Also very freaking cool

I was perusing the internet late one evening, always on the prowl for one cool project or another, when I encountered a video of a woman in a labcoat making more or less instant ice cream with the help of liquid nitrogen. In my innocence and ignorance I wondered how one would lay hands on such a wondrous substance... further internet searching led me nowhere.... so I wrote my friend who just so happens to be a chemistry professor. As it turns out, liquid nitrogen is not something your average Joe has access to... and rightly so because you could freeze your g.d. hand off if you're not careful. But also as it turns out my friend Dr. Ruth just up and offered to come make ice cream with my tinkerers! It was wicked cool (as my Boston friends like to say). First she dipped a flower from our garden in the nitrogen. It froze instantly, so stiff that she was able to easily shatter it. We experimented around a bit, trying out different combos of nitro and object, and then got down to ice cream making business, which is what you see pictured here. Fun? Yes. Delicious? Yes. Dangerous? My God yes, and in the best possible way (the way that is actually safe and exciting). Educational? You know it, baby. Wicked cool? I think we can safely say, yes. Dr. Ruth, we are so so SO lucky to know you!

(And thanks SO much to Melissa Prado Little for the great photo. She came to camp three times and took absolutely fabulous photographs.... I can't wait to share more.)