Vegan Friends

Gratuitous kitten pic...Glenn cuddling Nelly!

Today we had friends over for lunch to celebrate Pony's birthday...Part III!
I think all birthday boxes have been thoroughly ticked... 3 birthday cakes, sparklers, balloons, flowers, Pony's chair decorated, 3 candles in the shape of an 8 etc etc
Our lovely friends Glenn and Angie are both vegan - Glenn is a friend from our hunt sabbing days over 200 years ago...actually, that should read over 20 years...Freudian slip, must be feeling a bit tired!!!... and what is special about seeing them is our shared experiences of being vegan - the triumphs and travails of living on Planet Vegan....
We can offer coffee or tea and ask if anybody takes milk without having to explain that we only use milk from plants...we can share the Saga of the Vegan Ballet Shoes and discuss latest cookbook purchases and whether any of us have found something to make from Isa's Appetite for Reduction (Glenn and Angie have made a Biryani while we made the Ceci soup) and mourn  the disappearance of Holland and Barrett chill cabinets and so the difficulties of tracking down cheeze...etc etc
I made the Thai-Inspired Veggie and Rice Soup again that I had found on Veg Web which is the third time we have made it in just a few days - it's THAT good!
I roasted the tofu with garlic instead of frying it but then forgot about it as there was some fairly hardcore tidying up going on simultaneously and by the time I remembered it the tofu felt a bit hard but it was fine once it had been put in the soup. And the soup was a great success - Pony had her plain tofu cubes with mint sauce - although for some reason Mouse wouldn't eat any but shamelessly scrounged the tofu from everybody's soup...
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Fin, Pony and Mouse are watching a DVD of Nigel Marvin saving Mammoths from extinction (Yes, really!) while I'm writing this and are rolling about hysterically because Nigel Marvin just picked up some 'mammoth dung' and Mouse has pointed out that he still has some poo on his glove!!! The children love watching Nigel Marvin as he explains in one of the programmes that one of the dinosaurs is vegetarian, like him!
In the one that the children are watching he stays up all night keeping an injured mammoth safe from predators...our hero!
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As the finale to Pony's birthday extravaganza (3 days of feasting and celebration!) Sarah had made Birthday Cake #3, a Lemon Drizzle, which was a delicious vanilla adaptation of our best choc cake recipe (Pony doesn't like chocolate cake) and decorated with everything but the kitchen sink and then we lit our sparklers from some candles that Glenn'n'Angie had brought that all had different-coloured flames...

Glenn is a physicist and loves to contribute to the children's home ed by introducing the children to fun aspects of science...they once took us punting on the Cam and Glenn surpassed himself by doing all the punting while the rest of us lounged about quaffing mocktails and then mooring in the shade under a weeping willow and, still in the punt, with a sandwich in one hand, doing science experiments with the other!

Glenn says: Flame colours – a demonstration

This demonstration experiment can be used to show the flame colours given by alkali metal,alkaline earth metal, and other metal, salts. This is a spectacular version of the ‘flame tests’ experiment that can be used with chemists and non-chemists alike.

It can be extended as an introduction to atomic spectra for post-16 students.

HEALTH & SAFETY: Carry out the whole experiment in a well vebtilated area you have previously shown to be safe. Wear eye protection. Ensure that the spray can be safely directed away from yourself and the audience.

a Darken the room if possible.

b Light the Bunsen and adjust it to give a non-luminous, roaring flame (air hole open).

c Conduct a preliminary spray in a safe direction away from the Bunsen flame.
Adjust the nozzles of the spray bottles to give a fine mist.

d Choose one spray bottle. Spray the solution into the flame in the direction you have rehearsed. Repeat with the other bottles.

e A spectacular coloured flame or jet should be seen in each case. The colour of the flame depends on the metal in the salt used.

f As an extension, students can view the flames through hand-held spectroscopes or diffraction gratings in order to see the line spectrum of the element. (Diffraction gratings work better. A better way to produce a steady source of light is to use discharge tubes from the Physics Department – with a suitable risk assessment.)

Teaching notes

The colours that should be seen are:

sodium – yellow-orange (typical ‘street lamp’ yellow)
potassium – purple-pink, traditionally referred to as ‘lilac’ (often contaminated with small amounts of sodium)
lithium – crimson red
copper – green/blue
calcium – orange-red (probably the least spectacular)
barium – apple green
strontium – crimson

The electrons in the metal ions are excited to higher energy levels by the heat. When the electrons fall back to lower energy levels, they emit light of various specific wavelengths (the atomic emission spectrum). Certain bright lines in these spectra cause the characteristic flame colour.

The colour can be used to identify the metal or its compounds (eg sodium vapour in a street lamp). The colours of fireworks are, of course, due to the presence of particular metal salts.

Health & Safety checked, June 2007

Thank you Glenn!

So 3 cakes have been baked and eaten (well, 5 counting the disasters..) 24 candles have been blown out and 3 wishes made, and Pony is definitely 8!
 I'll end here by sharing with you with the piece de resistance, Birthday Cake #3's 'Musical Birthday Sparkling Fountain' which is still playing Happy Birthday in solitary splendour in the the kitchen, 6 HOURS later..!
Thank you for coming to Pony's party!