SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN: All of the fresh produce bursting forth from our garden right now has meant more than the usual amount of time in our kitchen, it seems. Today's culinary adventure: Zucchini banana bread. We used a recipe I found on the Taste of Home Web site, and made a couple of minor changes (organic sugar instead of the standard, a bit of coconut flour swapped in for some of the all-purpose, extra cinnamon and zucchini).
CJ did the mashing, while Annabelle did the sifting.
In the end, everyone was happy with how it turned out.
Before we baked the bread, we went out and picked some blackberries this morning.
During the process, our hands all got berry stained, which prompted Annabelle to ponder the origin of the phrase "caught red handed."
Fortunately, CJ had an explanation: "The idiom "caught red-handed" is often used to indicate that someone is clearly guilty of something, or is caught doing so. The idiom comes from the fact that in ancient times, one common method of figuring out whether someone had committed murder or not was to see their hands. If their hands were red (because of the victim's blood), than they were believed to be guilty." BIG IDEAS: Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking's ideas can be difficult to wrap one's minds around. Thankfully, The Guardian’s MadeSimple series has made a 150-second video that makes some of Hawking's most famous theories seem pretty straightforward! Check it out: https://youtu.be/D6lFGJdwRyo
MEASURING UP: We were back in the kitchen today, intent upon making some zucchini banana bread when Kennedy arrived for a visit. We were measuring something and the conversation turned toward the 'how many pints in a ..." direction. Ken said he wished he could recall "Gallon Man" from fifth grade. I told him I had no recollection of Gallon Man, so we did the Google. We found a couple of really horrible (in our humble opinions) songs about it/him, but couldn't make it through any of those videos to the end. Ken suggested an image search instead. That resulted in a number of rather horrific illustrations. We finally found something on Education.com that wasn't entirely awful. Here's a thumbnail. You can find a PDF here: http://www.education.com/files/280101_280200/280111/gallon-man-worksheet.pdf
SHOWERS: What a difference a day makes. Last night, around 10:30, we were all out on the roofdeck, watching the Perseid meteor shower. (We each saw at least one in the 15 or so minutes we were out - yay!)
This morning, the showers (finally!) came in liquid form. It rained in Seattle! Now, most might think that's not big news, but we've been dry as a bone for months, and today, nearly two inches came pouring down in dramatic fashion.
There were lightning strikes all over the city, including on 5th Avenue in the heart of downtown, and at CenturyLink field, where the Seahawks played their home opener tonight.
Image Credit: NASA FLAME ON: Math, music and more were on our agenda today, but one 'don't miss' item was watching a rocket firing test this afternoon. Specifically, at 1:30 our time, we tuned into NASA TV to watch 'pre-game' coverage. Coming up was a 535-second test of its Space Launch System (SLS) RS-25 rocket engine, live from NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The test was to collect engine performance data as part of the process for getting the engines ready for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), which will (hopefully/ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) finally get our space agency back in the business of launching astronauts from American soil. The engine is actually the same one that was used on the good ol' space shuttle for decades. NASA is updating it with an all-new engine controller and other electronic upgrades, all of which have tot pass rigorous temperature and pressure conditions they will experience during a SLS mission. When they're used for an actual test flight a couple of years from now, four of these engines will be strapped together.
Per NASA, today "more than 1,200 people, including elected officials and community leaders, media and social media representatives, and NASA and contractor employees and family members viewed the test. Guests saw Stennis facilities and test stands, the Aerojet Rocketdyne engine assembly facility, and the Pegasus barge that will transport the SLS core stage from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to Stennis for testing then to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch."
I would think most of the 1,200 people found all this fascinating. However, as we were watching the test, I couldn't help but notice one woman in the foreground. ...
Image Credit: NASA I captured this screen shot when the test just started, but within one minute, they showed the crowd again, and I pointed at the screen and said to the kids,"Oh my god, she's texting!" The test was so loud, so dynamic, so awesome, but there was this woman, turned to her right, texting away. Incredible.
And so, for the next five minutes, we watched for her (we named her Myrtle) in the crowd to see what she was doing. She was doing basically anything but watching the rocket engine fire, so we discussed things she was, perhaps saying or thinking. They included ...
"This is taking FOREVER! Don’t ever make me do this again, Phil!" (Myrtle's husband)
"Seriously, I need to post on Facebook about how boring this is. #notimpressed ."
