Spend an Hour (Or Two) at Teany Café

July 1st, 2011

The inside is just as bright and sunny. Photo © foodworksnyc.com

I’m a big fan of cozy places that let me take my time eating a meal while I’m reading a book and sipping tea. This is exactly what I got at Teany Café in SoHo.

This vegan-friendly tea-and-sandwich paradise has enough atmosphere to make it worth frequenting without even considering the food. It’s a small place—practically a hole in the wall—but fixed up to look like a cute West Village café, complete with outdoor seating and fresh flowers on the tables. They play music inside, which isn’t everyone’s thing, but I enjoyed their selection of popularly accessible indie hits. The servers are sometimes difficult to wave over, but the food comes quickly, and what’s the rush anyway?

As for the food, I appreciated that, although they are not an exclusively vegan establishment, their menu is full of vegan options and presents them with clarity. It’s the mark of a considerate business not to only accommodate different diets, but also t0 make it easy for the customer to see her options without having to ask the server a million questions. I got the vegan BLT, and the smoky tempeh combined with Veganaise eliminated any remnants of longing for pork belly that lingered in my taste memory. They also have plenty of fresh salads and some heartier fare like macaroni and cheese, but Teany’s menu is best suited for light meals and sipping on drinks while chatting with friends.

I can’t consider a review for Teany complete without mentioning their tea selection, which they present in a separate menu book with pages and pages of different kinds of tea, 98 varieties in total. To compare, the menu they gave me for food was one double-sided sheet. To get the best value, order a pot and split it with a friend. Or just drink the whole pot yourself while reading. Pair it with one of their amazing desserts, all of them delicious, moist, and cruelty-free, and I can sit there contentedly for as long as it takes to solve an amNY sudoku. However, I wouldn’t try a New York Times crossword puzzle unless it’s the middle of the day, since I’m sure the place can get crowded on weekend evenings.

Try out Teany Café at a discount by using the Campus Clipper coupon below and take advantage of student savings. With the coupon and your student ID, you can get a whopping 20% off! Be assertive when trying to catch the attention of the waiters, and then enjoy a relaxing meal, imagining yourself at an expensive café and knowing that the bill will be a lot smaller than in your dreams.

-Avia Dell’Oste.

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Student Eats in East Village

June 30th, 2011
PorkBuns

Pork buns of Momofuku fame.

The sole ambition of a college student with free time is to find something to do without accomplishing anything. Because after all, it takes a lot of effort to juggle going to classes, doing homework, participating in clubs/athletics and other extracurriculars, writing papers, reading assignments; the list goes on. With so much being accomplished on a weekly basis by students, when free time does roll around, sometimes you just want to turn off your brain and find something to do that requires no effort. When all of your free time escapades succeed or fail, hunger may beckon.

Whether you dorm or commute, there are reasons to covet a decent meal. Resident students know that no matter how good on-campus eateries may be, there’s always going to be a craving for a home-cooked meal or a dish from your favorite restaurant back home. Commuter students can relate because setting aside time to eat can be tough when you have to spend time traveling to and from school.

For students of New York City, I’ve outlined a few recommendations for when that free time rolls around:

  • Pommes Frites – If you are ever in the mood for a simple snack, Pommes Frites is the place to go. They specialize in making delicious Belgian fries, cooked to a perfect crisp. They offer a generous variety of sauces (20+) and they are a must have with your order, especially if you’re looking for a change of pace from ketchup, mayo and mustard. Service is quick and they even offer samples of the sauces before you pick so take advantage. Located at 123 2nd Ave between E. 7th Street and St. Marks Place
  • Punjabi Deli – I have had my fair share of Indian food and can safely say that Punjabi Grocery and Deli is an excellent spot if you’re craving Indian food or looking to try it for the first time. Be forewarned: much of the food is pretty spicy. But it is one of the most inexpensive Indian food joints and they offer various vegetable Indian specialties over rice or roti, samosas and even chai tea. It’s a small establishment, but definitely worth trying once. Located at 114 E. 1st Street between 1st Ave and Ave A
  • Momofuku Noodle Bar – Momofuku is definitely a unique Asian fusion establishment. It is a popular spot for dinner so you should definitely expect a wait or arrive at opening. Their ramen noodles are delicious, though a bit pricy. You can enjoy a large dinner of two whole fried chickens (one southern fried, one Korean fried), however the chicken is by reservation only. If all else fails for you here, you may find solace in ordering the pork buns. They are so good you are going to want to place an order of pork buns to go after you’ve tried them. Located at 171 1st Ave between 10th and 11th Streets
  • Oaxaca – Oaxaca Taqueria comes to Manhattan after seeing success with its 3 Brooklyn storefronts. The restaurant is sleek and clean upon entering and they have plenty of interesting taco options from chicken, pork or fish to vegetarian selections like potatoes or beans. They also have great savings during taco happy hour featured on the coupon posted below. Definitely check them out if you’re looking for tasty, cheap tacos. Located at 16 Extra Place off of E. 1st Street

