Posts Tagged ‘cooking’

More Than A Meal

Tuesday, June 28th, 2022

My boyfriend and I have started a tradition of cooking over Facetime once a week together. We’re currently long distance so this is a nice way to spend time together and it helps him get more comfortable in the kitchen. We’ll spend the previous night picking out a recipe, go and get the ingredients, and then hop on Facetime to cook the meal together. However, my boyfriend is not super comfortable in the kitchen yet. This has led to several hilarious mishaps. One of the first meals we cooked together was orange chicken. My boyfriend was struggling to get his sauce to thicken so, as the recipe suggested, he kept adding more cornstarch. Suddenly, I saw him freeze and a look of mild horror started to blossom on his face. “Babe,” he whispered, “I think I’ve been using corn syrup instead of cornstarch.” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, and he soon followed suit.

Food can be such an important part of life, far beyond our dependence on it to keep living. It has become a centerpiece for social events. I can’t tell you the amount of times the words “free food” have gotten me and my friends to go to an event that we otherwise would not have considered. Food is used as an excuse to see people and catch up – “going out for lunch” or “getting coffee” are often used to suggest a reason to hang out with someone. It can help build memories and strengthen relationships, like my boyfriend adding copious amounts of sugar instead of a tablespoon of dry starch. In America, we have whole holidays that center around the food being eaten at them. Thanksgiving is pretty much just an excuse to eat way too much with your family, and I don’t think anyone is in any rush to change that. On top of its importance to our physical health, food has a huge social aspect to it. 

While food’s impact on our social and physical wellbeing are, for the most part, common knowledge, few people consider food’s impact on our mental health as well. According to Dr. Eve Selhub in her article “Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food”, what people eat and how much of it can greatly impact their brain functions and mood. This is not only because our brain uses the energy from food to run smoothly but also because good food helps the bacteria and neurons in our gut to stay healthy and help neurons send and receive neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine.  Essentially, the food you eat can affect your mood and energy levels. If someone eats too much, they might feel bloated or tired. If someone eats too little, they won’t have the energy to do what they need to do in the day. This is especially important for people with depression who struggle with energy levels and mood already. The kind of food you eat can also affect your mood with processed foods causing inflammation and blocking neurons in your stomach from sending and receiving neurotransmitters. Overall, the food you eat has a huge impact on your mental health and vice versa.

Mood boosting foods come in all shapes and sizes

I found this out the hard way. I had a pretty good relationship with food until about the end of eighth grade when I started getting incredibly stressed out. This caused me to feel like I was going to be sick every time I ate. I never threw up but I started eating less and less to try to avoid feeling sick. I remember thinking that I would rather be hungry because it meant I didn’t feel sick and I started to enjoy feeling hungry. While this went away halfway through that following summer, the mindset of rather being hungry than sick is still something that I’m trying to get over. In the summer before junior year, I started exercising to try to help my declining mental health. I started doing at home workouts and really getting into fitness. This did help my mental health a little bit but it opened a whole new avenue for hurting my mental health: I started to track my calories. It was pretty harmless at first. I was just curious about how much I was eating and how I needed to change it to fit my fitness goals. However, it quickly became an obsession, with me consistently eating less and less just to see the number on the calorie tracker (and, subsequently, the scale) go down. If I felt like I ate too much that day, I would work extra hard to burn off those calories. I rarely could, and I felt like a failure every time this happened. This is similar to an eating disorder called Orthorexia nervosa. According to NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association) in their article on the disorder, Orthorexia is an obsession with healthy or “clean” eating to the point of damaging someone’s health and wellbeing. This is a very real and serious eating disorder and, while I don’t consider myself as someone who suffered from this disorder, I know I was very close. Luckily, I had friends who knew what was going on and were able to help pull me out of that mindset before it got too dangerous. I was able to forget calorie tracking and, while I still sometimes have the urge to obsessively work out and track my food, I have been able to let it go and start to rebuild my relationship with food.

My Easter meal of steak, potatoes, salad and dinner rolls!

The biggest thing that has helped me overcome this struggle is learning how to cook my own meals. About two years ago, I moved into my first apartment and finally had access to my very own kitchen. It took a little bit to learn what I was doing but I quickly found a joy and passion for cooking. I also found that having more control over my food and knowing exactly what went in it helped me tremendously. I’ve been able to reframe my mindset around food from being solely used to further my physical health to being a fun social activity that helps my whole body function properly. While I’m still growing out of unhealthy mindsets, I have been able to find excitement in searching for new recipes, learning to cook them, and doing it for and with the people I love…even when they add too much corn syrup to an orange chicken recipe! 

Takeaway: Food can and should be much more than calories in and out.

All good meals require grocery shopping. Get started with this coupon!

By: Callie Hedtke

Callie is going to be a senior at DePaul University in Chicago where she is studying Graphic Design. If she’s not at her computer designing (or playing video games), you can find her in the kitchen trying out new recipes. She also likes to be outside exploring and enjoys hiking with her friends and family.


For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Milk, Milk, and More Milk: Chapter 5 — Connecting Food with Culture

Monday, August 9th, 2021

On hot, sticky days in Chicago’s humid summers, where my family would crowd under the kitchen fan, one dessert would manage to cool us all down: tres leches. 

Tres leches is the king of all cakes all desserts in the Mexican culture. The rich, ultra decadent, and insanely moist cake wets the front of your shirt and makes your lips stick together, leaving your mouth to taste sweet for the rest of the evening. No matter how many glasses of milk you may drink afterward the sugary taste still lingers. It was the dessert least consumed in my family, but the one most desired by all. 

As you can see, I have always loved cake.

