Bonus: What's the chemistry of kombucha? (and other questions)
Today's bonus episode, we have a question about holiday fun.
Jam:K.
Melissa:We have a special question about one of jam's favorite drinks that's not coffee, and other questions about delicious food in addition to some fun chemistry updates. So let's get into it.
Jam:Alright. Sounds good.
Melissa:Hey. I'm Melissa.
Jam:I'm Jim.
Melissa:And I'm a chemist.
Jam:And I'm not.
Melissa:And welcome to chemistry for your life.
Jam:The podcast helps you understand the chemistry of your everyday life.
Melissa:Bonus edition. Woo hoo. Woo hoo.
Jam:Woo hoo. We answer questions and comments and feedback and thoughts and stuff from you guys.
Melissa:And I don't do any research for these because I have too much to do as a researcher in other areas already. Right. Yeah. So we save these for fun, casual chemistry off the cuff.
Jam:And some of those questions turn into full blown episodes that require research and Homework and all that stuff from Melissa. So yeah.
Melissa:Freeze dried freeze dried candy started as a bonus episode.
Jam:That's right.
Melissa:Okay. There's 2 pieces of news that I want to share with you.
Jam:K.
Melissa:What? A long time ago, someone asked me, you know, if mosquitoes are the deadliest animal, because we have had our whole mosquito series. If mosquitoes are the deadliest animal, why can't we just get rid of them? What would be bad about that? And I couldn't really answer, but I recently started listening to a podcast with a wildlife biologist on it.
Melissa:It's really good. It's called Tooth and Claw.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And someone asked him that question, and he said, the biggest thing I can answer for you is mosquitoes serve as a food source for a lot of animals that we really like. So they are they are deadly, and they hurt us, but they also serve, an important role in the food webs. So
Jam:It makes sense that they do, but it would be cool if they didn't.
Melissa:It would be, or if they didn't kill us.
Jam:Yes. Yeah. Either 1. I'd take either 1.
Melissa:Either 1. I'd be fine with either 1. Yeah. So that I thought that would be an that would be an interesting little update for you also.
Jam:Yeah. Good to know, obviously.
Melissa:So A second update that is really relevant to my current status as a sick person is that the FDA is considering evidence for removing phenylephrine, which we did an episode on cold medicines a long time ago, phenylephrine versus Sudafed, and that there's just not a lot of evidence for phenylephrine. And the FDA is taking that into consideration. They haven't made any moves yet, but I think they held, like, an advisory council meeting type thing.
Jam:That's crazy. Believe it or not, I did see a story like that in my little news app. Yay. About that. And so I was like, hey.
Jam:We thought about that.
Melissa:Yeah. So I thought that was exciting. Way to go, FDA finally moving your feet on something. Maybe I said that to Mason, and he said, I bet they listened to your episode.
Jam:Yeah. Surely.
Melissa:Surely was our episode and not all the scientists who did the research that proves that it wasn't the.
Jam:Yeah. Surely.
Melissa:Okay. So, that that's a fun little update. And now I have a question for you.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:This is a little unusual, but it it pertains to one of jam's favorite favorite drinks. And I think he'll be actually the better person to answer this even though it won't be from a chemist perspective.
Jam:K.
Melissa:Audrey asked, what is the chemistry of kombucha?
Jam:Oh.
Melissa:And the reason that I'm asking Jim this is because
Jam:I used to make kombucha a lot. Mhmm. Yeah. What a good question. Wow.
Jam:Okay. Here's what I remember. Again, like you already said, not a chemist's perspective, But I was a part of a bunch of, like, really weird Facebook groups going back because I've been years ago now that I was making kombucha. A friend of Ours, named Ryan and I were got deep into the world of kombucha at the same time.
Melissa:Oh, and they always called it butch, which I hated.
Jam:Yeah. Kombucha has Some really good little slang terms. So keep my understanding. Okay. Because you start off with some tea that you brew, And you need to have a good amount of sugar in it.
Jam:In fact, usually, it's it's, like, too sweet. You know? Like, you wouldn't wanna drink it like that.
Melissa:It's not like sweet tea. It's like extra sweet tea.
Jam:Yep. And I always did a mixture of black tea and green tea, when I did it. Mostly black. Like because, like, 75% black, 25% green. You had a bunch of sugar, and then you have this thing called a SCOBY, which is a symbiotic.
