use real butter

Whoa.

The fooding world and my alma mater have met.

I went to a most excellent tech school for my undergraduate studies. No no no, not that tech school. I went to the other one, the better one *snicker*. *ducking for cover now*

Most people outside of the science and engineering communities are pretty oblivious to that little campus in Pasadena. Even some folks in science and engineering are oblivious to it, thinking I am referring to a vocational school… Despite my love-hate relationship with Caltech, it is a formidable center of world-class research boasting astounding statistics for their student body as well as their faculty. You have to love science to come here. You HAVE to.

One of the reasons I chose to attend Caltech was the unique character of the place and the people (mind you, some of the people are downright strange). There are quirky and fun projects that those beloved geeks find time for in between their loads of homework. That’s why I was delighted to find out about the Caltech Olive Harvest.

Intellectual curiosity is a good thing. Innovation is a good thing.

Have you hugged a geek today?

I’ve been cooking a lot, but not able to shoot much since my in-laws are visiting and we are entertaining them for the weekend. However, tonight as I was waiting for the dog to do her business out in the yard, I noticed the skies overhead had cleared. It’s nice, the night sky. It’s especially brilliant up in the mountains because the Milky Way practically jumps out at you and we have almost no light pollution to speak of. I look skyward a lot. I’ve loved astronomy since my childhood – it’s why I studied science. It might be why I married an astrophysicist. No, I married him because it reduced our car insurance (and because he makes my heart go pitter patter).

Kaweah was taking her time looking for the Perfect Place to Poop. I knew Comet Holmes was somewhere in the north, but not sure where exactly. Jeremy poked his head out the front door and asked what was taking the dog so long. Who knew, but I told him I was looking for the comet. He went back inside and returned a second later with the binoculars. He looked around Cassiopeia, but couldn’t find anything and handed me the binocs. I pointed in the general direction and just tried to get them focused. The object I pointed at was totally blurry, so I focused and nothing happened. I noticed the other objects nearby were nice pinpoints of light, but this thing… it was Comet Holmes.

Dog was now just screwing around in the dark, sniffing things and exploring. I ran in to fetch camera equipment and ran back out into the blackness to set up. I was shivering – it was maybe 20 degrees. But I got it – right in Perseus.

holmes-boy will be around for a while

The first exposure was too long and the stars were dragging. My second exposure was the best I could do to reduce drag, but still expose for the comet. It is HUGE. There’s no tail because the comet is coming toward us. Right now it is in the neighborhood of Jupiter. It has increased in brightness by more than 6 orders of magnitude over the past week. You can see it with the naked eye, but it looks like another star – a bright one.

Anyway, that’s a nibble on science for you. Stay tuned, Comet Holmes should be getting bigger and brighter. Step outside and have a look for yourself.

Science!!!

Recipe: tamales, new mexico style

There is a certain class of food that makes its way across cultures. It involves taking some sort of starch and wrapping it around another ingredient or ingredients, cooking it, and passing into bliss as you eat it. These foods are best when homemade and I have made it one of my many small missions in life to learn to make each of these before I die.

So far, I have managed Chinese potstickers, Argentine empanadas, and as of today, tamales. Others on the todo list include, but are not limited to: samosas, ravioli, tsa-tsao bao (Chinese bbq pork buns), tsong-tse (think Chinese rice tamales). If you can think of other delicious homemade delicacies that I’m overlooking, be sure to let me know!

My whole motivation for making carne adovada a few days ago was to ultimately try my hand at homemade tamales. On our road trip back home from New Mexico a few weeks back, I procured some corn husks along with those beloved dried New Mexican reds. I’m sure I could have found them locally in Colorado if I had looked, but that’s the thing about where I live – you have to LOOK pretty hard to find certain ethnic foods and it makes me insane. I hate shopping. I like cooking.

corn husks, to lovingly wrap that tamale goodness

**Jump for more butter**