If you have never had the pleasure of digging into a thick slice of tres leches, try and picture this: a vanilla cake drowned in three types of milk, hence the name “tres leches,” and topped with whipped cream. It may sound a little too rich, but I promise you it is worth all the hype I am giving it. 

About a month ago, while sitting on the couch with my roommates, I suddenly decided I was going to make a tres leches. I don’t know what compelled me to do this, or what even prompted the idea, but the simple thought of slicing into the sinful, whipped cream-topped morsel made my mouth water. With this seed of inspiration, I took to an unsuspecting source for recipes: TikTok. 

Finding good Mexican food, let alone baked goods, in Manhattan is difficult. If you want the authentic taste that brings you back to eating meals with your family around your grandmother’s kitchen table, you have to go to Queens, and unfortunately, I simply don’t have the time to do that right now. So, I have resorted to recreating the dishes I crave from my past in my tiny apartment’s kitchen. Surprisingly, TikTok has been my main source of recipes when it comes to making Mexican dishes that my family never taught me. Not only is it a great way to visually learn, but many of the users are conscious of a careful-spending budget. When my sudden and very urgent craving for tres leches began, TikTok was the first place I searched for a recipe. 

I love to bake it runs in my blood. My maternal grandmother never leaves the house without a tray of freshly baked potato chip cookies: the most strange, but insanely delicious, shortbread cookies with crushed potatoes chips in them to offset the sweetness. Her love for baking was passed down to me as a child. For a few years as a teenager, my brothers could expect to finish dinner off with carrot cake cupcakes or some variation of cookies. I knew I would be able to make a good tres leches, but I wanted it to be more than its traditional form; I wanted it to remind me of the cake my dad would bring home in a neat white box, covered in whipped cream with a certain twist that no one could put their finger on. I wanted it to remind me of laughing with my cousins when we would get whipped cream on our noses, threatening to touch each other with sticky fingers left from the cake. I knew that those specific memories would be hard to grasp, but not impossible. 

After a quick search on TikTok, I came across a surprisingly easy and affordable recipe from the user @cici.soriano. With a quick trip to the grocery store, I felt prepared to make this cake. Although it didn’t exactly remind me of the scrumptious memories of my childhood, it provided me with something more important: the pleasure of knowing that I can bring aspects of my culture with me wherever I am. Watching the smile on my roommates’ faces as they tasted the fondest recollections of my past, their lips sticky from the condensed milk, reminded me of the joy I felt as a child when having my favorite cake for dessert. 

My first attempt at making tres leches. I made sure to make caramel from leftover cans of condensed milk and drizzled that on top.

Sometimes, finding delight in your cultural food means making it yourself, no matter how difficult it may be. My tres leches is not exactly traditional or completely “homemade,” but it allows me to briefly remember the joys of my childhood, and has provided my friends with a new favorite dessert. The next time you recreate your favorite cultural meals, desserts, or simple snacks, consider sharing them with your friends it may become their favorite, too. 

Tres Leches Cake

Ingredients

– 1 can of evaporated milk

– 1 can of sweetened condensed milk

– 1 can of whole milk (use leftover can of condensed/evaporated milk to measure)

– 1 box of vanilla cake mix 

– 1.5 cups of heavy cream

– 2 tbsp of powdered sugar

– 2 tbsp of vanilla extract 

– 2 tbsp of cinnamon

Steps 

  1. Preheat the oven according to cake mix instructions.
  2. Assemble cake.
  3. Blend evaporated, condensed, and whole milk along with cinnamon and vanilla extract in a blender until combined and smooth. 
  4. Whip heavy cream and powdered sugar together until soft peaks form. 
  5. When done baking according to box instructions, let the cake cool for 20 minutes.
  6. Trim the brown top off of the cake, along with the sides. Poke small holes all around the cake. The more holes you have, the better the milk mixture will seep in. 
  7. Pour milk mixture over the cake. 
  8. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

If you don’t have the time or resources to bake your own cake, head to Amorino for 20% off your gelato order!


By: Allegra Ruiz

Allegra Ruiz is a junior at New York University and she is from Chicago. She studies English and is minoring in Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, reading books and essay collections, and cooking for her roommates. Currently, she lives quietly in New York. 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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An Ode to Chicken: Chapter 4 — Finding Delight in Cheap Eats

Monday, August 2nd, 2021

My favorite food has been, and most likely will always be, chicken. 

I love chicken there is no denying that. My attempts at being vegetarian in the past have all failed at the sight of chicken tenders. It’s America’s favorite protein and the key to my heart. It’s chicken

Growing up in a family of five, there were many nights my parents didn’t have time to prepare a meal. Juggling full-time jobs and three kids, there were many evenings that we called upon our favorite cheap and easy restaurant: The Flying Chicken. The unsuspecting little restaurant, with orange walls and just a few tables, was known for selling out quickly, with only a few chickens left at the end of the day but only if you were lucky. 

Another favorite of mine in Chicago: Brasa Roja. When The Flying Chicken closed its doors for good, this is where we satisfied all our cravings. 

Pollo a la brasa, or grilled chicken, is something Colombia has mastered as a country. With perfect golden skin, every piece is just as juicy as the next. Although it might seem simple, Colombian grilled chicken is an art in itself. The chicken must marinate in a mixture of spices like oregano, thyme, cumin, and cilantro before being grilled to perfection. It’s a tedious process with results that are worth it. 

When my father would bring home white plastic bags filled with huge styrofoam boxes, I knew what was coming: pieces of roasted chicken sitting atop white rice, chunks of potatoes, and arepas made from corn flour stuffed with cheese. My brothers and I fought for whatever remained, always unsatisfied with the amount given. 