Jam:The c, I think, might be combination or maybe there's a different word for that, but it's a combination of bacteria and yeast. And so, like, other things that we know of that ferment, say, you know, like and have live cultures part of it. Be a culture that's what it is. Culture of bite your eating.
Melissa:Symbiotic culture.
Jam:It's doing things and eating stuff, and Things are happening in the in the tea, and so it's eating the sugar. And That is as that process is happening, it's fermenting the whole batch and changing the whole thing to be less and less tea like, and it's just taste, And also that carbonates it
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:As well. So, kombucha has 2 Fermentations. And in shorthand, they see it f 1 and f 2. Not f 1 like the races. Fermentation 1 and fermentation 2.
Jam:I love f one racist. The first one you do where it has has the ability to breathe, and, apparently, that's pretty important for the SCOBY.
Melissa:Mhmm.
Jam:Scooby Scooby Doo. You know? And then the second1 you is where you would add A little bit more sugar in the form of some fruit, flavorings of some kind, and that one usually seal. And because it can't really breathe, It as it's eating some sugar and, like, creating some gas. I don't know how you'd say that, not creating, but It's turning things
Melissa:a byproduct?
Jam:Yes. As a byproduct, it is carbonating the, the kombucha in the 2nd fermentation, which you've sealed it into a bottle, and that gas can't just go off, you know, anywhere. And what's crazy is sometimes that can get very out of hand. And kombucha, in its 2nd fermentation, you may have seen people talk about this, Can get so much gas in there under pressure that it can break the bottles it's in, or when you're opening it, It'll just fizz like crazy and make a huge mess.
Melissa:Or you could have a roommate who's making blueberry kombucha at your rental house, and the kombucha might have so much filtered pressure that when she takes the lid off, it just shoots up and hits your, like, 20 feet tall ceilings. Yep. And then you can never get the stain down, and it's just there when you move out, which is my kombucha story.
Jam:Ryan and I had that happen at his house, and he got, some kombucha on the Sealing of his his house, the ranch. I hate
Melissa:that you said booch.
Jam:I know. But one thing I'll say too is that there's so many chemistry lessons that we've already talked about involved in this. We've talked about, like Have you talked about yeast very much?
Melissa:I don't think we've talked about yeast. I did quickly Google, does yeast eat sugar? And it says that, essentially, it consumes it and produces yeast as a c o two. And it does say, it respires. It breathes oxygen.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:But in the absence of air, it will get energy from breaking down the sugars. And when it gets the energy from breaking down the sugars, it makes carbon dioxide as a byproduct, also makes alcohol. Is there alcohol in kombucha, though?
Jam:So in kombucha, there's a tiny amount. So, obviously, not enough that, Like, anyone can buy kombucha at the store.
Melissa:Right. Right.
Jam:That's why it's, like, kinda like nothing.
Melissa:But it's it's minimal.
Jam:And that's where you that's, like, the fermented taste Is there from that too? That's, like, just a slight fermented taste.
Melissa:What apple cider vinegar tastes like, because isn't made from similar things?
Jam:Yeah. I think so. I mean, like, people will say if you let your f one go too long, that it almost becomes vinegar. And I don't know What they mean when they say it? Like, is it really almost all acetic acid, or is it just, like, tastes like vinegar?
Melissa:I love that you just said, is it all acetic acid? Did you already know that it was acetic acid before this podcast? This podcast?
Jam:Probably no. No. No. I don't think so. I think you've taught me that.
Melissa:That's so happy. That was great.
Jam:One other thing that is really on topic for our podcast we talked about is, like we talked about carbonation before. We've also talked about, you know, temperatures and stuff like that. Mhmm. When you're f two, people are opening those, sometime, and they fizz everywhere. But if you were to put them in the fridge instead
Melissa:They would not fizz everywhere.
Jam:Or it'll at least be a lot less Explosive. But you
Melissa:don't is that?
Jam:Well, because gas dissolves better and stays in solution better at lower temperatures With high pressure.
Melissa:Gin.
Jam:I'd love to get back into kombucha, and I would have a totally different lens to it. And it'd be interesting to share stuff about that, but I just don't know if I can at the moment. Yeah. Someday.
Melissa:And I don't think people knew that you were all into kombucha, so it was kinda fun to give you another let them see another side of your hobbies.
