On Chemistry and Baking
So, I could talk about Pennsic, and how busy I was at Pennsic. I should at least say that I would have collapsed many times over if not for my kind campmates and amazing minions. But really, when you're behind the scenes, what is interesting to experience is often not interesting to tell. So, we'll leave it that it was an excellent Pennsic, all things considered, with a really fabulous visit with friends in Ithaca on the way home, and you all can make up interesting bits to fill it in.
Tonight was a moment of pause before launching into the next projects (house cleaning & organizing, friends' wedding prep). I offered to make dinner (enough to hopefully last for lunches all week and at least one more dinner). What to get for dessert? It would be dumb to put back on the little weight I lost on vacation, so ice cream is probably out. Supermarket pastries are usually a waste of money. Hey, look at this -- break-and-bake cookies. Neat! No effort and the oven will already be on, I can do that.
Now, everyone equates chemistry with baking. Measure and add according to the recipe, make something new via chemical interactions, pretty similar, right? I should be good at this.
Well, except for the fact that I'm reasonably happy when I get a 25% yield (and overjoyed at 60%). And for the fact that most of the time, letting it run for 30 minutes or 3 hours makes absolutely no difference. And for the fact that it's expected that there will be useless junk in there, and you can usually purify it as much as you have patience for. And for the fact that if you can't purify it now, you can often just go to the next step and purify it afterwards. In fact, you can frequently toss it in the freezer and leave it there for days, and start back up where you left off. The desired product usually stays the same throughout all of this.
Baking, not so much.
At least the boy was tactful about the outcome.
Tonight was a moment of pause before launching into the next projects (house cleaning & organizing, friends' wedding prep). I offered to make dinner (enough to hopefully last for lunches all week and at least one more dinner). What to get for dessert? It would be dumb to put back on the little weight I lost on vacation, so ice cream is probably out. Supermarket pastries are usually a waste of money. Hey, look at this -- break-and-bake cookies. Neat! No effort and the oven will already be on, I can do that.
Now, everyone equates chemistry with baking. Measure and add according to the recipe, make something new via chemical interactions, pretty similar, right? I should be good at this.
Well, except for the fact that I'm reasonably happy when I get a 25% yield (and overjoyed at 60%). And for the fact that most of the time, letting it run for 30 minutes or 3 hours makes absolutely no difference. And for the fact that it's expected that there will be useless junk in there, and you can usually purify it as much as you have patience for. And for the fact that if you can't purify it now, you can often just go to the next step and purify it afterwards. In fact, you can frequently toss it in the freezer and leave it there for days, and start back up where you left off. The desired product usually stays the same throughout all of this.
Baking, not so much.
At least the boy was tactful about the outcome.