Moving in and a new school year!

I just recently moved into my new place in Tucson a couple miles north of campus. For those of you who do not know, potentially all but very few, I am living with two international students and colleagues in the Economics Department. One is from Germany and one is from Pakistan. One is a Christian and one is a Muslim. And I am sure you are aware that I am American and Jewish. I introduce these facts because I am quite excited to share living space and casual conversation with individuals from different cultures and backgrounds. My German friend likes baking German chocolate cakes and playing fun board games. My Pakistani friend likes to play Fifa and watch soccer (futbol). So it seems already that we have many things in common. Of course I have come to know more details about them than these few but do not think a personal blog of mine is an appropriate place to reveal such things.

At this point we are pretty much all settled in: we just baked the first batch of home baked cookies, we are onto our second loads of laundry, and I have even christened the living room couch with my family tradition of sleeping on it for many consecutive nights.

The place is a 15-20 minute bike ride from class. The time varies depending on the time of day (hot? or extremely hot?) the direction (up or down hill) the tempo of my ipod's chosen track list, and my eagerness to arrive at the coming destination (always anxious to get to an 8 AM Econometrics class!) As you can imagine, living in this desert in the month of August makes daytime commutes quite draining. The only technique we have developed to combat the consequences of this is to wear a spare shirt during trips, then changing once we have made it to class. Maybe that doesn't provide you with a satisfying mental image...then again maybe it does.

As a side note: There are some weirdo's who think it necessary to ride their bikes completely across the continental US over the months of July and August: Kurt. In light of this fact, I don't feel entitled to any sympathy for my woes.

Class has been fun. I thought it quite refreshing that on the first day on a PhD level Game Theory class our professor introduced a classic conundrum found in the Sherlock Holmes saga. The specific story is entitled "The Final Problem". In it, Sherlock has been tracked by his nemesis Dr. Moriarty to one of two train stations. Sherlock must decide which of two train stations to disembark. Moriarty must pick which of the two to track him to. If Sherlock picks the same one as Moriarty, there will certainly be fatal consequences. Sherlock anticipates, with certainty, which station Moriarty will choose and escapes freely. As I am aware from our discussion in class, and based on my understanding of rationalizability, Sherlock's conclusion was incorrect. Rationalizability in essence means that both Sherlock and Moriarty know what the other is thinking with regards to making their decisions. So any clever trick one can come up with, the other has already figured out. Because of this and their conflicting interests there actually exists no Nash Equilibrium in pure strategies. (Meaning there is no equilibrium where both Sherlock and Moriarty pick one of the two train stations with probability equal to 1, where at least one respective individual would not want to change their choice given they know the other's choice.) This means a Nash Equilibrium must exist in mixed strategies. (Meaning each individual assigns a probability to each choice then makes their selection at random using the equilibrium probabilities.) Sherlock and Moriarty are both very clever men, and so each should have figured this out and known the other would as well. Both men would have flipped a coin to decide which of the two train stations to pick. However, as it went in the story, Sherlock must have known Moriarty wasn't a student of Game Theory and took advantage of the fact. As a blooming Sherlock fan I am cautious to propose this last conclusion as it takes away from the brilliant persona Moriarty embodies and makes Sherlock's triumph over him a bit less exceptional.

Here is a link if you would like to read the story for yourself: http://sherlockholmes_cases.tripod.com/finprob.htm

I think that is enough blabber from me for now. Thank you for taking the time to read things I have typed.

-PJ

Passover and Carrots and British Mysteries!

So I hosted a Passover Seder this week on Thursday night and invited a bunch of friends from the Economics Department. We had a great turn out and it was a lot of fun. For those of you who do not know, the Passover Seder is a traditional dinner ceremony in celebration of the Passover holiday. “Seder” literally means “order”. The holiday is in remembrance of the story of Exodus, where Moses helped to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery. I am certain you have seen or heard of the unleavened bread, referred to as Matzo, that we eat during the eight day holiday. If you would like to learn more you can follow this link and enjoy an informative video:

http://www.nick.com/videos/clip/NTV_rug_passover_full.html

For the meal, my mother insisted I prepare a particular dish. It came out being fantastic and so I shall now share the recipe with you:

Carrot Soufflé:

Ingredients:

·      1 lb Carrots

·      ½ Cup Melted Margarine (butter if dairy is ok)

·      3 Eggs

·      ¾ Cup Sugar

·      2 Tablespoons Matzo Meal (or bread crumbs I suppose)

·      1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

·      1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Tools:

·      A food processor or blender

·      Some bowls

·      Maybe a Spoon?

