Conelandia

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For those who are about to either stalk Conan O'Brien upon his arrival tomorrow afternoon around 3:30 or loiter downtown in hopes of rubbernecking or getting on the show, I feel compelled remind you that Finnair does fly non-stop to NYC daily (for less than 400 euro even) where you can get free tickets to the show to see him in person without having to freeze your ass off while hoping to bump into him at random. I live in the center and, while I love Conan and am looking forward to seeing the Finland segments on the show, I'm dreading the throng of people who don't have anything better to do than bunge up the city all weekend long. I'd love to see him but I figure that he isn't flying several thousand miles to visit with expat Yankees and I get enough time out in the cold with Otava. But, Conan, if you and your crew are in the neighbourhood on Sunday evening and feel like coffee and a freshly baked seasonal treat, I'll be baking so feel free to drop in as long as you don't mind a little hair and drool from our 75kg canine greeter. :)

Those staying indoors and away from the throng might find this recent article in The Morning News,The Bear in Helsinki, amusing. There's also an interesting photo exhibit starting on the 14th at Laterna Magica, panoramic photos taken 77 years apart of the same scenes by Alfred Nybom and Christian Westerback.

Over the past few months, between all the usual 'hurry up and wait' parts of my job which make it hard to concentrate on any one thing for very long, I've been casually surfing Amazon for a few minutes here and there. I think I must be shopping mostly in the afternoon when I'm hungry as, well, I do seem to have chosen a few cookbooks.

• Molecular Gastronomy: Exploring the Science of Flavor ϖ Looks promising. I was always interested in flavour chemistry, even if I still can't stand the smell of banana after one too many freshman chem lab experiments put me off of it.
• A Swedish Kitchen: Recipes and Reminiscences ϖ Since so many Finnish dishes seem to have Swedish origins, I thought it might be interesting look into it a bit more.
• The Swedish Table ϖ Excellent cookbook written by a Swedish-born woman who moved to the States since her Father was American. It's aimed, I think, at the snobbier end of the foodie crowd, but the recipes are well done and her narrative is very interesting given that she was a black girl growing up in Northern Sweden.
• The Chocolate Connoisseur ϖ I like chocolate, but thought it might be nice to know more about it in a market that has a lot of overpriced crap.
• The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread ϖ I love baking bread and am rather bored with the pre-made varieties lately.
• How Baking Works: Exploring the Fundamentals of Baking Science ϖ Informative. I keep thinking that someone should write a book for GKP, Good Kitchen Practice, in the same vein as GLP, Good Laboratory Practice, that research labs have to adhere to.
• The Simple Art of Perfect Baking ϖ Normally I shy away from books that have 'perfect', etc., in the title but I tried a recipe or two and this book is excellent for baking techniques.
• American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza ϖ When faced with a choice of local or Pizza Hut pizza, the tough make it themselves.
• Democracy in America: And Two Essays on America ϖ I need to reread this for the book that follows.
• American Vertigo: Traveling America in the Footsteps of Tocqueville ϖ Oh, I can hear the right-wingers freaking out over a snobby educated Frenchman commenting on America already. :)
• Right, Wrong, and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage ϖ And one of these days I might actually use proper punctuation.
• Fanboys and Overdogs: The Language Report ϖ It would appear that OUP is making this report annual.
• Insisting on the Impossible: The Life of Edwin Land (Sloan Technology Series) ϖ I've always wanted to read this as the books from the STS are excellent. I'm not really sure why they stopped the series.
• Company: A Novel ϖ A book making fun of corporate America by the author of the Jennifer Government.
• Johnny and the Dead ϖ More Pratchett.
• Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles ϖ More from the Canongate Myths series.