Ingredients:
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons glycerin (optional)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon flavoring (such as vanilla, lemon, maple, or mint)
• 3 drops food coloring (optional)
Equipment:
• a large (3- to 4-quart) saucepan
• a wooden spoon
• a candy thermometer
• a pastry brush
• waxed paper or plastic wrap
• a marble slab or cookie sheet
• greased scissors or butter knife
Saltwater taffy is a candy and an upper-body workout all in one. To give it its light but chewy texture, you’ll be pulling it, and pulling it, and pulling it for up to 15 minutes. Still want to make it? Here’s a recipe! More about taffy.
Makes about 50 1-inch pieces
Recipe Conversions
(note: recipe annotations will appear in a new window)
CAUTION
When making candy, the syrup gets very hot. Kids, don’t try this without the help of an adult!
What Do I Need? .
• 2 cups sugar Tip
Visit the candy links page to find places to buy candy making supplies online, including molds, flavoring, and coloring.
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch Why do I add cornstarch?
• 1 cup light corn syrup Why do I add corn syrup?
• 2 teaspoons glycerin (optional) What is glycerin?
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1 teaspoon flavoring (such as vanilla, lemon, maple, or mint)
• 3 drops food coloring (optional)
• a large (3- to 4-quart) saucepan
• a wooden spoon
• a candy thermometer
• a pastry brush
• waxed paper or plastic wrap
• a marble slab or cookie sheet
• greased scissors or butter knife
Method:
1. Mix together sugar and cornstarch in the saucepan.
2. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the corn syrup, glycerin, water, butter, and salt. Place the saucepan over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
3. Continue stirring until mixture begins to boil, then let cook, undisturbed, until it reaches about 270° F or the soft-crack stage. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in warm water while the syrup cooks.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add food coloring and flavoring. Stir gently, then pour onto a greased marble slab or into a shallow greased cookie sheet to cool.
4. When the taffy is cool enough to handle, grease your hands with oil or butter and pull the taffy until it's light in color and has a satiny gloss. You can have a friend help with this step, which should take about 10 minutes.
5. Roll the pulled taffy into a long rope, about 1/2 inch in diameter, and cut it with greased scissors or a butter knife into 1-inch-long pieces. Let the pieces sit for about half an hour before wrapping them in wax paper or plastic wrap and twisting the ends of the wrapper.
Did You Know?
Molasses taffy was one of the first kinds of homemade candy in the United States.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
SpiroGraph
The path of a point fixed relative to a circle that rolls along a straight line is called a trochoid. The easiest way to visualize this phenomenon is to think of the path of a reflector on a bicycle as someone is riding on a level street. The reflector rotates around the hub of the wheel, but yet the hub of the wheel is moving relative to the ground. Here is an applet that demonstrates this (without the bicycle)
Now think about what happens if the circle is instead rotating around another circle. In other words, the cyclist is now pedaling his/her way around the equator on a bike with very large wheels. Mathematicians call this path an epicycloid. The rest of the world calls them SpiroGraphs!! The parametric equations for these curves are given by:
x(t)=(R+r)cos(t) + p*cos((R+r)t/r)
y(t)=(R+r)sin(t) + p*sin((R+r)t/r)
Now think about what happens if the circle is instead rotating around another circle. In other words, the cyclist is now pedaling his/her way around the equator on a bike with very large wheels. Mathematicians call this path an epicycloid. The rest of the world calls them SpiroGraphs!! The parametric equations for these curves are given by:
x(t)=(R+r)cos(t) + p*cos((R+r)t/r)
y(t)=(R+r)sin(t) + p*sin((R+r)t/r)
Michael Moore Quotes
A majority of this country opposes this war, a majority of this country never voted for this administration.
Michael Moore
Any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up.
Michael Moore
Clinton was a pretty good president for a Republican.
Michael Moore
I like America to some extent.
Michael Moore
I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war than I do George Bush. The reason is, Blair knows better, Blair is not an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy?
Michael Moore
I'm a millionaire, I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm filthy rich. You know why I'm a multi-millionaire? 'Cause multi-millions like what I do.
Michael Moore
Should such an ignorant people lead the world? How did it come to this in the first place? 82 percent of us don't even have a passport! Just a handful can speak a language other than English.
Michael Moore
The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the revolution, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow - and they will win.
Michael Moore
The majority of Americans, the ones who never elected George W. Bush, are not fooled by his weapons of mass distraction.
Michael Moore
The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.
Michael Moore
There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.
Michael Moore
There's a reason that they're saying Kerry is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate, it's because he is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate.
Michael Moore
We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
Michael Moore
White people scare the crap out of me.
Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Any time you got the Pope and the Dixie Chicks against you, your time is up.
Michael Moore
Clinton was a pretty good president for a Republican.
Michael Moore
I like America to some extent.
Michael Moore
I personally hold Blair more responsible for this war than I do George Bush. The reason is, Blair knows better, Blair is not an idiot. What is he doing hanging around this guy?
Michael Moore
I'm a millionaire, I'm a multi-millionaire. I'm filthy rich. You know why I'm a multi-millionaire? 'Cause multi-millions like what I do.
