No testing, we die like men. (Weeks 5+6)

So, I'm not sure if you guys actually know where we are situated, but Hannah and I live in good ol' England. Currently, Covid cases here are rising. Because of these developments, Hannah and I decided it was for the best that we postpone our gingerbread material testing days which were going to take place this weekend. Which is such a rip, but what can you do.

So I'm afraid much like Hannah's last post, there's not going to be too much exciting news. Doesn't mean we have no news though!!

Also if ya'll are here for the spicy Untamed content as opposed to the specific science of things then go ahead and scroll down to the end. After seeing Hannah going on a tangent about her fav (still don't like Jin Guanyao Hannah, soz), I wanna get in on some of that fandom action to.

So let's get into it!

Planning our paper

The goal has always been to write a research paper based on our findings from materials testing / research when creating this MDZS gingerbread universe (I feel like we need to start coming up with a nickname for this...).

And while before we've kinda been a bit *hand wavy* about what exactly this paper will be about, in these past two weeks we've decided that our goal with this is to try and get the paper published in a scientific journal (ik, ik, probably a fruitless endeavor, but hey, we have zero common sense between us and a heck of a lot of reckless optimism).

Now in order for this research paper to happen we need to be concrete about what we're gonna do research on and write about. So here's what we've got so far:

We're going to attempt to maximise the material properties of gingerbread desired for structural purposes by looking into the chemistry of how a gingerbread recipe works.

Of course there will be limitations, but we plan to look into the structural properties of materials used in real buildings; as well as how ingredients, baking time, etc. affect gingerbread.

Possible applications to this paper could be having a method of maximising structural properties that can be applied to other foods (e.g. other biscuits). And the theory we use could possibly be applied to predict material properties of other foods by looking at the recipe.

Reaching out

A few weeks ago, Hannah emailed the lovely Kristine from The Gingerbread Journal asking about what she thinks the best recipe would be for building structural gingerbread. And omg, the excitement we had when she replied. Kristine, if you're reading this, you are an actual angel and Hannah and I appreciate your advice!

This is a quick summary of what we learnt from her:

• In general, sugar, eggs, leavening of any type, and fats can make a more hygroscopic cookie that will absorb moisture.

• Humid environments wreak havoc on cookies, gingerbread included. (Luckily we're in the UK and its winter)

• Most of the large gingerbread house structures you see displayed in hotels, resorts, Disney, etc. are constructed with plywood that they then cover with pieces of gingerbread. (Which is a good reality check for us, lol)

• The strongest royal icing she uses is made by dissolving powdered egg whites into fresh egg whites (no water) and adding the smallest amount of tylose powder. This tylose makes the icing more elastic and less stiff when wet. If you get too much it becomes hard to pipe. You could make a knife with this icing it's so strong. If you need everything to be edible you can create items with gelatin based pastillage that dry rock hard.

• There's also gingerbread clay that is gingerbread cookie pulsed to a powder in a food processor and mixed with water/gum arabic to make a form of pastillage.

• The eastern europeans use honey instead of molasses, golden syrup, or corn syrup and it bakes much harder.

I told you she was an absolute angel. Anyways, we plan to reach out to more people in the duration of this project, more specifically food scientists and materials scientists to ask about how we can gain quantitative data in our materials testing experiments.

Why Jiang Cheng is my spirit animal

Ok, a brief break from this project for my mini ted talk on my fav.

So in this household, we stan angry grape Jiang Cheng. The eye rolls, the 'take names and kick ass' attitude, and ZIDIAN?! I have no choice BUT to stan. Because bruh he is such a complex character when you get into it.

Unlike most western cultures, where the idea of individuality and finding your own way in life is considered the ideal, in ancient China (and even sometimes now) putting your family first was paramount. When you frame Jiang Cheng and Wei Wuxains relationship in that light, it explains so much. Jiang Cheng cares about his sect and his family more than anything else, and seeing Wei Wuxain choose Lan Wangji and the Wen sect over him is a massive betrayl to the familial bond both brothers have. Now I'm not saying what Wei Wuxain did was wrong (because it really wasn't) but it makes you understand why Jiang Cheng feels so wronged by Wei Wuxain choosing to help the Wens.

Because as much as the show tries to make it seem like Jiang Cheng is mainly jealous of Wei Wuxain because of his cultivation skill - I don't think that's the case. Jiang Cheng respects the hell out of Wei Wuxain, and looks so proud whenever he does well.

The main reason Jiang Cheng is so serious compared to Wei Wuxain and compares himself is not because of jealousy, but because he's grown up with the added pressure of being a future sect leader. That pressure was never on Wei Wuxain, he could do whatever he wanted. But Jiang Cheng had to be *perfect* and whenever he failed to be absolutely perfect, he feels like he's failed his sole purpose. Which is bloody terrible for one's mental health (yay for the terrible parenting in this show).

Ok I've realised that this has gone TOO FAR, and I am nowhere near done talking about this man. So this might have to continue in a later post...

Next Steps...

Okkkkk fandom tangent aside, as covid cases are rising here in the UK, it's difficult to say when we will be able to start doing practical testing together. But reaching out to scientists and maybe doing a bit of gingerbread baking individually is definitely on the agenda.

But these next two weeks might be a bit slow, as Hannah and I both have our respective admissions tests for uni ;-; and I have to write up my dreaded physics coursework (which is currently 32 pages and counting).

So again, thank you for reading, and see you in two weeks!

Zara