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: www.DeadOceans.com (direct link here)

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Posted in Cheap Eats, onCollege, onFood, onFun, Restaurant Reviews, Uniqueness in NYC | 2 Comments »

Storm King

June 29th, 2011

I never even realized that I liked sculpture gardens all that much– until I visited Storm King Arts Center. My parents wanted to take my grandmother somewhere interesting, since she’d come all the way from Japan and had, for the past few days, only been to the grocery store.  My dad in particular, who speaks no Japanese, wanted to do something that everyone could appreciate equally, since the language barrier is most problematic for him. So this past Sunday, my parents, my grandmother and I packed into the car and headed to Mountainville, NY.

Several sculptures by Mark di Suvero

After pulling into the parking lot, we piled out and looked around. Storm King is enormous—wide and grassy, with a pond on the south side and incredible views of the Hudson Highlands, with sculptures of every kind scattered throughout its approximately 500 acres.  We had no idea where to start, so we asked one of the Arts Center employees with a helpful and appropriate “Ask Me” button.  She told us about the tram that drives around the park from designated stations; we decided that would be the best way to experience the park, particularly for my grandmother.  The tram is a perfect way to get an overview of the park, especially for those who have never been, like us.  For visitors who’d rather walk, there are plenty of trails, and a station to rent bicycles. There are also tours available, but visitors are encouraged to explore on their own, at their own pace.

It honestly left me in awe.  I had no idea I would enjoy it that much; I’m the type of person who goes to art museums about once or twice a year and loves the experience, but doesn’t actually visit any more frequently.  But Storm King is basically a giant, widespread, colorful and gorgeous playground, and anyone who is even slightly interested in sculpture or just likes being outdoors would love this place.

Kiss, by Darrell Petit

From the tram, we passed many of the major sculptures, from Mozart’s Birthday, by Mark di Suvero, which looks slightly like an unwound elephant, to Darrell Petit’s Kiss, in which two giant pieces of granite incline quietly towards each other and touch. There were sculptures that moved, such as George Cutts’s Sea Change, which is unimpressive in photos but looks remarkably like ocean currents when in motion.  Other amazing works include Maya Lin’s Storm King Wavefield, a work of environmental art that sculpts the landscape itself to look like waves (Maya Lin also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial), and Lichtenstein’s Mermaid, the racing boat painted in 1995.

After doing the basic tour by tram, my parents and grandmother headed to the Visitor’s Center and Museum while I went back to my favorite sculptures by foot.  They are absolutely incredible in person, unbelievably enormous and unique against the landscape.  I wanted to pitch a tent and stay for a week.

Storm King Arts Center is a bit of a trek and it costs to get in ($8 for students, $12 for adults), but it is absolutely, 100% worth it.  My family came in the late afternoon, but there are plenty of places to picnic; next time I think we’ll pack some sandwiches and make a day of it.  I don’t think we’ll be bored for a minute.

Ana DiCroce

(Image credit: Ana DiCroce)

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Screen-Printing On A Budget

June 29th, 2011

Excess ink is scraped off the screen and saved for later

Like many college students, I’m currently matriculating only thanks to a generous scholarship. During the school-year, academic and extracurricular success tends to outweigh my motivation to find a job, and the lack of transportation bars me from most part-time or full-time work. Money is tight for college students these days, but that’s no excuse to neglect your American entrepreneurial spirit. Being your own boss means more responsibility, but the ability to mold your working hours around your free time is priceless. In my first few years of college, I found a decent scheme to make pocket money: screen-printing.