Jam:That's true. And if anyone has more questions about that, not about necessarily the science of it, because this is about as far as I can go, but just about, like, my process and what I did and what lessons I learned In ways I like to do it and even some recipes that I use, like some of the specific fruit additives I did that were really tasty. Please ask me. I'd love to share that stuff. Oh.
Melissa:And kombucha is supposed to be great for your health and your gut health.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And, yeah. Sometimes I don't like it, though. Sometimes it's a little too Yeah.
Jam:You can get real tart.
Melissa:Yeah. Tart, but, like, with an icky aftertaste. Not just like lemon tart, like tart and fermented, which I don't always love, but also good in mocktails. If you want a cute little drink with a complex of complexity of flavor. Kombucha is a good base for that.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I've been really into the mocktail scene lately. I just want to drink something that's good for my out of a pretty glass with beautiful garnishes. You know? It's like, is that so much to ask? Anyway okay.
Melissa:This has gone off the rails. That's why it's a bonus episode. Yep. Okay. I'm gonna hand it back over to you for asking questions, and we'll start off with another one from Audrey.
Jam:Okay. Audrey asks, Our cookware is stainless steel coated with Thermolon. According to the website, thermal
Melissa:Thermolon.
Jam:Thermolon is a PFAS Free ceramic material. Do you think it's safe?
Melissa:Okay. Listen. Audrey, I don't know. Here's what I think. I think that ceramics have to be glazed in something to be safe to cook in for the most part, and I think that ceramic pans can be safe.
Melissa:I did a really preliminary Google, and I thought it would be, like, quick from the FDA, but there was a lot of stuff about lead, like, lead containing ceramic coatings, and I worry that they're using I don't know this, but I feel like people could use ceramics as a way to sort of, like, pull the wool over our eyes, you know, and coat the ceramic in something just like an alternative to Teflon. But I don't know, and it was hard to get information on a quick Google. So I think I'm gonna have to do more studying before I can answer that question for you. I will say that what both Jam and I use regularly are cast iron pans.
Jam:One of the biggest downsides, and I I looked into this, Remek, at one point. This is not a scientific answer. Just a consumer Decision based answer kind of thing is that it still falls into the category of coated cookware, And the coating cannot be, you know, regenerated at home. You can't just receramic it like you can, like, seasoning a cast iron, Which means that when something happens to the coating, either gets chipped or it gets a crack in it or or just, you know, whatever, That pan has to be thrown away, which creates the kind of waste we have about so many coated cookware pieces. And so I think if there is a situation where it is safer, you know, who knows?
Jam:The downside is it doesn't last longer, though.
Melissa:What's that one you got, Emily?
Jam:That's enameled. Mhmm.
Melissa:Enameled.
Jam:Yeah. Enamel is like it's it's almost like Glass in a way, you could say. But I don't know.
Melissa:Does it have to be seasoned?
Jam:You can season, but it does not have to be. No.
Melissa:Interesting.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Wonder what that is.
Jam:Like, every Dutch oven is enameled. Or not every, actually. Most people's Dutch ovens are enameled. So it's that, like, that, like, Coating on there, but it's cast iron under it. It's this ins
Melissa:But it's not ceramic?
Jam:I don't know if you'd call enamel ceramic or not. I don't know.
Melissa:Well, I guess that means we gotta do another episode on this Mhmm. And learn about the difference between enamel and ceramic in the safety of those cookwares. Yeah. That was a great question. Thanks, Audrey.
Jam:Next one's from Michael r. Michael asks, I'm actually considering switching majors from physics to chemistry. Would you have any advice?
Melissa:I think I might be biased.
Jam:Do it.
Melissa:Because I don't love physics. And I feel like it's hard for me to give advice because I don't even know, like, what kind of career you'd wanna do, what you're interested in. It's hard to say. I think that the best thing for you to do is think about what careers you might like I try to think of a broad range of them. And which major is more in line with those careers, like, broadly?
Melissa:Because you probably won't just get your 1 dream career right out of the gate. Right? So, broadly, what are you interested in, and which one do you think would have more opportunities? Does it line up more with chemistry or physics? I think that chemistry isn't everything.
Melissa:I guess physics isn't everything in a way too. Just you know, it just depend it depends on where you wanna go and what your goals are. And I don't know a lot about physics in terms of career opportunities, so I feel like I don't have really great advice for you other than chemistry is better and yeah. I'm just kidding. I don't feel like I have a lot of really great advice for you other than I could give you specifics about and have in the past about what types of careers you could do with chemistry, and I don't have that same sense for physics.
