Science Saying Saturday

Fainting Goats

Here's a video to brighten your Wednesday! Fainting goats. It's a thing. And it's strangely funny and adorable all at the same time. Enjoy! :)

Sneak Peek: Creative Sundays!

This weekend we were finally able to check some of our projects off our extensive lists of things to make! I worked on a granny square pillow for a friend...I'm not quite finished with it but once I am, I'll post better pictures. But here is what it looked like when I was about halfway done!

And Julie sewed the most adorable shirt using the science fabric she got from Spoonflower. We'll have to take a proper photo of it because obviously this one doesn't even remotely do it justice.

I'm seriously ready to try this...with soap!

As summer is rapidly winding down, school is firing up and getting crazy busy and of course this launches Gibberish's busiest time of the year. Doing dishes, making dinner, or pretty much any housework is going to take a herculean effort, so what's wrong with finding a few ways to combine tasks?

Salmon is on the menu for tonight and I'll let you all know how it turns out. And yes, I'm doing it the last way mentioned...with soap...while simultaneously cleaning our dishes. I'm ridiculously excited!

For all the delicious details, read this!

Cupcakes Make the World Go 'Round

Today is my brother's 27th birthday! He's old now so we went down to Orange County to celebrate with him, his wife, and their 2 year old, Charlotte. I know everyone probably bakes cakes/cupcakes for birthdays but in our family it's a really big deal. When we were kids and visiting California in the summer, our lovely Grandma Doris (who turns 100 in October!!) would always help us bake a cake for each other or our dad and those are some of my favorite memories. We always made a box cake but it was still tasty! My Grandma made the best frosting and she tried to teach me how but whenever I make her recipe, it never turns out as good as when she made it. So I was on the hunt for the perfect frosting that I could make and a few years ago I found it on the foodie blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything. Seriously, this is the best frosting you will ever make...Well, if you like super sweet frosting and I do so it's perfect! My family seems to enjoy it quite a bit too!

But I decided to try something a little different his year because my stepdad, Wayne, got me a Debbie Meyer Cupcake Genius. I was a little skeptical at first but it worked perfectly! I used The Girl Who Ate Everything's chocolate cake recipe which I've made before when I first made the frosting and it is so rich and moist and amazing. I can't say enough nice things about her recipes. 

I also used her homemade whipped cream recipe for the cupcake filling, which was delicious! I'd never made it before and I was so amazed by the process. Mom and I aren't fans of whipped cream but I think we both might be converts to the homemade variety!

And to top it off I used - guess whose? - The Girl Who Ate Everything's chocolate frosting recipe! I had never made chocolate frosting from scratch before and I was a little nervous but I think it turned out well. It's pretty light but a little too sweet for my tastes...I think I might try a dark chocolate frosting next time.

My brother is a pretty special guy and I think these cupcakes were the perfect addition to his birthday celebration.

Miss Charlotte seemed to enjoy them too!

Robots and Tea

When we went to the Maker Faire last May, we stumbled upon the T-We booth and fell in love with this small business, their fantastic selection of teas, and their inspiring ethics! They are a San Francisco based tea business that tries to spread the joy of all-natural ingredients. My mom got me the "Flailing Princess" tea for my birthday, along with an ADORABLY GEEKY robot tea infuser (ThinkGeek has the same one).

 I couldn't help it but giggle every time I steeped my tea. The tea cup and saucer are also gifts from my mom. She knows me so well! :) She found them on ETSY (where else??) from the shop, AmonstLovelyThings. How gorgeous are these? I think I might need to bake something pink now to go with those and my tea...

Aliens of all shapes and sizes!

Check out this interesting article on NPR about what extra-terrestrials might really be like...Fortunately, I think we're safe from dealing with any Jabba the Huts on Mars. Whoo! Personally, I'm not really all that excited about the day when we do find other life forms out in space. I think I've seen too many movies (Signs, Independence Day, Mars Attacks!, part of Alien...) and now I have an (un)healthy fear of aliens. My mother (Ms. Sciencepants) would probably disagree with me but I'm cool with not having a close encouter with an alien...Or I'd rather not have one burst out of my gut in a diner. Weird, right?

"It's not just that we've given up hope of finding intelligent beings, it's worse than that. The life we now expect (or rather hope) to find is usually imagined as depressingly small, pebble-sized, or even smaller, like the period at the end of this sentence."

Is There A Giant Life Form Lurking In Our Solar System? Possibly, Say Scientists