So, Friday is the big day for our first class with Amber Chand (www.amberchand.com).  We’re so excited!

We’ve put together the schedule for our first year of classes (click on the schedule link on the right) and are in the process of lining up both speakers and sponsors.  Know of any local businesses in RI that might like to sponsor our program?  Please contact us at 401.714.2388.

Sponsors for our Amber Chand session are Compendium (www.live-inspired.com) and Sodexho.  YEAH!  Thanks so much Compendium for donating the beautiful  ”her life” journals for our students to write their stories in during the year, and to Sodexho for donating the yummy snacks and drinks for the day!

Folk är, med rätta, upprörda över den usla kvalitén på sjukhusmaten, den innehåller en massa tillsatser och smakar kasst, man blir visst mest sjukare av den. Efter att ha jobbat några år på storkök så kan jag ju inte säga att jag är förvånad. Det är så det är, eller rättare sagt, det är så det blir när man sätter pengar före människor. Sodexho eller sjukhusledningen eller politikerna vet alla vad som händer, man kan inte lägga ner de lokala köken, spara massor med pengar och flytta allt till större och större enheter utan att maten blir sämre.

Besparingar kostar, och det är vi som får betala, vi som ligger på sjukhusen, som jobbar i köken, vars barn är på förskolorna. Kom inte och säg att ni inget visste sen.

Eller för att citera en av Svenska Dagbladets artiklar:
Tommy Cederholm menar att det enda starka argumentet för att centralisera produktionen av sjukhusmaten är ekonomin.

– Allt annat talar för att laga maten så nära patienten som möjligt. Med produktion på distans är det svårare att få en bra mat.

Precis som att DN och SVD har någon jävla anledning att gråta krokodiltårar, detta är konsekvenserna av en politik de själva har förespråkat i åratal. Själva sitter väl de rika svinen på privatsjukhus och käkar anklever medan deras ungar är på privata dagis med en anställd kock på 15 ungar.

När jag jobbade på sjukhus var vi 4 tjänster som lagade mat till 22 avdelningar, sen fick vi 7 avdelningar till, allt det här har också gjorts möjligt genom lagar som t ex tillåter längre varmhållningstider (om jag inte minns fel kör man nu mat från Örebro till Lund…).
Läs mer om detta under Gula rosor från chefsjäveln.

Intressant?

Det är inte heller svårt att dra paralleller till skador i kollektivtrafiken i Skåne, busschaffisarnas pressade scheman gör att de startar körningen innan alla hunnit sätta sig och dom kör som tokar, vilket såklart resulterar i att folk skadar sig då och då, allt för att spara pengar. Besparingar kostar, men vem får betala?

Media: SvD Svd Svd Svd Svd

Från Konfliktportalen.se: Anders_S skriver Könsrelaterade aborter kan inte förbjudas, Jinge skriver Wanja, lämna LO också!, Björn Nilsson skriver Finanspolitiska rådet mot regeringen, kamratwot skriver Fina, rara, söta internet

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om sodexho, stockholm, alliansen, storkök, klass, sjukvård, mat

  I had a rough spell with the toilet the other day and I began to wonder why that was.  I thought about it long and hard, coincidentally what I wish my experience with the toilet would have been more like, and I came to my answer.  Sodexho’s food, particulary Hubble’s ice cream was the culprit.  I love Hubble but it does not love my body back.  I believe I own the record for most meals eaten at Hubble.  I had one major competitor for the Hubble crown.  However, he graduated early and his lead slowly diminished (Rory).  Slow and steady wins the race.  I have seen many new faces at the Sodexho eateries on campus.  I wanted to highlight my three stars of the current Sodexho staff.

1) Black Guy at Spikes – This employee knows what the Spike’s experience is all about.  He treats every sandwich like it is a work of art.  He also interacts with every single customer, whether you want to talk or not.  He outshines the rest of the Spikes staff considerably.  A couple days ago I was waiting for Spikes to open for lunch so I could get my chili cheese dogs.  (Note:  I may also have the record for most chili cheese dogs eaten at Spikes this year, I have only missed a couple Tuesdays)  Once 11:30 rolled around and Spikes opened this man among boys announced “Welcome to Spikes people we are open for business whooot whoooooo!”.  He then proceeded to discuss the weather and other random things with each and every customer in line.  The Subway down the street would cream its pants over the prospect of this guys employment.  He could take customer intimacy and the job of the sandwich artist to a different fucking level.  This guy is Disneyland material, ya I said it.  He would be a formidable cast member at Disney World.  I would even go as far as recommending him for a position as a costume character.  He is a bit heavy set so the costume would have to be tailored accordingly.