Jam:If you could get that from someone who has that information about physics, I might help you decide. Yeah. But, yeah, Melissa has done A few tabs on our podcast, like, a kinda detailed explanation of some of the paths you can take in chemistry. It'd be cool to have that for physics, and then you could Know that. Compare.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:Well and then, also, you know what someone recently told me to think about in thinking of my career? Because I'm trying to decide, okay. I've done my postdoc. I've got my PhD. What do I really wanna do long term?
Melissa:And, the best advice that anyone's given me is think about your dream life, not your dream job, and what job facilitates that. So for me, my dream life is to get to share chemistry with people to help people learn. I love that. But also to have time with be to be with my friends and the people I love and care about and to get to travel. And I like to do a lot of things, so I wanna be able to have time for a lot of hobbies.
Melissa:And so for me, that means that probably a research job at a, you know, high research university is not gonna be the best job for me long term because it's really demanding of your time. But maybe something like a, a less research intensive professing or, like, professor job or teaching would be right for me because it gives me that time to explore other things. So, also, people who are trying to think about what job they wanna do and what majors could line up with that, maybe think about that too. Because for some of us, I think our work will give us like, that's enough for us and we're just gonna work and we are gonna love it, and that will be enough. But for others of us, I think work is a piece of our lives, and you have to see how that piece fits into the bigger picture of your life.
Melissa:And getting the job that will fit in well is more important than getting a job that I I think that you're just obsessed with all the time. If you can find a job that you'd like, that fits in well and facilitates everything you want in your life, that's gonna be a much better fit for you. What do you think?
Jam:Yeah. I think so. I think I think the some of the, like, career hustle mentality is like that I kinda see around the world now and online and the people we've met, but that I know in in our lives does feel like it is just thinking about this one part of your life, which is just your career, and that is not your whole life. It's an important part. What we do with our time and our work is so important, but it's not our only contribution to the world, the people that we invest in and our family and friends.
Jam:Super big way we contribute to just the world. You know? Yeah. I think that's a a good way to put it. The way you said, like, what's kind of my ideal life?
Jam:And be wary of if a lot of the things that you list in your ideal life are Only about career.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:And only about money. You know? That's just my take on that.
Melissa:I mean, maybe maybe there are people who their job is everything for them. But Yeah. I think for most of us, that's not true.
Jam:Yeah. It's just a very important part for sure.
Melissa:Right. And I did find a job that I love. So I'm not saying don't find a job you love, but just balance the job that you love with other things that you love in your life.
Jam:Yeah. And if you find yourself I mean, there's always a grass screener mentality that I mean, like, that thing can Seep in your infid is right now, you know, maybe you're thinking chemistry seems more interesting. That can happen to any of us when it's, like, the thing I'm not currently doing seems cooler than the thing I'm currently doing. But if something about chemistry is just way more curiosity inducing, gratifying, and mystery you wanna keep unraveling kinda thing, that might Be really motivating for you regardless of what job you get in chemistry.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:So maybe that'd be I don't know. But some way of checking that might be good.
Melissa:And I did switch from neuroscience to chemistry. So you know?
Jam:There you go. That's a good question.
Melissa:Yeah. That was a really good question.
Jam:And best of luck. Hopefully, the things we said, mostly what Melissa said, is helpful to kinda get you going, but that is a tough thing to figure out.
Melissa:And keep us posted.
Jam:Yes, please. Okay. Next question from Steven. Steven asks, what are some of y'all's favorite things to do during The holiday season.
Melissa:Oh, this is Steven b, h Bonder, chemistry friend. He has a background in chemistry, and he's our pal. He also does dry cleaning. Amazing. Yeah.
Jam:Yeah. Is one of our one of the tiers of our of our Patreon, On our super cool Kim Munity of patrons. You wanna go first? Things you love to do during holiday season?
Melissa:Okay. Well, I already talked about in the last episode about decorating, I love decorating. And something that my mom did, and I actually posted a TikTok of this on my personal TikTok TikTok if you wanna go find it. My mom got ornaments, you know, from different places. And when we would at the beginning of, you know, December usually is when she and I would do it.
