For the first Astronomy Tea after Spring Break at the University of California at Berkeley , stargazer went full Star Wars with a Jabba - the - Hutt bread carving , a honeydew melon Death Star , a plate of Han Solos frozen in chocolate , Yoda - cookies , and assorted scones .
Jabboule the Hutt and the Honey Death Star . Photography credit : Richard Ellis , California Institute of Technology
The creator of all this Star Wars lusciousness is Chelsea Harris . Harris is a Berkeley Astrophysics alumnus pupil , a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellow , and a monolithic Star Wars fan . Her main region of research is to produce calculation manakin of supernovae . Her models look at supernova after they detonate , trying to fit radiation transferral and spectrum between possibility and observation .
Astrophysicist and Star Wars fan Chelsea Harris explaining supernova at 1 am . Photography Credit : Ori Fox , UC Berkeley
Late one night in January , Harris realise that the Death Star looked surprisingly like a honeydew melon vine . Knowing that it would be a hit with fellow fans , she immediately started brainstorm extra items for the hebdomadary Astronomy Colloquium Tea . She already had the cookie tender , and realized that Han Solo in Carbonite water ice block trays could be repurposed as chocolate mold . After making a proof - of - concept Death Star , she woolgather up creating an elaborate bread sculpture for the laze - like law-breaking boss , Jabba the Hutt . Finally , the scones rounded out the spread with a tasty asteroid field of study .
The full spread of bread - based crime lord , edible asteroid , hot chocolate heroes , and a green day of reckoning gadget . Photograph by Lauren Weiss , UC Berkeley .
The Honey Death Star
Harris kindly provided how - to instructions on carve a melon into a Death Star :
The Death Star is actually also easy to make , but requires patience . First I lightly scramble the ( honeydew ) melon vine with a knife . Then I cut off the top to make it more global — honeydew melon are kind of oblong — and used a paring knife to smooth out the finish a bit . Then I cut a piddling off the bottom so it could resist . I put a synthetic rubber band around the midriff and cut around it to give me a guide for carve out the equatorial oceanic abyss — the trench is a squeamish guide for the rest .
frosty honeydew melon Death Star with the original Last Judgement space station . picture by Lauren Weiss , UC Berkeley ( left ) ; Wookieepedia ( right ) .
Then I cut out the laser dishful and the blocks of windows that are on that side of the battle post , using the schematic onWookieepedia . Then all that was left was to painstakingly go around the eternal sleep of the thing , carve out blocks of window . I endeavor to be careful to mime the general patterns : not aligning blocks between levels , verify the block were variegate widths , etc . Finally , I froze it because I was making it jolly far in advance and did n’t require it to disintegrate ; but I would have prefer to serve it impertinent .
Han Solo Frozen in Chocolate
Freezing Han in cocoa is far childlike than it was for Darth Vader to immobilize him in carbonate . Buy ice cube trays , fill up with melted drinking chocolate , cool , consume .
Jabboule the Hutt
The sculptured bread Jabboule the Hutt was the more intricate part of the entire spread . The basic construct is a sparse weather sheet of dough on a empty base , shaped , wrinkled , and textured to match the notorious crime lord .
Jabboule the Hutt with the original sluggish Jabba the Hutt . Photography credit : Richard Ellis , California Institute of Technology ( left ) ; screenshot from Star Wars Episode VI : proceeds of the Jedi ( right ) .
Harris started with a lettuce boulle , trim down off the side and top , then capping the divulge end with aluminum transparency . She then built a base with report and foil , blocking out the majority of the carving ’s volume . This provided a stalwart , light - weight foundation ; intend that the bread would be a slight , consistent heaviness for even bake ; and allow flexibility in determining an appropriate display rack .
Foil base - social structure for the Jabba the Hutt sculpture . Photography credit : Chelsea Harris , UC Berkeley .
She then mixed up sculpting pelf : 2 parts flour , 1 part salt , 1 part water . Not tasty , but very strong ! She then roll the dough into quarter - column inch sail , and cloak them over the base with urine to paste the seams .
The canonical sheet was surprisingly unmediated . As Harris explains , “ Jabba has two independent fat layers ( with his arms stick around out between them ) and then a huge fatness face . So … I basically just … did that . ” A strand of dough swing a fat bed below his branch , and another above . After more sheets and patches , the basic structure was complete .
Adding wrinkles to Jabba ’s blobby tail . Photography credit : Chelsea Harris , UC Berkeley .
Harris confides , “ After that , it was just a matter of warp and stab into what was there to seek to get his facial features correctly . For most of the detail work I in reality , awesomely , mostly usedthis manicure tooland a wooden skewer . ” Unfortunately , the she overestimate the structural integrity of the dough , so the thin line of a sassing expound and branch far beyond reckon : “ By the fourth dimension he was ready for the oven , the dough had come apart so much that Jabba had thishuge , gaping , Pac - Man oral fissure ! I sort of just star at it in horror-struck shock for a few moments . ”
After adding a natural language and a few more detailed tweaks , he was ready for the oven . The whole sculpture was bake at 325F for half an hour , coated in an egg - washing , then bake another 10 to 15 bit for that extra radiance .
Doughy Jabba the Hut ready for broil . Photography credit : Chelsea Harris , UC Berkeley .
For the last exhibit , Harris rolled a foil pillar to support for the Hutt . A hollowed - out boulle swear out as a base for the mainstay .
The Final Touch
You ca n’t tell from the exposure , but this epic tea even come with a soundtrack . It started off with the Star Wars “ Main Title , ” then continue to the “ Cantina Band . ” lastly , when it was time to usher everyone out of the tea and on to the colloquium , she closed the tea leaf with , “ The Throne Room & End Title . ”
The Tea proceeded the weekly colloquium , an academic event where a chat professor comes to give a invitee - lecture on their research . The talker this particular week was Professor Richard Ellis , giving a talk on “ Observations of Star - Forming Galaxies in the Heart of the Reionization Era . ” While not particularly Star - Wars - ish at first glance , the Caltech research group is note galaxies from a foresightful clip ago and far , far away . Even better , it was the first Astronomy Tea after Spring Break , leave Harris plenty of preparation fourth dimension . colorize me envious , my departmental seminar never had a teatime - clip this elaborate !
All creation by Chelsea Harris . This is n’t the only time Star Wars has root on astronomers;these automatic SPHERESare directly from the moving-picture show .
AstronomyFoodStar Wars
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and culture newsworthiness in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your nowadays .
You May Also Like