Although chicken might seem to be the focus here, the real point of what I’m talking about is how food does not need to be fancy to be considered “good.” Pollo a la brasa, albeit underrated and difficult to perfect, is not fancy food. It’s simple food that is meant to be eaten with your hands and an abundance of napkins, with oil stains collecting on the front of your shirt. Despite this, it remains one of my favorite meals because of the amount of flavor packed into a $12 styrofoam tray. 

The traditional way of cooking pollo a la brasa. Although seems like rotisserie chicken, it is considered grilled. 

I’m not saying expensive food isn’t good; I work in a restaurant with high prices and amazing meals. But, expensive food is not always attainable for college students. This has led to me exploring the hidden restaurants tucked into corners on empty streets or exploring local grocery stores for good eats. 

On the nights where I am desperately missing pollo a la brasa, I take myself to the grocery store and pick up the next best thing a rotisserie chicken. The possibilities of rotisserie chickens are endless: chicken salad, tacos, burritos, buffalo chicken dip, sandwiches, and more. All for $10. 

The flavor might not be the same, but no one said you can’t doctor up a rotisserie chicken to your own liking! Personally, I love to shred mine. Then, when I’m ready to eat I’ll season it according to what I’m craving. This is a great way to not only get the most out of what you’re paying for but also being able to experiment with a wide range of different recipes. Like I said before, the beauty of chicken is chicken. It’s easy, versatile, and cost-friendly. Don’t be afraid to prepare it in new ways! Your options are endless from fried, baked, seared, and stuffed chicken. Whatever you’re heart desires. Just be sure to share, and remember: all food is good food. It doesn’t have to be fancy, expensive, or covered in spices you can’t pronounce to be considered tasty. Take delight in the cheap eats, and share the deliciousness with others! 

If you’re curious about pollo a la brasa, I recommend trying Tio Pio! They have a great roasted chicken that is similar in flavor to the real deal. Check out the coupon below for a delicious burrito from them! 


By: Allegra Ruiz

Allegra Ruiz is a junior at New York University and she is from Chicago. She studies English and is minoring in Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, reading books and essay collections, and cooking for her roommates. Currently, she lives quietly in New York. 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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A Word on ‘Potatoes’: Chapter 3 — Cooking With What You Have

Monday, July 26th, 2021

As a struggling freshman, I often found my stomach growling in anger as the night approached. Once the sun had set far past the horizon, my feet carried me to the kitchen cupboards in my dorm, searching for old cookie crumbs. But, past the half-empty cookie boxes and stale pieces of bread remained one dorm staple: potatoes. 

My dorm in London, where all the cooking would take place after long hours in school. 

No good meal is complete without potatoes. Whether mashed with butter, roasted with garlic, pan-fried, or made into thin chips, potatoes are one of the most versatile foods and they are cheap. 

In my freshman year of college, my roommates and I often pooled money at the beginning of the week to finance shared grocery trips. Using the few bills we could scrounge up after busy weekends partying around London, we would head to the grocery store. This was the time to buy the essentials: toilet paper, bread, butter, various kinds of milk, and of course, potatoes. By purchasing these items altogether, not only did we show care by proving we would provide for one another, but we also created an unspoken rule: “I won’t let you go hungry.” These were the items we shared the things we used together as a small community. It put trust in each of us that if anyone ever needed something but didn’t have the means to get it, we would step in and help. This is one of the many ways we created a family within the dorm and built a solid foundation for a community. 

The cooking was often left to me. Having held a knife in my hand for the first time at the age of eight, one could say I know my way around a kitchen. After hours of studying, working in the university’s Student office, and speaking to my family from across the ocean, I often started my cooking process well into the evening. In a dorm with seven other girls, food goes as fast as it comes. One minute you would have seven pieces of chicken fresh off the stove, simmered in onions and tomato sauce with a hint of oregano and garlic, and the next minute you would have only the bones. The groceries did not last us long especially for me. I was known for sharing my meals, occasionally charging students from other dorm rooms for a plate of rice, guacamole, tacos, and salsa. At the end of the week, all I had left to eat were the neglected potatoes sitting in the corner of the kitchen, begging to live a little longer. Wrinkled and slightly soft, the sad spuds were eventually used to satisfy the growing growls of our stomachs. Despite them looking questionable before cooking, I never failed to create a tasty meal for my roommates, and I always knew they would walk away from a potato dinner with a smile on their face and a satisfied stomach. 

A favorite “potato meal” of mine: butter chicken and potatoes simmered together on top of white rice.

Potatoes are great because they’re versatile. They go with anything and everything. Although we originally ate them out of pure hunger and necessity, they have become a staple item in my apartment. When my roommates see me bring home a small bag of potatoes, it only takes them a few minutes to softly ask “So….potatoes for dinner?”

A recent meal I made for my roommates of roasted potatoes, breaded chicken cutlets, and an arugula salad.

If you ever find yourself in need of a quick and cost-effective recipe for potatoes, feel free to use mine! 

Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients

– Small potatoes (as many as you would like)

– 4 cloves of garlic 

– 2 teaspoons of oregano

– 2 teaspoons of chili flakes

– 2 teaspoons of onion powder

– 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Steps 

  1. Preheat oven to 400° F
  2. Cut potatoes into halves and place into a bowl
  3. Mince garlic
  4. Coat potatoes with olive oil, spices, and garlic
  5. Once well coated, place the potatoes onto a baking tray
  6. Place into the preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tender. Enjoy!

If you’re out of potatoes or don’t feel like turning on the oven in this heat, use the coupon below for sushi at Okinii!