Melissa:We would put on some Christmas music and drink some eggnog and or an or cocoa. You know? And she would take out all of her ornaments and talk about where she got them or who she got them from or when she got them. And so Mason and I have done that too. So, you know, it's like, oh, we got this ornament the first time I went to this town that you went to a lot growing up, or, oh, we got this ornament from your mom at Christmas last year.
Melissa:Oh, my mom got me this ornament when I was little. You know? In, so I have started to take on that tradition of going, like, and unwrapping each ornament and talking about sort of its history, I'm, like, using that as an opportunity to reminisce and think about some really great times in our life, and that's a special thing for me. And we usually listen to, like, a Bing Crosby or, like, old crooner type Christmas music. Yeah.
Jam:That's cool.
Melissa:That's one of mine.
Jam:That's good stuff. I think, I have one that's, like, not so recent or not so new, I should say, Which is I love to make wassail.
Melissa:Yeah. You do love to make you make good wassail.
Jam:Nice, spicy, Sweet, but also tart, you know, complex. Yeah. I love I love it. It's perfect. It's like The perfect drink for me to to have in the holidays that still I don't know.
Jam:It's like, I like hot drinks already. I always love coffee. If it's nice to have a hot drink that, like, gets That takes some time to make, and you'll be you're smelling it as it's brewing kinda thing or whatever.
Melissa:Anyway Makes the whole house kinda smell spicy.
Jam:Mhmm. Yeah. And it's one of those things that, like, Yeah. I don't know. I get it's like I haven't obviously made it in, like, 11 months.
Jam:Yeah. So when it starts rolling back around, I'm like, oh, I'm excited about.
Melissa:Wasseltide.
Jam:Oh, Wasseltide. It's so fun. If it was something I just made every day, it wouldn't have that seasonal appeal to it. One thing we've done over the past couple of years is just, like, trying out different traditions with the kids. You know?
Jam:Last year was our 1st Christmas with 2 kids. Year before that, I guess we had 2 2 Christmases with 1. But 2 years ago With just our he was, you know, 18 months at the time. Our our first born, we went and drove around and just looked at lights, because there's lights and stuff. And he was just old enough to be able to, like, point at them, and he'd say, like, wow and stuff.
Jam:Now it's kinda good.
Melissa:Did take him I went in the car, me and your wife and him. Uh-huh. We went looking at Christmas lights together, and I remember how excited he was. That was fun. I forgot that and I did that.
Melissa:Yeah. She really went Yeah. I don't know why, but it was fun.
Jam:Yeah. And then we went and did the, at the text message way. To have, like, a big light show thing. So that year, we went and did that with him, and he loved it. And, we took a couple friends with us when we did that.
Jam:And then last year, we did that same thing, but our oldest was, like, a lot more engaged with it. Of course,
Melissa:we played. When he and I it's hard to say. I don't remember.
Jam:Yeah. Maybe so.
Melissa:Because I've been around since the beginning of his life.
Jam:And so that was really fun. He just like a lot of, like, Oh, wow. And, like, pointing out certain ones and, like, those are blue, those are yellow, those are green. You know? Stuff like that, was really Fun and Christmas songs and, you know, the first, like, times of my old would be like, Can we listen to Santa Claus is Coming
Melissa:to Town? You know? Yeah.
Jam:Just, like, request specific songs, and we'd listen to them a ton of times. We also went to this hotel. This is the 1st time we did it last year, which is something that my wife and I used to do before we had kids. There's this hotel in the metroplex Called the Gaylord Texan.
Melissa:Okay. I have never done this.
Jam:Oh, you should do it.
Melissa:I well, can I can we go with you?
Jam:I don't know.
Melissa:That would be so fun.
Jam:Absolutely. Of course. We should do that. Yeah. They, like, go all out and decorate the heck out of the hotel.
Jam:Mhmm. And it's like you can just go I mean, you pay for need to go walk around. You don't have to just, like, stay there to do this and get, like, coffee or hot chocolate or whatever. They have tons of decorations, all kinds of stuff happening, and there's are things you can do that you can pay for, but, really, it's just like their whole hotel transforms into, like, a little winter wonderland. Yeah.
Jam:And so it was really fun. We did that last year with the kids, and our oldest loved it so much. And our youngest was, like, just, you know, Amused by certain things Yeah. And then fell asleep at certain part parts too because he was, like, 5 months old or whatever. But, anyway, So that's that's a mixture of old older tradition was wasol.
