It’s been a month after my previous post and the final fixes have just been completed on my home. That’s not to say that I have an updated kitchen and tile floors and everything’s put away, but… well, what was waterlogged has been replaced and things look tidy. My tutoring room is still a bit messy, but I could straighten it enough for company in a day. We’ve spent a month putting things back where they belong and soothing the kitties. I’ve even made an ever-growing pile of things to donate.

Since my previous post, I’ve also celebrated my birthday and Pi Day, tutored less than anticipated (darned staggered Spring Breaks and sick kids!), had my TI-84+ Silver Edition mysteriously die on me (no, the batteries do not need to be changed, but maybe I spilled something on it), and I’ve cooked and baked very little (what I have cooked and baked have been holiday-based). However, I am learning and planning more meals and goodies for the future.

A few days before Pi Day, I made 5 batches (each enough for a 9 inch circle) of pie dough using a recipe the Brown-Eyed Baker posted, adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I used the food-processor-method described in detail in the post, with my teeny 4-cup Cuisinart Mini-Prep Plus. I discovered that the butter must be cold, or else it just becomes a slightly-whipped mush below the blade and doesn’t mix properly. I first tried making two half-batches, then felt brave and made a full batch. A full batch worked very easily, but the Mini-Prep Plus can’t handle more than that. I was impressed by the little machine and the ease with which the crust was made.

Unfortunately, rolling it out a few days later was exhausting! For a 9 inch pie, you need two 12 inch diameter discs.  I had to rest after rolling out the crust, which was fine because it had to be molded to the container (or laid flat, for the top) and refrigerated.

I only wound up making three “pies,” unfortunately. Apple Pie was the first. It was pretty easy and turned out very well. I used a recipe I found online (I think off allrecipes.com), but for the life of me I can’t find it now! Luckily, I saved a copy of it, which can be found at the bottom of this post. Peter’s coworkers had been forewarned, so one brought vanilla ice cream in anticipation, which I believe was part of its success. One said, “you can’t buy apple pie like this!” They saved me a piece and I can honestly say it was good but next time, it will be even better, with a little lemon zest in the crust or something. Better than super-market-made is good, but comparisons to someone’s grandmother’s is always the goal.

My First "Apple Pi"

I also made Chicken Pot Pie, which was an epic fail, and Shepherd’s Pie, which was definitely not worth repeating (and my husband could not put into words what it needed or had too much of, in terms of ingredients or flavor or texture); both savory dishes were foods I don’t normally eat but my husband loves.

I also made iced four-leaf-clover sugar cookies and chocolate mint cookies (recipe at bottom of post, adapted from allrecipes.com) for St. Patrick’s Day, both of which were greatly enjoyed by my husband’s coworkers. Next year, maybe I’ll try a cookie with a whiskey or Bailey’s Irish Cream base.

St. Patrick's Day Cookies: Iced 4-Leaf Clover Sugar Cookies and Chocolate Mint Cookies

There are two lessons I could learn from this. Either I should stick to baking, or I should stick to what I know or could imagine eating. I plan on going with the latter, mostly because I have had some relative wins in cooking in the past (e.g., pot roast, Swedish meatballs, and Czech chicken paprikash) and we do happen to eat meals every day.

Ali’s Apple Pi

Ingredients:

• 2 twelve-inch-circles’-worth pie crust dough
• 2 1/2 pounds (about 6 large) green apples, peeled, cored and sliced into ¼” x 1″ chunks (about 8 cups sliced)
• 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions:

