Read The Sparrow, the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award by Mary Doria Russell, a profound and mesmerizing book (even though it took me a while to go through it as my bedside read!). It is a science-fiction book (since the mostly Jesuitcharacters travel to another planet in Alpha Centauri) that involves a lot of philosophy, religion, anthropology and linguistics. There are weaknesses in the science half of science-fiction and too much space musing over the contradiction inherent to the celibacy of Catholic priests, but I strongly enjoyed this book, maybe due to my Catholic upbringing!, and its highly unexpected conclusion. (I am however uncertain about pursuing with the sequel, as the central character returning to the planet sounds like the ultimate torture.) Also read Since we fell by Dennis Lehane, which I find terrible at so many levels, from a complete lack of realism in the crime scenes and in the way coïncidences keep happening, to the endless introspection of the main character, Rachel, to the cardboard consistence of most characters…
Started making skyr, the Icelandic style cottage cheese that I usually eat as yogurt. It is fairly straightforward, with a very few steps and ingredients (fat-free milk, renet, and… skyr!), but an overall 15 hour preparation range, and it does not always turn into the expected curded outcome (in which case it is close to a lassi, लस्सी). I have not yet analysed the sources for this variable outcome, possibly the different starters I used. I also cooked a batch of okonomiyaki, rescuing an out-of-date bag of okonomiyaki batter as I had some spare cabbage in the fridge.
Cooked a variety of spicy stir-fries while staying at a Warwick maths house with Josh and Stan two weeks ago, Josh adding the sweet-potato pancakes, which made the mini-nans somewhat superfluous. The common colour theme came from abusing the curry dispenser. Also had a great 