Jam:Newer things we're figuring out as we go with the kiddos. Yeah.
Melissa:Yeah. A fun new thing that we started was to give, instead of giving gifts, we've started to do experiences. And so, like, me and Mason, one of our experiences that we gave was, to use Nerf guns and had a family, capture the flag. Oh. And that was really fun.
Jam:That's awesome.
Melissa:And, then my brother, for his experience, we went to see Home Alone, and they the orchestra played the score for the movie.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And then the movie was on in the and that was really cool. And then, my sister planned, like, a canoeing, kayaking trip, my sister and her husband, for, their experience. You know? So each one of us have, like, taken turns to give an experience. So that's been a fun thing.
Melissa:Another thing that I've always loved to do I don't know when this started, but, you know, my mom, when she would wrap presents, she's busy. She had 3 kids. It was a lot. She would just slap one of those premade bows on. And at some point, I started to buy ribbons.
Melissa:Okay. Make bows or, like, tie like, wrap each present really carefully in a way that made me think of the person I was wrapping it for. And it's just a small thing, but, one, it helps keep track of which present is who's. And, 2, a, just feel like it's an extra little, like, oh, this this bird makes me think of my mom, or, oh, this snowman makes me think of my brother. And so I like or, oh, I got this bear wrapping paper, and it kinda reminds me of my father-in-law.
Melissa:You know? Like, I started to associate things with certain people, and that was, like, a fun little touch that I Yeah. That I started when I was probably, like, in high school, and it's just grown over the years. And yeah.
Jam:That's cool.
Melissa:That's a fun one.
Jam:Yeah. That's fun.
Melissa:There's all kinds of good it's like there's too many to pick. Those are just a few that I thought of off the top of my
Jam:head. Yeah. K. Here's another fun one. This is from Kaiva.
Jam:What would your last meal be if you could choose? Full course or just a plate?
Melissa:So we can go full course or plate meal.
Jam:Okay. Wow. Do you already know?
Melissa:No. No. I don't know. Listen. There I the thing is I love really good food.
Melissa:And so I feel like, well, it would definitely end with one of my chocolate raspberry dairy cakes. Like, if it could be made exactly how I make it, but I didn't have to make it, that would be amazing. Yeah. But that could be the end. Right.
Melissa:And also a key lime. Or not a key lime, like, lemon tart that I make. Those are really good.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:I'm making those for a wedding coming up.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And then so that's I know how I'd wanna finish it. Oh, there's just so much good food. I think it would have to be some kind of, like, Italian food. I recently had a burrata, which I think is burrata the type of cheese. I posted a picture of it on in our story.
Melissa:But I went to an Italian restaurant, and it was like an appetizer. And it was this, like, creamy cheese type thing. It almost seemed like it was, like, a cream creamy something, cream cheese wrapped up in mozzarella almost.
Jam:I don't
Melissa:know if that's really what it is, so that's kind of the texture. Yeah. And it had, like, balsamic reduction with tomatoes.
Jam:Nice.
Melissa:And it and it was, like, this really good bread.
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And all of that with, like, the balsamic dripped over it and a little bit of meat, and so you're, like, you know, put it on your little bread and eat it. And that was really good. So I feel like that might be my appetizer.
Jam:Nice. I mean, that's good. That's a good one. I do love Italian food, so I can see that being in the running Yeah. Somewhere.
Jam:But one of the first things that came to mind for me is I, you know, I love spicy food. And I think Today, as I'm answering the question right now, I I could feel differently tomorrow. You know? But if I was deciding my last meal today, I think I would want a really nice, spicy Penang curry with brown rice and some spring rolls as a appetizer.
Melissa:Nice.
Jam:And the pan on your hair is, like like, sweet and complex and spicy.
Melissa:Mhmm. That's good.
Jam:It's got vegetables I love. And When I do have that, as soon as I'm eating that meal, and I'm like, this is just the best. Like, what meal could be better than this right now? And so I think right now, that might be my my thing.
Melissa:Yeah. Yeah. That so your yours is one course. You went with 1 plate, but I'm going for a full course, I think.
Jam:Yeah. And just to What's the word? Uncultured. I've never had a multiple course meal before.
