Party Laboratory

What would you make with these ingredients?

                                                      -       Plastic test tubes

                                                      -       Mini-M&Ms and/or Skittles

                                                      -       Mailing labels

                                                      -       ribbon

Here’s what we made – party favors!

With a bat mitzvah party theme of microbiology in her mind, Youngest Daughter’s idea of party favors was that she would make booklets with microbiology facts.  Um, no – I had to make a booklet for the worship service, and did not want to become a printing business.  No more booklets.  Plus, who wants to go to a party and be handed a textbook? (Well, who besides my daughter?) So I began searching the web for ‘science party favors.’

After wording my search twenty different ways, I managed to find these chintzy microscope centerpieces.  Score!  

YD was thrilled with them; my husband was appalled. The only possible cell-related party favors I found were plush brain cells and microbes, at $5 apiece.  Too expensive.

But in the process of searching, I also found plastic test tubes for sale to the general public, at a reasonable price.  Brain cells sparking, I thought, ‘test tube filled with little candies’ equals science party favor.  Not precisely microbial or cellular, but in my view that was for the best.  

It was key to get test tubes made of plastic, not glass.
Do not give teenagers glass objects at a party.

Here is our recipe (see below) for these science party favors.  It’s a long description, but it was pretty darn easy.  Tying the ribbon was the most time-consuming part. 

Serving suggestions:

Order straight-sided plastic beakers and place 8 tubes in each beaker; one beaker per table. 

- or -

Order test-tube racks, but beware it is difficult to find racks that hold 8 tubes, and 8 people at a table is the standard for those round party tables.

- or -

Place test tubes in a bowl for people to take home at the end of the party.  This is what I wanted to do, but I was overruled.

- or -

Place on test tube at each person’s table setting, above the plate.  This was what my husband wanted.  By the end of the evening, there were empty plastic test tubes scattered everywhere, at least on the kids’ side of the party room.

Recipe for Test Tube Party Favors

(makes 80 favors)

Ingredients

80 test tubes with caps; size 16 x 150 mm  (order online, in packs of 10)

2 pounds of Skittles candy

2 pounds of mini-M&M candy (note: regular M&Ms were too big)

White mailing labels (optional, but fun). 1” x 2 5/8” (Avery #8160)

67 feet of ribbon of any color you choose (optional, but pretty)

Caveats:

I am not entirely sure about the amount of candy needed.  We had some left over, after filling 80 test tubes.

To print the (optional) labels you also need a computer and printer, but that’s kind of like a recipe saying that you need an oven.  We used two kinds of candy because some of our guests had gluten or nut allergies, and M&Ms are not certified to be free of those.

Instructions

Wash hands.  Fill large bowl with all the Skittles.  Dip a test tube into the Skittles, pushing the candy into the tube.  Do not worry about making a color pattern with the candy, or you will be doing this task all night.  Once test tube is full, place cap firmly on tube.  Repeat for 40 test tubes.  Place in plastic bag labeled “Skittles.”  Set aside.

Notice that one of the test tubes has 4 of the same color in a row.  Wonder what the probability of that occurring again is.  Stop wondering because you don’t have time.

Wash hands again and get a new bowl.  Fill it with the mini-M&Ms.  Fill the remaining 40 test tubes, using the same technique as you did for the Skittles.  Place in plastic bag labeled “M&Ms”. Set aside.

Go to your computer and set up a document for printing the labels.  We found that Microsoft Word has a template for Avery labels, and that worked mostly fine.  Here’s what we put on our test tubes, to make them look all officially scientificky:

Laboratory of Youngest Daughter

Experiment Title: Mazel Tov!

Test date: 2012-08-25

Contents: Skittles

Purity: gluten-free

For the M&Ms the last two lines said:

Contents: mini-M&Ms

Purity: may contain gluten and/or nuts

Print the labels first on a plain sheet of paper to check that the print will line up with the labels.  Make adjustments if necessary.  Print 40 labels for Skittles, and 40 for mini-M&Ms. 

