Yesterday, I came across a picture from exactly four years ago: a few of us are standing in one of the fields out at Lamont, dusted in snow. An early snowstorm had came through the northeast and briefly covered us in the soft stuff. Today, it's 65F and sunny. Jesse and I woke up early and drove out to the Rockaways, and after a few hours of unexpectedly zippy little left barrels, we got out of the water and hung out on the boardwalk for a while. I stood there in just a bathing suit for about 30 minutes, and I didn't get cold at all.
Any good climate scientist will tell you that an individual day's weather doesn't tell you much (or anything) about the state of the climate system as a whole. "Weather" is what happens on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis: a storm comes through and dumps rain, the sun shines like it does today, or a few layers of clouds lay thick over the city. The term "climate" describes how the weather we see and experience evolves over time and space, and why it tends to be the way it is. The "climate" of a place is set by many different factors--where it is on the planet, where we are in long-term orbital cycles, what the state of the "boundary conditions" are, etc--and when we describe the climate of some given place, we understand that there's quite a bit of natural variability that happens each year. Just because it snowed here four years ago at this time of year doesn't necessarily mean that it's crazy that it's sunny and toasty here today.
What climate scientists often look at, though, are the trends. Is today warmer than last year, and the year before that, and the year before that? Is the average temperature of all the November 8's from the past ten, twenty, or 100 years warmer than the average temperature of the November 8's in the preceeding years?
NOAA has a super useful tool here that lets you plot global, regional, or state-wide temperature records from 1895 to present. Here's the picture of New York's average November temperature for the past ~100 or so years:
I can't say anything about the election that hasn't already been said more eloquently elsewhere, for basically infinite reasons, I support Hillary, and I support her wholeheartedly. I am a person of color, from a family of Mexican immigrants; I am a scientist; I am a woman. I support the candidate and party that supports me, and that--at least in theory--supports the kinds of social, economic, and scientific positions that I hope will help us develop into a more equitable and progressive society.
The purple line shows the temperature. The black line cutting horizontally through the figure shows the average temperature across the whole period.
The first thing I see in this figure is a lot of noise. The purple line is spiky, swinging up and down wildly from year to year. All the way toward the right side of the graph, you can see that 2015 had a really warm November, while 2014, 2013, and 2012 all fell below the long-term average temperature--not by a lot, but they were certainly cooler compared to most of the ~10 years preceeding them. There's a weak long-term warming trend that you can see if you squint really hard, but I'll leave the discussion of how we disentangle trends for another post. The point here is just to say: there's a lot of natural variability in temperature. This one very warm day doesn't mean that every day from here on out will be warmer than its corollary from past years, but the long-term trend is tilting upward.
I manage stress via baking and exercising, for the most part. Got the surf in this morning, so my body is tired, so now it's time for some baking! I made the crusts for these apple galettes yesterday, with some of the leftover levain from a sourdough bake (more on that later! We're totally getting there!) and stuck them in the fridge overnight. I mixed Golden Delicious and Winter Banana apples here--GD because they maintain their shape and acid brightness during baking, Winter Banana because I love the name and wanted to try them.
Galettes are probably my favorite low-stress dessert to bake. Make extra tart dough next time you've got 15 free minutes and toss it in the freezer, grab whatever fruit is in season, and throw it all together, the messier the better. It's all the deliciousness of pie with none of the fuss. I don't need any fuss today. I just need to see Hillary win this thing, and I'm gonna need some dessert to get me through until the end. #Nastywomen and all other friends unite, make some galette, and #VOTE.
Whole wheat sourdough crust:
- 2.5 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1.5 sticks!! of butter (12 tablespoons), straight from the fridge
- cut the butter into small chunks. I usually do this by slicing a stick into ~12 pieces, then cutting each slice into 4-6 little chunklets
- half a teaspoon table salt, not kosher
- 1 cup starter (100% hydration)
- note: feed your starter in the morning if you plan to make the dough in the afternoon, or the evening before if you plan to make the dough in the morning. Cool the starter down before you make the dough by sticking it in the fridge for an hour or so.
- a few tablespoons of cold water
- if I'm very prepared, I put a cup of water in the freezer about 20minutes before I make the dough. If not, I just use the coldest water I can get out of the tap.
Crust instructions:
- Mix the flour and salt together in a big bowl.
- Dump the butter chunks into the flour-salt mix. Blend them into the dough with your fingers, two knives, or a pastry blender. I usually cut the butter in until most chunks are roughly lentil-sized, with some larger pieces. Kenji Lopez-Alt, my cooking hero, suggests a better butter-flour blending method here, but I rarely want to pull out the Cuisanart, so I've learned the by-hand method well. It takes a while and will tire your arms out, but it's better than washing dishes. Take a break and put the bowl in the fridge if you see the butter start to melt.
- Add your chilled starter to the bowl and stir to combine. I often use my hands, but a spatula is probably a better tool--it'll keep your dough a little cooler. Add splashes of cold water as necessary, but see how little you can add. Often, I can get away with adding only a tiny bit. Mix until the dough holds together, and there's no dry flour left.
- Split the dough in half and squish into a flat, round disk. Wrap it tightly in plastic and store it in the fridge or freezer. Chill for at least an hour before you use it.
Brown butter apple galette, very lightly adapted from BA:
- 1/2 recipe tart dough of your choice
- 3 tablespoons butter
- vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 apples, sliced very thinly--see note above about the types I used. Other good options are Cortlands, Braeburns, Granny Smiths, or Mutsus. I usually cut them in half, core them, and then slice the flat-sided pieces left over. In a fussy world, I would sliiiiightly parcook these by gently microwaving them for ~1minute, but I'm not trying to get any extra bowls dirty today. You should do this if you're feeling ambitious, though.
- 2 tablespoons coconut, muscovado, or dark brown sugar
- 1 egg, beaten, or a few tablespoons of milk or cream
Preheat the oven to 375F. Put a rack in the middle of the oven.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Scoop the seeds out of a vanilla bean pod into the melted butter if you're feeling fancy, or add the vanilla extract if you're feeling a little less fancy.
Stir the butter every ~30s or so while it's melting, for a total of about 5 minutes. It will start to foam and bubble a bit; at this point, the non-fat parts of butter (e.g. water) are boiling off. Essentially, you're concentrating the butterfat solids. Stir more frequently now, and scrape the bottom of the pot often. Watch the solids at the bottom begin to turn golden, then a rich, nutty brown, and take the butter off the heat. Be careful not to burn it! Pour it into a small bowl to cool.
Roll out your tart dough on a lightly floured surface (I just use my countertop) to a ~13" circle. Fold it gently in fourths, then lay it on a cookie sheet, or in a shallow tart pan, and unfold it. Don't stretch the dough at this point; you want to keep it relaxed, lest it shrink up and crack as it bakes.
Lay the apple slices in the tart crust in a circular, overlapping pattern, working from the center outwards. Leave about ~2" of crust around outside of the apples.
Pour the browned butter mixture over the apples. Sprinkle the sugar over apples, as well.
Gently fold the edges of the crust over the apples. Don't be fussy! It's totally OK if the edges are rough! I like it better that way, actually.
Brush the folded-up crust edges with egg wash or with milk. Sprinkle a little more sugar over the crust.
Put the pan in the oven, and bake for ~45minutes, until the apples are a tiny bit bubbly and soft, and the crust is golden. Eat your non-fussy galette with ice cream, whipped cream, or nothing at all!
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