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I’m literally obsessed with my new desk- I got it secondhand and the builders’ label marks it as having been built in may of 1944, only a 30 minute drive from my house. The former owners said they think it was build for a womens’ college in my city!

my february in pictures 🥀

Cuba’s Abdala Vaccine is 92% Effective

Clinical trials on Cuba’s vaccine candidate, Abdala, have demonstrated a 92.28% effectiveness rate in its three dose application, making it one of the world’s most effective vaccines against Covid-19.

The news follows an announcement over the weekend by scientists of the Finlay Vaccine Institute, who reported an initial 62% efficacy of Cuba’s Soberana 02 vaccine.

The news was broken by journalist Leticia Martinez Hernandez who posted via Twitter, “The effectiveness with three doses of #Abdala is 92.28%. The scientist Marta Ayala has just informed President @DiazCanelB.”

Cuban President Miguel Diaz Canel also confirmed the news, stating that “In less than 48 hours, Cuban scientists have given our heroic people, who are resisting the criminal blockade exacerbated in a pandemic, two overwhelming results. In two days we will denounce the blockade to the world, counting on two of our own vaccines. #SomosCuba #CubaViva”

Diaz Canel added, “Hit by two pandemics (#COVID19 and #Blockade), our scientists from Finlay and CIGB, have surpassed all obstacles and have given us two very effective vaccines: #SOBERANA02 and #Abdala. I think of Martí, who wrote that it is not intelligence received casually that gives man honor, but the way he uses it and saves it. There is only one way to endure and that is to serve. Above all, I think of Fidel, who did so much for Science and Medicine at the service of Humanity. He said: Everyone who has a vocation for health, I invite you to study … There is a huge world that is in need of you.“

The efficacy of Abdala places it above other vaccines such as Oxford/AstraZeneca which is 85-90% effective.

A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 

Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 

Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.

Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 

Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.

And it is GREAT.

27.05.2020 - 3:30pm