What is screen-printing, you ask? If you’ve ever seen a graphic t-shirt or a poster for a concert, chances are you already know what a screen-printed product looks like. The process is quite simple: take a wooden frame and stretch silk over it until it’s taut. Then, using a chemical amalgam which hardens when exposed to heat, create your desired design on the silk. When ink is forced through the screen, only the portions without amalgam allow the ink through, thus replicating your design as many times as you’d like.

Although professional-quality screening with chemical amalgams can be time-consuming and require expensive equipment, it’s quite easy to duplicate the process using contact sheets (essentially plastic, with one side coated in adhesive). Simply trace your desired design (backwards) onto the contact sheet, and cut the unneeded parts out with an x-acto knife. Apply the sheet to a silk screen and you’re ready to start making some shirts! A dorm shower affords a great space to not only wash off the silk screen between printings, but to hang shirts to dry. For best results, hit the freshly-dried designs with an iron on low heat. This helps preserve the design by bonding it with the fabric, so that it doesn’t come off in the wash. Buy shirts in bulk in a variety of popular sizes, and get an idea from other students (= potential buyers) of what sorts of designs they’re interested in.

Popular and recognizable characters make great subjects

The only problem with using contact sheets is that they degrade rather quickly. However, you’re guaranteed at least twenty or thirty printings if you treat your screens with care and wash them off with cold water, as hot water can remove some of the adhesive that holds the contact sheet to the screen. For an even cheaper option, buy the silk by itself, make your own screen, and do the stretching yourself.

All of the materials you’ll need to go into business as an on-campus screen-printer are available at Dick Blick Art Supplies, including silk screens, contact sheets, and fabric paint, and bulk t-shirts can be found easily on Ebay. Keep in mind that each screen will allow you to print one color at a time, so the more screens you buy, the more involved your designs can be. Look up a tutorial on color-separation screen-printing if you’re interested in making more complex pieces.

Bryan Menegus

Image Credit: instructables.com (w1n5t0n, slimguy379)

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Rehashing a Music Debate, or: Someone Stole My iPod

June 28th, 2011

music is my boyfriend, music is my girlfriend

In the uplifting whirlwind of my past week (I signed a lease!  I locked down another job!  My parents came to persuade me to go home to North Carolina, and they failed!), I’ve suddenly found myself in another slump, and one that I would’ve expected after I moved to New York, not before: two days ago, someone stole my phone and iPod from my makeshift bedside table while I was walking my friend out to his car.  I’m a txting junkie, so the loss of the phone was, of course, a blow, but what hit me more was the iPod theft.  I love music.  All my friends love music.  We snobbishly listen to our music on big DJ headphones and tweet Starfucker lyrics with #STRFCKR.  At least once a summer I listen to Abbey Road on vinyl with them.  Yeah, I’m one of those people.  I wear v-necks and neon and sunglasses indoors—especially at night.

I Skyped my parents (praise to the Internet for existing), and they reactivated my old phone with the T9 keypad and sticky battery pack and Fedexed it to me (it arrives this morning.  I’m anxiously awaiting the email from my campus mailing center).  So the phone situation is almost fixed.  Now for the iPod.  What to do in this age of music, when losing your mp3 player sentences you to dull, loud train rides and awkward eavesdropping on the subway?  Not to mention, that’s at least 24 gigs of essential music that I’ve painstakingly ripped and downloaded that I’ll have to sync to another iPod… when I can afford one that can store the vast amounts of 320 kbps files that I’ve organized on my external HD.

But enough obnoxious audiophile talk—or maybe not.  The last time my iPod went on the fritz, I was in high school, and I put everything on CDs and wandered around with an old school DiscMan, switching out CD for CD at every opportunity.  It was kind of a drag.  CDs take up space, the DiskMan takes up space, no matter how many mixes I made I’d always want to listen to a song on a different CD next, I couldn’t see the album art, etc.  This time, I’m far from my backup DiskMan and giant case of CDs (both bought and burned).  I have to resort to opening my laptop just to have something playing while I read, clean or pack.  And I’m beginning to notice, perhaps with my snobbily developed ear, that some of my favorite songs are showing signs of wear.  I hadn’t ripped them in lossless FLAC form, or I’d opted for the smaller 128 kbps file size, and now I could tell: there were gaps in the music, in some of the instrumental layers, that flickered or shorted out completely as the song played on.  On other songs, the sound modulated from left to right, but never in true stereo.  I know, I know.  The horror, the imperfect quality of my music!  And how could I fix this, if I didn’t have the original CDs I’d ripped them all from!?  (I could replace them quickly, but I have a personal squick about buying music from iTunes.  It has everything to do with the DRM and overall file quality and nothing to do with the pirate-revulsion at paying for music.  Let’s not get into the debate on piracy, I don’t have enough words.)