·      1 qt Casserole dish

The process of making the Soufflé is quite simple.  Cut up the carrots into small chunks and place them into a pot. Fill the pot with water above the level of the carrots and bring to a boil. Then lower to a simmer and allow the carrots to cook a few minutes until soft. (The idea is for them to be soft enough to be easily diced in a food processor or blender.) Then drain the water and mix in the melted margarine. Place the mixture into the food processor and obviously run the machine. It may be smart to do this in stages and only place a fraction of the mixture in the processor at a time. This may help it dice the carrots more effectively. Now mix in the eggs. Then mix in the remaining ingredients. Once again, process the mixture so it becomes a nice creamy orange blob of deliciousness. Pour the mixture into the casserole dish and cook uncovered for 1 hour at 350. That is all. In an hour and a few minutes of cooling you will be enjoying a deliciously sweet Carrot Soufflé!

Makes enough for 5-6 people to have as a sizable side dish.

Sorry no pictures, it was gobbled up too quickly…

In seemingly unrelated news, I began watching the new Sherlock Holmes series this evening on Netflix. Pretty sweet show. Seems like a great actor choice to play the role. I suggest anyone with interest in watching a witty sociopath with a British accent make clever conclusions using seemingly obscure evidence check the show out…

That is all for tonight. Take care. And now for your favorite update…

Benefit of Being a Smaller than Average Person:

#2. Much more comfortable airplane rides. In fact, sleeping on the folding tray on the seatback in front can be quite refreshing…

Meatballs!

Tonight I made some meatballs and sketti!

While waiting for my meatballs to cook this evening, I took a few moments to investigate the history of the meatball dish. The earliest recordings of meatball recipes dates back to Roman times, specifically in a recipe book series entitled "De re coquinaria libri decem (Cuisine in Ten Books)" by Marcus Gavius Apicus. Today, some form of meatball is a part of countless cultural cuisines. Bulgarians refer to them as “Kyufte”. Germans have a variation which includes anchovy called “Königsberger Klopse”. The Chinese make giant meat balls they refer to as “Lion’s Heads”.

Some more cool facts:

·      The world record for largest meatball was given in October 2011 to Columbus Italian Club for cooking a delicious meatball weighing in at 1,110.5 pounds!

·      Urban Dictionary tells of meatball being a derogatory term implying one to be dimwitted and lacking of common sense.

That is about it for cool meatball factoids. Now for the recipe!

Charlie’s World Famous Slow Cooked Meatballs (Improved)

What will be needed:

            Balls

·      1 lb ground beef (I like using one that isn’t too lean as it seems to help the meat stay in a ball)

·      ¼ cup diced onion (I use sweet yellow’s)

·      ¾ cup bread crumbs (Italian style for an Italian dish?)

·      ¼ cup milk

·      ¼ cup sugar (They got to be sweet)

·      ½ teaspoon salt

·      ½ teaspoon garlic powder

·      1 egg

Other stuff

·      1 Can Pasta sauce (I like to use a three cheese sauce or an alfredo tomato sauce as it seems to be creamier!)

·      ¼ cup milk

·      Appropriate amount of spaghetti (I have found about 10 ounces works well)

·      Lots of grated parmesan! (I love me some parm)

The process:

Making the balls is simple. Take all the ingredients under the “Balls” section and mash them together until consistent. Then dump the pasta sauce into a pot along with the second ¼ cup of milk and set to a low simmer. While the sauce is heating up, begin rolling the meat mixture into balls of one inch diameter and plopping them into the pot. Once all the balls have been rolled, cover the pot.

Wait about 15 minutes then return and gently roll the balls to get them to begin circulating. At this point, be extremely gentle not to destroy any of the meatballs! Leave on a low simmer (Level 2 out of 10 on my stove) for a total of 1 hour. (Including the earlier allotted for 15 minutes) Every 5 or 10 minutes, return to roll the meatballs so as to ensure they are all cooked evenly.  I normally start cooking the pasta around the 35 minute mark and both generally finish around the same time.

That is it. Enjoy! Below is a picture of the meatballs I created tonight, covered in a flurry of parmesan cheese.

Something new I would like to begin doing is to a catalog some benefits of being a smaller than average person....

Benefit of Being a Smaller than Average Person:

#1. Spending less on soap. Less surface area, less soap needed to clean.

Hello people. I am making this blog for a number of reasons.

1. Boredom. I should be studying right now but instead would like to convince myself that procrastination is justifiable if I am doing something pseudo productive. All the household chores have been taken care of so this is a natural next option.

2. To remember stuff. My original motivation was to collect recipes of things I have cooked over time in one place for future reference. Sometimes I get lucky and cook a dish that doesn't turn out half bad. For these instances, I would like to create a blog post so I can reference the recipe and try to reproduce the dish.

3. I am sure few people will actually subscribe to or even view my posts. The one person who most likely will on a regular basis is my mother. This will make relaying every detail about my life to her a bit easier. As an aspiring economist, this seems like an efficient use of both our time. (I won't have to tell her the same stories and information multiple times over!)

4. Remembering other stuff. I always feel as if I get less and less clever over time. Having a collection of thoughts to later reference could help prove this fact. That or one day when I am an old man, I can look back to see how naive I once was.

There are more reasons, which will be revealed later, through clues.