3.14 + Darth Vader = Nerd

Poor Vader can't eat pie because of his helmet. (Art by Tim Kreider)

Usually I hate math. I hate it with a burning passion because math could only have been created as a torture device. There really is no other explanation for Calculus or the existence of imaginary numbers. 

Yet, one of my favorite teachers at Uni has been my math teacher, Mr. Buck. He's taught me more about math than anyone else. Even though math doesn't always make sense, Mr. Buck is nice enough to be patient in his explanations. It sure takes a lot of patience to try and teach me any kind of math concept.

Mr. Buck isn't just a great math teacher, but he's a pretty cool person too. I remember subbie year vividly. It was March 14, pi day. Pi day in Mr. Buck's class was quite memorable because Mr. Buck brought in an actual pie. Each student in the class savored a sliver of his famous French Silk Pie as we learned about the number pi. Pi is probably the best number because it gives you an excuse to eat pie during math class. 

Freshman year a group of friends and I started a Star Wars Club, and Mr. Buck was our sponsor. Our goal as a club? To get through all of the Star Wars films by the end of the year. Even though we only got through three films, we had a blast. We competed in Star Wars Quizbowls, planned glorious lightsaber fights, and argued over the acting in the films. Our club also celebrated May the 4th, national Star Wars day. (Get it? May the fourth be with you? It's a pun.) To celebrate we held a club potluck where everyone brought something sweet to eat. The highlight of the party was the fact that Mr. Buck brought his French Silk Pie.

(On a slightly related tangent, I heard they're making more Star Wars films?)

Whenever I eat this pie, I'll remember the fun times we had in math class as we debated the legitimacy of certain math puns, ate French Silk Pie, and practiced saying "Euler" correctly -- it's pronounced "Oiler." I'll remember our beloved Star Wars Club, and I'll remember my favorite math teacher -- Mr. Buck.

So in conclusion, I'll say what any good Star Wars nerd would: 

May the force be with you. And may you always enjoy your pi. 



Mr. Buck's French Silk Pie
(Recipe courtesy of Mr. Buck)

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 sticks butter or margarine
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• A baked pie crust

Notes: 

• Before you make this pie make sure that all of the ingredients are room temperature. If the ingredients are not at room temperature then there is more chance that the eggs will curdle, and that would not look or taste good in a pie. Set out the butter and the eggs at least two hours in advance, and do not melt the butter. 
• If you want to make more than one pie, make the batches of filling one at a time. This reduces the amount of eggs mixed in and also reduces the chance of the eggs curdling. 

1. Mix the dry ingredients. Then mix in the butter.
 

2. After the butter is mixed in add the eggs one at a time. Every time an egg is added, beat the filling for at least two minutes. Finally, mix in the vanilla.

3. Pour the filling into the crust and freeze the pie for at least three hours. I froze my pie overnight. 








4. Thaw the pie at room temperature before serving. Be careful not to leave it out too long, though, since the filling might melt and become pudding. 

Two idiots and a kitchen

Allie and I, in our sixth grade selves, with one of our first kitchen accomplishments -- buttermilk pancakes made from scratch. I only wish the picture wasn't so blurry.

My best friend Allie and I love to cook together. Over the years, we've baked all kinds of pastries and decorated thousands of cupcakes while enjoying each other's company. Whenever we are bored, we pull out a cookbook and find a recipe that combines the mismatch of ingredients from both our kitchens. Usually, the result is an hour well spent together and a tasty snack to munch on.

This has not always been the case. 

On a past winter day, we decided to create a chocolate cake. It was supposedly delicious and simple, so why not? We got out all the ingredients, and dove into the process. Maybe we were a bit too hasty, but whatever the case, we didn't read the instructions completely -- or in order. The result was a cake that was horrible. Inside it were little unmixed balls of flour, the cake itself was dry and disgusting, and it stubbornly stuck to the pan. Suffice to say, it was a complete mess.

Then we saw the name of the recipe, and we burst out laughing. We still laugh over our apparent stupidity, and our failure led to a hilarious memory and inside joke that lasts to this day. The cake that we had attempted was called idiot-proof chocolate cake. So what does that make us? Geniuses?

To complete this blog post, I again called upon Allie's help to tackle this cake. The result was delicious, but it was not pretty. We followed all of the instructions to the letter, and it turned out quite nicely. The cake came out of the oven and looked perfect. It smelled amazing too. Then we had to take the cake out of the pans. That was a disaster. The cake fell apart as soon as the pans were turned upside down, and we were left quite perplexed because we had greased the pans thoroughly. Maybe the cake just has a tendency to stick no matter how you bake it. The memory of this cake continues -- Allie and I have still have not mastered this one recipe. This idiot-proof recipe.

The cake was scrumptious, even if we had to eat it in bowls. 

