The Great British Bakeoff! But American! - 2nd Period

[imafuturist]

The tent was set up the same as it had been the previous weeks, but this time around there was one extra teacher up at the front of the class. One who was somehow blonder and broader than Steve.

That was right, folks. Thor was here to judge baking.

"We have a special guest for a themed week," Tony said, so so glad he didn't have to come up with these recipes.

"It's Nordic Week," Steve said, "so hello to our friend Thor!" Thor was definitely going to be better pronouncing any of the food this week!

Thor was sure that, as the teachers of the class, his friends’ pronunciations would be hilarious more than adequate! “Indeed,” he said gravely. “I am honored to be here to sample your wares. I am certain you will all perform admirably.” And if he was lying, well, his face gave nothing away.

"First we'll of course be tasting the pies that were handwavily assigned because oops forgot from last week. A citrus curd with an intricate meringue," Tony reminded the class. And hopefully none of the meringue tasted like sweet scrambled eggs.

Hopefully. Even if they did, Steve would still eat it!

"And then we'll start the signature," Steve said. He looked down at his notes. "Saffron rolls?"

“Saffransbullar,” Thor said fondly. “Or Lussekatter, if one is celebrating the saint.” Couldn’t be Thor, obviously.

Tony nodded along with the explanation like he too could totally pronounce it all correctly. "And then for our technical challenge there's an, ah, interesting take on a cake?"

Everybody's so creative! See how we did that? Looks like you probably shouldn't do that.

“It has been many years since I had a good smörgåstårta,” Thor said, which raised the question of when there had ever been a good smörgåstårta in the first place.

Steve, again, was reading his notes. "There's fish in the cake?!"

"I'm sure it'll be… fine," Tony settled on. He was bravely soldiering on and hoping this all wasn't entirely just Thor messing with them. "And for your homework, we want you to all.. Well, I'll let Thor explain it."

"FISH," Steve repeated, looking slightly distressed.

“I thought you as fond of smoked salmon as any New Yorker,” Thor said to him, looking concerned, before he turned to address the class. “Yes, I believe for your ‘homework’ you are to make a kransekage--or, if the shape is reversed, it would be an overflødighedshorn.” Very normal words here. “It is a sort of cake made of stacked rings of marzipan, though your teachers may have further instructions for you.”

Tony gave Steve a sympathetic pat on the arm before realizing he was up again. "Yes, we'd like you to include marzipan decorations… on top of the marzipan cake."

Yo dog, we heard you liked marzipan.

"No fish," Steve said firmly. "That's very important."

“They could make fish out of marzipan,” Thor argued, like a helper. He was helping.

Tony smiled, but it was for sure strained. "Pie! Time for pie!"

Introduction to Paleontology - Period 1

[itsananomaly]

“Good morning,” Cutter began the class, holding his usual cup of coffee, Connor was still busy with work with Prospero so he was standing in front of the class by himself “this week we’re going to be doing an overview of what a fossil is,” he explained, “a fossil is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes and objects preserved in amber, hair, petrified wood and DNA remnants. The totality of fossils is known as the fossil record. Though the fossil record is incomplete, numerous studies have demonstrated that there is enough information available to give a good understanding of the pattern of diversification of life on Earth,” he continued.

“Paleontology includes the study of fossils: their age, method of formation, and evolutionary significance, Specimens are sometimes considered to be fossils if they are over 10,000 years old the oldest fossils are around 3.48 billion years to 4.1 billion years old. The observation in the 19th century that certain fossils were associated with certain rock strata led to the recognition of a geological timescale and the relative ages of different fossils. The development of radiometric dating techniques in the early 20th century allowed scientists to quantitatively measure the absolute ages of rocks and the fossils they host.”

“Fossils vary in size from one-micrometer bacteria to dinosaurs and trees many meters long and weighing many tons. A fossil normally preserves only a portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralised during life such as the bones and teeth of verterbrates or the chitinous or calcareous exoskeletons of invertebrates,” Fossils may also consist of the marks left behind by the organism while it was alive, such as animal tracks or feaces. These types of fossils are called Trace Fossils or ichnofossils, as opposed to body fossils.,” Cutter finished.

“For the rest of today’s class I would like you to make your own impression fossils from the moddable supplies available,” he said, “if you have any questions I’ll be available to help,”