Fast Food Frenzy - My Experience

I arrived at the Lee center at about 8:10 P.M, 10 minutes after the fast food frenzy had started. It was a whole lot of fun from the moment I got there. There was loud music, food from just about every fast food place you could name, drinks and Guitar Hero for the Wii. The whole thing was hectic, crazy and just plain fun. It ended at about 8:36 when everything started being packed away. It was a lot of fun and it's a shame it had to end so soon.

Food Experience-- KHolzman

Having evolved into the nice ripe age of 18, I though it was only safe to assume that I had experienced it all considering the slim chance of survival in a house filled with testosterone and sharp and/or flammable objects otherwise. I was wrong.

After carefully reading through Steven Gilbar's Chicken a la King and the Buffalo Wing, I decided it was my mission in life to discover an absurd food on my own. And that is precisely what I did. Now, Gilbar covers a large variety of foods in his book however... coffee was not one of them. Imagine the surprise of a caffeine addict to find that the world's one finest creation was not included into this book. So I began the hunt. I searched far and wide for a coffee that had some strange and alluring name. Starbucks, Stop and Shop, K Mart- you name it, I was there. But I did not stumble upon such a find until entering a local CVS.

"Fagg's Coffee." I read. I read it again and again until the word lost all meaning. Could it be? Did I find the hidden treasure my heart had so longed for? I had. Elements of trickery and deceit were no match for such a passionate twist of fate. Losing all control, I lunged toward the coffee grasping it with both hands fearing that in some cruel reality it would disappear from sight. Excitement did not begin to describe the toxic emotions flooding my veins. My hands trembled like a virgin as I cradled the sacred find down the isle.

Unfortunately or by good luck (depending on how you look at it), the clean shaven man working the register, in the nice eye liner, was a tad bit light in the loafers. I had the pleasure of hearing him hum outdated show tunes as he unrolled dimes into the register. I glanced at him, then I glanced at the fruits of my labor. Was the coffee worth the inevitable stares, comments, an awkwardness that soon awaited? Was it worth giving up? NO! It was not worth giving up! In no way shape or form was pride or dignity even an option in this confluence of events. I earned the right to have a cup if "Fagg's Coffee" and damn it I was going to have it!

So I placed the item on the counter and reached for my wallet only to hear him grunt; loudly. Being the kind and gentle human I am, I ignored his blatant disgust and handed him my debit card.

"Fagg's coffee?" He sneered. Yes, I can read it too thank you. I look up at him with a look of boredom.

"Excuse me?" I so charmingly reply.

"You are actually going to buy this? You KNOW it says 'Faggs' on it, don't you?"

"What?!" I yell. I grab it out of his hands in angst. "What is this blasphemy! I only drink straight coffee!"

"What?"

"Were you aware they now sell gay coffee? This is not Europe!"

"Ma'am, I was only kidding..."

"You mean to say you do not take pride in the sexuality of our nation's coffee? How dare you call yourself and American! I'm all for gays, I'm all for straights. Hell, I'm all for the undecided. But don't you dare make a homosexual out of my coffee!"

Thanks to the rare stream of luck that seems to follow me, the man understood and enjoyed my caustic sense of humor. Not only was I not escorted out of that CVS in hand cuffs, but he gave me the coffee for free. And let me tell you- that was some GREAT coffee.

Food experience by Kamilla.

On Wednesday I had 2 food experiences which were described in my 2nd book Skinny Bitch in the Kich. My first book Skinny Bitch contains different advises about healthy eating, but not recipes.
On the lunch I went with my friends from Marymount to Vapiano’s in Arlington. Vapiano’s is an Italian restaurant with really great food. I read a lot of positive reviews about this place so that’s why we decided to go there. I ordered pasta with vegetables exactly how it was described in the section “Italian bitch” (“Oh, Italian food, how we love thee. When everyone was forsaking you for “low carb” diets, we never turned our backs on you. And we never will Italian food. We never will.”) I was watching how Vapiano’s staff was cooking it, and it was pretty interesting, I understood the main process of making good pasta. First chef took olive oil, water and salt, boiled it than added pasta noodles (he asked me which type I would like and I picked unusual form called Tagliatelle(long flat thick noodles). At the same time he was frying vegetables and making a spicy sweet sauce. After that he mixed every ingredient. It looked so good and tasted delicious!
And on the dinner I and my friend went to Maté Lounge in Georgetown, DC. It is mostly like a sushi bar, very nice place with great interior design, music and dim lightning. In the book I read a section called “Grown-up appetizers” (“If we were having a dinner party and pretending to be classy, we’d make stuff like this”). And the last recipe was Spicy Sushi Rolls with Avocado and Cucumber. I don’t really love such plain sushi, and I ordered sushi called Rainbow and Mar del Plata. Rainbow Rolls contain tuna, whitefish, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, eel, crab, cucumber and avocado. And Mar del Plata Rolls contain Lobster, cucumber, soy nori, chives and avocado. Everything tasted like paradise! Usually when we had like girls sleepover in Russia, we always tried to make sushi, so I have an idea how to make rolls, but anyway I love restaurant sushi more.

