Castle Hill Open Day: A Celebration of Heritage

During my first week in Cambridge, I found out about Castle Hill Open Day, a full-day event celebrating a local spot called Kettle’s Yard. I only made it for the last few hours, but I still learned quite a lot about the culture of this area. My time there included an interdisciplinary art exhibit, two ancient churches, and other local collections.

After stopping at a booth nearby a group of kids, who were attentively listening to a storyteller, I stepped into an exhibition to see the newest works. These consisted of photographs by Sophie Rickett, who made an appearance for the festival together with the astronomer Roderick Willstrop from the University of Cambridge. Using negatives from Dr. Willstrop’s Three Mirror Telescope, Rickett developed photographs reinterpreting the process of artistic creation as well as the sublime subject itself. For example, one work features a circular “window” into space, with a cloudy center reminiscent of the Milky Way. Rickett explained that this cloudiness is not part of outer space, but a product of chemicals used to develop the photographs. Thus, the product serves as a reminder of its own nature. In addition, Rickett took this same image and developed ten smaller versions in the bold colors of the Eagle Nebula, showing how art can further inspire art. For more information on the different themes of Rickett’s work, see: http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/exhibitions/2013/new-art-2013/sophy-rickett.php.

  “Pillars of Creation” depicting the Eagle Nebula, taken by the Hubble Telescope

(Image: http://annesastronomynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Pillars-of-Creation-a-star-forming-gas-and-dust-region-within-the-Eagle-Nebula-M16-or-NGC-6611-a-young-open-cluster-of-stars-6500-light-years-away-in-Serpens-Cauda.jpg)

Once I had finished learning more about the artist, the scientist, and their work, I went on a tour of two nearby churches. The first, St. Giles’ Church, is relatively ornate and large. A guide discussed the meaning of the architecture, explaining that the interior of the church traditionally resembles the design of an ark and thus evokes a sense of safety. Beautiful stained glass windows line the walls, and the benches have unique images of saints and animals carved into them – symbolic meaning can be found in every nook and cranny. After St. Giles’, we walked back up a hill to St. Peter’s Church, which is a small, pale, chilly room in comparison. In the otherwise barren center stands a baptism font with mermen carved into it – it is about 1000 years old! We could see a door had been sealed shut on one wall to block off the cold winds. The outline of the door had been left as an indication that the church used to be larger. So much could be gleaned from the architecture and modifications to these edifices.

 

 

St. Peter’s Church in Autumn

Our tour then took us into the nearby Cambridge & County Folk Museum, which has some major artifacts from Cambridge and an old pub room, as well as a café for afternoon tea, of course. The last stop was Kettle’s Yard house, where we saw some modern paintings and sculptors collected by the previous owner, curator Jim Ede (See: http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/house). One of the iconic sculptures is a cubic dog, which children were happily replicating with paper mache in a crafts stall in the backyard.

All in all, this was a wonderful opportunity to delve into the world of art, architecture, history, and science. I also enjoyed the blend of the modern and the ancient. I look forward to visiting more museums and buildings during my time in Europe.

 

Cambridge: First Impressions

During the past few weeks, I have been swept up into all that is Cambridge. The first days were what I expected: cool weather, with rain drizzling onto my blue raincoat, bikers weaving between pedestrians and other vehicles, and people from all over the world walking on the narrow pavement (i.e. sidewalk) and through buildings twice as old as the United States. Although Cambridge is a relatively small college town, the campus is larger than my undergraduate institution, the College of William & Mary. It can take 45 minutes or more to walk from West Cambridge to the southernmost parts. Despite getting lost a few times, I have enjoyed the city so far.

I quickly learned that the best place to get directions is by a strange, modern clock, at which there is almost always a group of tourists and helpful tour guide. The clock has an insect-like creature that crawls along the top of its periphery, while a neon blue light designates passing seconds and other lights demark the hour and minute. One guide said that the contraption sometimes makes strange noises or stops briefly, which is supposed to reflect the randomness of life. I have yet to see one of these peculiar clock displays.

 

The insect clock of randomness

After figuring out how to walk around the city, I upgraded to cycling, which is a common aspect of student life here. It was rather harrowing riding around on the roads at first, following traffic while trying to avoid pedestrians on my left and large double-decker buses and vans on my right. I’ve managed to find routes that are not so daunting, and I’ve only lost control of my bike twice.

Cambridge is encircled by the River Cam, on which punting is a popular recreational activity. There is a particularly beautiful part where an arched footbridge goes over the river. On the many occasions that I could not bike over the bridge due to lack of momentum, I have paused to appreciate the scenery. Below me, tourists might reach out over the edge of the boats towards approaching elegant swans, which would then wag their tails like eager puppies. And then, I’d hop back on my bike and let gravity take me away.

