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Density Pie

October 11, 2015/in Activities, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

Density Pie Learning about math and science through baking When we were in grade 9 science, this recipe was in our text book. We made it to learn about the density of the ingredients. The density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume. Mathematically, density […]

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor

October 11, 2015/in Books, Product Review, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor **Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Penguin Publishers to review. All opinions are my own. “Nature” is what we see— The Hill—the Afternoon— Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee— Nay—Nature is Heaven— Nature is what we hear— The Bobolink—the Sea— Thunder—the Cricket— Nay—Nature is Harmony— Nature is […]

Density Pie

October 11, 2015/in Activities, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor

October 11, 2015/in Books, Product Review, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

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Density Pie

October 11, 2015/in Activities, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

Density Pie
Learning about math and science through baking

When we were in grade 9 science, this recipe was in our text book. We made it to learn about the density of the ingredients.

The density, or more precisely, the volumetric mass density, of a substance is its mass per unit volume. Mathematically, density is defined as mass divided by volume.
More simply put, it is a measure of how much matter is in a certain volume.

According to the website, Math is Fun:

A gold bar is quite small but has a mass of 1 kilogram (about 2.2 pounds), so it contains more matter than a similar sized piece of wood.

So gold is more dense than wood.

The density of water is about 1 kg per liter (1 liter of water has a mass of 1 kg), so anything that floats has a lower density, and anything that sinks is more dense.

Here is another example: Oil and water – In an oil spill in the ocean, the oil rises to the top because it is less dense than water.

This can be explained to kids visually by making Density Pie (also known as Impossible Pie).

All the ingredients are dumped into a blender, poured into a pie plate and baked. The ingredients then settle out according to their density!

The most dense ingredients will settle on the bottom and the least dense ingredients will be on the top.

Density Pie (aka Impossible Pie)

4 eggs
½ C flour
1 C sugar
½ C soft margarine
2C milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 C coconut

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix.

Pour into a pie plate.

Bake 35mins at 350. When the pie is no longer “jiggly” it is done

This recipe makes 2 pies.

Before we baked the pie, the kids guessed which ingredients would form which layers.
They thought that

Coconut would be the bottom layer.
The eggs/milk would make the middle layer
The Flour/sugar would make the top layer.

Once baked, we tried our density pie. The kids really liked it and it tasted a bit like a custard or cream pie. They also liked figuring out the layers!

TIP: Next time I would try using coloured coconut to see if it easier to decipher the layers.

Enjoy, and let us know what you found out!

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor

October 11, 2015/in Books, Product Review, Recipe /by ValleyFamilyFun

Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor

**Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Penguin Publishers to review. All opinions are my own.

“Nature” is what we see—
The Hill—the Afternoon—
Squirrel—Eclipse— the Bumble bee—
Nay—Nature is Heaven—
Nature is what we hear—
The Bobolink—the Sea—
Thunder—the Cricket—
Nay—Nature is Harmony—
Nature is what we know—
Yet have no art to say—
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
Emily Dickinson

I must admit that I know very little about Emily Dickinson, nor do I remember studying her poems in school. Because of my lack of knowledge, I was very interested in reading Miss Emily by Nuala O’Connor.

Miss Emily is a fictional story about Emily Dickinson and her relationship with her maid, Ada. Although Ada is a fictitious character, the story is based on true facts about Emily Dickinson and some of her hired help.

Miss Emily goes back and forth, chapter by chapter, between a narrative from Ada, followed by one by Emily Dickinson. The author does a wonderful job of creating two different voices – short and quippy is Ada the maid, while Emily’s chapters are more eloquent and full of descriptions.

Each of these narratives are very short making this 200-paged book very quick to read.

Miss Emily is like a snapshot in the life of the Dickinson household where everyone is going about their daily routines and tasks. Ada falls in love with Daniel Bryne, but later gets into some trouble, from which Emily is forced from her seclusion to help her.

It is a story of loneliness, secrets, acceptance, and finding friendship in unlikely places.

Miss Emily is also a lot about baking. Apparently, Emily Dickinson was a great baker, and it is, she and Ada are always making the most wonderful cakes and pastries – many of which are from Ireland.

As my husband’s family is from Ireland we often make Irish Soda bread using this recipe. My sister-in-law assures me that this is authentic tasting!