And what was worse: how am I going to listen to these soiled tracks on my daily commute—by leaving my laptop open while I read some Bret Easton Ellis?  Don’t be absurd.  That takes up way too much space.  Only grownups open their laptops on the train, and that’s because they have spreadsheets to look at and Powerpoints to polish.  I’m just a student, a youth who doesn’t know how to go anywhere without something in my ears.  If only I had my Walkman and some sweet, CD-quality music piping in through my Klipsch headphones.

I’m not delusional about what this post is roundaboutly advocating.  The fight for physical music isn’t really much of a fight at all, and hasn’t been for a long time, with record stores inexorably losing ground to other dealers like Amazon, which offers non-DRM tracks and almost CD-level quality, and to the entire torrent culture, which can get you or anyone else with an internet connection the FLAC and portable-friendly 320 kbps (or even 192 kbps) versions of nearly any album for free in five minutes.  And admittedly, portable music itself pales when you listen to the same track on a more powerful machine like a laptop, desktop, or amp.  Honestly, vinyl wins the audiophile debate on every front.

But I’d still like to make the case for the humble CD, the technological link between big, fragile, warpable vinyl records and tiny pocket-sized, low-quality mp3 players.  A CD is solid.  It’s material, it takes up some space.  If you’ve bought it new from Best Buy or used from a record store like P-rex (near where I live right now), it doesn’t matter—it’s going to sound just as good in your CD player.  All the layers will be balanced, the bass will have the perfect, intended depth, and the highs will be crisp and clear.  And there’s so much art that goes into an album package: the cover art, the liner notes, the top of the CD itself.  There’s still something to be said for artists who release albums and not just a list of singles.  There’s still something to be said for the feeling of holding a CD and knowing that you own whatever tracks are on it.  If your computer crashes or your external HD reformats itself, you’re okay.  You have the original CD version, which is nicer to listen to anyway.  Plus, no one’s going to steal a five-year-old DiskMan and a six-pound CD case.

If you’re still the type to buy CDs or at least download tracks of CD quality (burn them onto actual CDs!  Burn them now!), then luckily for you and me there are still many record stores around the city that cater to our obsessive audiophilic needs.  While I’m still in New Jersey, I have P-Rex, which deals in many, many used CDs and records as well as blank CDs with enough storage for larger high-quality downloads.  In the city, though, I’ll probably head to Village Music World.  They’re not paying me to say that, they just have a $2 student discount off any CD, and I’m student-poor.  I already have to spend money on another DiskMan.

x
Robin

I tweet while I’m at work. I have yet to master hashtags.
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Beyoncé: 4 Album Review

June 28th, 2011

Beyoncé Knowles’ fourth studio release, aptly titled 4, hits shelves this week. Beyoncé has been hard at work since her last album release. Her productivity has been cited as “overwhelming” to Columbia, her record label. Beyoncé continues to be one of the most talented and hardest-working singers in the world. It is because of this fact that fans are sure to be pleased with her latest project.

The album opens with a beautiful number in ‘1+1’, a ballad that finds Beyoncé crooning in a way other artists simply can’t (and at times maybe in ways others don’t want to). What’s impressive, however, is the soulful feel that the track possesses. Beyoncé delivers real R&B, or what today’s popular radio stations have made old R&B. ‘I Care’ takes a turn towards showcasing Beyoncé’s vocal intensity while still being a meaningful song with old-school production value as the drums boom and the synth keys vibe.

The third song, ‘I Miss You’, changes the pace without changing how enjoyable the album is. The song feels sappy because of simplistic production and generic lyrics. Anyone could have performed this song and have made it decent, but as Beyoncé often does, she makes it her own. From here, we move into one of the singles of the album ‘Best Thing I Never Had.’ Though it has pop appeal, there’s more to this song than meets the ear. It’s radio-friendly, but still manages to contain a wealth of compositional appeal with unwavering piano play and significant lyrics.