2) Muscle Man at the C store – This guy is built like a brick shithouse.  He restocks the shit out of the C-Stores shelves.  When you bring him the items you would like to buy he scans and bags them as fast as he can.  When I say as fast as he can I mean it.  Sometimes he fumbles items because of his insane taste for speed.  I once saw a Malaysian’s chocolate milk hit the floor in a failed attempt to scan and bag the product.  Once all of the products are bagged he swipes your card in the most delicate of movements.  It’s really unexpected that a man of his stature can be so swift with the card.  He also rides his bike to work just to save the environment.  Leaving the Lexus in the garage is not an easy thing to do, props to him.

3) Terrance of Hubble – Terrance holds down the taste changer station at Hubble dining hall.  He mixes your salads, adds ingredients to your taco bowls on Mondays, and he sauces up your noodles.  Terrance will talk to all of Hubble’s patrons.  Unfortunately, you can only understand one out of every four words Terrance says.  Still Terrance makes the top three out of sheer effort.  His conversation skills are exceptional and his cooking skills are adequate.  One evening at Hubble he made patrons sing him a song before he handed back their noodle dishes in which he burned the shit out of all the greens they wanted mixed in.  The two nerd bombers in front of me were extremely uncomfortable when Terrance pulled this epic stunt.  Terrance had to step into a tough situation.  The previous chef whose name I do not know was last seen being handcuffed at Walgreens with his chef hat and uniform still on.  Several people witnessed the event and that chef has not been seen since. 

Honorable Mention: Chef Grahm – This guy always made sure you got your vegtables and he did it with his white trash flair.  He had huge side burns and a series of what looked like knife slashes across his face.  My favorite Chef Grahm story was when he was describing to another chef how he had just gotten a Gameboy.  Chef Grahm also rides his bike to work to save the environment.  Unfortunately, Chef Grahm was traded to Grand View College my sophmore year for an undisclosed fee.   

Honorable Mention: Samuel of Spikes – Peppperoooonnnii piiizzzaa calls in his awsome accent put Samuel on the honorable mention list.

Rowan University (the college that I’m like >>this close<< to graduating from) is, much to my surprise, taking a stand against the food coming from the Sodexho-run dining halls, particularly the eggs that are being used in the Rowan Marketplace. Now, I have to say, I nixed my college meal plan a good three years ago because the limited (or should I say, barely there) quantity of fresh, healthy, and whole food (and by whole food I mean food that I can look at and clearly indicate what kind of animal it came from) was too much to bear. I was happy to read in the past issue of The Whit, however, that the Progressive Student Alliance was taking their turns to stand up against the nasty dining hall and petition against their use of caged chicken eggs.

According to the Whit, Thomas Partyka, a senior radio/television/film major and member of the P.S.A. is hoping that their petition to stop Sodexho food services from using these eggs will help students become more interested and aware of the benefits of eating eggs from cage free birds.

So what’s the point in eating cage free eggs? It’s widely understood and recognized that housing birds in cramped cages disallows birds to establish a pecking order within their group, and ends up creating an environment in which these chickens invariably peck one another to death, which leads factory farmers to soder their beaks off in order to keep the birds from killing each other. Pretty gruesome right?

By buying eggs that are produced by cage free chickens, you, as a consumer, are ensuring that these birds are ethically maintained and cared for by their owners.

Fabio, from the past season of Bravo’s Top Chef, once so eloquently stated, in his charming Italian accent, that these animals that we eat and use to sustain ourselves deserve a good life, just as we do, so why not take the necessary measures to ensure that these animals are leading healthy lives, instead of simply turning a blind eye to it all?

To learn more about the protest against caged chicken eggs happening at Rowan, or to sign the petition, visit their website, and to learn more about eggs, revisit one of my posts!

By Sara Shea

While some are out looking for a second job to earn a little extra cash during these tough economic times, others are taking a less legal route to make ends meet. According to an nbcnewyork.com article, shoplifting is on the rise due to the failing economy.

Grocery and retail chains are being hit the hardest. According to the article at nbcnewyork.com, “One skint New Yorker has shoplifted close to $30,000 of gourmet groceries from markets like Whole Foods.”

Specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods Market are especially prone to shoplifting during winter months. Large coats and baggy layers make concealing stolen goods easier.

Not only are thieves robbing stores blind; they are actually giving others tips on how to get in on the action. In the same article, an anonymous shoplifter offers advice to others hoping to score a five-finger discount on their next grocery trip. The “Biggest mistakes you can make include not getting to know a store’s camera system, rushing, and hitting grocery stores close to where you live.”

