Learning from the magic bean
How becoming a coffee snob taught me about scientific experiments
It all started when COVID hit. I had all this newfound time while attending classes on Zoom and found an outlet – specialty coffee. Before I knew it, I had become a full-blown coffee aficionado who knew all about the full coffee production process and cared about flavors in coffee. I found that the best […]
Crying in C-Mart
My Asian grocery adventure in the Boston area
I can’t survive for a week without eating Asian food. Honestly, a big reason why I chose to come to MIT was because H-Mart was down the street from campus. However, after looking at my H-Mart grocery receipts from my first couple months here, I was crying (in front of) H-Mart. I realized that H-Mart […]
An ode to Kenji’s Cooking Show
How home cooking during the pandemic helped me gain a new mentor
At the start of the pandemic, my cooking skills were in top form. I had mastered scrambled eggs and had honed my selection criteria for one pot pastas (the simpler, the better). However, the pandemic and the subsequent shutdown revealed some gaping holes in my knowledge. I was suddenly home all the time, afraid of […]
An experimental study of the Holy Cannoli
The hunt for the greatest dessert in Boston
Introduction The Cannoli is a form of dessert, which, in its most basic form, includes a pastry shell wrapped around a sweet ricotta filling. Historians have long debated the origin of the cannoli. Some say the cannoli originated during the carnival seasons in Palermo, a city on the island of Sicily, Italy. Others say it […]
Life lessons from a cookie
What the science of baking taught me about leaving home and entering a new environment
One of the most famous movie quotes is Forrest Gump’s, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” As a hobby baker with a mega sweet tooth, I feel obligated to come up with my own metaphor: Growing up is like being inside of a baking cookie. To me, […]