Beyonce

Beyoncé's '4' deluxe edition album cover.

At this point, 4 takes a hip-hop intermission with ‘Party’. Accompanied by Kanye West and Andre 3000, Beyoncé does nothing special, allowing doubled vocals to fill out the simple-but-effective ‘Ye produced beat. Keeping in line with the album’s old-school appeal, however, the beat samples Slick Rick’s ‘La Di Da Di’ and sounds more like a classic rap party jam than today’s club-centric rap music.

Next on the agenda is ‘Rather Die Young’, debatably Beyoncé’s finest moment on 4. It includes everything we expect from Beyoncé vocally and continues to back-track through musical generations compositionally, sounding very inspired by The Supremes, particularly during the chorus. Then there is ‘Start Over’, the first song that doesn’t possess the same classic influence as everything else on the album thus far. Beyoncé attempts to make-up for this with a high-volume performance which you can hear here.

The volume doesn’t turn down as 4 presents us with ‘Love On Top’. This is a very fun song and once again very throwback R&B melodically. The album stays fun and light with ‘Countdown’, a track laden with brass horns, prominent percussion and even steel drums. Also very interesting is the “countdown” chorus that goes, “My baby is a 10/We dressing through the 9/He pick me up in 8/Make me feel so lucky 7/He kiss me in his 6/We be making love in 5/Still the one I do this 4/I’m trying to make a 3/From that 2/He still the 1.” The horns don’t disappear as the album continues with ‘End Of Time’. The song has a repetitive chorus and doesn’t stand out vocally, but it keeps the album balanced by maintaining the fun, fast-paced attitude that characterizes the middle of 4.

Beyoncé delivers a strong finale with ‘I Was Here’. Though emotional in its own right, it lacks something that the rest of the ballads on 4 seem to own: uniqueness, classical influence and a bit of experimentation. ‘I Was Here’ is very by-the-book and though an excellent way to wrap things up, not quite a show-stopper.

Ironically enough, the show doesn’t stop with ‘I Was Here.’ For whatever reason, ‘Run The World (Girls)’, a song that would fit better with the up-tempo middle section of the album, appears as the final track on 4. If ‘Run The World’ needed to remain last, ‘I Was Here’ should have been moved to better serve the continuity of the album that way it could really go out with a bang.

Overall, fans of Beyoncé and fans of R&B will be very pleased and pleasantly surprised considering the fact that the singles used to promote the album don’t highlight the things that really make 4 an impressive body of work.

–Christopher Cusack, Hofstra University

Photo Credit: © Copyright Columbia Records – 2011

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Posted in onEntertainment, onMusic, Reviews | 1 Comment »

Hookup Messes

June 27th, 2011

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/serendipity.jpg

What is Hookup Culture? I know what a hookup is and I know what a culture is: of course, I’m a college kid. But put those two words together, and I’m lost. After a bit of research, I discovered it was our generation’s way of wasting time before they find someone to get into a serious relationship with.  It is when people meet, talk, and instantly become intimate—but only for the night. It ranges from kissing to going home with the person. I see this all the time at college, but I never thought it was anything new. People have been getting frisky before marriage since… always! Now however, with morals on the decline, men and women have began to rely on non-committal, spontaneous hookups to kill time and relieve loneliness with instant sexual gratification. But once again this is not new information. Most college students are well aware of this culture and take part in it one way or another. Ever been up and out in the morning and seen a girl walking in 6 inch heels and a party dress at 9 am? Laughing and making light of that image is what hookup culture is all about. And as a woman in college—surrounded by hookup culture and inevitably being a part of it—I don’t mean to sound like a third party uninvolved and like I have never woken up the morning after a night out hoping no one saw the escapades I took part in; believe me, I have. But just stopping to think about all the drama and turmoil hookups cause within ourselves makes me want to take a lot of mistakes back. The attention may feel nice in the moment—through sleepy eyes you drink in their words and smile—but when that night is over and you realize you never even got the chance to give them your number… so you knew they weren’t going to call… and you kind of were glad they wouldn’t… it leaves you feeling a bit empty. Not good or bad, just if no one saw the two of you leaving the bar, you could play if off (to yourself as well as to others) like it never happened. The point to stress is that it won’t make things better. Casual hookups are short lived. You may feel prettier and attractive during the night but what about if you see that person and you realize they only wanted you for a moment and weren’t thinking about you for the long run? You could end up feeling cheated out of a chance, or maybe that people think you’re cute enough to kiss but not enough to get to know. Never let it be easier to hookup with someone than it is to ask that person out on a date. Because after that sets into your train of thought, it’s a slippery slope of what boundaries you’ll allow to be pushed just to get that momentary satisfaction.

