Friday Fluff: Lazy Latkes

A latke cooking. You know you want it. Image from Wikimedia

Over the week of Thanksgiving I doubled down on my blogging and brought you a new turkey day tip, trick, or recipe each day. For Christmas next week I am going to do the opposite. I'll be taking the week off. Or maybe I won't. I'll be spending most of the week with my in-laws, so I make no promises regarding new blog posts or a lack thereof.

As for today, did you know that this week is Hanukkah? It started on sundown on the 16th this year, so right now (Friday afternoon) it's day 3 of 8. A version of today's latke recipe is part of every Jewish families' recipe box; it is as much a part of Hanukkah as pumpkin pie is a part of Thanksgiving. But really, latkes should be a part of every families' recipe box. They are delicious! Maybe a little fussy, but no worse than french toast or pancakes. A lazy weekend morning kind of breakfast, especially now that it's cold out.

Cookie Madness 2014

About 2/3 of the way through Cookie Madness 2014
Yes, that's 20 dozen cookies on my Mom's kitchen table.

I spent the whole weekend and the first half of today up to my elbows in Christmas craziness. Including spending an hour in line and $130 at the UPS store. So, I'm not in the mood to do any science today. Which is a shame because I had a great article from the British Medical Journal all picked out. I'll save it for Wednesday.

Instead, what I'm going to do today is share some information from the front lines of bulk cookie baking. On Friday I told you a little bit about the history and science of chocolate chip cookie recipes and suggested that they make a great inexpensive Christmas gift. Today I want to share a little bit more information, this time more practice than theory. And brag about my 36 dozen cookies.

Friday Fluff: History and Chemistry of Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not the most practical packaging for gifting. Image from EasyBaked

Christmas will be here soon, and that means parties to attend and gifts to give to family that you don't know (or like) as well as you should. I submit to you that a tin of chocolate chip cookies is the answer for both of these problems. They are delicious, they won't end up in the back of a closet, a large quantity can be made for very little money, and they really aren't that difficult.

Having decided that cookies are the answer to your Christmas gift stress, you now have to decide which cookie recipe you want to follow. If you google "chocolate chip cookie recipe" you will get more than 6 million results. How are you to choose?

Friday Fluff: Winter is coming, let's talk about spring!

If your holidays look anything like mine, this weekend is your only break between the Thanksgiving travel and the Christmas prep. So, what should we do with this one late autumn weekend before the holiday madness really gets going? Let's think about spring. Specifically planting flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips!

For most gardeners living in zones 6 and 7 (those would be the northern half of the Southerners), the time to plant spring bulbs is Thanksgiving, so we're a little late, but there's still time. For gardeners living in zones 8 and 9, you have until Christmas. If you live right on the 7/8 line, like me, this weekend will be perfect! But what to choose? And why now?

Friday Fluff: Using Trigonometry while Decorating

A look this perfect requires MATH! Image from Home Decor Store

Thanksgiving is over and that means the Christmas season is upon us! Christmas time is a wonderful time and I'm really looking forward to, for the very first time, decorating my own house. Every year, once I had moved out of my parents' house after college, I put up a big plastic Christmas tree. Every year I added fancy ornaments to the tree to replace a few of the cheap plastic balls I bought the first year. But that was the limit of my apartment's festive adornments because my apartment complex had an HOA that banned outdoor or window decorations. So no wreaths on the doors or windows, no garland, no plug-in candles, no fun at all!

This year I own my house and I can make it as fancy and festive as I want (well, as I can afford). And as part of that I have decided to use lots of lights and garland. And that is what this post is really about: how to figure out how much garland or how many strings of light are needed to candy-cane wrap or swag across a column or rail. To do this we will use trig!

Most of the credit for pointing this out to me goes to Mr. Dr. Kris :)

Happy Thanksgiving: The Final Detail for the Big Day

Every Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy.

The big day is finally here. If you've been keeping up you have a brined, thawed, and ready to roast turkey; some excellent chicken or turkey stock; and a "pumpkin" pie all ready for today's feast. There are several details left to cover: the dressing, the green beans, other sides that are part of your family's feast, but the one I'm going to go over today is gravy. Every family has different side dishes, but every traditional Thanksgiving dinner needs gravy. Gravy has a reputation for being fussy. Maybe it is, but you can handle it.

Happy Thanksgiving: "Pumpkin" Pie

Pumpkin Pi. Image from P. Smith via Wikimedia

Pumpkin pie might be the dessert of the holiday, but most people just heat up a Mrs. Smith's. That isn't really how it needs to be. This recipe will have a home made "pumpkin" pie hot out of your oven about an hour and a half after you get home from the grocery store. Most of that time will be spent waiting on the microwave or oven. The pie travels well and is easy enough for a non-cook to take on.

Happy Thanksgiving: Homemade Turkey Jello

Serving Suggestion? Actually this is mojito gel from Hello Jell-O

Today I'm going to show you the best method for making homemade stock (or turkey/chicken jello as it's called in my house). I'm focusing on turkey/chicken because this is Thanksgiving, but this method works for any type of meat stock (pork stock is wonderful). As far as I'm concerned this is a non-negotiable part of a proper traditional Thanksgiving dinner; you need real stock to make your dressing and your gravy. Real stock is particularly important for the dressing because you won't be cooking it inside the bird (because you love your family--or at least your rug--and don't want to give everyone food poisoning), but you want that bird-y flavor. Store bought stock just doesn't work as well, and I'll even tell you why.