1. In a large bowl combine the sliced apples, sugars, lemon juice, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Let the apples macerate at room temperature for about two hours.
2. After the dough has chilled sufficiently, remove one portion of the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry into a 12-inch circle. Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 9-inch pie pan. Brush off any excess flour and trim the edges of the pastry to fit the pie pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.
3. Then remove the second round of pastry and roll it onto a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator.
4. Place the apples and their juices in a strainer that is placed over a large bowl (to capture the juices). Let the apples drain for about 15-30 minutes or until you have at least 1/2 cup of juice. Pour collected juices and the 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 6-7 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to about 1/3 cup and is syrupy and lightly caramelized.
5. Meanwhile, remove the top pastry crust from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes so it has time to soften and become pliable.
6. Transfer the drained apples slices to a large bowl and mix them with the cornstarch. Then pour the reduced syrup over the apples and toss to combine. Pour the apples and their syrup into the chilled pie crust. Moisten the edges of the pie shell with a little water and then place the top crust over the apples. Tuck any excess pastry under the bottom crust and then crimp the edges using your fingers or a fork. Using a sharp knife, make five 2-inch slits from the center of the pie out towards the edge of the pie to allow the steam to escape. Cover the pie with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill the pastry while you preheat the oven.
7. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Place the oven rack at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack before preheating the oven. Place a piece of aluminum foil on the stone (or pan) to catch any apple juices.
8. Set the pie on the stone or pan and bake for about 45 to 55 minutes or until the juices start to bubble through the slits and apples feel tender (not mushy) when a toothpick or sharp knife is inserted through one of the slits. Make sure to cover the edges of the pie with a foil ring to prevent over browning after about 30 minutes.
9. Remove the pie from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 3-4 hours before cutting. Store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.

adapted from allrecipes.com

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 3/8 cup (3/4 stick) butter
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 tablespoons water
• 1 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 5/8 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 24 chocolate-covered thin mints

Directions:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute (for smaller cookies, break mints in half). When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer.

adapted from allrecipes.com

It’s the two weeks before Pi Day (3/14, also celebrated as Einstein’s birthday by nerds around the world). I have a lovely Pi plate (courtesy of Grandpa Susie and Grandpa Bernie), as well as other pi-making accoutrements: pi baking dish with crust protector, glass pi baking dish, and a baking pan to make a set of 4 tartlets.

Pi Plate

The goal had been to bake at least 3 pis a week for the 22 days (3.14 weeks) before the big day.

However, that’s not going to happen. A pipe burst in our kitchen and a-larger-than-R2D2-sized dehumidifier and its mini microban mate have been sucking the wet out of our subfloor until (hopefully) today. There were 4 more downstairs, but only 1 remains, in the wreck of the bathroom beneath the subfloor.

Kitchen and Lower Bath, deconstructed

But I do have some baking plans for Pi Day that WILL NOT be derailed!

2 meals: Chicken Pot Pi and Shepherd’s Pi

3 desserts: Apple Pi, Ice Cream Pi, and either some evil chocolatey pie or tartlettes.

I will let you know what happens as I reinstate myself of queen of that kitchen and the pis come together.

Further, my birthday is coming up, and I had planned to make a smaller version of my grandmother’s spectacular Nusstorte, a pecan cake with whipped cream filling and dark chocolate ganache icing. Maybe I’ll put that off for another celebration. We’ll see. My parents (or, at least, my mother) will be visiting that weekend, so maybe I’ll do some baking with/for them.

Last week, I got a new toy… um, I mean, vital piece of equipment. An iPhone. More specifically, the iPhone 4 for Verizon. I spent that day personalizing it and finding as many free (or nearly-free) apps that could be of use.

First, I got a calendar that color-coded and would show me my schedule for both the day and the week: miCal, “the missing calendar”. So far, it’s been incredibly useful, easy to use, and nice on the eyes. It was totally worth the $1.99 to be able to see my whole week with color.

miCal

Next, I got something to log miles driven to, from, and between students. It took a lot of reading-up on apps before I found the one for me. Trip Cubby was a little expensive, but it does a lot. It saves frequent trips for ease of input, links trips to contacts, categorizes trips, I don’t have to input all data, I can put in miles or the odometer reading, and new trips start with the odometer reading from the previous trip. It’s easy and fast and I find myself actually willing to take the time to do it. Plus, it shows the sum of the “reimbursement,” which adds up fast at 50¢ per mile when over 80% of my students are in the Bethesda/Silver Spring/Potomac area, over 20 miles away.

Trip Cubby

I also found a 99¢ graphing calculator that looks a lot like the TI-83+, the graphing calculator most students and schools use. It’s called the RK-83 Scientific Graphing Calculator. It’s certainly a great alternative in case I have an emergency need for a graphing calculator, a last-minute student and I’m for some reason without my pink TI-84+ SI, or it runs out of batteries.

