Is Chemistry Cat correct? Is alcohol indeed the solution? I know a lot more about cats than about chemistry, so I invited an expert, Dr. Rubidium, a real live chemistry professor with a PhD and everything, to explain: Continue reading “Science Caturday: Is Alcohol the Solution?”
Every chef I know has given some thought to what they would want their secret ingredient to be if they were ever on Iron Chef. For me, the answer will always be butter. This is not because I am a Paula Dean doppelgänger that would love nothing more than to eat butter straight from the packaging. I simply love the delicate flavors and textures that one can achieve with butter. Such a simple ingredient with so many uses. But, more than anything, it is because I love the smell of brown butter. I really think the French, “beurre noisette”, captures all the sexy nuances of brown butter. The nutty aroma. The caramelly toasted milk flavors. The scattered brown specks hinting at all the depth of flavor of vanilla bean. Say it with me – noisette. We’ll be exploring butter from how to make it at home to clarifying to browning. And, in preparation for a visit from St. Nick, we’ll leave you with a recipe for brown butter shortbread cookies that will have Santa leaving you a little extra loot this year. Continue reading “Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies: The Secret to Making it onto the “Nice” List”
My freestyle rapping skills leave much to be desired. I tend to focus on rapping to my dog and never with an audience. Most of my lyrics rhyme with dog:
Hey little Bud-dog
why you sitting there like a log
why don’t you take a seat
then maybe I’ll give you a treat.
I’m guessing I would get creamed in a classic freestyle rap battle. Now I know why! Turns out my executive level functions are too robust and won’t allow my brain to free associate effectively. That’s the only thing that’s stopping me. 😉 Continue reading “Freestyle PhD”
Tara Donovan is a New York-based artist who turns huge quantities of everyday manufactured materials, such as plastic cups, paper plates, pencils and straws— into sculptural installations that evoke clouds, landscapes and gigantically magnified microscopic organisms. Curator Nicholas Baume notes that, although her work contains elements of classical minimalism, it also suggests ”digital, cellular, emergent networks. It seems to speak to the systems that are shaping our lives.” (source) Continue reading “The Art of Science: Manufactured Nature”
The Finch and Pea 
