Ex-pat math

I never expected to need so much math as an expat, but I realized this week that living abroad definitely makes me use my math skills more. Here are a few examples: 

- Butter. All my recipes list butter measurements in cups, sticks, or tablespoons. But the butter comes in 227g chunks. So I convert whatever my measurement is to grams (thanks to the internet) and then make those grams into an estimated fraction out of 227, then eyeball that fraction of the butter block. As you can imagine, this is a highly accurate process...

- Baking size. It's a 9 x 13 pan recipe. My toaster oven only fits an 8 x 8 pan. So I find the area of each, and find the percent/fraction that is my 8 x 8 pan and then try to figure out, which is easier, cut the recipe, or increase it and make two 8 x 8's? I think the answer might be to make one batch but put it in two 8 x 8's and just have it be thin and not bake it so long...

-Temperature. I know a few Celcius benchmarks, but I otherwise think in Fahrenheit. Luckily my devices will convert it, but our textbook is in Fahrenheit which of course my Celcius students don't understand, so they are always asking me how much that is in Celsius...  Also, my toaster oven is only in Celsius and my recipes are all in Fahrenheit, which works out ok because I don't actually set the temp, I just turn it on and off. Really, it's a miracle I can bake anything at all between that and the butter! 

- Currency. Americans in Thailand can divide by 30 like a pro. After a while, you convert less and less in your host country, but you still do it to a degree. And then there's the travel, where you convert both to your home currency and your host currency... 

- Time zones. I make it a point when I set up Skype dates to always set them up in the other person' time zone so I am calculating that in my head as we email to find a time. Luckily either Detroit or Chicago are always an exact 12 from here, then I can go from there to figure out the other. But I still struggle with Buenos Aires and as of July I will need to convert London and California as well... Yikes. 

- Stocking up. I still buy a year's worth of several items every summer in the States, namely PG Tips tea and my hair products. So it's always a calculation of how many days, how long a box of tea or bottle of mousse would last, and then a generous rounding up to make sure I don't run out. I thought I had it down, but I think I miscalculated somewhere because I am definitely rationing both right now to get to June 6th! 

To nuke, or not to nuke

I don't own a microwave. I've never actually owned one, though most places I have lived have had one. Some people think I'm a little bit nuts for not having one, my own mother for example, but I kind of like it. I spent about half my years in Argentina living with a friend who had a no microwave policy and from watching her, I learned how to make and reheat anything you wanted without one. So when I moved here and had to outfit an entire kitchen from scratch I knew that a microwave was a want, not a need. 

I don't have anything against the microwave and honestly, most of the time I forget that I don't have one. I've grown accustomed to stove top popcorn and reheating food in the toaster oven or on the stove. I do sometimes think that maybe blasting our food with radiation is not the best plan in the world and can get a little puffed up about the whole thing, about not relying on such a modern contraption, but I wouldn't say I'm anti microwave. I certainly eat plenty nuked food at other people's houses. 

But now I'm thinking of buying one. Friends who are moving to the States are selling their Magic Machine, an oven/microwave combo that just might revolutionize my life. Or at least my corn muffins. It can literally bake or nuke, depending on the setting. If I recall, it might even grill too. I've seen entire Thanksgiving dinners created in one of these things. Pie, turkey, you name it. Problem is, it doesn't toast, which means it can't replace the toaster oven and thus I end up with another gadget in my rather small and crowded kitchen. The only place for it, in fact, is on top of the fridge. A bit unsightly. And then there's my pride, joining the throngs across the globe with the ability to reheat a cup of tea in 30 seconds. To nuke or not to nuke, that my friends, is the question.