Feed Your Sorrows with some Sweets

February 21st, 2012

It had to happen. The really belated Valentine’s Day post. This is mostly because I had an odd Valentine’s Day this year. It started extremely sour and then came an extreme desire to make cupcakes. For a long time, I never celebrated Valentine’s Day. Mostly because after grade school, you no longer get free chocolate or candies. Well, as I said before, it had a terrible start. So instead of being sour, I turned all my frustration into a cupcake making storm. Okay, maybe not a storm, but nevertheless it provided just another excuse for productivity and creativity, two wonderful friends that come and go as they please though never quite when I would like them to.

I used the magic of Google and clicked on whatever site came first for Red Velvet Cupcakes and Cream Cheese Frosting.

Five eggs, four hours, three burned fingers, and five fingers sticky with delicious cream cheese frosting goodness later, I finally finished what became 102 cupcakes.

I am not a baker. I do not usually have successful baking projects even though I adore sweets. Most of the time, something goes completely wrong because I forget an ingredient, the order of ingredients or the correct measurements. Despite my history of screw ups, I persevere. And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think these cupcakes turned out half bad.

 

Just a warning. The recipe was made for regular sized cupcakes but I was using a small cupcake pan because I just prefer tiny cupcakes. Therefore, the timing in the oven had to be cut in half. My first batch was done in 20 minutes. I tried them and realized they were too dry because they were a smaller size. The second batch was 15 minutes. Softer, but not enough. I settled on 11 minutes for my third and fourth batch. They came out wonderfully.

This is my firsthand proof that sweets don’t have to be bought from bakeries where buying a single cupcake might cost just about as much as a tall latte from Starbucks. And when you make them yourself, it makes it all the more precious. Enjoy and experience the baking rather than just buying something quickly and carelessly.

However, if you need to satisfy that cupcake craving on the go and on a budget, there is an amazing tiny bakery in the Village called Apple Cafe Bakery. From cupcakes to muffins to more, your sweet tooth will be treated well. Click below for more savings for this amazing little place.

For more details and pictures of my little cupcake adventure check out my blog!

Good luck to all you cupcake lovers out there. 🙂

 

Sophia, Rochester Institute of Technology

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Breakfast Life

February 20th, 2012

Sunday morning: oatmeal or cereal. Monday thru Friday morning: pop tarts, Saturday morning: pizza from the night before. This bare line up of  “food” happens to be apart of the typical college kid breakfast menu. For some, the days when mom and dad use to make breakfast seems far from one’s memory. While for others, it feels like it was just yesterday they were being called out of the bedroom in a hurry or being told with urgency to finish getting dressed so that more than five minutes could be spent at the table to eat and indulge in family banter. In fact, many people may find themselves struggling to remember the last time they sat down and had a meal before noon. Our eating habits are only one of the many things that changed upon starting college. With this transition came the disappearance of a real breakfast meal. It is proven that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, yet who is it important to?

Ihop Pancakes

Over the years, snacks-to-go such as yogurt, pop tarts, fruit etc. have come to take the place of a good old fashion meal. Not the kind of meal that will make you feel full for all of 10 minutes, but the kind of meal that leaves you feeling satisfied, sleepy and rejuvenated all at the same time. Research has proven that there is significant importance to eating breakfast. According to a recent survey done by Food Insight, 93 percent of Americans agree that breakfast is the most important meal yet less than 44 percent are eating it everyday. Other studies such as the Georgia Centenarian Study in conjunction with the 21-year study of Older Americans, show that people who eat breakfast on a regular basis have lower rates of Type 2 diabetes, are less likely to develop heart failure, and are subjected to a longer than average life span.  Fast food places that offer a breakfast menu have also done a good job at easing in the picture. With the exception of Ihop who serves breakfast all day and all night. In the quick service restaurant industry, fast food breakfast purchases rose from 18.8 percent to 21 percent over a five year period, along with the sales of breakfast sandwiches rising to 19 percent.

With all that is to be gained from eating breakfast, who wouldn’t want to? What’s really standing in the way? A line we have adapted to using, which has also integrated itself into other areas of our lives; “I don’t have time”. Lunch is becoming the new breakfast because we “don’t have time” to wake up earlier, squeeze it in, or make it apart of our daily routine. Perhaps some of the things we don’t have time for now, are things that would extend our time later on in life. Breakfast is one of the many things being shuffled around to accommodate the busyness of being students and adults.  Making time for breakfast means making time for the important things; energy to live and adding years on to our life.