By: Allegra Ruiz

Allegra Ruiz is a junior at New York University and she is from Chicago. She studies English and is minoring in Creative Writing. In her free time, she enjoys journaling, reading books and essay collections, and cooking for her roommates. Currently, she lives quietly in New York. 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC, from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Soraya’s Enchiladas

Thursday, November 19th, 2020

It is a Saturday night, and all of my roommates have left. I have placed my computer on top of the water purifier, so through our Zoom call, Soraya can have a full view of my kitchen. This evening, Soraya is guiding me through her version of enchiladas. In my opinion, nothing beats making enchiladas with one of my closest friends–even if we are 2186 miles apart.

Enchiladas is a dish that has been appropriated and reformed by many cultures. The translation of enchilada is to season with chili. The earliest rendition was Aztec, and it was called “chillapizzali” or chili flute. According to records from Spanish conquistadors, chillapizzali were tortillas dipped in spicy chili sauce and filled with beans, meat, squash, or eggs. When the Spaniards conquered Mexico, they appropriated chillipizzali and added new ingredients–mainly cheese, chicken, and spicy sauces. These alterations have made the enchilada what it is today.

These alterations aren’t just national, they also occur at the household level. I ask Soraya about the recipe we are using, and she tells me that these enchiladas were her mother’s creation. Soraya’s father is from Ecuador and doesn’t like spicy food. To make the enchiladas milder, Soraya’s mother adds a can of cream of mushroom soup.  

“You wouldn’t see this recipe in a normal Mexican household at all. They would be kind of pissed actually that we did this to the traditional enchilada.”

Soraya is from El Paso and was my roommate at NYU Florence. When she walked into my freshman dorm she was carrying a Louis Vuitton duffle and was dressed in high-heeled boots and a form-fitting dress. The first time we bonded was at a small Florentine sandwich shop, where I began to get to know her as an observant, intelligent, and passionate person. There are so many memories I want to add for context–partying in Florence and accidentally leaving her at a club (yikes),  getting drinks at Piazza Della Repubblica, watching her (and Hailey) tape crosses around our dorm room, visiting Notre Dame the day before it burned, learning the salsa and bachata, watching movies projected on our ceiling, and becoming regulars at Cafe Panna in New York City. Soraya is a very important person to me. We have shared amazing experiences, and our friendship has shaped the course of my life. 

While discussing the consequences of getting pierced on Accutane, we begin to make the sauce. I shred boiled chicken and put it in a blender with cream cheese, cream of mushroom soup, milk, queso fresco, and salsa verde. The aim is for a creamy-liquid consistency.

Soraya’s enchilada sauce

My enchilada sauce

When the sauce is done, we pour some into the bottom of the casserole pan. Meanwhile, we heat the tortillas up in the microwave and fill them with sauce. 

“Make it into a mini flauta.” 

“A flute?” 

She nods and laughs. The description of the enchilada as a “flauta” makes me think of the Aztec, and how the origin of enchiladas was the chilipizzali (chili flutes). This makes me realize how food is a culmination of culture and identities. Soraya remarks on this herself in the following: 

“Food is something more than alimentary, it’s our identity. Each recipe, spice, and ingredient that we choose reflects our ethnicity, religion, and social class. Food is something that all humans share, yet it is also something we use to define ourselves.”

When I cooked with other students for this series, they all talked about how cooking keeps them in touch with their identities. Alison told me her lu rou fan is a taste of home, Dorothea loves to bake because of her personality, and Paris uses flavor to satisfy her taste. While these narratives differ slightly, they all use cooking as a way of reflecting who they are. 

Soraya’s understanding of food is similar. She tells me about how her cuisine and heritage intertwine. 

“I feel so Mexican when I crave a tortilla. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’m like, do you know what would be so good for breakfast? A tortilla! Or I feel really Middle Eastern when all I want is fatayer… I feel super Latin American whenever I see plantains, cause that’s all my grandma would give me, and I’m like ahh delicious!”

Food doesn’t only connect us to our heritage. When I ask Soraya how she feels about cooking, she tells me that for a long time she found it boring. As a child, she enjoyed making cakes, but most of her time was devoted to practicing ballroom dancing and school. It isn’t until recently that she has paid more attention to what she eats, and has taken up some cooking as a result. 

“I am proud to say what I am made of, and we are made of what we eat. I prefer to make it.”

Soraya makes me think that identity is composed of the unchangeable and changeable, and this is clearly reflected by cooking. Heritage is something that determines our cravings, and it isn’t something that we can change about ourselves. However, we still have the power to choose what we make and how we make it.

Filling the enchiladas

For the final touches, we pour the rest of the sauce on top of the flautas and cover them with shredded cheese and queso fresco. Then we spread crema on top and put the pan in the oven. 

When we leave Zoom, I have her send me a picture of her final product.

Soraya’s enchiladas
My enchiladas

While our enchiladas are cooking, I take some time to consider the things I have learned:

1. Heritage. The foods we crave are frequently a reflection of who we are and where we are from.

2. Agency. Cooking for ourselves gives us the power to determine what we are made up of.

3. Technology.  Soraya and I talked for two hours over Zoom, and our final products came out well. Modern technology has the power to keep people connected. 

In the end, I take a bite of the cheesy enchiladas and am delighted, but also a bit concerned: my tortillas have been absorbed by the sauce (later I am told this is normal). Regardless, I am happy that despite the actual distance the virus has created between people, technology has allowed us to remain connected.

Source:

Lee, Alexander. “Enchiladas, a Culinary Monument to Colonialism.” History Today, www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/enchiladas-culinary-monument-colonialism.