Michael Moore
Should such an ignorant people lead the world? How did it come to this in the first place? 82 percent of us don't even have a passport! Just a handful can speak a language other than English.
Michael Moore
The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the revolution, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow - and they will win.
Michael Moore
The majority of Americans, the ones who never elected George W. Bush, are not fooled by his weapons of mass distraction.
Michael Moore
The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.
Michael Moore
There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them.
Michael Moore
There's a reason that they're saying Kerry is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate, it's because he is the No. 1 liberal in the Senate.
Michael Moore
We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elects a fictitious president. We live in a time where we have a man sending us to war for fictitious reasons.
Michael Moore
White people scare the crap out of me.
Michael Moore
This pair is poetry in motion on ice
Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison have awed all with their chemistry and presence
The camel spin, evolved from arabesque in ballet, is a rotation on the spot, one leg extended at a right angle parallel to the ice.
It's a pretty move, particularly when performed in unison by pairs.
With Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, though, it's their signature element, if for hideous reasons.
Audiences wait for it, breath held, and applaud its unremarkable execution.
"The funny thing is, we do it very well,'' says Davison. "When it's on with each other, it gives us even more energy to keep going. When we do it in a competition or a show, the audience – if they know our sport a little bit – give us even bigger applause for a side-by-side spin which normally isn't seen as a WOW move.''
Last February, at Four Continents, the camel a deux almost killed Dube.
In one of the most horrific figure skating mishaps in memory, the skaters came too close, Davison drifting towards Dube. On the third rotation, his blade caught Dube flush in the face, cutting a looping gash from just beneath the left eye and across the nose, where cartilage meets bone.
Not quite realizing what had happened to her, Dube dropped face-first onto the ice, blood spurting and pooling.
"I started crying because I saw all this blood. I didn't really feel the pain, not until later when I was in the ambulance and they were putting pressure to make the bleeding stop and I couldn't breathe. But it was the blood that scared me.''
Davison knelt over his partner, aghast and terrified. "She looked straight up at me. I remember thinking, `Thank God, she can see me.' There was this large wound and the skin was hanging off. But she could see me. And I knew it would be all right because I hadn't hit her in the eye or the throat or the temple. I could tell by the way she was reacting that it would be okay.''
He says that now, from the comfortable distance of a career resumed – stunningly, after only 11 days off the ice – and with Dube's beautiful young face turned toward him, the scar only faintly visible. But Davison admits it took some time, and therapeutic counselling with a sports psychologist, for him to get past the trauma of that night in Colorado Springs.
"I had feelings of guilt because, yes it was an accident, but I was the male, the protector, and I had injured her, actually cut the female.''
No apology was ever required. From her hospital bed that night, after undergoing emergency surgery, Dube made it clear what happened had been an awful accident, that she still trusted the partner who had, until only shortly beforehand, been her boyfriend as well.
Both have watched, repeatedly, videotape of the incident, part of the mentally healing process for desensitizing themselves to the memory. It was the first element they practised upon returning to their training regimen. Even now, they continue to view it on YouTube.
"Believe me, what I saw in real life was a hundred times worse than what you can see from all the camera angles,'' says Davison.
The trials and tribulations of this young team – he's 21, she's 20, and they've been together for five years – have constantly derailed their progress. Dube missed the start of the past two seasons after undergoing surgery on one knee, then the other.
Yet they've persevered, placing seventh at the worlds earlier this year – only six weeks removed from their accident – and just last weekend copped an impressive gold at Skate America, beating the '06 world champion Chinese by a healthy margin. They're gunning for a repeat podium appearance here tomorrow.
Those who know the sport are awed by their chemistry and stage presence, the power of their lifts, the smooth side-by-side jumps and the polished spins. They fit together from the start, when first paired by coaches, and despite the fact they're not a typical pairs duo. She's not a munchkin; he's not a behemoth.
"I'm not the largest pair man and Jess is not the smallest pair girl,'' observes Davison, "which makes our skating beautiful but also makes other things difficult. Our lifting, the way we carry the flow through the lifts and Jess's position on top of the lifts, is rather high quality for people who are closer in size. And our throws – Jess is like a cat, she can land just about anything.''
By anything, he means the quadruple throws they hope will be part of the package come the Vancouver Olympics.
Davison repeated the other night what he's said of Canadian athletes in the past – they've got to be more assertive, more aggressive, more cutthroat in their ambitions.
"As Canadians, we're seen as nice people. When you look at the Chinese and the Americans, they go to win competitions. I'm not saying we need to be mean to the other competitors. But we need to go to win. One of the only sports where we do that is hockey.''
Dube concurs, and points to a telling detail – how other teams invaded their space in the warm-up at Skate America. "Everyone was (claiming) their spot and we were, like, not doing the same thing. We're always nice and they know it, so they take advantage of it.''
They may both vow to be more in-your-face in the future, with rivals, but this is a couple of characteristic serenity and centred calm, especially in the midst of chaos. Perhaps that can be attributed in part to an unspoken and beneath-the-skin communication each to each. It was always there, this recognition of what the other is feeling.That first year together, they ran the table as juniors. They gradually become romantically involved, then un-involved. That shows maturity beyond their years.