Thinking about getting reacquainted with breakfast? Get $5 off at Ihop with this free Campus Clipper coupon!

 

Samantha Williams, State University of New York College at Old Westbury, 2012

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Oscar Parties

February 13th, 2012

The Academy Awards are less than two weeks away and for all you film or celebrity buffs out there, Oscar night is a great night for a party.
There’s nothing better than celebrities gathering dressed in outrageously expensive clothes to congratulate each other. Have a little fun at their expense. Host a viewing party with your friends and have a drinking game while watching the show.

Drink when/if:
– The music plays someone off the stage.
– Someone chokes up in their acceptance speech.
– There is a shot of Meryl Streep looking regal or George Clooney looking smarmy.
– Someone pretends to be surprised that they won.
– Brad Pitt is shown with his pimp cane.
– Meryl Streep loses.
– The presenter banter is awkward.
– You think someone was robbed.

You can get all the drinks and snacks you need for a party at Associated Supermarkets.

Audrey, the New School
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Making Copies

February 10th, 2012

“Mak-ing cop-ies. College kid at the copy machine making cop-ies, but doesn’t have the mon-ey.”

If you’re familiar with SNL from the 90’s then you know I’m quoting Rob Scneider’s “Copy Guy.”

There’s no telling how many copies I’ve had to make for classes throughout my college career, and I don’t even want to guess how much it’s cost me. Printing off single sheets is pretty cheap, but the bill starts to add up when you have to make 30 copies of your 10-page short story for the entire class.

You have to be smart and a little stingy when it comes to making copies, or else you’ll have to start dipping into your daily bagel fund. You need to find a place with NYC student discounts! Not everyone has a copy machine in their apartment so, like me, you wait til the last second to make copies of an assignment and you’re forced to email a PDF to the place down the street and be at the mercy of their prices.

 

Spare yourself. Stop dipping into your bagel/coffee reserve, and go to Campus Clipper for their copy coupons.

What about rĂ©sumĂ©s? You have to have copies of your rĂ©sumĂ© on hand for when you go to an interview or meet with a potential network contact. Your rĂ©sumĂ© is a representation of you on paper, so you want it to look good and feel good quality in order to impress anyone who looks at it. This week I had to print off a few copies of my rĂ©sumĂ© for a job interview and I truly wish I had some NYC student discounts to take the edge off the price. It’s worth the investment to get good copies made, but I’ve learned my lesson– use a coupon!

Making numerous copies on résumé grade paper adds up much quicker than regular printing paper, so cutting coupons before you make your copies will go a long way.

Paul, Auburn University 2012

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For music junkies on a tight budget

February 4th, 2012

For a music junkie, the NYC music scene is an extremely potent form of opium. From record shops to restaurants that feature live music, concerts at MSG to hidden gem musicians performing in the subways for spare change, being in the city that never stops the music is the ultimate destination.

It may seem that in order to get the full music experience in the city would cost a fortune but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. For those living on the cumbersome college budget like myself, half the fun is the adventure that comes with finding cheap musical entertainment. The other half of the fun is the part where you discover your new favorite artist at a show in Brooklyn that you only paid 20 bucks to see, not including the 5 bucks for the subway trip there.

But even the subway systems provide cheap entertainment and good stuff too. Struggling musicians constantly perform on subway platforms as people wait for their trains. I once gave a couple dollars to one musician and he played “Hey Jude” for me, totally giving The Beatles a run for their money.

Those who prefer hard cover CDs and vinyls (yes, people still sell those) in this digital age, don’t have to search very far to run into a record shop in NYC. For true music lovers, having a hardcopy version of an album is like having a piece of their favorite artists. MP3 downloads and an MP3 player makes any subway ride and doing homework a lot less tedious.

But to have a small piece of your favorite artist in the form of a CD or a vinyl record (if you’re lucky enough), which often times include some clever artwork and lyrics, makes the music more personal to you as the individual listener in a world where digital makes everything, literally everything, less personal.

Depending on what you’re looking for, artists ranging from The Beatles to the Spice Girls and maybe even some Scandinavian folk pop can be found in vinyl and CD format any good, hole-in-the-wall NYC record shop. The Scandinavian folk pop might require a bit of research and phone calls but you get my point.