"What's with the red oil?" (food experience)

My dearest mum in the whole entire world brought me my now officially favourite dish in the western hemisphere of Africa; Kokki with yellow plantains.

Kokki is made from a white kind of white beans that is soaked in water for half a day so the skin is peeled off easily. after that, it undergoes the wonderful process of turning from beans to puree in the grinder. Next, the wonderful red palm oil is poured into the puree along with salt, and bit of water. I loved watching the mixture go from white to deep orange. Then, it's ready to be cooked so, Mum attached then into separate plastic wrappers and aluminum foil. mum explained to me that ideally, the Kokki would have been wrapped in Banana leaves for the food to keep its full scent. Then after an hour of constant check ins and aggravated wait, it is ready!

After one bite of this (not-words-cancpossibly-do-it-honor-kind-of-dish), will be cooking this whenever I get the chance.

Mum... I love you!

Food Experience - Sofie Scarlett

While flipping through Rachel Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals, I decided the Green and White Lightning Chunky Chicken Chili was something I needed to try. I really love chicken chili, so I was really excited about it. I went to my boyfriend's house to make it, since I don't have a proper place to cook it here. We got all the ingredients beforehand and I was ready. I did substitute several. Instead of buying a raw chicken, I bought pieces that were already pre-cut and cooked. I didn't want to cut up a raw chicken! Also, I didn't add jalapenos because I honestly just don't like how spicy they are. Finally, once I started preparing my food, I realized I had forgotten to get garlic. I decided it would just have to be left out. I started to cook the chili which was a huge challenge because I was not used to my boyfriend's kitchen and I didn't know where anything was. Since the whole idea of the recipes are that they take 30 minutes to make, we were eating in no time! The chili was very good, but I can't help but think the garlic would have made a huge difference. Next time, I won't forget it at the store!

Food Experience

Last night my boyfriend and I went down to Wilson Boulevard and decided to stop in at Matsusake for some sushi during the happy hour. Thankfully during happy hour the rolls are so cheap so you order numerous different types of sushi! Normally we get the same thing every time - spicy tuna rolls, spicy salmon rolls, and occasionally the traditional California roll. But this time I decided to be a little on the daring side. We ordered sushi that we'd never tried and didn't ask our waitress what it was ... It turned out to be an interesting dinner. Let's just say my boyfriend got a kick out of all my funny faces. We made a deal that if we were going to get all these exotic mysterious sushi rolls that I'd have to be the first one to try each one. So I did! I wasn't allowed to have any wasabi, ginger, or soy sauce. I was to eat it plain to get the full taste, no distractions. I think it made me realize how comfortable my taste buds get when I am loyal to certain rolls, and shocked they become when I try a new one!

Food Experience-By Asia Phillips

Last night I was inspired by my book, Martha Stewart’s Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook, and I prepared chicken alfredo for my family and I. The book really focuses on how to clean, season and in essence prepare the finest meats. I decided to slice the chicken in sizes as close to one inch as I can. Then I seasoned using ingredients Martha Stewart used quite often, ground pepper and salt, lemon, garlic and rosemary. I made sure to wash my hands over and over again because those were my main only tools. I can infer from other recipes and pictures by Martha that she uses her hands very often also. It was much easier to season the chicken and allow the ingredients to be used evenly. I then buttered the frying pan and allowed the meat to tender and cook. I then put a pot on the stove to boil the fettucine noodles. When both were complete, I empty both the noodles (after draining) and chicken into a roasting pan. I poured the Four Cheese Alfredo Sauce (my cheat!) onto the pan and mixed around the ingredients. Then I sprinkled a small amount of mozzarella and parmesan cheese on top of the chicken and noodles and let all the ingredients bake in the over for 25 minutes. After my mom made garlic bread and broccoli. Dinner was great!

