..And Top with QuickCrete Frosting...

Sometimes, I'm pretty amused at the odd directions my work takes me. Specifically--one of the follow up studies for my job in Vermont was to perform material property testing on some building material samples that I collected. One step was to dry the samples down to 0% moisture content, as per ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) Standard C67: Standard Test Methods for Sampling and Testing Brick and Structural Clay Tile. So what does that mean?


Yep, I got to bake bricks! Okay, structural clay tile, actually. Strangely, the standard does not call for inserting a toothpick into the sample to find out if it is done.

Another test was to perform a 5-hour boiling absorption test. So JMD came home to this on the stove:


"Uh, Bats, why are you boiling bricks?"

"Making stock. You have to boil the heck out of them to get the flavor out."

I somehow managed to resist tasting the brick stock to see how it was coming along. However--no matter how long I boiled it, fall-off-the-bone my butt... it didn't soften up.

Anyway--ta dah! Ready to be plated.


Order up!