Before writing this article I was talking to a male friend of mine about the dating situation that goes on in his school and he told me, “there is no dating scene in our freshman class… everyone just drunkenly hooks up and act all embarrassed when they run into each other the next day.” So my advice for freshmen entering college, with a sea of new friends and potential hookups in front of them, it’s better to just take a step back and try to hold off on the locking of lips just yet. Get to know people, make friends and hang out first, be young and free and see if they are someone you would want to be that intimate with. Wait till someone thinks your worthy of taking out to dinner or even something more casual like coffee or karaoke with a group of friends at Karaoke Boho. Now that I’m a junior in college, not only have I seen the damage hookups can bring, but I’ve also seen how precious relationships can be when you give yourself a moment to just be alone and let love decide your actions rather than lust.  As my mother would say, “honey, you’ll never find a boyfriend if you’re kissing all his friends.”  Just be you, have a great time and make yourself a hot commodity that will only go with someone that you know is worth your kisses.

-Jackie Aqel

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Craft Time

June 26th, 2011

I wasn’t sure how my relationship with my sister would take to me leaving for college.  We didn’t have a bad relationship or anything, but five years apart can be a lot, and we were already pretty different (my sister is far chattier than I am).  I wondered if the distance might have us talking less, or if it might make us less close.

But it turned out that spending some time apart helped rather than hurt us.  Coming home for the summer, I went to my sister’s school band concert, where she had a brief trumpet solo, and listened to her talk excitedly about her science class. Instead of seeing her as merely my kid sister who was all up in my space all of the time, I started to see my sister as her own individual self.  This time around, I took her seriously, and we were able to really talk.

Not only have I started to understand her as her own person, but we’ve started to realize the little things that we have in common as well, one of which is a love for crafts.  We spent a couple hours last weekend sewing together little stuffed figures, and it was a simple and relaxing way to spend some time together.  From designing the toy (and its clothes, in my sister’s case) to passing scissors and felt and buttons, it was a comfortable and agreeable, if not wildly exciting, way to pass a Sunday afternoon.

Image credit: flickriver.com

Sewing as a pastime seems almost archaic now, but there’s something deeply satisfying about making something on your own, from start to finish.  And even if it is a simple, age-old activity, it can be fun when relatives come to visit.  My mother, grandmother and I used to sit at the kitchen table and do beadwork together whenever my grandmother came to stay.  We’d sometimes talk and joke, but making something with your hands also occupies the mind and takes off the pressure to converse, making silence quite comfortable.  It was okay to just focus on the beads we were stringing together.  There were times when we would hardly say a word, and yet we’d still feel at ease in each other’s company, and happily busy.  It was only when someone finished their project that we’d remark how well it came out, or how wonderful the colors looked together.  Although of course beadwork can be incredibly intricate, it can also be really simple and still look great, making it a delightful little project to do with others, regardless of skill level.

Art materials can run a little on the expensive side, but if you hit a good sale it’s absolutely worth it, especially since most materials keep for so long.  I have all sorts of leftover fabrics, and these can be used for small projects, or patched together for more unusual ones.  Even materials that seem unusable, like buttons that don’t match or the end of a spool of ribbon, can be put to good use in another piece.  For the figures we made this weekend, my sister used felt that we’d had for a few years, and I used the scraps that she was done with and two odd buttons.  Out of that, we were able to make something new.

Anais DiCroce

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Choosing the Right Vegan Vitamins

June 26th, 2011

Use this guide to make sure your vitamins are as cruelty-free as you are.