Get out your test tubes.  Start with the Skittles first. Peel off label, and line up carefully along test tube, then attach to test tube, rolling to make label adhere smoothly.  Use the same process for the mini-M&Ms.

Finally, cut ribbon into 10-inch segments.  Tie around test tube, making a bow.  Curse that your fingers are too fat to really tie a bow that small.  Decide that next time you would skip the bow, but admit that they make these look quite festive.

Cost

80 test tubes with caps ($2.15/pack of 10)                        17.00

Candy                                                                                 50.00? approx.

White mailing labels                                                            13.00

Ribbon                                                                                  8.00

Total                                                                                   83.00 or about $1.00 each favor

Large bowl filled with many mini M&Ms

Test tube with Skittles and ribbon, before the label.

With the Skittles label.

This is what the M&M tubes look like without the labels.

The finished product.

Mourning

This day, an average day,

I am crying for all children who lost their lives,

no matter how or for what reason, 

for all parents who lost children, 

for all grandparents who lost their children and grandchildren,

and longing for the day when every tear is wiped from our eyes,

the day when there will be no need for mourning.

* * * * *

In memory of 

Zoe Falkenberg and Dana Falkenberg, 

and their Mom and Dad,
Leslie Whittington and Charlie Falkenberg.

I did not know them, but they were dear friends of my brother. 

Flight 77

Making Pie with a Scientist

When I want company and help making a pie, Youngest Daughter is my go-to person.  On Saturday the stars were aligned for the making of a blueberry pie.  So I called upstairs to YD, “Do you want to help me make a pie?” 

YD wasn’t interested, but soon my Son was bounding down the stairs.  “Did someone say ‘pie’?”

I said, “If we want pie we have to make it ourselves.  Would you like to help me make a blueberry pie?” 

It turns out that he could not remember ever making a pie.  I think pie-making, especially making the crust from scratch, is an important life skill.  My son has baked plenty of cakes and cookies with me, and is even willing to bake them himself.  I couldn’t believe that I had neglected to teach him how to make a pie.  Soon Son was scooping the flour into the measuring cup.

I cautioned him, “Don’t pack the flour down into the measuring cup.  If you do, you’ll have too much flour.”

He said, in his chemist-like way, “For a compressible solid like this, you should be using a more accurate measurement method.  Instead of using a volume measure, we should measure the mass.  How much mass of flour do we need?”

We made an oil-based crust, because there was no shortening in the house.

 

Not knowing the answer, but knowing that we don’t have a balance for measuring mass, I moved on, asking, “What’s the next ingredient?”

He read the recipe and said, “Sucrose.”  That’s sugar, for us reg’lar folk.

My husband entered the room.  He is also a scientist, and contributed this helpful idea:  “Are you going to substitute orange juice for chicken fat?”  This was different from his usual cooking hint, which is “Just add some cream of mushroom soup.”

The pie crust recipe called for one egg white.  I put on my Home Ec Teacher hat, and asked my son, “Do you know how to separate the egg white from the yolk?”  You can’t be Jewish and not know how to separate egg whites.  Making a sponge cake is a Jewish life skill, at least during Passover.

He guessed, “Do you use the separation funnel?”

My husband thought of even more interesting scientific equipment.  “You could use a high-speed centrifuge.”

Son upped the ante.  “Or maybe the nuclear magnetic resonance machine!”

I got out two bowls for separating the egg.  Son said, “Do you have the distillation chamber ready?”  I contributed to his Jewish education; we achieved separation of the egg white.

Then the recipe called for vinegar in ice water.  “We need two teaspoons of this,” I said, handing him the vinegar bottle. 

He said, ‘Acetic acid... Why does the recipe call for acid?” 

This I did know the answer to.  “The vinegar helps make the crust flaky.”  My budding chemist wondered what the acid was reacting with to cause flakiness.  I said, “Maybe it reacts with the salt.” 