They're also shaping up as one of Canada's best medal bets for gold in Vancouver, perchance gold, no alarming competition on the horizon, nobody they feel they can't beat or haven't already beaten.
Says Davison: "Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. The team that has the strongest weak point is going to win in the end.''
Special Thanks to The Toronto Star
The camel spin, evolved from arabesque in ballet, is a rotation on the spot, one leg extended at a right angle parallel to the ice.
It's a pretty move, particularly when performed in unison by pairs.
With Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison, though, it's their signature element, if for hideous reasons.
Audiences wait for it, breath held, and applaud its unremarkable execution.
"The funny thing is, we do it very well,'' says Davison. "When it's on with each other, it gives us even more energy to keep going. When we do it in a competition or a show, the audience – if they know our sport a little bit – give us even bigger applause for a side-by-side spin which normally isn't seen as a WOW move.''
Last February, at Four Continents, the camel a deux almost killed Dube.
In one of the most horrific figure skating mishaps in memory, the skaters came too close, Davison drifting towards Dube. On the third rotation, his blade caught Dube flush in the face, cutting a looping gash from just beneath the left eye and across the nose, where cartilage meets bone.
Not quite realizing what had happened to her, Dube dropped face-first onto the ice, blood spurting and pooling.
"I started crying because I saw all this blood. I didn't really feel the pain, not until later when I was in the ambulance and they were putting pressure to make the bleeding stop and I couldn't breathe. But it was the blood that scared me.''
Davison knelt over his partner, aghast and terrified. "She looked straight up at me. I remember thinking, `Thank God, she can see me.' There was this large wound and the skin was hanging off. But she could see me. And I knew it would be all right because I hadn't hit her in the eye or the throat or the temple. I could tell by the way she was reacting that it would be okay.''
He says that now, from the comfortable distance of a career resumed – stunningly, after only 11 days off the ice – and with Dube's beautiful young face turned toward him, the scar only faintly visible. But Davison admits it took some time, and therapeutic counselling with a sports psychologist, for him to get past the trauma of that night in Colorado Springs.
"I had feelings of guilt because, yes it was an accident, but I was the male, the protector, and I had injured her, actually cut the female.''
No apology was ever required. From her hospital bed that night, after undergoing emergency surgery, Dube made it clear what happened had been an awful accident, that she still trusted the partner who had, until only shortly beforehand, been her boyfriend as well.
Both have watched, repeatedly, videotape of the incident, part of the mentally healing process for desensitizing themselves to the memory. It was the first element they practised upon returning to their training regimen. Even now, they continue to view it on YouTube.
"Believe me, what I saw in real life was a hundred times worse than what you can see from all the camera angles,'' says Davison.
The trials and tribulations of this young team – he's 21, she's 20, and they've been together for five years – have constantly derailed their progress. Dube missed the start of the past two seasons after undergoing surgery on one knee, then the other.
Yet they've persevered, placing seventh at the worlds earlier this year – only six weeks removed from their accident – and just last weekend copped an impressive gold at Skate America, beating the '06 world champion Chinese by a healthy margin. They're gunning for a repeat podium appearance here tomorrow.
Those who know the sport are awed by their chemistry and stage presence, the power of their lifts, the smooth side-by-side jumps and the polished spins. They fit together from the start, when first paired by coaches, and despite the fact they're not a typical pairs duo. She's not a munchkin; he's not a behemoth.
"I'm not the largest pair man and Jess is not the smallest pair girl,'' observes Davison, "which makes our skating beautiful but also makes other things difficult. Our lifting, the way we carry the flow through the lifts and Jess's position on top of the lifts, is rather high quality for people who are closer in size. And our throws – Jess is like a cat, she can land just about anything.''
By anything, he means the quadruple throws they hope will be part of the package come the Vancouver Olympics.
Davison repeated the other night what he's said of Canadian athletes in the past – they've got to be more assertive, more aggressive, more cutthroat in their ambitions.
"As Canadians, we're seen as nice people. When you look at the Chinese and the Americans, they go to win competitions. I'm not saying we need to be mean to the other competitors. But we need to go to win. One of the only sports where we do that is hockey.''
Dube concurs, and points to a telling detail – how other teams invaded their space in the warm-up at Skate America. "Everyone was (claiming) their spot and we were, like, not doing the same thing. We're always nice and they know it, so they take advantage of it.''
They may both vow to be more in-your-face in the future, with rivals, but this is a couple of characteristic serenity and centred calm, especially in the midst of chaos. Perhaps that can be attributed in part to an unspoken and beneath-the-skin communication each to each. It was always there, this recognition of what the other is feeling.That first year together, they ran the table as juniors. They gradually become romantically involved, then un-involved. That shows maturity beyond their years.
They're also shaping up as one of Canada's best medal bets for gold in Vancouver, perchance gold, no alarming competition on the horizon, nobody they feel they can't beat or haven't already beaten.
Says Davison: "Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses. The team that has the strongest weak point is going to win in the end.''
Special Thanks to The Toronto Star
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