Tons of treasures can be found in these mini musical sanctuaries where rummaging through the stacks and shelves can result in finding some pretty cool keepsakes.
If you’re looking for CD’s, vinyls and more music memorabilia, stop by Village Music World on Bleecker Street and print the coupon below to save $2 when you purchase a CD!

 

Janet Reyes, College of Saint Elizabeth, 2012

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Lovely Weather but Feeling Under?

February 1st, 2012

 

The weather has been absolutely lovely these past few days, reaching almost spring temperatures. Unfortunately I have noticed with the spikes in temperatures also came a rousing wave of complaints from people falling sick. Is there really a correlation between drastic changes in temperature and the number of sick people?

It isn’t the temperature of the weather that makes people sick when it all of a sudden feels like spring at the end of January. New weather, new winds essentially, bring in new pollens and pollutions. New things in the environment trigger allergic reactions. So the warmer weather does not mean that you will necessarily be safer from getting sick. Warmer, cramped environments, such as when everyone is hanging out together in a room during the cold days provide a friendly environment for bacteria. You are more likely to get sick from your best buddy than cold weather outside.

In a different scenario, drastic changes in weather do directly impact asthma sufferers. The air pressure, temperature and humidity affect the sensitve nerve endings the lungs, which can result in coughing and breathing problem.

There has been a bug going around my neighborhood and it is safe to say that the weather had no impact other than forcing people to stay inside one cold day and interact with others who were sick. If you are not an asmtha sufferer, than the only reason why you would get sick is allergies and traveling bugs. So to avoid these traps, when its cold, don’t stay in a small cramped area, especially if someone nearby is coughing their lungs out. Watch out for bugs and pollen and keep track of your health regardless. Vitamin C is a beauty and I take it along with Citron tea (which can be found in asian markets) to help soothe the throat and get more vitamin C boost.

If you are unfortunate enough to get sick, aside from more vitamin intake what I do is eat cleaner foods. You can still eat out and enjoy company, but oily or rich foods no matter how tasty they look might disagree with your stomach. Personally, I get a craving for soup and sushi when I am feeling under the weather. A strange mix I know, but having clean food does a world of difference.

For vegetarians, non-vegetarians, sushi lovers, and for those who are 21+ sake lovers, try Cho Cho San for amazing hand rolls and $10 all you can drink sake.

Use this Campus Clipper coupon for savings on this amazing restaurant:

 

 CLICK HERE FOR COUPON

 

 

Sophia, Rochester Institute of Technology

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Super Shuttle is Super!

December 15th, 2011

We’re all in a rush for the semester to be over. With the holidays around the corner, there’s nothing more exciting than the upcoming holiday spirits, with all the gifts and quality family time. Will Dad get you that Hermes scarf you’ve been nagging him about for the past year? What new delicious dishes will Grandma cook this year? Nonetheless, there are always things that are not so joyful about the holidays. How did you end up spending so much money on gifts when you were given the promise of sales by retailers? And how could we forget that annoying relative who fathoms at the fact that you couldn’t get into Harvard? Or Mom crying as to why  you’re still not in a relationship. But no matter the family dispute or the cheesy Holiday flicks, there is nothing more annoying than the chaotic airports. The frenzied traffic and airport security make you feel like you’re in Mission Impossible.

I remember the time that I was in such a rush to get to the airport in time that I forgot my passport at home, out of all the things one would forget (Murphy’s Law). I had no time to call a shuttle service and in desperation resorted to taking an unknown bus to JFK.  I made it to the airport in time, but my luggage didn’t. Turns out that the bus had accidentally replaced my bag in the bus going to LaGuardia. I missed my flight and had to beg JetBlue to place me on their next day’s flight. Following this experience, I now always anticipate ahead of time and call in Super Shuttle, the only reliable and affordable method of going to the airport. SuperShuttle will accommodate to your needs, and they even pick you up at home, and always ahead of time.

Campus Clipper is offering a 10% discount on SuperShuttle rides.  Campus Clipper knows students always travel and being so busy with the pressure of exams and grades, we can be forgetful. For this reason, call in SuperShuttle this holiday season.

 

 

Stephanie Kali, Marymount Manhattan College

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Jewels 32: A Gem!

December 14th, 2011

Finding a place to get a piercing in New York is a daunting task. The sheer volume of piercing salons in the city is staggering, and finding a clean, reputable place to get your body art done can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Horror stories of lost earlobes and infected eyebrows can steer anyone clear of getting pierced altogether.