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By: Erin Zubarik

Hello! My name is Erin Zubarik and I am a junior at New York University majoring in Global Liberal Studies and minoring in Chinese and Italian. Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to study abroad in Florence and Beijing, where I enhanced my language skills and became acquainted with lovely people. This fall I am primarily holed up in my apartment taking online classes, and playing with my hamster Pork Chop. I am very excited to share my cooking and relationships series this fall on Campus Clipper! 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Paris’s Crab Cakes and Tartar Sauce

Wednesday, November 11th, 2020

It is a fall evening and the sun has set. Outside our window, New York City’s skyline is lit up with a wide range of colors: yellows, reds, blues. Rhianna’s slow sultry voice hums through my speaker, and Paris and I begin to make crab cakes and tartar sauce. 

Crab was once thought to be a shellfish that was too difficult to eat. However, blue crab was plentiful in the Chesapeake Bay, and people from Maryland began to utilize the resource by mixing crab meat with spices, bread crumbs, and crackers. Crosby Caige came up with the name “crab cakes” in 1930. The recipe made its way into the New York World Fair Cook Book in 1939 and was called the “Baltimore Crab Cakes,”(History).

To accompany our cakes, we decided to make tartar sauce. While I scavenge in the fridge, Paris reads off ingredients. 

“We need mayo, mustard, pickle juice…” She reads off a recipe from Natasha’s Kitchen. 

Paris is from Ocean City and is a sophomore at NYU Tisch. The first time we spoke we talked about spirituality, taxidermy, and her podcast That’s What She Said. Frequently caught up in her thoughts, Paris is very passionate and open-minded. She also has a great sense of music (her Spotify has a playlist for every mood). A fun side note is her full name is Paris Monet Hitchens, which suggests she is destined for France at one time or another. 

Despite the seemingly perfect evening, there is an exhaustion that has consumed our apartment. It is the day after election day, and everyone has been checking results every hour. We are all eager for a distraction from politics–cooking provides this respite. 

Paris tells me about how her parents are both seafood lovers, and of how crab ball horderves are a must for Christmas Eve dinner. However, the dish is mostly reminiscent of her mother. “It reminds me of coming home from school. Sometimes I would have practices, mostly school plays, and I would come home late. I would walk in and smell food cooking, and my mom would yell out “I’m making crab cakes! What else do you want with it?” They just really remind me of my mom.” 

When I inquire about a family recipe, Paris tells me that her mother once had a fantastic recipe that was passed down by a family friend. Unfortunately, her mother lost the slip of paper and has been trying to recreate it ever since. Currently, she always uses the recipe “Maryland Crab Cakes” for a basic structure. However, there is one personal touch that Paris and her mom always add: Adobo.

Adobo is immensely popular in our apartment. Many seasonings sit by our stovetop, and on most days I hear someone say, “let me just add some adoooobo!” 

If anyone else is in the common space, you can count on a back and forth: 

“Adooobo!”

“Adooobo.”

“Adooobo!”  

While I chop the pickles and rosemary, Paris mixes the mayo, mustard, and spices. She works with confidence and is not afraid to add a lot of flavor. This style of cooking mirrors her mother’s methods. Paris tells me that when her mom cooks she always works using the basic structure of a recipe, and then adds more spices. 

“She knows she can always make it better with more flavor.” 

When I sample the sauce, I taste the fresh rosemary and tang of Worcester sauce. There is a slight sweetness from the brown sugar, and while the flavors are certainly heightened, they are also balanced. It is the best tartar sauce I’ve ever had. 

Paris’s delicious tartar sauce!

Straying from the recipe and cooking for your palette is new to me. I watched both Alison and Dorothea do the same when we cooked together. While I understand the value of cooking for your taste, I find that I love following recipes. In the last few weeks, I experimented with cooking based on my gut. I found that it didn’t bring me as much satisfaction as following a recipe. Lining up ingredients and following recipe instructions make me feel like I have accomplished something.

Sometimes I also don’t know what flavor I want to bring out. Food can be over salted. However, can there ever be too much parsley, rosemary, or oregano? What makes food taste good? From the balance in flavors in the tartar sauce, I’m thinking that strong flavors that are balanced make for the best food. If strong balanced flavors are the best, I contemplate why recipe engineers always call for 1-2 teaspoons of spice. My guess is 1) this is a convenient estimate and 2) less seasoning will appeal to more people.

After putting the tartar sauce away, I chop crab and scallions while Paris mixes dry ingredients (Paris isn’t a fan of chopping). I watch her mix everything and shape it into a ball. 

Our crab cake mix.
Raw crab cake patties.

While we sit at the table shaping the mixture into patties, I ask Paris why she cooks. 

 “I like cooking because it distracts me–especially now. Also, with different recipes, you can add your own mix to it. You follow it, but there’s nothing like putting your own twist to it and making it to your own taste. I make food for me.”

With the election, covid, and other anxiety-provoking crises, it has been made clear that distractions are needed. Last week Dorothea was talking about how she loves to bake because it’s fun, which reminded me of the importance of enjoying small pleasures. Paris’s call for cooking distractions reminds me once more of the importance of getting carried away by hobbies. 

Paris also tells me about how cooking brings people together. She says that with all of us spending so much time in the apartment, cooking together is a small act that reflects what our lives at home are like, which somehow leads to confessions and revelations of our deepest darkest secrets. 

From our conversations, I walk away with the following thoughts:

1. Balance Flavor. I am going to start adding more herbs and spices to my food–I will also pay attention to how spices complement each other. 

2. Distraction.  Cooking was a great distraction from the election.

3. Connection. Paris talked about how cooking together bonds people. This is an idea I am very passionate about–I am most connected with my family members, and the most sacred time we spend together is over a meal. 

