Northern Winter Migration

Hurray I am a Northern girl again!
About two weeks ago I was packing my things and heading back north with a short term contract. Yet another yo-yo bounce, but at least I get to enjoy a delightful "northern" winter with people who also appreciate all the joys and excitement of snow!!. (I use quotation marks because technically I am not even north of the 49th parallel but to my friends and family down south this is still northern Ontario.)

My first weekend was rather disappointing, nearly all our snow melted. (ahem climate change stinks!!!) But this week has been doing it's best to make up for it with lots of snow in the past few days. People always tell me that the only reason why winter is my favourite season is because I don't have to drive in the winter or shovel a driveway; but I would like to announce that I have shoveled my driveway twice already this week and still love winter!!! There was so much snow this morning that my vehicle had completely warmed up before I finished clearing all the snow off. (For those of you who aren't familiar with the Bumblebee that means it took awhile!!) But my winter joy is not shaken instead I am looking forward to hitting the cross country ski trails this weekend and maybe even spending some time on the outdoor rink. Gotta enjoy the weather while it lasts!!

Right now I am dancing around my basement room and giggling and listening to Taylor Swift. It is surprising how dramatic my mood change has been since I returned to The Soo. Despite a schedule change equivalent to a 4 hour time difference I am bounding out of bed around 6:30 in the morning and still feel like dancing and singing in the evenings. (Although I must admit I am a little stiff because I am not used to long days on my feet in the lab- got to get better shoes!!) Sadly my 12 week contract will go by all too fast and then who knows where I will be. For now I am going to enjoy where I am.

Christmas Shopping Revelations

I am done my Christmas shopping! Have been for a few days now actually. I found Christmas shopping strangely relaxing this year even in December crowded malls with Christmas crazed shoppers. Maybe it was all the spare time I have had lately, or maybe it was because I bought most of my gifts at smaller local stores, or maybe it was because of a revelation I had the other day.

 I was standing in a crowded Canadian Tire store when I noticed something odd. There were guys standing in the kitchen supply aisle talking about spatulas and mixers and there were ladies in the tool aisle pondering over ratchet sets and cordless drills. Now I don't want to stereotype genders but I know this is not usual behaviour for the majority of Canadian Tire customers. These shoppers were clearly out of their element as they tried to understand and predict the interests and desires of their loved ones. Through their Christmas shopping and gift giving they were communicating a desire to know and be known which was unexpectedly beautiful.

A certain (ir?)rational part of my brain has always rebelled against the typical gift exchange. Why should I spend money buying a gift that you only sort of want/need only to have you spend money doing the same for me? Wouldn't it be easier/more efficient if I just bought something for myself and you did the same? And then there are the obvious objections to the over-commercialization and blatant greed that becomes so prevalent around Christmas time. Which is of course valid. As I was wandering the malls I also occasionally thought "can any of us really afford this?" and as I heard parents grumbling about the 2hr wait to get their child's photo taken with Santa I thought "don't we all take this a little too far?"

Certainly many of those shoppers in Canadian Tire will get their gift wrong. Come boxing day the stores will be packed with people who bought the wrong size, shape, colour or gift and are frantically trying to correct their mistake. Tempers will flare and frustrations will abound because after all we still live in a sinful world. But for one brilliant moment we tried to forget that and reached out in hope, seeking to love and be loved in our own imperfect way.

It's Snowing!

It's Snowing!

And that leaves me with an inexplicable desire to skip around the kitchen table singing jingle bells! (I used to do that!!) When I was a little kid I truly believed that singing Christmas songs/playing Christmas music would make it snow more. Since winter is my favourite season I can't wait for mountains of snow so I can take my snowshoes and x-country skis out of hibernation!

In the meantime enjoy these links to some Christmas music. The Youtube video is for the delightful pop song "Peppermint Winter" by Owl City. The second Youtube video is just for my older sister, one of her favourite Christmas songs.  For those who don't like pop music so much follow this link to a collection of Sufjan Steven's Christmas music. There you can find such delightful songs as "What Child is this Anyway" and "That was the worst Christmas Ever" alongside such Christmas classics as "O Come O Come Immanuel" and "Once in Royal David's City." His sound is unique so if you are unfamiliar with it just check it out!

Or send me a link to your favourite Christmas music so I can enjoy!

A Chemist's Candy Conundrum

Unsuspecting chemist attempting taffy making

Because of my background in chemistry I normally am not very intimidated by anything in the kitchen. I like to think that if I can synthesize complex organic molecules in the lab it shouldn't be too hard to do whatever is needed in the kitchen. And so when I decided to try making saltwater taffy in preparation for leading a group of seventh graders in doing the same I didn't think much of it. I watched an instructional video, read the recipe, gathered my ingredients and dove in.

 I soon found out that making taffy is tough and I know the old saying is that a poor work(wo)man blames her tools but honestly it would have helped if I had a candy thermometer that could read the temperature accurately. My first batch appeared to be going well until I had the candy out and started pulling it. With my first pull I knew something must be wrong. I know pulling taffy is tough but I only managed about 5 pulls before I was done.

The result was a rock hard candy that had to be cut with a chopping knife rather than a pair of scissors. The candies themselves do not taste bad, although they taste more like caramels then the orange flavour they are supposed to be. If I were to market these candies I would probably give them a "sermon-long" guarantee, they seriously last a looong time in your mouth. 

Disappointing rock hard results

 With a little bit of investigating I found that my candy thermometer was approx 8 C off in reading the temperature. Not good when an exact temperature was needed.

Warning: contents of pan are approx 8 C hotter than they appear

So like any good scientist I delved into some research and read a bunch of peer reviewed journals (aka candymaking and recipe blogs.) I soon determined that the faulty temperature was probably the main culprit for the too hard candy. Also if I needed to quadruple the amount of flavouring I used if I wanted to actually taste the flavouring.

It being only 9:30 pm I figured I had time for a second go. So I gathered my ingredients and set out armed with my improved knowledge. My mixture boiled.... and boiled... and all the sane members of my family went to bed (so sadly no more pictures.)  Finally I thought I had the correct temperature and took my concoction off the stove. I added food colouring and flavour and poured some out to test the consistency. I soon found out that this batch was too cool. So I put it back on the stove and reheated.... and repeated that process several times before I finally decided I might have it right. By now I had several burns on my hands from inadvertently grabbing the metal thermometer (ouch!) I poured the mixture out and waited hopefully. But alas the sugar molecules in the taffy were mocking my labcoat and as I greased up my hands to pull the taffy I soon found out I still had not heated the candy enough as the would be taffy dripped down my arm and turned into an oozy sticky (but delicious!) mess.

Figuring I couldn't make it any worse I plopped it in a container and stuck it in the microwave for 45seconds and poured out the result once again. After some cooling time I once again greased up my now burnt and blistered hands and made an attempt to pull the taffy. I still think the taffy is too soft but by now I was well into the next day and rather tired of this taffy so I stretched it out and cut it up. Not being a huge candylover I am not sure what the correct taste or texture of saltwater taffy is. I do know that with a little bit of refrigeration and a whole lot of icing sugar my taffy manages to maintain a shape. As for the taste it mostly tastes like butter, salt and icing sugar with a hint of orange flavour. For lack of a better example I am going to just go ahead and say that is how it's supposed to turn out until someone with more candy knowledge corrects me.

 (I figure I have a few hours to enjoy my success until they wake up.)