A jewel in its own right, Jewels 32 is the quintessential piercing parlor. Its cleanliness and pleasant staff immediately calm any nerves a potential pierce-ee might experience. Tucked into the exciting St. Marks Place, it would be easy to miss the little shop. The staff at Jewels 32 promise to provide “the highest quality of customer service possible” and offer a wide range of piercing possibilities. It’s quite comforting to know that the person who will be puncturing your body with a needle is a licensed professional, and Jewels 32 lives up to that promise. The jewelery is high-end and the piercings made in a clean, safe environment by people who have been trained to do what they do. And it’s not just piercings that Jewels has to offer– the wide selection of jewelery offered at the St. Marks hotspot isn’t limited to piercings. Jewels 32 carries a wide range of high-quality jewelery including bracelets, anklets, lockets, necklaces, and rings from reputable designers including Millefiore and Swarovski.


I didn’t get a piercing during my visit to Jewels 32 (ears are enough for me!), but if any of my friends wanted one I wouldn’t hesitate to send them to Jewels. It’s not easy to find someone you can trust with altering your body; it deserves a technician who takes the job seriously. Having experienced my fair share of indecent customer service in piercing salons and tattoo parlors, it was a breath of fresh air at Jewels 32.

 

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STAY FIT THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

November 29th, 2011

My favorite part of the holiday season is most definitely the food. As a poor person living in New York City without access to an adequate kitchen, spice rack, or more than one pan, most of my meals consist of Ramen noodles and peanut butter. (Don’t worry; not necessarily together!) So I’m always pleased when Thanksgiving and Christmas roll around. Not only am I able to meet with family and friends, I am able to sit down to a great meal without much taken out of my paycheck. This Thanksgiving, my mother and I stuffed ourselves with stuffing and more. We had all the traditional *stuff* (sorry, I’ll stop with the stuffing repetition): turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, veggie casserole, and pumpkin pie for desert.

I hadn’t eaten all day to leave my stomach empty for this meal, and needless to say my stomach was more than full afterwards. Of course, right on the heels of this enormous meal comes the Christmas meal, and all that holiday gorging in between. (I remember in our house, my mom used to bake a new batch of cookies every week until Xmas.)

It’s a common fact that people gain more weight over the holidays. Conveniently, the next holiday is New Year’s Eve, when they resolve to shed pounds for the coming year.  But is there a way to avoid the holiday weight gain in the first place, while also enjoying your favorite traditional foods? Of course! The answer is simple (you just have to motivate yourself): exercise.  New York City offers a myriad of ways to get your daily dose of Vitamin Ex. You can take a jog in Central Park. You can go rowing on the Hudson River. You can take a yoga class!

Head down to Bikram Yoga Manhattan at any of their locations in Chelsea, Soho, or Greenwich Village. Unlike many other forms of exercise, yoga benefits both the body and the mind.

 

If yoga doesn’t interest you (or if you consider yourself too masculine to don those tight yoga pants), then consider joining a fitness club. Fitness clubs offer a social setting where you can also shed pounds. Considering becoming part of Synergy Fitness Club, who’s motto is: “One Life. Live Well.” They offer classes in boxing, martial arts, aerobics, and so much more.

 

As you can see, there are so many ways to get fit this holiday season (while also scoring a great deal with these coupons!) Now you can sit down to that big meal guilt-free. Go on, take another piece of mom’s home-made apple pie. You won’t get another slice until next season!

 

Written by Megan Soyars, Campus Clipper blogger

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Breaking Dawn: I Really Don’t Know Where to Begin

November 26th, 2011

I saw the new Twilight movie yesterday with my mother and two teenage brothers (a mistake), and I can confidently say that it was the worst movie I’ve ever paid money to sit through.

And I don’t think it’s the filmmakers’ fault. The storyline is just… so offensively and violently weird that it’s almost to difficult to stomach. Almost. While my eighteen and fifteen year-old brothers groaned and writhed in pain throughout the entire film, nobody got up and left (though there were threats). When the two hours finally ended, we walked into the sunlight, blinking gratefully, completely unable to find the words to describe what we’d just seen.

Breaking Dawn: Part One opens with the ever-bland Bella rejecting a pair of truly gorgeous shoes because she’s above learning to walk in heels for her wedding. As something of a shoe-freak and heel-lover, this made me audibly scoff over and over. I was essentially infuriated from minute 1. They were such pretty shoes, white with silver detailing, and REALLY BELLA? Can’t stoop to such a materialistic level and class it up at YOUR WEDDING? Ugh. Anyway.

