffins

It was the best surprise of the week.

That is all.

September

Also: Is this from Sweden? Yes.

Wandering Wednesday aims to profile many of the world’s countries, regions, territories, etc. – any place, really – with basic facts, regional curiosities and (hopefully) beautiful images. They may or may not go in any sort of order and the factuality of statements is only as good as it is on Wikipedia (unfortunately I cannot verify every tidbit by visiting each location). For now I will work up from the bottom of the list of countries by population found here.

Pitcairn Islands

(via Wikimedia Commons)

Pitcairn Islands is not actually a country but is a British Territory, located in French Polynesia. There are about 60 people living on one of the four islands (and none on the other three), and this island is only accessible by boat. They could fill up my apartment complex and have room for all of their belongings too… Neither facts nor photographs of this place are particularly abundant, which may have something to do with the lack of electronics shops in the main town.

This map best demonstrates the remoteness of these islands. (via Wikimedia Commons)

The islands were settled around 1790 by a handful of mutineer sailors and their families who got off to a rocky start. There have been at most 233 folks living there at one time. Pitcairn Islands is the world’s smallest democracy; the head of government is the mayor!

Pitcairn is home to one (introduced!) Galapagos giant tortoise, Turpen. It is also home to one bar, one internet connection, two (!) cars, and one really intense public service program, which requires anyone of adult age to help maintain the island’s roads. Most of the folks get around using ATVs if the distance is too far to walk (it usually isn’t).

Image via Travellerspoint

Tourism comprises about 80% of the islands’ economy. All electricity currently comes from diesel-powered generators and only runs for 10 hours each day (though there are plans to build a wind power facility in the near future!). So it’s not exactly a luxury destination yet, but if I’m ever in the area I would definitely paddle in and say hi to the turtle and these hardy islanders, if only so that I can update this post and add to what little information I have been able to find.