For the final step, I leave Paris to fry the patties while I go to the store to buy a bottle of wine. As soon as I walk outside our building, I feel the election anxiety return. I walk by boarded-up stores and pass outdoor restaurants with televisions playing live election results. 

Frying the crab cakes.

When I return to the apartment, everyone sits down and eats together. Paris’s remarks on cooking and relationships stick with me, and we all spend the rest of the evening relaxing. 

Final product.

Source:
“History of the Maryland Crab Cake.” Boxhill Crabcakes, 27 Apr. 2015, www.boxhillpizzeria.com/boxhill-crab-cakes/history-of-the-maryland-crab-cake/.

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By: Erin Zubarik

Hello! My name is Erin Zubarik and I am a junior at New York University majoring in Global Liberal Studies and minoring in Chinese and Italian. Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to study abroad in Florence and Beijing, where I enhanced my language skills and became acquainted with lovely people. This fall I am primarily holed up in my apartment taking online classes, and playing with my hamster Pork Chop. I am very excited to share my cooking and relationships series this fall on Campus Clipper! 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Dorothea’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020

 It’s a regular Wednesday evening in 2101. In room B, two of my roommates are preoccupied with the video game Among Us, and are screaming accusations into their phones, “Why would you think it was me!? Weren’t you just saying Marcos was looking suss?” 

Meanwhile, Dorothea and I sit at our Ikea table observing the ingredients I bought earlier in the day. We are excited to experiment with the cake flour and Ghirardelli chocolate chips when making our rendition of America’s most iconic sweet: the chocolate chip cookie. 

This dessert was invented in 1938 by Ruth Wakefield at the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. Wakefield originally called them Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies. During World War 2 soldiers from Massachusetts shared the treat, which gave it national and international renown. This resulted in Nestle purchasing the recipe and printing it on the back of every bag of chocolate chips. 

Dorothea is from New Jersey and is studying acting at NYU Tisch. We first met on move-in day, when she bounded into the apartment enthusiastically shouting, “HELLO QUEENS!!”  She then proceeded to embrace everyone. 

As my fellow early bird in the apartment, we spend most mornings chatting while studying and drinking coffee. She is always willing to listen and support people and will do so with great enthusiasm. Dorothea is what Anne Shirley would describe as a kindred spirit.  

“What recipe are we using today?” 

Dorothea pulls out a cute recipe book she bought from Moleskin. The soft leather cover is decorated with baked goods and cooking appliances. Inside the book, she has ingredients and measurements written down for “Yummy Chocolate Chip Cookies.” The informality of the book reminds me of my mother’s collection of family recipes. 

I think the benefit of personalizing your recipes is it solidifies your identity. Last week when I made lu rou fan with Alison, and I talked about how cooking gives you the power to recreate home. Only you know what home tastes like, and you have the greatest capability of satisfying your taste buds. Documenting personal recipes allows you to develop this identity as a cook and consumer.  

Dorothea’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe


Dorothea’s recipe book

Dorothea starts the process by melting 2½ sticks of butter in the microwave, while I mix ¾ cup brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar in a big bowl. As we carry on with our tasks, I ask why she started baking. She tells me of her childhood fascination with her sister’s easy-bake oven, and of how when the toy broke her mother told her to start using the real oven. This led to a middle-school obsession with making cupcakes until she became fascinated with the chocolate chip cookie.  

“Chocolate chip cookies were a big craze in the Tasti and food blogger world, and I was really attracted to that. The opportunity to play around and experiment was exciting to me.”

Besides being a fun experiment, Dorothea tells me that chocolate chip cookies are very nostalgic. They remind her of coming home from school and discovering that her mom had made cookies. This was a surprise that was always well received. 

Dorothea mixes in the vanilla, salt, baking powder, and flour. She tells me how she rarely measures ingredients when baking.

“I never follow a recipe totally. I don’t know why…I think it’s my ego! Even if it is the smallest thing, like adding more salt. I usually go off the skeletal structure and then I take the derivative.”

This response reminds me of Alison’s cooking methods, and her advice to trust your gut. However, while Alison’s deviations from the recipes are carefully measured and thought out, Dorothea’s acts with more impulsiveness. The mixture comes out more liquid-like than Toll House’s classic recipe. Dorothea tells me that less flour and more butter makes the cookie softer and chewier, which we both agree make for the most delicious chocolate chip cookie. 

Cookie dough mixture

We let the dough sit in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, which Dorothea tells me gives it a chance to thicken. While waiting we sit in our living room, and I ask her why she likes to bake.  

“Cooking, baking, and theater are when I am happiest. I always think of acting like this–  playing with different acting choices is like playing with different ingredients.”

Cookies on baking sheet

After putting the cookies in the oven, I take time to reflect on the things I have learned: 

  1. Collect. Saving recipes allows you to form an identity as a cook and consumer. 
  2. Experiment. Experimentation gives you a chance to personalize your cooking.  
  3. Fun! This is less of a tip and more of an appreciation point for Dorothea’s passion for baking. 

The apartment is filled with comforting smells of sugar and vanilla. When the cookies come out, they are doughy in the middle and crispy around the edges. We do a taste test, and I decided that the Ghirardelli chocolate chips were worth the extra cash. The chocolate is rich and sweet, with a slight bitterness. 

When the kitchen is cleaned and the cookies are put away, I think about how Dorothea’s passion for baking is similar to my own. Although baking cookies isn’t a seemingly important endeavor, I think the opportunity to play is positive and fulfilling. It reminds me that while I am trying to find my way in the world, it is good to remember small pleasures.

End result

Source:

World Trade Press. “United States: Chocolate Chip Cookies.” AtoZ World Food, 2 November 2020.