It’s time for The Wedding. Bella’s dressed in a Star Trek Next Generation-type shiny skintight number with a very pretty hairdo. Edward looks like a wax figure that’s been airbrushed. Every guest got the memo to wear neutral golds and lavenders, and there are flowers everywhere. It’s very pretty to behold, and it’s over-the-top-ness prompts some great banter from the adorable and witty Anna Kendrick et al, Bella’s high school friends who are in the same boat with me on the ridiculousness of the scene. And THANK THE LORD that some characters seem wise to the craziness of the storyline: Bella is marrying at eighteen years old in a ceremony more elaborate than Kim and Kris and Kate and Wills’ combined. There are a few tender moments between Bella and her dad that really get the waterworks going (my mom was like a hosepipe throughout the entire scene), a vomit-inducing five-minute long make-out scene at the altar, and some fairly cute toasts at the reception. Everything seems to be going perfectly until Preteen Werewolf Jacob shows up, eliciting heavy amounts of cheers and sighs from the group of middle school girls in the row in front of us.

Jacob decided to make an appearance at the wedding even though he’s all depressed because he’s in love with Bella too (again, WHY?) and proceeds to get WEREWOLF ANGRY when she informs him that she and Edward are planning to consummate their marriage on their honeymoon. He hulks out and turns into a wolf and runs away, and Edward had to pick up the pieces. It is at this point that I realized Bella was wearing white sneakers under her wedding gown, and I became about as angry as Jacob.

Bella and Edward go off on their honeymoon via private jet to a pretty large island that the vampires just seem to own. Edward and Bella finally Do It and apparently it’s great for her but his super-vampire-strength causes him to break the bed and bruise her up a bit. I’m actually not sure because I was pretty focused on covering my baby brother’s eyes, but folks, it ain’t much to write home about.

Edward doesn’t want to Do It with Bella anymore because of the bruises, so for the next few minutes the audience is treated to a montage of Bella attempting to seduce Edward whilst engaging in honeymoon-type activities like cliff diving and chess. Her wardrobe is splendid, and Edward looks more handsome than creepy despite the glittering skin. And then, in the plot twist of the century, we discover that Bella is With Child. Enter the awkward political debate. I don’t even want to get into all of that because there are so many seriously-skewed messages being sent by this plot line, but Bella makes her own choice to keep her Vampire Fetus, and Edward is enraged.

Cut to two weeks, and Bella is so gross-looking I almost barfed. They’ve really outdone themselves in making her look awful, and her pregnant belly is covered in bruises because apparently the Vampire Fetus is as strong as Edward. There’s a lot of discussion between werewolf and vampire alike about terminating the Vampire Fetus, but Bella will not hear of it and there’s a lot of anger and wolf-fighting and hilarious stuff that made me laugh. Whatever.

Bella finds out she’ll probably die because the Fetus is taking all of her nutrients, and somehow it’s decided that she should drink some O- out of a sippy-cup. IT’S SO GROSS. She’s all skinny and the blood is in her teeth and I DON’T KNOW WHY I PAID TO SEE THIS. So Bella’s chugging blood at this point and she and Edward are starting to get excited at the prospect of their Vampire Baby.

Bella stands up and I guess the baby kicks her in the spine because some really disgusting body contortions happen and I covered my face for most of it, but Edward essentially eats the baby out of her, and she names it Renesmee (for time’s sake I won’t discuss the name). Edward shoots Bella up with vampire venom to save her life/turn her into a vampire, and Jacob decides to kill the CGI baby as the wolves gather to help take it out. But in another Shocking Plot Twist, Jacob looks at the CGI baby and falls madly in love with it, which the werewolves define as “imprinting,” resulting in a really weird montage of the CGI baby growing up and spinning in a forest. Jacob kneels in front of the CGI baby, and the wolves have to call off their attack because they can’t harm the subject of an “imprinting.”

This movie is not worth paying to see in a theater. I can’t believe I did. It’s so offensive and you can tell that the filmmakers TRIED THEIR DARNDEST and I really pity them because they were making a movie out of a book that contained all of this material. It isn’t at all reminiscent of how real relationships work and everybody looks so weird all of the time! Why aren’t the people of Forks wise to this? I’ll probably end up seeing it on DVD at some point, but as my baby brother said, “The only good thing that came from seeing that movie is I’m 100 percent sure I’m not going to see Part 2.”

Olivia, Fordham University 2012

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