Food Experience-Hannah Hatcher

For my food experience, I ate a Greek salad in the cafeteria. This salad had fennel and oregano spiced chicken over mixed greens, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and banana peppers. My book is Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon so the salad had relevance because it was healthy and nutritious. The cafeteria worker asked if I would like everything in the salad and I said yes. I loved eating the salad because it was colorful and looked appealing. The salad was delicious; the flavors of the items in the salad blended well together and created a wonderful dish. Feta cheese and olives gave the salad a unique and interesting taste. The chicken was seasoned well and it went well with the mixed greens. The salad represented Greek food which is another point of my book. Sally Fallon mentions that each culture has a healthy food. We can learn from people with traditions because they have healthy lifestyles.

Food Experience-- by Anam Mian

The book I chose is about breads, Adrian Bailey spit out a thousand and more recipes just on how to make different types of bread. Although, what I made isn’t found anywhere within her book, it does involve the essence of bread so hopefully this counts. I took a piece of regular store bought bread and flattened it out so it had a very thin outlook, and a smooth texture. Then I hurried and placed cooked and grilled spicy pieces of a meat patty onto it. After I was done placing the pieces, I went ahead, rolled it up, and closed it with a liquid made from dough. After the opening was carefully sealed, I placed the roll along with its fellow twins into the oven for about 5-6 minutes. After taking them out from the oven I let them cool for a bit, then went ahead, and sliced the bread from the middle, to finally be served. Bone Appetit !

Food Experience--by Rabia Javed

For my food experience, I made a dessert dish, Gajar-Ka-Halva, from the book I chose for my final project. While making the dessert dish, I had my mom help me with some parts of the process. Making this dish was a really long process; it took several hours to make the entire dish. My mom and I were exhausted from standing in the kitchen for several hours. Our arms were quite sore because this dessert requires to constantly be stirring the mixture in the pot until it is completed. First, we started off with gathering all of the ingredients and materials so we could easily get everything. Next, we began grating the carrots which took a while. From there, we just followed the steps in the book. Finally, after several hours, the dessert dish was completed. I couldn’t wait to try it since I did majority of the work. Usually when my mom and I cook food, she does most of the work, but this time, I took control. After an hour or so, my family and I tasted the Gajar-Ka-Halva. It turned out really delicious and it was not too sweet; it was perfect. My hard work and the help from my mom paid off because the end dish turned out great.

Florence Pizza - my food experience with pizza

After I interviewed my food person at Vapiano, I walked to the Ballston mall and went down the escalator to get some food. I had left Marymount before I could eat dinner in order to get to my interview on time. Because of this I was quite hungry and wanted something to eat. I decided to get some pizza at Florence, a fast food pizza stall in the food court in Ballston mall. I went up to the stall and was just sort of hanging around because I didn't know what I wanted. The guy at the stall suggested to me that I get their 2 pieces of pizza and 1 soft drink for $5.99. I ended up getting that. I asked him if they had pepperoni pizza, my favorite kind. He said that they would have some in a few minutes "A FEW MINUTES!" I said to him in mock anger. I sat around for a little while until he let me know that my pizza was ready. I got orange crush soda with my pizza. I sat at one of the tables in front of the stall and ate my pizza after I got some napkins and silverware, which it turned out I didn't actually need. I finished eating the pizza and took off with the orange soda still in hand.

Some Simple Chocolate Pudding Pie

By Elyssa Giordano

For some roommate bonding, my roommate and I decided to make a cake for someone we know who is getting shoulder surgery next week. After a trip to CVS, we decided the easiest

and safest cake to make would be a Chocolate Pudding Pie. We picked up three ingredients, milk, chocolate pudding, and a graham c

racker crust. After we returned to our dorm, we collected a pot, measuring bow, and a mixing bowl. We ran into the issue of not having any sturdy mixing spoons on hand, so we borrowed one from the girl down the hall. Making Chocolate Pudding Pies often around Thanksgiving, I had seen my mom prepare them before, so I had some clue what I was doing. However, this was my first time baking one without her. We began by measuring out the amount of milk we needed and dumped it into the mixing bowl. We then added in the Jello brand Chocolate Pudding. We mixed the two together and poured the filling into the graham cracker crust. After this, we placed the pie into the refrigerator. After an hour, we checked the cake and it seemed to be finished. We unfortunately did not get to eat any since we made it for our friend. However I am almost positive we will be taking a trip back to CVS very soon. We were discussing how simple it was to make, and took about fifteen minutes or less to make not including the time to sit in the fridge. I would love to make some more pie for ourselves and maybe other friends for Christmas to spread some holiday cheer. =]