Happy Thanksgiving: Brine and Thaw for High Speed Turkey Readiness

My turkey cooler.

Brining Thanksgiving turkeys has been "a thing" for a while now. A quick Google search will yield dozens, if not tens of thousands, of recipes. But you only have one turkey and one chance to get it right this year, so which one should you follow?

As you might imagine, I'm going to recommend this one. For several reasons. Firstly it's quick, many recipes require you to start with a thawed bird, if you're bird hasn't been in the fridge thawing since the middle of last week it may already be too late for you to try another recipe; this one will work even if your turkey is still at the store (But if so, stop reading and go get it right now! Time is running out!). Secondly, this brine will not waste your money with ingredients that sound like a good idea but will not affect the final outcome (because science); many brine recipes call for stock or aromatics, these flavor compounds will end up down your tub drain and not in your bird. Thirdly, this recipe is very clean; the design of this recipe will keep your bird at a safe temperature with minimal effort, this combined with the high salt concentration of the water will inhibit any microbial growth. I'm not suggesting that other recipes will result in you poisoning your guests--done properly none will--but this one takes all the guess work out of keeping your bird clean and your guests safe. Finally, this recipe only makes a subtle improvement; no radical changes in flavor or texture of the bird. After you reach the end of this recipe you can season and cook your bird as is tradition in your family, the bird will taste like your family's bird only better. Sold? Then lets get too it!

Friday Fluff: Turkey Day is Coming

Freedom from Want by Normal Rockwell (1942)

Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I'm excited. I always love an opportunity the show off in the kitchen, and Thanksgiving is one of the best there is. It's a whole holiday devoted entirely to gathering people together and eating with them. In honor of this holiday, holiest of holies among domestic goddesses (and gods*) and Foodies, I have decided to devote the entirety of next week to domestic matters concerning the preparation of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

I will not be providing a full Thanksgiving menu, I know each family's menu is steeped in tradition and usually not prepared entirely by the host(ess). Therefore, suggesting a whole new menu is not the goal, rather, I want to share some tips and tweaks to help you take your own families recipes to the next level.

*no gender discrimination here, my dad is the special occasion cook in my family

Friday Fluff: Lies, D@mned Lies, and Statistics

Image from xkcd.com

This is going to be a less-fluffy-than-normal bit of fluff, but today I am introducing my new statistics page on my blog. If you look up near the title of the blog you'll see two new tabs. Home takes you to where you can see my blog posts as before. Statistics take you to the new page.


A big part of the reason I started this blog was because I think it's important that every day people understand what researchers are up to. I think this is important for many reasons. Our tax dollars support a lot of this work, we should understand what we're buying. This work has the potential to help us better understand ourselves and the world around us--that's what gets scientists out of bed in the morning--and that knowledge shouldn't be locked away in an ivory tower. And, of course, sometimes the media picks up stories about new research and mangles them. This is bad for everyone: the researchers are made to look silly, and the public is misinformed. Knowledge is power. Power to the people. That sort of thing.

Friday Fluff: Our First Halloween

Our house all decorated with perfect purple lights, spiders,
and pumpkins. Image by Me (CC BY-NC-ND)

Today's post is going to be short in addition to being late. My husband and I are taking a long weekend (started Wednesday) to visit DC and I am working on a collaborative special guest post with my dear friend Liz. Liz has a master's degree in special education and is pursuing a second master's degree in education policy. I won't ruin the surprise any more than that.

Today I'm going to share a little bit about last Friday: my and my husband's first Halloween in our new house, just like I promised.

Friday Fluff: Cajun for a Crowd

You'll need one of these. Image from Wikimedia commons.

Today is Halloween, and this post has exactly nothing to do with it. Scary! (See what I did there: made a terrible joke, that's what!) Maybe I'll make another post about our first Halloween in the new neighborhood, but that will have to wait until at least tomorrow. So instead I've decided to share a favorite recipe. This makes a lot of food, and it can easily be stretched with more rice or doubled. It's great for a pot luck, having friends over, or getting an early start to training your tummy for Thanksgiving and the unreasonable number of slices of pie you are planning to eat!

I still haven't told you what this is! It's my interpretation of jambalya. I was born in Louisiana, and my parents tell me that in the hospital they put cayenne pepper on the paccies. I doubt that sincerely. I don't even particularly like spicy foods now as an adult. So this recipe is just a little spicy, perfect for serving to a crowd; those who like it hot should add lots of good Louisiana cayenne pepper hot sauce (not Tabasco or Texas Pete, for goodness' sake!) to their bowl after serving. This is not really a traditional jambalya, it's more a hybrid between that and dirty rice. So no one tell me I'm doing it wrong, just try it; it's delicious (and hard to mess up) this way.

Friday Fluff: The Search for the Perfect Purple Twinkle Light

Image from Wikimedia Commons

Next Friday will be my Husband's and my very first Halloween in our new home. We're rather excited. Apparently Halloween is a big deal in our new neighborhood. When we first heard this we made plans to buy and carve a pumpkin and bought one big sack of candy from Wal-Mart. As October wore on we saw other houses on the street get decorated and I started feeling we weren't festive enough. Then our neighbor explained that we were laughably under stocked in candy. So I bought more candy (we now have 5 giant bags), some fake spider web, and 10 sparkly plastic spiders. But something was missing, our spooky decorations could only be enjoyed during the day. We needed twinkle lights. Purple twinkle lights.