A recipe for a scientist I write with my pen on an index card to be stowed away somewhere in a small box organized alphabetically. I laugh because who am I to organize; everything I own finds its place in slightly the wrong way, tossed on the floor or draped over the couch or collecting dust.
A recipe? What, like I cook anymore? I used to cook but I don’t remember when. I don’t remember the last recipe I made standing in the kitchen with a knife and a cutting board and vegetables I found somewhere in a grocery store that had no walls or ceiling and was open to the air.
I know the recipe for a scientist though, because I’ve met many scientists. I’ve squinted my eyes at them, I’ve measured them and took notes. Questioned when they said something. I took their thoughts back to the lab in my head and experimented with amounts and baking times and then I became a scientist. So I know the recipe.
And the recipe is foolproof.
Where am I going to find these ingredients? I think to myself after reading almost any recipe, to the point I stop reading it, put it down, and go about my day. The recipe for a scientist, you may think, is one such recipe. But you don’t have to go out and get the ingredients! You already have them!
First, you need a cup of curiosity, however that may come to you. It’s fine if you can only find it filling in some deep hole inside of you that you normally avoid. Everyone is curious just sometimes you get too scared- so you gotta find one cup inside of you whatever way you can.
Next, you will need 3 cups of confidence. Confidence is hard because you have to grow it. You have to grow confidence, preferably in the backyard, but if you have one of those indoor light chambers you can grow it there. It is unfair that we don’t all have a backyard because you can really taste confidence- it has terroir- but the best kind you’ll ever have is your own.
Mix up your curiosity and your homegrown confidence. Next you will add the wet ingredients.
1 tbsp of Collaboration and Being Nice. Working with Others. It’s funny as a scientist we think we are so smart, walking around discovering things but really no scientist ever discovers something alone. This ingredient is like vanilla in cookies: a little goes a long way and my mother can taste it, she says. If you forget it, there will be something very off.
A dash of creativity and Humor. Like salt - it makes all the flavors sing. Everyone is funny; some people just choose not to be because one time they made a joke and no one laughed. Everyone is creative, but of course, you can always borrow some from your neighbor if you run out. I wish we still lived that way; if I were out of eggs I could just knock on the door next door and ask for a spare egg. Maybe we still do live that way and I’ve just never asked.
After stirring all the ingredients, bake at 400 degrees for 2 hours. This is the PhD process. You know you have completed the recipe when you can still taste the Nice. If you can’t, it’s not your fault. The oven was too hot.
There are faulty ovens in this country – they all run a little too hot- so set yours at 350 if you can
This is just my recipe though –
MT