Mu Cafeteria: Behind the scenes

The trip to the cafeteria was very interesting. I enjoyed learning about how they do things there and what the staff goes through to prepare meals for the students and other guests who come by every single day. It was especially interesting for me because I spent three months last summer working at Mcdonalds. I really didn't like that job and wouldn't do it or anything like it again if I could help it. It might have been very different from that, but i couldn't help comparing the jobs that they do in the back to that one. Another thing that I found very interesting was the massive amount of sushi that they go through every day. I knew that sushi was popular, but I had no idea that the people who come to the cafeteria ate that much of it. The experience of coming to the cafeteria was a really unique one and I enjoyed it a lot.

Eating Disorders by Kamilla

Counseling center, Meg Telfair
Eating Disorders on Campus:
1. Serious disturbances in eating behavior
2. Extreme emotions, attitudes
3. Treatable medical illness
4. Depression
Statistics:
1.13.4 % girls, 7.1% boys disorders eating patterns
2.5 million American have eating disorders
3.15% of young women have “substantially disordered eating habits
Eating disorders:

1.Anorexia Nervosa (extreme weight loss, self-starvation)
2.Bulimia Nervosa (eating extreme amount of food, then make yourself vomiting)
3.Binge Eating Disorder (eating excessive amount of food)
4.Eating disorder Not Otherwise Specified
Usually happens in adolescence, early adulthood.
1-3%- anorexia
1-4% bulimia
20-30% college-age women display bulimia behavior
91% of women surveyed at once college reported attempting to control weight through dieting
Anorexia:
1. Refusal of maintain body weight at minimal normal weight
2. Intense fear of gaining weight
3. Considering themselves fat, even when you have minimal body weight
4. Stop of periods
Warnings:
1.Being too thin
2.Refusal to eat certain food
3.Feeling fat
4.Avoiding meals
5.Excessive exercise
6.Withdrawal from friends

Bulimia:
1.Normal weight
2.Binge eating without regard for fullness
3.Binging followed by purging
4.Extreme concern with weight and shape
5.Disappearing food
6.Signs of vomiting
7.Excessive exercise
8.Swelling of cheeks and jaw
9.Calluses on backs of hands
Binge eating:
1.Eating large quantities of food
2.Feeling out of control
3.Eating alone
4.Shame, disgust
5.Weight ranges from normal to obese
Eating Disorder NOS
-Not anorexia, not bulimia
Physical Complication:
1. Low-blood pressure
2. Dehydration
3. Death
4. Lethargy
5. Heart problems

What causes eating disorders?
1.Combination of psychological, social, interpersonal factors
2.Psychological perfectionism, low self-esteem
3.Interpersonal troubled relationships, difficulty expressing emotions
4.Social, cultural pressure to be thin, concerns about appearance and beauty
5.Genetic susceptibility
The Drive for Thinness:
1.42% of 1st- 3rd grade girls want to be thinner
2.81% of 10 years old are afraid of being fat
3.40 billion dollars Americans spend on dieting
Treatment:
1.Professional help is needed
2.Early diagnosis and treatment increases chances for recovery
3.Nutritional counseling
4.Antidepressants after weight gain
5.Anorexia: restore weight loss first, then treat underlying psychological problems
“Do’s”
1.Do tell the person you care and encourage the person to seek treatment
2.Do educate yourself
3.Do listen the person who has eating disorders
4.Do allow the opportunity to develop her own thoughts, beliefs and identity
5.Your own relationship with food and weight
“Don’ts”
1.Don’t confront as part of a group
2.Don’t diagnose
3.Don’t try to solve the problem on your own
4.Don’t discuss their weight and appearance
5.Don’t discuss food, eating habits or diets
6.Don’t engage in a power struggle
7.Don’t promise to keep secrets
HOW TO HELP?
1. Express concern in a supportive way
2. Counseling center, health center

The Counseling center: 1st floor, berg Hall
Open hours: Monday- Friday 8 am- 5 pm
It’s confidential
Resources off campus:
1.Academy for eating disorders
2.National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related disorders
3.Eating Disorders Awareness and prevention
4.Eating Disorders Resources