Melissa:Yeah. You've gotten appetizers. There's
Jam:I said appetizer spring
Melissa:roll. Oh, that's true. Oh, okay.
Jam:That's true. But, like, full courses, like usually, nothing like 5 courses, like, one of those, Like like a Yeah. Fancy dinner? Like, I've never had something like that. Like, that to me is like do you get, like, a salad, and then you're also gonna soup.
Jam:And they're gonna make a small of the
Melissa:dish. Well, you can make up the courses because it's your last meal.
Jam:Okay. A dessert would be I like where you're going with, like, the like, You started to say that when you changed your your lemon tart. I love, like, key lime pie.
Melissa:Key lime pie.
Jam:Our friend, Leslie, makes this really good she calls it limeade pie.
Melissa:Yeah.
Jam:Really good. I love limey, fruity desserts, and a lot of those, some of the best ones I've have have had have been made by Melissa. You have a lot of, like,
Melissa:that's so nice.
Jam:Fruity desserts that you make that are really good. I don't love
Melissa:I do love a tart.
Jam:I've realized as I get gotten older that Things have to to reach that top tier of, like, oh, this is really good. Desserts have to have some level of fruit involved in it.
Melissa:Mhmm. Okay.
Jam:Doesn't, then I'm gonna like it. I just won't, like,
Melissa:love it.
Jam:Yep.
Melissa:Well okay. While you're talking, I think I figured out what I want mine to be. Okay. So I would want to have a meal with Mason. This is, like, my ideal situation.
Jam:Okay.
Melissa:Start with, like, either a cocktail or mocktail, just like a beverage with a good complexity to it. You know? When you're talking about complexity of flavors, I'm like, oh, I like that nice drink
Jam:Yeah.
Melissa:And that burrata appetizer.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then I would go into also shout out if you're in San Antonio, hit me up. I'll tell you the restaurant that was at. It was really one of the best foods I've ever had. Then I would want to split a really good steak. And but I would get a really good pasta so with, like, a nice red sauce on it.
Melissa:You know? Nice. And then, then go and also, of course, bread and the burrata, but also, you know, like, bread with a little salted butter is really good. Mhmm. And then for my for my final touch, I would probably have the either the choc I what I would like is for each of us to get.
Melissa:One get chocolate raspberry, the other get lemon.
Jam:Mhmm.
Melissa:And then we can each have some
Jam:Nice. You know. Nice.
Melissa:I think that's my ideal meal.
Jam:Yeah. That's a great idea. Yeah. I like it's not cheating because, obviously, you wanted your last meal to be with your spouse.
Melissa:Yeah. But I
Jam:like that you're able to come back. Oh, this would let me have more things that I could share and also make the experience more fun.
Melissa:That is almost exactly what we had for our anniversary dinner. So I was like, wait. That was one of the best meals I've ever had. So
Jam:That's good. That's really good.
Melissa:That was a great question, Kaibe. That was a fun, like, food always makes me think of the holidays, so it's kind of a nice one to go with Stevens.
Jam:Yep. I like that.
Melissa:Okay, so let's switch gears and share a little bit of some of our favorite reviews. 1 that I wanna shout out is Morgan on YouTube. Recently, I went on a rant about how everyone ask me if I can make meth all the time. And I didn't actually answer the question in that rant. Uh-huh.
Melissa:And some people asked on YouTube, and Morgan said, I know that Melissa understands the process of making meth. Give her some hypothetical starting material with the end goal being methamphetamine, and she could theoretically retrosynthesize. I'll tell you what that means in a second. Retrosynthesized the pathway. It doesn't mean she has done it before or wants to or ever will do it.
Melissa:And I was like, thank you, Morgan. You just get it. That's exactly it. And so that made me really happy. But also, retrosynthesize size is a chemistry word, which literally means you take your end goal and you retroactively realize what you'd have to start with to make get.
Melissa:And that is something that organic chemist students have to do and organic chemist do, like, to get the end product that they want a
Jam:lot. Nice.
Melissa:So I, really liked that comment, and thank you, Morgan, for seeing me.
Jam:Next, we have actually 2 reviews. We like to share these at on these, bonus episodes With you guys, people that have written a little review for us, just some thoughts that they have about the podcast. I'll do the first one. You do the second one.
Melissa:Sounds great.