"Can we just go to Olive Garden now?!
And Myrtle kept looking to the right, for some reason. We wondered if, perhaps a squirrel had wandered into the test viewing area. ...
Anyway, even though Myrtle wasn't impressed, we thought it was pretty darn cool!
GARDEN HARVEST: In what can no longer count as news around here, we have tomatoes. Lots and lots of tomatoes.
We also have peppers turning color, but not ready for picking yet. Stay tuned for updates on those.
Below is a photo of today's harvest. To me, it screamed out 'make zucchini lasagna," and so, we did.
The kids picked and washed the tomatoes and picked, washed and chopped the basil and chives while I sliced up the zucchini.
We made a meat sauce with lots of onions and garlic, of course.
It all went into a big casserole pan in layers, along with some mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, olives and cottage cheese.
And boy did we enjoy it for dinner!
THAT DARN CAT: Today marks the 128th anniversary of the birth of Erwin Schrödinger, a Nobel Prize winning physicist from Austria, famous for his work in the field of quantum theory.
"Grave Schroedinger" by User:Karl Gruber - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grave_Schroedinger.jpg#/media/File:Grave_Schroedinger.jpg
One reason Schrödinger remains a familiar name to many is his thought exercise, "Schrödinger's Cat." We checked out an explanation from famous scientist Brian Greene via World Science University. https://youtu.be/UpGO2kuQyZw
Frankly, even after watching that, we weren't sure we wrapped our minds around it, so we also checked out the "Minute Physics" explanation of it. https://youtu.be/IOYyCHGWJq4
FIZZY STUFF: I'll step aside for a moment and let CJ tell you a little story about the hazards of consuming questionable carbonated beverages. ...
A few months back, we went to an Asian grocery store in the extreme north of Seattle. One time, I noticed a can of soda labeled "SARSI," which said it was from the Philippines and was made by the Coca-Cola Company.
According to Wikipedia, Sarsi is sold in most of Southeast Asia. I was curious about the supposedly-sarsaparilla-flavored soda (it tasted more like licorice), and we bought it. However, when I opened the can, the drink started exploding and soaked my clothes and some of the car.
Later, on August 11, 2015, we went to the same grocery store. I noticed the Sarsi again, but this time, it was in a glass bottle and was cold. We bought it again, but had to go to a nearby thrift store to find (and temporarily borrow) a bottle opener. We opened the bottle, but the Sarsi exploded and we had to leave quickly.
By this time, we were sure that Sarsi was inherently explosive, because the incidents were months apart, were in different vessels, different temperatures, and with different ways of opening.
After doing a bit of research, we discovered that, according to Wikipedia, a grenade disguised as a can of Sarsi is the central plot device of the 1985 Hong Kong film "Sheng dan qi yu jie liang yuan", or "It's a drink, it's a bomb!". This made us curious, and made us wonder, "Which came first: the movie about the Sarsi grenade, or Sarsi exploding?"
I personally think that Sarsi exploding came first, which led to a movie about a fake Sarsi can that's literally a grenade.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find any relevant sources that had to do with the explosive power of Sarsi. However, I think Sarsi literally being a grenade in one movie is interesting, when you factor in the explosive potential of Sarsi.
The trailer for "It's a Drink It's a Bomb" is, unfortunately, available on YouTube. I would not recommend watching it.
KUMA!!!!: This afternoon, while we worked around the house, the Mariners' matinee game spun on in the background. I knew they were up by a couple runs and honestly, I wasn't paying much attention until the middle of the seventh inning when I heard announcer Dave Sims note that Mariners' pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma had a no hitter going.
Well that got our attention.
We watched rapt through the next two innings, wondering if perhaps Kuma could manage a no no. Heck, they guy has never even pitched a complete 9-inning game before today.
But the eighth inning came and went with no hits, and into the ninth we went. Three outs later, Iwakuma became a part of MLB history, becoming the fifth Mariners pitcher to pitch a no hitter.
Go Mariners!
PERIHELION: Today, comet-chasing Rosetta and little lander Philae passed through their closest point to the Sun along their amazing journey.
We just love, Love, LOVE the mission's adorable illustrations of the spacecraft. They are so charming!
European Space Agency/Rosetta Mission
RENEGADES: The kids worked on a new-to-them song, "Renegades" by the band X Ambassadors. We found a "Papa Stache" tutorial on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBkpdiTsE4E that was quick and relatively easy, though the kids are going to have to work on the song's unique strumming pattern some more..