RK-83 Scientific Graphing Calculator

There’s a really cool free app called Graphbook that shows beautiful recolor-able mathematical pictures of fractals, such as the Julia set, topological items, such as a trefoil knots and shells, and other 2D and 3D graphical items.

Graphbook

I also picked up the free app Genius Scan, which turns pictures of documents into scans in .jpg or .pdf format. It even corrects for perspective. This will be very useful for student work and worksheets on the go, as well as borrowing the occasional recipe from a friend.

Genius Scan

But I also have to look like a professional math geek. The right wallpapers (background) and ringtones will go a long way towards that. The free Retina Wallpapers HD app had a wonderful filter that helped me find a chalkboard-type background for the home screen and a blue-and-yellow Mandelbrot set (fractal) for the lock screen.

wallpapers

The free Ringtone Maker app let me take up to 30 seconds of my favorite mathy songs from online downloads of Sesame Street and Maththeatre. Most of my notification tones for e-mail, Facebook, and texts are marimba-type sounds. They’re professional, with warm tones, yet they’re staccato and have a range of sounds, and I was a percussionist once-upon-a-time. But, right now, my ringtone is the end of Maththeatre‘s “L’Hopital,” from their extremely enjoyable debut album “Calculus: The Musical!” and is to the tune of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”:

“Once upon a time I had trouble with math,
but now they all think that I am smart.
There’s nothing I can’t do,
I have Calculus in the heart.

“Once upon a time I was crying all night
but now I do my math in the dark.
There’s nothing I can say,
I have Calculus in the heart.”

I have to say, I love Matheatre!

Because of the size and the amount of space I’m using for audiobooks, I’m not using either the Kindle or iBooks app yet, but I have downloaded the Kindle app. We’ll see what happens over time. I also download the free apps for Amazon.com (to look up books), Audible.com (to download audio books), Facebook (to stay in contact with friends and family while staying up on some students’ lives, in case something might affect their mood for learning), and WeightWatchers (for the “well-rounded” tutor on the go).

other apps

A week ago, I made dark chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting for a group of friends, using a recipe from the Brown-Eyed Baker’s blog.  They were only my second attempt at cupcakes, so I shouldn’t be disappointed, but the cupcake turned out dry. The frosting was amazingly delicious and light and wonderful, and the flavor of the cupcake was there, but it just was dry and crumbly. They still got wonderful compliments, though, and were all gone by the end of the evening. Considering the amazing recipes I’ve found on the Brown-Eyed Baker’s site, and the number of things that can go wrong with such an amateur baker at the wheel, I did some searching to determine what I did wrong.

I had already read that I mustn’t over-mix after adding flour, and that I must go from adding leavening ingredients (baking soda and/or powder) to the over as quickly as reasonable. So I did do those two things. Well, maybe I mixed a little too much, but not a lot more than directed.

So why are these two things important? When it comes to the leavening ingredients, the simple explanation is that they have a chemical reaction with the other ingredients as soon as they are added, and you don’t want to waste that reaction outside of the oven (where the temperatures rise and all other chemical reactions occur). As for mixing the flour, according to BakingBites.com:

“When the flour is exposed to liquids and stirred around, the gluten (protein) in the flour starts to develop into a network that will hold whatever you’re baking together, giving cookies, cakes, etc. their structure. Gluten can also make baked goods tough if there is too much of it in the dough/batter, and excessive mixing of the dough can develop the gluten to this point.”So when a recipe instructs you not to overmix, what it means is that you should just do the minimum amount of mixing necessary to make a uniform dough.  A good rule of thumb is to stop mixing when no streaks of flour remain in your mixing bowl, or if you’re going to be adding chocolate chips or fruit into your mix, you can stop when a few small streaks of flour remain, since you’re going to give the mixture a few extra turns when you stir in your add-ins.”

However, I made some other mistakes. First, my ratios were off. I may not have had a full cup of sour cream, and I may have had a little too much flour and/or baking soda and/or baking powder. Sour cream adds moisture, while dry ingredients absorb moisture. Next, I did a lot of mixing before adding the dry ingredients because, when I read the blog, it said the batter would have an almost whipped, mousse-like texture. So, stupid me, I thought to mix it a lot. Wrong. Apparently, mixing does NOT always just add airiness. You can overbeat eggs. According to JoyofBaking.com:

“Eggs, as well as flour, are the structural ingredients in baking. Eggs provide leavening; add color, texture, flavor  and richness to the batter. They are very important in helping to bind all the other ingredients together. Beaten eggs are a leavening agent as they incorporate air into the batter, which will expand in the oven and cause the cake to rise.

