I have been teaching science to young adults in my hometown for over 15 years, rambling along the way. Thanks for stopping by.
Science teacher
Kale and clam soup again
It’s New Year’s Eve, the day beckoned with near freezing temps and a bit of a breeze, but low tide was conveniently at 11:50 AM and below normal to boot.
I was pleasantly surprised with less wind and even less water than predicted, and got my clams. Had to return to the beach twice because of extra clams tucked in my wander pockets, but not the first time I’ve done that.
Accidentally bought cilantro instead of parsley, so maybe that was the secret. Also helped that the kale used was extraordinarily sweet, so likely harvested after a frost. At any rate, here’s the recipe:
- a dozen clams
- about 3 or 4 cups of kale
- about 5 ounces of white wine
- a large onion, chopped
- a handful of cilantro
- several small red skin potatoes, cut into small chunks
- several sprigs of rosenmary
- about 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/3 stick of butter
- 3 smallish stalks of celery, chopped
Heat up the olive oil, toss in the sprigs of rosemary, cook until ready then remove the rosemary.
Toss the butter on the olive oil, let melt
Throw in the onions and saute until just right, then throw in the wine. Add celery and kale and let simmer, adding clam stock as needed.
Prepare clams as usual, then toss back into the broth, adding water as needed. Chunk in the potatoes and let cook. Toss in the cilantro somewhere along the way,
Once potatoes are done, toss the veggies from the pan into the broth, and you’re good to go.
Serve with red pepper flakes/Tabasco.
The Parable of the Quahog and the Horseshoe Crab
Not so long ago, I spent an afternoon tossing a bucktail into a channel behind West Wildwood. The sky was steely, a mist was falling, the clouds and the sea merged as one.
While working the beach I stumbled across a couple of the holes we left clamming the day before. A few feet from one of the holes I saw a grand-daddy of a quahog–a huge chowder clam just sitting on the flat exposed by the low tide.
A quahog that big may well rival me in years on this Earth. It didn’t get that large by acting stupid, and there’s hardly enough nervous tissue for clams to get senile. Still, there it was.
I went to pick it up. It resisted.
I went to pick it up again.
It resisted again, as if glued to the beach.
I tugged yet a third time, and the sands shifted–the clam was stuck to the base of an old horseshoe crab, now buried in the sand. Her now kicking legs pushed the sand next to the clam.
A large horseshoe crab may well be 20 to 30 years old.
Here they were, an old horseshoe crab tethered to an even older quahog, waiting for the tide to rise. The quahog, guided by millions of years of instinct, clams up tight at low tide. With the edge of the horseshoe crab wedged along it edge, though, it faced dessication.
I tried to remove the clam again, but dared not pull any harder than I did. I left the two critters there to square their issue with the next full tide.
Some things cannot be anticipated, and some things cannot be fixed.
The gravity of the situation
Dear Elementary School Teacher,
If I tell you that you are literally pulled by the moon, the planets, the stars, you might agree with me if you are into woo-woo and astrology.
If you pride yourself on logic and rationality, you will likely dismiss me as someone into woo-woo and astrology.
But I’m not. (Well, not astrology, anyway.)
Look at the above. m stands for mass. Now I am not clear on just whatever mass means, but I’m pretty sure I’m made of it (m1). I’m also pretty (but not as) sure Jupiter has mass (m2) as well. And if both hold, I am pulling on Jupiter.
Right now.
The same holds true for your students. Let them know this is what the scientists think. Every time a student of yours jumps, the force between them changes for an instant. ‘The universe has been perturbed.
Given that we’re on a spinning planet orbiting the same star that Jupiter swings around I guess the jumping part is unnecessary, but why not give the kids a reason to jump for science.
(No need to introduce the formula yet. Save them something for high school.)