Since not everyone is perfect and eats balanced meals containing every single necessary nutrient required by the body for peak performance, once-daily multi-vitamins help fill in the nutritional gaps left by a diet of regular food. Unfortunately, most vitamin brands bind their pills together with animal ingredients like gelatin, and they also market certain nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids in the form of animal products like fish oil. However, there are plant-based sources for all necessary vitamins and minerals, and they are becoming more readily available in stores as they have already been on the Internet. Here is a guide to finding the right vitamins for your lifestyle.

1. Do more than read the label.

Labels are required to list ingredients but not their sources. Though gelatin is usually made from animal bones, it can also be made from plants, and some companies don’t bother specifying which kind is used on the bottle. Vegan brands usually indicate that they are vegan somewhere on the label, with or without the rabbit/V logo, but when in doubt, do some research on the Internet. Even if the company’s website doesn’t mention whether they are cruelty-free, chances are a fellow vegan has written a formal letter asking for information and posted the response on a forum.

2. Take (for starters) a multi-vitamin, and tailor the rest to your needs.

Downing a handful of vitamins every day can make anyone feel like a grandparent with a seven-day pill organizer. To start with, every person should take a once-daily multi-vitamin that includes a high percentage of the daily-recommended intake of major vitamins and minerals. Decide whether your normal diet contains a sufficient amount of iron before choosing between vitamins with or without iron added.

Other pills can be taken at your discretion. It’s advisable for women to take calcium supplements, and many people don’t get enough omega-3 fatty acids through their food. Analyze your diet and decide where you can supplement and where you can change your eating habits to avoid another pill.

3. Shop smart.

Vitamins have to be taken every day, so it’s a good idea not to spend a small fortune on them. This can be done while still avoiding dubiously labeled, cheap, bulk bottles. Vegetarianvitamins.com is a great source for affordable certified-vegan supplements by mail order. If you prefer to shop locally, you’ll have to utilize your online research on vitamin brands, but chances are you won’t even have to go to a specialty store to find what you need. Chain drug stores have extensive vitamin selections, or you can take advantage of coupons for independent drug stores like Whitney Chemists. Scroll down to find a Campus Clipper coupon for %10 off.

Even if you feel like you’re in great shape, taking a dietary supplement every day can increase your body and brain’s potential. Make the extra effort to ensure you’re performing the best you can, and take your vitamins!

-Avia Dell’Oste.

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NYC Cocktail Week 2011

June 24th, 2011

Calling all students 21 and over! The first annual NYC Cocktail Week is underway and if you haven’t taken advantage, you’re definitely missing out. It started on June 15 and ends on June 29, so there’s still some time to try out the full range of mixed drinks at all the fantastic bars that are participating.

Generally, fancier drinks made by mixologists using non-well liquors can cost you $13-16 a glass. But during NYC Cocktail Week you get two drinks and an appetizer for $20.11. And these cocktails aren’t run-of-the-mill rum and Cokes. These concoctions are crafted with love, ingenuity, and copious amounts of exotic, top-shelf ingredients.

Fire extinguisher not included.

On Monday, I kicked off NYC Cocktail week with a couple friends at the tropical bar Lani Kai, located on Broome Street. We enjoyed Pacific Swizzles that were garnished with beautiful (and edible) petunia flowers and also sampled a delicious creation called “Burial at Sea,” which—among many other things—contains Absinth. For an appetizer, my friends tried the crab wontons, which must have been phenomenal, judging by how quickly they disappeared off the plate.

Other bars participating are Tribeca’s Ward III and the notoriously popular Lower East Side bar, Death & Co. While these watering holes are diverse and spread out, the common thread that ties them together is the passion their barkeeps have for making handcrafted drinks. Their enthusiasm is palpable, so don’t be shy about asking for recommendations or clarifications. Not only are the bartenders and wait staff extremely knowledgeable about the drinks they serve, but they also tend to have interesting stories, so it’s worth striking up a conversation if you’re at a place that’s not too busy.

Liquor.com describes the event’s raison d’etre as “a spirited celebration of the city’s amazing bars and their talented mixologists.” And if that’s not reason enough to hit up a couple of these hotspots, the event is supporting City Harvest’s “Fight Against Hunger” and the efforts of The Museum of the American Cocktail to uphold mixology’s history. So raise your glasses to a great summer deal and to supporting two worthy causes.

-Alex Agahigian-

Photo Credit: en.wikipedia.com

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