Jam:Okay. Nelly s wrote, I think the passion that GMM also have when discussing the various ways we see chemistry in our lives is beyond beautiful and amplifies the learning experience. Thank you for creating a warm and welcoming environment. Amazing to see how accessible quality education is.
Melissa:Lily, that was so nice. I think I maybe met Neli. I think she might have been, like a h bonder.
Jam:Oh, yes.
Melissa:And that was just really so sweet of you to say and kind, and that's my goal. That's something that is one of the goals that I have in my life. And so for other people to see that that's what I want to put out into the world is really special.
Jam:And, like, it's so encouraging.
Melissa:I know. Words like
Jam:that beyond beautiful. I was like, wow. That's is, like, one of the things where it's like, man, the gift of words, the gift of of saying something that encouraging to us is huge.
Melissa:We really should have finished with that.
Jam:Oh, I know. Yeah. Yeah.
Melissa:Oops. But here's, here's one from, whatever that means, whoever that is, I guess. It look it's a lot of ease and a lot in both. So this is this is really sweet in a different way. I like how it's a lung podcast.
Melissa:I love a good lung podcast, and I'm quite into chemistry. I thought that was, like, sweet and endearing. Yeah. Everything about it, I was like, oh, that's really sweet. That made me laugh.
Melissa:And, also, we also think, you you know, the long form we can't just only do mini videos and explain things in-depth. So Yeah.
Jam:There's people that are doing that. They're doing a really good job with that. You know? Yeah. But this is what we're doing.
Jam:What we can do.
Melissa:I just thought that was sweet and endearing in a different in a different way, but, like, very way, but, like, very sweet and cute and funny. And I was like, yeah. I also like a long podcast.
Jam:Same. I like I like the movie. You should be like, here's Here's what I'm thinking, and I'm gonna go into the podcast app. I'm gonna write this review.
Melissa:Yeah. I just love it.
Jam:Long podcast. You know? It's like one thing to expect when someone has a really, like, Overwhelmingly positive and wonderful thing to say like Nelly did or when someone has, like, a really you know, they're frustrated and they're angry, and they wanna go through that. But I like when someone has, like, a, you know, not incredibly, like, overly either direction.
Melissa:It's not, like, mad or effusive. Yeah.
Jam:But it's like, here's a nice Thought I have about this podcast.
Melissa:That's sweet.
Jam:You know? That's cool. So I love that.
Melissa:Thanks thanks, Nimi Nimi. Alright. Well, I think that's everything for this bonus episode. This is a fun one. We're kinda letting them be longer and a little willy nilly to get in the holiday spirit so you have more to listen to if you're traveling over this winter and, on a road trip or in an airplane or whatever.
Melissa:We've got you covered.
Jam:Mhmm. So thanks for sending in your questions. We love y'all's questions. They end up here or they become an episode. So please send those to us one thing at Kim for your life.
Jam:It's Kim, f o r, your life to share your thoughts and ideas and questions with us. If you'd like to help us keep our show going and contribute to cover the cost of making it, you can go Join our super cool Kim community of patrons on Patreon. That's patreon.com/kem for your life. Patreon.com/kem for your life to join That super cool community of patrons. And if you're not able to do that, you can still help us by subscribing in a free podcast app, rating and writing review on Apple Podcasts like Nelly and Nimi did, this this past month.
Jam:And, you can also so help support us and spread the word about chemistry free life By going and subscribing on our YouTube channel. That's at chem for your life on YouTube.
Melissa:Because once we get to a 1000 subscribers in a certain amount of watch hours, we, we can monetize our YouTube content, and then that'd be great.
Jam:And that supports the channel.
Melissa:It does.
Jam:Every little bit helps. So
Melissa:this episode of Chemistry For Your Life was created by Melissa Colini and Jam Robinson, and Jam Robinson is our producer. The episode was made possible by our financial supporters on Patreon, and it means so much to us that you wanna make chemistry accessible to even more people. We can't believe that we get to do this day in and day out, week in and week out, mate. And those supporters are Avishai b, Brie m, Brian k, Chris and Claire s, Chelsea b, Derek l, Emerson w, Hunter r, Jacob t, Christina g, Katrina h, Latila s, Lynn s, Melissa p, Nicole c, Rachel r, Steven b, Sarah m, Shadow, Suzanne p, Timothy p and Venus r. Thank you again for everything you do to make chemistry for your life happen.
Melissa:Day chemistry. Day chemistry.