You can find all of our active coupons at this link. Redeem them here:


By: Erin Zubarik

Hello! My name is Erin Zubarik and I am a junior at New York University majoring in Global Liberal Studies and minoring in Chinese and Italian. Over the last few years I have been lucky enough to study abroad in Florence and Beijing, where I enhanced my language skills and became acquainted with lovely people. This fall I am primarily holed up in my apartment taking online classes, and playing with my hamster Pork Chop. I am very excited to share my cooking and relationships series this fall on Campus Clipper! 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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Alison’s Lu Rou Fan

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020

The smell of sizzling pork and shallots wafts through the hallway, and I eagerly follow the smell by stepping into Room 914. My friend Alison is making Lu Rou Fan 滷肉饭–a beloved Taiwanese pork stew. I am eager to learn how to make the dish, which I have researched a bit beforehand. 

The origins of Lu Rou Fan are disputed, however, most people claim the Han and Hakka people from China’s Fujian province brought this style of pork stew to Taiwan. In the 1850s, there was an influx of Fujianese settlers in Taiwan. These immigrants were mostly poor farmers who were creative about using the least appetizing animal parts. They discovered mincing pork and boiling it in soy sauce did the trick, and this was likely the beginnings of Lu Rou Fan. 

There is a sensory overload in the kitchen. Alison’s roommate chats on the phone while carving a Jack-O-Lantern. A guest speaker for one of her engineering classes lectures about computer security. On top of this, a small speaker hums lofi music. This is an amount of multitasking I can’t wrap my head around, and I ask how she does it. 

“Oh, ya know. I figure the class doesn’t take up much of my attention, and cooking doesn’t take much. So if I only did one thing it would just be a waste of time.” 

Fair enough. I hope my interview will not be a task too many! 

Alison is from the bay area in San Francisco, and I met her during my freshman year at NYU Florence. The first time we talked she told me she wanted to be an electronic music festival light designer. She is very hard-working, creative, and intelligent–I can hardly imagine her doing anything less innovative. However, as an overly modest person, she would likely refute my claims. 

 Turning the conversation to the cooking process, I ask what recipe she is using. Alison’s Lu Rou Fan is a combination of five or six recipes. She tells me it’s best to look up as many recipes as possible when making something new. By comparing different methods, you can distinguish the most important elements, and refrain from unneeded or unusual steps. This is particularly helpful for undergraduate cooks, because you may not need to buy all of the ingredients a certain recipe calls for (a great way to save money).  

While Alison didn’t choose one recipe, she has written out guidelines on a sticky note pasted to her kitchen cabinet. 

This is the recipe Alison used. It is a combination of five or six different recipes for Lu Rou Fan.

The pork, garlic, and mushrooms are cooking in a tall silver pot above the stovetop, and I watch as she takes the regular and dark soy sauce out from the cabinet. Alison encourages me to smell both. While the regular soy sauce has a familiar tangy smell, I recognize a sweet fragrance of the dark soy sauce (reminding me subtly of molasses). 

Despite the precise measurements written on her post-it, these were estimates. Alison takes the lid off the pot and adds an amount of soy sauce that seems to look about right. She then turns to the prep work and throws in the spices and water.  

This is the prep work Alison did for her Lu Rou Fan.

After a few minutes of watching the pork bubble, we taste a piece to see how it is coming along. The pork is extremely flavorful, but Alison decides to add more dark soy sauce.

I comment on how confident she is with her cooking. In the past I have always mimicked my father’s style–he prints out recipes, lines up ingredients, and follows each step exactly. He used to tell me “you can’t make changes to a recipe until after you have made it five or six times.” While I find the organization very helpful when cooking, Alison has me questioning the mantra. She tells me cooking is about the feel. It is about your taste buds.   

“According to that person from Epicurious, don’t be scared to taste test something in case it’s bad. You can always fix it while it’s cooking but it’s hard to fix it after you’ve cooked it.” 

While waiting for the pork to become more tender, I ask her why she likes to cook. Alison tells me she cooks because sometimes she’s craving something that’s not in New York. For being such a diverse city, it seems almost unimaginable that any cuisine is unavailable. 

“Lu Rou Fan reminds me of Taiwan. You can go to a night market and get this on rice for like a dollar fifty.” 

“When you are in Taiwan, do you get a homey feeling? Or is it just a relaxing vacation?” I am curious about her drive to be closer to her parent’s home country. 

“I definitely feel like it’s a homey feeling, but also it does feel like a vacation…So it’s like the perfect medium.” 

This homey comfort is exactly what is inaccessible in New York City as a college student. Only you know what home tastes like–and cooking gives you the power to recreate it. 

As we sit scrolling through culinary Facebook pages, I pause to consider the things Alison has taught me over the last few hours: 

  1. Compare Recipes. This will allow you to understand the fundamentals of a dish better and will prevent you from buying ingredients you don’t need.
  2. Taste test. It is easier to fix things before food has cooked versus when it’s done. 
  3. Trust your gut! You are usually cooking for yourself, and the only person who knows what your taste buds are tasting is yourself. Feel free to deviate from your intended instructions. 

Using a fork, we fish two pieces of meat out of the pot. The pork has become extremely tender, and the entire apartment smells like soy sauce, cooked pork, and fragrant spices (even my clothes have absorbed the smell). Alison gives me a small container to take home, and I leave thinking about how much you can learn from your peers. 

The final product.

Sources: 
Jeffrey Lin “The Origin Story of Taiwanese Lu Rou Fan aka Minced Pork Rice” (滷肉飯). Foodamentals, 21 Feb. 2018.

