Neat Stuff October 25, 2002

October 25, 2002

Ms. Hepsi's Hungarian Pancakes

On day three of the expedition, Hepsi Zsoldos, one of our Shipboard Education Coordinators, was up bright and early for KP duty. She decided to make her famous "Hungarian Pancakes" for breakfast. Below is her recipe, which was met with rave reviews.

Take 1 cup of flour, 1 heaping tablespoon of sugar, baking powder (just stick a kitchen knife into the baking powder and take out about a third of a knife blade, and salt (about 1/2 teaspoon). Mix these togther and set aside.

Next, take 1 cup of milk, 1 egg, a splooge of vanilla (I just tip the bottle and put a little in), and a splooge of vegetable oil (just a tip from the bottle).

Mix the wet ingredients well. Add the dry ingredients, and mix with a fork. Don't try to get out all the lumps. It's supposed to be lumpy.

Place a ladle-full on a hot griddle, and wait until the edges get bubbly and dry before turning. The pancakes ahould be BIG . . . the size of a plate. They're a meal in themselves.

Hungarians have good appetites and can eat three or four of these giants. My brother can eat that many, and so can some of the crew here. I can manage one. They can be served with any kind of syrup or jam. Milk is the ONLY thing to drink with them. It's perfect with a glass of cold milk.

Moon Rise Over R/V Atlantis —
1,100 Miles Out in the Pacific Ocean

Take a look at this video that Jen captured last night.

"The coolest thing last night . . . was watching the moon rise. It was incredibly dark. So dark you couldn’t see anything. You couldn’t tell where the horizon was and where the ocean was. Once the moon started to rise, it was just this little tiny beam of light and then all of a sudden, two minutes later, it was completely visible." — Jen Costanza

Check out these photos, which have been transmitted to the University of Delaware from the R/V Atlantis.

Scientist Peggy O’day gets ready to enter Alvin for her briefing. Everyone who dives in Alvin must sit in the sphere for an orientation. The pilot shows you where everything is and asks you several times if you’re nervous or scared. It’s not scary in the least.

Hanging out in front of the sub hangar during briefings.

Jockie is making yet another excellent dinner.

Bekki lends a hand by vacuuming the video room. Everyone pitches in to help out around the boat.

Mark Spear loads Alvin up with more hydraulic fluid.

The basket on Alvin. This is where the science equipment will be secured for sample collection.

Loading Dr Cary’s equipment onto the basket.

Watch as the pool goes up!

The building of the on-deck pool. The pool sides are made of wood, which are screwed into support poles. The poles are secured in the deck of the ship to keep the pool from rolling around. Once the pool liner is spread out (thanks Lisa!), the pool is scrubbed down. That’s Alvin pilot Bruce Strickrott doing the scrubbing. The pool will be filled to the top with seawater pulled in from outside the boat. Water will constantly circulate through the pool, with old water getting dumped over the side and fresh seawater filling it up. It will be awesome to lie in the pool and look at he stars at night.