A HUNTING WE WILL GO: As proof positive you're never too old to go treasure hunting is the geocaching hobby. :) Per the promotional video, geocaching is "an any day any time adventure."
Yesterday afternoon, in the midst of enjoying national S'mores Day, we got in some treasure hunting in Fremont. Geocaching involves following GPS coordinates, using common sense and using your 'spidey senses.' And pretty much, Fremont is the geocaching HQ of the world as geocaching.com's offices are located in the neighborhood! This weekend, a worldwide expo of geocachers will descend upon Fremont for a big ol' treasure hunting party. As we made the rounds on Monday, we ran into international hunters aplenty, including a contingent from Norway. :) We encountered them at the 'chairy tree'.
It had a bunch of chairs in it. Get it? Chairy tree?! But you had to find the geocache box and log amidst the artful chaos. It was SUPER clever. Our favorite geocache to date, but I won't say any more.
From there, we went to check out the cache at the Fremont library. We met another international visitor there, skulking about the back side of the library. :)
SHOWER: We have a new moon to thank for the fact this week’s Perseid meteor shower is expected to be one of the best in years. The kid will be up on the deck, watching when they're not sleeping. :)
If you don't have a roofdeck to sleep on, perhaps you'll want to check out NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will broadcast a live program about this year’s Perseid meteor shower from 10 p.m. EDT Wednesday, Aug. 12 to 2 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 13. The event will highlight the science behind the Perseids, as well as NASA research related to meteors and comets. The program will air on NASA TV and NASA’s UStream channel.
Per NASA, the best chance to see the Perseid meteor shower is during the dark, pre-dawn hours of Aug. 13. "The Perseids streak across the sky from many directions, with theoretical rates as high as 100 per hour. The last time the Perseids peak coincided with a new moon was in 2007, making this one of the best potential viewings in years."
OK, count us in, weather permitting!
If you're up for it, special guests on the live NASA TV broadcast include meteor experts Bill Cooke, Danielle Moser and Rhiannon Blaauw, all of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office, located at Marshall."
SUNDAY FUNDAY: We worked around the house most of the day Saturday, and so we decided to spend most of Sunday on a field trip to Safeco Field. Mercifully, traffic was light and we scored a parking spot quickly, so we got into the stadium super early. That gave us a chance to watch pitchers warm up. We started at the Rangers' bull pen. There, we saw their pitching coach Mike Maddux work with one of their staff.
Mike Maddux is a former Major League Baseball pitcher and is the older brother of four-time Cy Young Award winner Greg Maddux.
We also watched the Mariners' starter warm up - none other than future Hall of Famer King Felix Hernandez.
First, he played long toss in the outfield ...
then he moved into the bullpen and started pitching from the mound.
It's always a big deal when Felix is pitching, and it's fun to be a part of it all.
We also checked out the new golf center under the centerfield bleachers.
We spied on the 'live fro Safeco Field' broadcast desk ...
And we checked out unused on deck circles behind the outfield fence.
Felix was in fine form on Sunday, and the Mariners finally generated enough offense to give him the lead. In the end, Mariners win - hooray!
After the game, kids had the chance to run around the bases - a first for them!
They even made it onto the big screen!
I sent my phone with Annabelle and she took some video of the experience. First up is getting ready to run. https://youtu.be/JVVjG-1lLt4
GOOEY GOODNESS: Did you know today is national S'Mores Day? Fortunately for us, local chocolate manufacturer Theo Chocolate observed the occasion by selling gourmet s'mores! The taste treat featured house made graham crackers, lovely, fresh-made square marshmallows, and your choice of a number of Theo's amazing chocolates.
Annabelle opted for the coconut dark chocolate, while CJ went for peanut butter cup milk chocolate.
Delicious - and extraordinarily sticky!
Theo is also home to one of the "Astronauts on the Town.' There, we met Happy Constellations,a work by artist Fin’es Scott, inspired by star constellations with pop art influences.
LEAFY GREENS: In other space news, we watched a bit of a live spacewalk by a pair of cosmonauts live this afternoon.
This morning, history was made on the ISS, as six astronauts became the first people to eat food grown in space, red romaine lettuce. For decades, NASA and other space agencies have experimented with plants in space, but until today, the produce was always sent to Earth for examination, rather than eaten.