. . .

“If whites are over beaten the protein molecules will lose their elasticity and the whites will become dry and flaky and won’t hold as much air.”

Dammit. Finally, I probably left it in too long. I didn’t test it earlier than the time I set on the timer and I lost track of time. Also, I may have had the oven set a little too high (half-way between 325°F and 350°F), because the blog said to preheat to 350°F unless a nonstick cupcake pan is used, in which case set it to 325°F.

To sum up, what to avoid is:

1. having too high a dry-to-moist ingredient ratio
2. over-mixing eggs
3. over-mixing the flour
4. taking too long to put batter in the oven after adding ingredients that cause chemical reactions (like baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, etc.)
5. baking too long or at too high a temperature

So, I messed up. But they still looked pretty, especially in the leopard-print cupcake liners, and tasted pretty good.

Did I say “new toy”? I meant new phone. For business. Boring, boring, boring…

Okay, that’s the longest I can pretend disinterest. I’m getting a new techie-toy to carry around with me everywhere and use all the time! It’ll be AWESOME!

Today is the first day Verizon will let me get a new phone for the reduced renewed-contract price. But I had a dilemma: iPhone or Android? And which?

The most important constraint is time: I can’t wait 4-5 months to get a new phone. My BlackBerry is failing me every day – store reps and BlackBerry aficionados are amazed it lasted 19 months before it started to go wonky.

So, if I were to get an iPhone, it would be the Verizon iPhone 4. If I were to get an Android phone, it would be the HTC Thunderbolt, which is Verizon’s first 4G LTE phone (and I live and work in a 4G zone).

HTC ThunderBolt 4G-LTE and Apple iPhone 4

Since the iPhone is so very easily-used-by-the-common-person, frighteningly not unlike the iMac, it didn’t seem like the thing for a true geek to have. So I obsessed about whether to get the Thunderbolt over other models and then agonized over the ever-changing arrival date.

Then my iPod died. I have a purple iPod nano I use for the gym and travel and by my bed, but my lovely, large, iPod classic from 2005  stays in my car, recharging off the battery as I drive, playing lovely music and road-rage-deflating audiobooks. Every time I use my nano in my car, it somehow gets lost between my living room and my car. Last time, I found it in a winter boot. A new iPod classic is $249. Can’t afford that right now. Can’t even rationalize paying $125 for a refurbished, outdated iPod classic. <Sigh> But a cell phone, I’ll keep my hand on.

So I checked out the specs and comparisons of the iPhone 4 vs. HTC Thunderbolt, such as this graphic from skattertech:

Infographic: Droid Bionic vs. iPhone 4 vs. HTC Thunderbolt

I was still conflicted, so then I talked to my baby brother. My brilliant, techie, 24-year-old, baby brother who lives in LA, a software engineer in charge of the physics engine for a very popular war-type video game. In other words, the baby brother that is as authentic a techie as anybody could be. He has an iPhone. So I asked him and sent him the specs. His opinion was:

“I vote iPhone, especially if you want a music player and you want quick and easy. Processor speed doesn’t matter much because iOS is a lot faster than Android and more responsive. Removable battery doesn’t really matter either. You’ll get rid of the phone before then. iPhone app store spanks android as well”

Well, I didn’t expect that. Somehow I feel weird, passing myself as a lover of technology, but getting the same phone as The Masses. A Droid will at least make me seem like I get the latest trends when I can and don’t fear customizability but embrace its open-source richness. My husbands loves his Droid X and has no desire for a phone more like his much-loved iPad.

Then again, I want versatility and the ability to tinker in my computer. In my phone, I want it to work efficiently and reliably as a phone, text-messager, e-mailer, and PDA. Apps and customizability should be optional and easy, and will certainly be used only in a limited manner.

And there you have it. I was turned to the iPhone. And I’m picking it up today. Let’s hope I can still maintain my Geek Cred.