You can find all of our active coupons at this link. Redeem them here:


By: Erin Zubarik

Hello! My name is Erin Zubarik and I am a Junior at New York University majoring in Global Liberal Studies and minoring in Chinese and Italian. Over the last few years, I have been lucky enough to study abroad in Florence and Beijing, where I enhanced my language skills and became acquainted with lovely people. This fall I am primarily holed up in my apartment taking online classes, and playing with my hamster pork chop. I am very excited to share my cooking and relationships series this fall on Campus Clipper! 

For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourages them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing, and services.  

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

 

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What cooking is for me, and what it can be for you too

Tuesday, July 18th, 2017

As you have probably understood so far, I value my relationship with food more than the next person, but what I value even more is the time I spend preparing my food. While living at home I was lucky enough, in many ways, to have food ready for me waiting on the table as I got back from school. Though at the time it was the best way I could have imagined things, I had no idea how passionate I would become about preparing my own food daily.

cook2

It’s common to see cooking as a chore, and in many ways, it can be. I’m sure that after a day of very hard work when one gets home in time for dinner, the last thing one wants to do is actually have to spend a significant amount of time cooking. However, in my everyday life, I’ve found that instead of dreading the times of day when I have to cook, I actually look forward to them. Not only am I happy during the process of cooking but I’m also proud of what I’ve ended up creating. For me, cooking has become, an escape, a time to relax, and a way to feel a small sense of accomplishment throughout the day. You could even say that it has become a small way for me to meditate…

 

I definitely benefit from my small cooking ritual, and I think if you follow the following steps you might too:

 

  • The Environment

 

First things first, the most important factor is always the environment. Obviously, if we all had amazing, huge, well-lit, chef-worthy kitchens, we would probably all enjoy cooking more. Nonetheless, there are a few things you can do to make your dorm’s or small student apartment’s kitchen more enjoyable. For starters, lighting is key, so if you can, invest in making your kitchen well lit. Next, I’d suggest getting a few good basic appliances, pots and pans to make your cooking struggles easier. Lastly, the miscellaneous but -oh so- important things will make a world of difference: some plants (extra points if they are basil, coriander or mint), some cute kitchen towels as well as oven mitts, and some fun fridge magnets or maybe some pictures on the wall. After you’ve set up your kitchen, it is your job to keep it that way, by cleaning and making it an environment you want to stay in.

cook3

  • Your Ingredients

 

Secondly, as any good chef will tell you: good ingredients make the best dishes. I’d suggest finding a store you like, getting familiar with it, and making it a habit of going to shop there for your groceries. In time, shopping for groceries will stop being a hassle and will instead become a peaceful time, in a known environment, without all the frustration it can sometimes have. Furthermore, ensuring you have high quality ingredients every time will show in your final product, which will, in the long term, benefit you greatly, both in your health and wellbeing. One of my favorite places to shop at is Lifesum Market, on 6th avenue and 8th street. I love it, as it is close to campus and my apartment, but most importantly because it carries only organic produce and packaged items. Another crucial factor which makes Lifesum one of my favorite stores is the discount I get from the Campus Clipper.

cook 4

  • Your Motivation

 

Another key factor in improving your relationship with your kitchen is having real reasons why you want to do so. That is, you have to get educated and understand the benefits of cooking your own food. By knowing what goes inside your food you are in charge of your health and thus in charge of one, if not, the biggest parts of your life. Furthermore, in the long term, by incorporating meal prepping and some money saving hacks, you’ll see how cooking can be very cost effective, helping you adhere to your student budget. Or, if you’re like me, you’ll even find a peaceful escape in cooking, which helps you reboot during the day. Whatever the reason, finding your motivation is key in succeeding.

 

  • The Inspiration

 

After you’ve managed all three previous steps, it is time to get inspired. This means that it’s time to find what exactly you want to make and what gets you most excited to create in your own safe space, in your own way. Finding inspiration is key, as it will take cooking from being a chore to becoming a fun way to pass the time, to be creative and to feel a sense of accomplishment. My grandfather used to say that anyone who likes to eat will eventually know how to cook. So, find what you like to eat and make it for yourself. I suggest getting a few cookbooks that look appealing to you, but have recipes anyone can execute. Or, if you like, you could spend hours, as I do, on websites, blogs and YouTube looking at all the wonderful things people manage to made with just a handful of ingredients. The only thing I am certain of, is that somewhere out there, there is something that you’d love to make again, or make your way, so find it and get cooking.

cook

  • Relaxation

 

Above all, as always, what is more important is that you stay relaxed. If you actually get into cooking and find some enjoyment in it, don’t worry if all you have time to make that day is a grilled cheese sandwich. Any type of food is fuel, but the best fuel is the food you make yourself. Don’t be too hard on yourself when you don’t make something great or if it’s the 10th time you’ve made spaghetti and you still make them mushy. Try to appreciate the fact that you’re trying to do something that is good for you. Every moment that you spend in your kitchen, trying to make something healthy for your body is a moment that you spend showing love for yourself and your body.

 

 

By Marina Theophanopoulou

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marina Theophanopoulou is a Campus Clipper publishing intern who is studying Philosophy and Sociology as a junior at NYU. Passionate about healthy, food and wellness, Marina aspires to make others think of food in a more holistic way. For over 20 years, the Campus Clipper has been offering awesome student discounts in NYC,  from the East Side to Greenwich Village. Along with inspiration, the company offers students a special coupon booklet and the Official Student Guide, which encourage them to discover new places in the city and save money on food, clothing and services. 

At the Campus Clipper, not only do we help our interns learn new skills, make money, and create wonderful e-books, we give them a platform to teach others. Check our website for more student savings and watch our YouTube video showing off some of New York City’s finest students during the Welcome Week of 2015.

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