Macro Quantem Phenomena

Cerinthus is preparing topics for his thesis. One of the things that he is considering working on is a strange set of experiments with silicone droplets that show certain properties of quantum mechanics on a macro level. Although, I have to admit, I was skeptical at first, it's pretty cool.

Downton Abby, Revisited

I mentioned in a previous blogpost that I absolutely loved a series called Downton Abbey. The second season is coming out in England next week. Very excited, I have been reading some spoilers. I will put the most extensive of them here and there are also a couple of fun interviews. Being an incredible fan of the show, I've been thinking about it a lot. This is rather silly of me, but there is one thing that bothers me about the second series as it seems like it will play out (spoiler alter, beware):

The main story in the first season concerns the impending inheritance of Downton Abby by a solicitor named Matthew Crawley and many attempts to find a husband for the eldest of the Earl's daughters, Lady Mary. They, of course, after hating one another fall in love and Matthew proposes. Due to various complicating circumstances, Mary never gives him an answer and Matthew leaves. The ending is rather elegant, actually. Matthew leaves Mary at the Garden party and she seems to realize what she is losing, but it is ambiguous. I think the final episode eloquently combines the unpredictable element with a hopefully possibility in a realistic manner.

I appreciated the ending of the first season. If the season had stood alone, I would have been happy. Now I am nervous. I know from the spoilers that Matthew has a new fiancee in this coming season and Mary is courted by another gentleman. In principle this makes sense; Matthew is an eligible bachelor and Mary is rather spiteful. I worry, however, that the show will try to convince us each of them-- or at least one of them-- might end up happily with someone else in order to challenge audience expectations. I am, of course, not a fan of shows being predictable and Downton Abbey has done a magnificent job of creating brilliant unpredictability (especially Episode three which I just re-watched with Servia). However, I think that after an entire season building up to the perfection of the match, it would seem disingenuous to try to convince the viewers otherwise. Furthermore, the type of attempt which breaks up two so well suited characters rarely works (e.g. Sense and Sensibility, the second half of Little Women, the late match-up of Eowin and Faramir in Lord of the Rings, etc). The one exception, of course, is Emma, but Jane Austen works many threads well from the beginning.

I just don't think I'll be able to buy it if the writers try to move them apart as though they have moved on. Characters like Lady Edith are happy at the prospect of a comfortable life with someone kind, but Lady Mary is passionate and obstinate and Matthew simply seems to find this irresistible. Although I could imagine both of them trying to make some other relationship work, and even doing reasonably well at it, ultimately, upon seeing each other again, they would find themselves drawn to each other.

I know this is all very silly and as a writer's daughter I should be examining the story more and being less of a fan. However, I have faith in the writers because they have woven a brilliant story so far. Maybe they will settle it in a way that is both delightful and unusual.

Apple Pie, Revisited

My First Attempt at a Woven Crust

There are, in the past few weeks, green apples around which are tart and lovely. We bought some about two weeks ago, but all of my papers and exams got in the way. So yesterday, on my day off between finishing my last paper and getting ready to study for my entrance exams, I made three pies to use up the apples in the refrigerator.

Second Pie

I decided to make my own crust, as I have the last 5 or so times I made pie. However, I ran out of bleached flour (which I find makes a flakier and less rubbery crust than unbleached flour). I mixed the end of the bleached flour with some unbleached flour and some cake flour. I made a double batch of pie, so the crust was about 1 3/4 cups bleached flour to 1/4 cup cake flour to 1/2 cup unbleached flour (7:1:2 by volume). This was miraculous. Instead of being hard and troublesome after a few hours in the refrigerator, the dough was silky and smooth but incredibly elastic, allowing me to make a lovely, thin crust.

The First Pie

The pie received rave reviews. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph it when it came out of the oven.