I know how to cook, but I'm still learning.

Idiot-proof Chocolate Cake
(by Shelia Raab, from her book Clueless in the Kitchen)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup boiling water

Note: FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and grease two 9-inch round cake pans. 

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. 





3. Add in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer for two minutes. Pour in the boiling water and mix.







4. Pour the batter into the pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

5. Remove the cakes from the pan and allow to cool. Be EXTRA CAREFUL. Without proper patience this final step could prove disastrous, as evidenced by my own failure. If all else fails, a good smothering in chocolate icing is what any cake, or cake crumble, needs.

Proud daughter of a meat scientist

My dad and I with the first plate of ribs that he and I made this summer.

Being a meat scientist's daughter has its perks.

It means that I will never have to eat any meat that is less than satisfactory. My dad is a master at grilling steaks. My dad enjoys grilling and working with meat. He volunteers to do much of the cooking related to meat, and he never uses the same recipe twice, but all of it still tastes amazing. When we don't have an ingredient in the house, he'll substitute another one in, or he'll just experiment around until he thinks it will taste good. Savor each dish that my dad cooks, because it will only taste that way once.

My mother has told me that for 23 years, whenever people have come for dinner, the one thing that everyone remembers most is my dad's cooking.

I could never be a vegetarian. Not in this house anyway. I would be forever judged by my dad's meat scientist colleges, and I don't think I could live a week without meat -- especially if my dad is cooking.

Being a meat scientist's daughter also means that you have heard all of the arguments about pink slime, organic food, or any other controversies that pop up in the agriculture industry.

This usually leaves me stuck in the middle of two conflicting arguments. At Uni, many people think that organic food is the best and that our food system is horrible. My dad comes from the other side of the perspective, and he knows all the arguments that are against completely organic food, and also argues that pink slime and other controversies are not as scary as what the media makes them out to be. Even though I've sat through many annoying rants about the agriculture industry, I am glad that my dad is a meat scientist. I get to eat some delicious barbecue, and sometimes my dad will teach me the best ways to grill meat.

This summer my dad taught me how to make ribs. His ribs are one of my favorite meat dishes, and so I was excited to learn how to make amazing ribs just like dad. Now, whenever I eat these ribs I will think back on that summer day when he taught me the best ways to cut the meat, prepare the rub, and grill the ribs. Maybe one day my ribs will be as good as dad's.

Barbecue Ribs

(adapted from "Barbecued Ribs" in The Best Recipe by Cooks Illustrated)

Ingredients for the dry rub:

• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika 
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground black paper

Ingredients for ribs:

• 6 pounds of country style ribs
• 3/4 cup of the dry rub for barbecue
• 2 cups of hickory wood chips
• Aluminum foil
• Brown paper grocery bag

Notes: 

• When cooking and handling meat, always wash your hands after touching raw meat and thoroughly clean all the surfaces that have come in contact with the raw meat.
• For this recipe I am using a gas grill. If you want to find the instructions for using a charcoal grill you can find them in "The Best Recipe" cookbook by Cook's Illustrated.

1. Make the dry rub by mixing all of the ingredients together in a small bowl.

2. Take the meat, and put it on a cutting board. Butterfly cut the meat. This means cut the meat down the middle, but not completely through, then fold the sides out so that it looks almost like a butterfly (it doesn't look just like a butterfly, but enough so that they call it butterfly cutting.). 

Cutting the meat like this will allow more spices to cover the meat, and it will be more flavorful in the end.

3. Rub the spices into the meat. Cover the meat with these spices and rub them in enough so that they won't fall off the meat if you pick it up, but don't add too much rub or the rib will taste grainy and the texture will be weird. 

4. Cover the ribs with plastic wrap and let them sit for one hour.

5. While the ribs are sitting, soak the wood chips in a bowl of water for an hour.

6. After an hour, preheat the grill by turning all the burners on high. Put the wood chips in a special box for wood chips, and place the chips in a corner of the grill. Preheat the grill until the wood chips are smoking heavily Don't be scared. They aren't on fire -- they were soaked in water, remember? If you follow the instructions you should not suffer any fire bombs or explosions (unless something is seriously wrong with the grill itself, in which case I would advise you NOT to grill ribs or anything else.).

7.  Turn off the back burners and leave the front burners on medium heat so that the grill is between 275 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit while cooking. Place the meat as far away from the flames as possible, towards the back of the grill. Cook the meat for about 2 hours, turning the ribs once every 30 minutes. 

8. Take the ribs off the grill and wrap in aluminum foil. Put the wrapped ribs in a brown grocery bag and allow it to sit at room temperature for one hour. Wrapping the ribs in foil and then putting them in a grocery bag make ribs more tender and juicy since the moisture from the ribs is kept contained by the aluminum foil.