Month: September 2024

2024 Nuit des epouvantails

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It is said that in the year 1387, scarecrows came to life in the Morgian countryside, driven by a mysterious force. In a threatening mood, they made an unbearable noise, tormented the wine-growing populations and prevented anyone who wanted to go and harvest ripe grapes from leaving their homes. We seem to remember that these acts of fright were the consequence of a commitment not kept by the winegrowers; they had in fact promised to bring the count a bushel of their finest grapes, in exchange for the good advice given for the protection of the vines.

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[recipe] Gingerbread loaf

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240g flour
50g brown sugar
160g molasses
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp salt
6g cacao
90g oil
180g Greek yogurt
1/4 cup milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Zest of one orange

Combine wet ingredients in a stand mixer. Weigh out and combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine by mixing gently until shiny batter forms. Bake 175C for 45-50m or until cake tester comes out clean.

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Loss of a larger than life personality

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Just found out that Philip Branton, my thesis supervisor all those years ago, passed away after illness complications on sept 16. Besides a strong scientific education, Phil passed on his love for good food, good wine and Frank Zappa. “As long as Zappa’s music is playing somewhere, there’s hope for the world”.

Phil, after being a touring jazz musician, fell into a science career and never looked back. He was larger than life, a brilliant scientist, and could go from work to play at the drop of a hat.

In his own words, “In the end I received quite a few awards, mostly for my leadership efforts. These came from the CCS (R.M. Taylor Medal, 2005), the CCRA (Award for Exceptional Leadership in Cancer Research, 2011), the McGill Department of Oncology (Lifetime Achievement Award, 2014), and I was awarded the McGill Medal in 2015. I was the Gilman Cheney Professor of Biochemistry at McGill (1996-2016, now Emeritus), received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2013), and was named a Member of the Royal Society of Canada (2002) and an Office of the Order of Canada (2014). I name all these awards not to brag but to leave a record that what I did may have meant something. It certainly did to me.”

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Some people have no sense of humour, also snitches get stitches

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As part of moving out of our fixed, assigned office area to hot desks in an open space, we got allocated lockers. I wanted to keep a bit of personal touches by moving some of my wall decorations. Apparently my stick of compliance poster is not compliant, as someone brought it to the attention of my line manager, saying that it might not give a good impression to visitors.

My manager, actually having a sense of humour, gave me this advice: “you need an inspirational sentence (that doesn’t mean anything really) from a famous person (who never pronounced it)” and gave me his approval to put this up:

I love my boss.

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