For the final pie, I had to make another batch of crust. This time I made a single batch. I didn't have any more unbleached flour so I mad a batch with 3:2 ratio (by volume) of unbleached flour to cake flour. This proved to be far too much cake flour. I had to use far less liquid and the crust tore easily. Next time, I would stick to a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio if I only had the two flours. However the crust tastes great, but I decided to weave it so that the fragility would not impact the pie as much. The recipes for apple pie and crust are on my recipe page.

News on the Return of Some Berkeley Webcasts

Just over a month ago, I visited Berkeley's Webcast archive looking for an archaeology course I had seen previously only to find it had been removed when Berkeley upgraded its server. I posted a very angry note. Recently, Berkeley has just reloaded 169 of its classics courses-- Yay! Thank you Berkeley!-- and claims that it is going to attempt to upload several more.

Modern Astrophysics for Non-Scientists

iTunes U triumphs again. As I mentioned previously, I have been working (rather slowly) through the Ancient Greek history class given by Yale's Donald Kagan. He is quite enjoyable and it's forcing me to read through Pomoroy et al's Ancient Greece: A Political, Social, and Cultural History. While I was thinking about these lectures, I thought I might look at some of Yale's other courses. I downloaded the first lecture of "Astrophysics Frontiers and Controversies" (Yale Website) taught by Charles Bailyn and I am totally addicted. Although my attention has been divided (he has a very soothing voice so I have been listening to him while I do things like clean my room or work on my Greek study guide), I still understand the concepts he discusses. The class is supposed to introduce non-science majors to modern topics in astrophysics with little math. It's fabulously enjoyable and fun for someone like me who loves astronomy but couldn't get through physics because I only like classical mechanics as they apply to space.

It makes me wonder whether I should have gone into astrophysics as I had originally planned. However, I don't know if I could have spent my entire life crunching data hoping desperately for interesting mathematical irregularities.

Bread: Some Thoughts

Yay Bread!

It was finally cool enough to make some bread today and my sourdough starter was begging to be used, so I made some bread while I wrote the first draft of my paper on the Parthenon Frieze.

So it may not be my prettiest loaf, but it was quite a success. I took it out of the oven and it was light as a feather, which means that it actually worked. I have had little success with this recipe, Norwich More Sour Sourdough from Wild Yeast, and this is the first one that turned out perfectly I scored it with the new beautiful lame that I got for my birthday. It was hard to use because the blade was curved and I wasn't used to it, but it made a beautiful ear on the bread.

The Ear

The crust sang beautifully. It crackled nicely when I bit into it and looked lovely, although I might have left it in the oven for a few more minutes. I did change the cooking time. The steaming was 27 minutes and the crisping was 10 minutes (took out when the internal temperature reached 212 degrees F).

Crumb

The bread was fabulously flavorful. 75g of the starter I used were whole wheat in order to increase the flavor and it was miraculous and I increased the hydration percentage to 78% instead of 68% in the original recipe. Unfortunately this meant that I did not develop quite the interior crumb that I wanted, but it still was nice and airy on the inside. Yum!

I did realize that I may need to recalibrate my thermometer that I use to check whether the bread is ready after reading a blogpost today, but I will just have to do that before the next loaf.

Note 09/02/11: We finished off the first loaf today. Further in the crumb looked a bit better.

When I made this loaf, I made a second one which I putin the refrigerator for 16 hours. Servia cooked it while Propertius II and I talked about the beginning of Iliad Book 14. She slashed it in the shape of a sun and I thought it was very cute.

The differences between the two: 1) both had flavor, the cold fermentation loaf was more sour a and a little more flavorful but a little less wheaty. 2) I baked the cold fermenation one slightly longer: 30 minutes under steam (because it came right out of the refridgerator) and 10 minutes crisping. The crust was a little thinner and it was more crispy than crunchy. Still lovely. 3) The crumb was better on cold fermentation. 4) There was less oven spring on cold fermentation.