Punts and foliage at the River Cam

The city is known for its international restaurants and pubs. In addition, the 31 colleges of Cambridge each provide unique aesthetic, historical, and cultural charms for university students and other visitors. I will post more on these attractions in subsequent blogs.

 

Cheers! 

Sweets in the Tropics

During my stay in Brazil, I experienced the rich tastes of several traditional desserts. Many of these are fruit-based and unique to the tropical region in which they are found. One of the most popular sweets in Pernambuco is bolo de rolo, or “rollcake.” It consists of thin dough wrapped around a sweet guava filling. The outer part is covered in sugar, giving the dessert a crunchy texture. The graininess of bolo de rolo contrasts with the cool softness of flan pudding, made of milk, condensed milk, egg, and caramelized sugar.

 Bolo de Rolo

Towel inspired by bolo de rolo

Flan

The fruits and sherberts in Brazil are also delicious: graviola, maracuja (passionfruit), mamão (papaya), caja, caju (fruit of the cashew tree), acerola, açai, pinha (sugar-apple), etc. I was pleasantly surprised when I rediscovered one of these Brazilian flavors during a spring semester at NUS in Singapore. When I first heard the word “soursop,” I was hesitant to try it. Little did I know that “soursop” is in fact graviola, my favorite tropical fruit. I had it both in frozen yogurt form and as a refreshing drink mixed with strawberry.

 Orange, sugar-apple, and papaya

Strawberry and soursop juice in Singapore

While I was in Singapore, I tried an avocado milkshake for the first time. At NUS, they prepare these with a bit of chocolate sauce, which complements the smooth, thick avocado very well. When my Brazilian aunt whipped up some abacatada, I made sure to mix in some cocoa powder to achieve that delicious combination.

In addition to fruit, Brazilians love chocolate. Brigadeiros are common at children’s birthday parties. They are essentially bonbons made of condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder. I’ve also tried sonho de valsa, which traditionally has a cashew nut filling. Homemade chocolate cakes are popular as well.

Brigadeiros

Sonho de Valsa pudding

Chocolate cake with gummies on top

There are a myriad of other desserts I have not covered. Hopefully, I have given you a taste of the exotic sweets and fruits one can find in the tropics. If you’d like to learn more about my culinary ventures in Singapore, check out my other page:

http://suzansurveyingsingapore.weebly.com/food.html

Crisp flaking ice cream

Rolled up crystal guava cake

Brazilian sweets

Blue Bottles in Maceió, Alagoas

After our excursion to Porto de Galinhas, my family and I visited Maceió, the largest city in Alagoas. The word maceió originated with indigenous tribes in Brazil. It refers to natural flows of water that emanate from soil and either end up in the sea or pool into lakes. Alagoas refers to the lakes, or lagoas, that are abundant in the city and the state as a result (http://www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Maceio).

During our one full day in Maceió, we headed over to Praia do Francês, a beach which I explored with my sister and cousin. Where the waves ended and left trails of beige foam, we noticed small air-filled sacs with thin threadlike tentacles drying in the sun. These were Atlantic Portuguese men-of-war (Physalia physalis), known as blue bottles in Australia (Physalia utriculus) (Australian Museum, 2010; National Geographic Society). Most were blue, but we also saw a few larger ones with pink and purple hues. The length of their gas-filled bladders, or pneumatophores,  ranged from a couple to about 15 centimeters. My Brazilian cousin called them caravelas, after the caravel, a 15th century sailing ship used by Portuguese adventurers.

A purple Portuguese man-of-war with ~10-cm float and ~75-cm long tentacles

The Portuguese man-of-war resembles a jellyfish, or agua viva (“live water”). While they are both cnidarians, or animals with stinging cells called cnidocytes, there are fundamental distinctions between these two organisms:

	True Jellyfish	Man-of-War
Class	Scyphozoa	Hydrozoa
Lifestyle	Individual	Colonial (individuals called zooids)
Technical Term	Medusa or Polyp (two major life stages)	Siphonophore

 

We probably ran into at least 50 caravelas during our walk along the strand. The nematocysts, or stinging organelles, can remain very potent even after the detachment of tentacles or the death of a Portuguese man-of-war (Auerbach, 1997). Despite the potential danger presented by the colorful stinging strands, we waded into the water with other bathers, keeping a lookout for any sails.

Stranded blue bottle

Holding a bitter message

Popped it right open

Sources:

Auerbach, PS. (1997). "Envenomation from jellyfish and related species". J Emerg Nurs 23 (6): 555–565.

Australian Museum. (February 24, 2010.) “Animal Species: Blue Bottle.” Australian Museum. Retrieved August 23, 2013. From http://australianmuseum.net.au/Bluebottle

National Geographic Society. (1996-2013). “Portuguese Man-of-War.” National Geographic. Retrieved August 23, 2013. From http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war