“Mom.  An acid reacting with salt could result in hydrochloric acid.  That would NOT be good in a pie.”  This pie crust recipe does call for salt, but it does not end up with hydrochloric acid in it.  The scientific reason for the vinegar remained a mystery.

We made the crust, then the filling.  The last step was to add the blueberries.  The recipe called for 6 cups, but the last cup looked a little scant.  My son said, “It looks like there aren’t enough blueberries.”  I said, “But the first cups were overfull.”  He said, scientifically, “Maybe you should measure this by moles of blueberries.”

This was actually my first blueberry pie.  

After we put the pie in the oven, he reverted from scientist to normal teenager.  “Okay.  It’s lunch time!”

Science Fact Update:  We later consulted The Oracle Google, and found that the acetic acid (vinegar) reacts with the gluten in the flour, negating its effects somewhat.  Gluten is the reason that you knead bread dough, and the reason you don’t knead pie dough.

I had leftover dough, so I made the letter "B" but...

... my son said it looked like a Phantom of the Opera mask.

That beer could come in handy later.

I got to try out my new crust guards - keeps the crust from getting burned.

Done!

It was yummy, but had a little too much flour in the filling, I think.

Some Scientists

We were talking about various things at dinner a few nights ago, including a discussion of Congress’ grasp of science, which is to say, less than ideal.  (I’m talking ’bout you, Rep. Todd Akin.)   My husband said, “I think that we should begin each sentence with the phrase, ‘Some scientists believe that…’  For instance, ‘Some scientists believe that I should put my plate in the sink after dinner.’”

Youngest Daughter said, “Some scientists believe that is a stupid idea.”

(Some teenagers believe it is their job to contradict their parents, and believe they should get out of doing work like taking plates to the sink.)

Son said, “How about if you said, “Some theologians believe…”

I said, “I don’t think that has the same impact.  You expect theologians to believe things.  But on to more important things.  What do some scientists believe we should have for dinner tomorrow?”

I forget what they said, but it was some variation on the following:

Youngest Daughter Scientist: Macaroni and cheese from a box!

Son Scientist:  I dunno.  Something I like.  Lasagna.

Husband Scientist:  How about stuffed pork chops?  When I went to San Diego I went to the same restaurant every night because they served these great stuffed pork chops with beer.

- or –

Husband Scientist:  if you make that same meal you made last week, only leave out the tofu, substitute rice for the green peppers, add in some cream of mushroom soup, and serve steak on the side, that would be great.

Some non-scientists should know better than to ask what people want for dinner.

Guest Post: What's Your Perspective?

A short essay by Youngest Daughter...  

Relativity by M.C. Escher

This artwork by Escher is the picture to which I will be referring throughout this paper. If you have any opinions, feel free to send them, but please, be gentle. I don’t want to get overloaded.

The first thing that you notice about this picture is its position. Which way is up? From which perspective are you to look at it? Which perspective do the people in the picture look at it from? Well, I think that was Escher’s point. I think that he was trying to make a point about perspective, and it’s up to us to think of what that point might be.

What I think, though, is that he’s saying that while we all have a different perspective, we are also blinded by that perspective, and are not even willing to see otherwise. If you take a look at the people in the picture, then you can see that they all have different perspectives. Some perspective differences are large, such as seeing things from two different staircases. Other perspectives are relatively close, such as sitting at the same table together. Nonetheless, every single character in this scene has their own perspective, their own way of seeing things…. if they can see at all. Look closely at those people and you’ll see that not one of them has a face (or eyes for that matter) to see their perspective or other’s perspective. All of their faces are covered.

It is the same with us people who do have faces. We are blinded by the opinions we are raised with, and are not willing to see anything but those opinions. However, if we truly open our minds, and leave ourselves with no judgment within us, then we are finally able to take off the veil that covers our faces, and look for real to see what’s right in front of us.

* * * * *

So, Dear Reader, what is your perspective?  What is right in front of you?