Servia's Sun

Cold Fermentation Crumb

Getting Ready For Battle

Planner: Calendar

When I was in high school, I used to love the weeks leading up to school. Although I often dreaded going back for another year and I certainly dreaded the summer homework, I absolutely love school shopping. It is almost like, I would imagine, a fashionista buying a dress for the party of the season: finding something flashy, but at the same time something in which she feels comfortable enough so she won't regret her choice at the end of the evening. Anyway, I would do the same thing with school supplies. Something cool and enticing, so I would want to use it, but also something that served a definite function.

In seventh grade I started color coding my classes and my homework and I am convinced that this was essential to my high GPA throughout my middle school and high school career. The strict organization permeated every aspect of my school life and even if my room was a mess, my binders were always pristine and my homework was always highlighted in the appropriate color in my planner.

In college, this system degraded. I tried a number of organizational systems that did not work very well. Detailed syllabi replaced my planner, for the most part. The subjects of my classes varied widely from semester to semester and it was difficult to maintain the rigid color scheme. I no longer had a system that allowed me to organize my homework and keep my school books separate from the mess that sometimes engulfed my room. Both junior and senior year I tried to revamp my system to limited success. I became more organized and improved my work and efficiency and my class and thesis notes were fabulous. However, I still could not replicate my high school organizational successes.

This year, I am going to try again. I bought myself a new planner (see one page above) and a new set of pens (instead of highlighters) to color code it. I have assigned colors to my classes and various other work for the remainder of the summer, although I know these will change again as the Fall begins. The new university at which I will be taking classes has a more traditional system than my alma mater, so perhaps the rigidness of the organizational system will fit it well.

Planner: Week

Good luck on the school year, everyone (in school or otherwise), and may you enjoy your preparation as much as I am!

Mushroom Ristotto, Take Two

Mushroom Risotto with Parsley and Roasted Pecans

I am trying to perfect my mushroom risotto. My mother and I love the mushroom risotto at one of our favorite local restaurants and we have been trying to copy it since. I made another attempt last night. It was fabulous, although a little different from my last attempt. Warning, this recipe makes enough for about 6-8 people (or four people and 3 leftover meals). You can cut it in half to make a smaller amount. Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups mushrooms, chopped, minced, or sliced (personal preference). A mix of mushrooms is usually best. We used a combination of porcini, oyster, and crimini. Make sure that at least half of your mushrooms are very flavorful.
• 1/3 cups shallots, minced
• 1 3/4 cups arborio rice
• 2/3 cup white wine
• 5-6 cups stock (your choice, I used a vegetable with a mushroom base, but you can also use any other vegetable or chicken or a mix)
• white pepper and salt, to taste
• 3/4 tablespoon whipped butter (you can omit this if desired and add slightly more cheese)
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese (although you can add more or less based on how creamy you want it)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
• 2 tablespoons chopped roasted nuts

Directions

• Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and add the mushrooms

• When the mushrooms are beginning to brown, add the second tablespoon of olive oil and the shallots and garlic.
• When the shallots are soft, add the arborio rice to the pan and mix the rice into the mushrooms. Cook until the rice is becoming translucent. In a separate pot or in the microwave, warm the broth. If the rice begins to brown, start adding liquid immediately.

• When the rice is translucent (or has begun to brown) add the white wine.

• When the rice has soaked up the white wine, begin to add the warmed broth 1/2 a cup at a time. Season with white pepper and salt every second addition of broth. Wait until the first half cup has soaked up the previous half cup.

• By the time the rice is done, it should be soft and have soaked up at least 5 cups of broth.
• Then, add the little bit of butter and stir it in. This should make the rice creamier.
• Once this is stirred in, add the Parmesan cheese. Stir in.
• Serve the rice hot and sprinkle the

I really enjoyed it.

On another note, I wanted to make some bread recently, but it's about 109 degrees here, so most of my cooking has to be done on the stovetop so it does not heat up the house too much.