In addition to grocery stores, retailers are also feeling the heat. Marist sophomore Lauren Bis has witnessed how detrimental shoplifting can be first hand. “I work at Victoria’s Secret and there is at least $100 in merchandise stolen each week,” Bis said. “This summer there was actually a shoplifting ring busted at my store. There were five women who would steal thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from my store and three other stores close by.”

According to an article published in the New York Times, “A Better Business Bureau study puts the losses from shoplifting to businesses across the country at $8 billion to $16 billion a year. The amount varies because of different estimates on how much shoplifting goes undetected, but the study concluded that each family in the United States pays 10 percent of its retail dollars to cover shoplifting thefts.”

Legal consequences of shoplifting can include any or all of the following penalties: jail or prison time, punitive fines, community service hours, and more. Offenders are often prohibited from entering the place of business from which they stole goods.

At Marist, measures are being taken to ensure the cafes and the bookstore do not fall victim to petty theft. New cameras have been installed in all of the cafes on campus to help protect the businesses from shoplifting

“I wouldn’t say I’ve noticed an increase in theft since the recession started,” said Theresa Kilmer, lead retail supervisor at the Cabaret. “However I think the cameras have scared any potential thieves away.”

Sodexho, the school’s food supplier, installed the cameras in September in an effort to deter students from stealing. The company installed similar cameras in every school they service.

“I would say since the cameras have been installed I’ve personally only caught 1 or 2 students stealing,” Kilmer said. “Last year students were getting greedy. The second you would turn your back they would fill there bags and bolt.”

Though measures are being taken across the country to discourage shoplifters, budget cuts and layoffs give thieves easy access to goods. In addition to theft, credit card fraud has also seen a rise since the dawn of the recession in September. Retailers nationwide are doing their best to minimize loss and prevent future issues.

Thanks to my tireless efforts, and my input during the David Cook fiasco, I have managed to nab a cameo blog on The Underground Charge. It’s not a regular thing, just whenever I have something to blog about and actually have time to do so (thank you Jean Eckrich and Capstone.) You are not always going to agree with what I say; you might even hate me for what I write. That’s fine; it’s what makes America great and odds are that if you hate me I probably already hate you; so suck it…see, shaking it up already. Anyway, this first edition is not supposed to be controversial, and if you have a problem with it you don’t deserve to be alive.

P.S. I usually don’t proof read…deal with it.

CSC hosts 14^th annual Chocolate Fest

The moment I received an email about this event I was intrigued, chocolate’s and confectioners converging upon CSC with free samples? Sign me up. When I walked into Wheeler hall on Saturday afternoon, I was impressed. There were far more people than I expected, and people had come from all over. I met a gentleman from Lynnfield, MA, and even heard a man speaking a language of the Asian persuasion. Even Miss Kearsarge  was there looking stunning in a chocolate brown dress.

The Lovely Miss Kearsarge

For most people hitting all 15 displays in under an hour would be like running a marathon with zero training. Lucky for me my mom is a pastry chef, she takes me to restaurants to help her critique the competition and will only order off the desert menu, heaven help if I ask for something without sugar in it. My training prepared me well, but I started to hit the wall around station 13.

Click here for my thoughts on the entrants in a review I like to call “Nacho’s Diabetes Odyssey”

As I suspected the small players in this game came out with the big flavors. Just goes to show that the pastry is an art that can not be mass produced. I left in search of milk before the winners were announced. I would also like to note that I was not able to write reviews on all 15 stations due to diabetic coma.

Inn at Pleasant Lake

I’d like to give a shout out to the Inn for hiring CSC Alum Jess Hentz. Their chocolate mousse filled chocolate toped profiter roll was a perfect blend of airy chocolate and fluffy pastry roll.

Otis Van Chocolates

How they won “Best Chocolate in New Hampshire” seven years in a row I will never know. Maybe Massachusetts has better chocolates, maybe they bribed a judge, maybe those seven years in a row was a long time ago; either way their chocolate did not impress me all.

Sodexo

Sorry Sodexo, you put out the same 3 day old brownies that you put out downstairs in the ‘Rot. Just because you have a semi-fancy display table doesn’t make them any better. Good try but I’m not buying it.

Screwie Lewiez

Unlike their real pizza, their “Pizza to Die For” came up bland. If I’m dying for that then my life wasn’t worth living. On the other end of the spectrum was their “Clifton’s Chocolate Craving” with its orange glaze delivered on its promised many textures and flavors.

Rockwell’s at the Inn

Rockwell’s came with their Molten Lava Cake and tried to go big with presentation by heating up the cake on the site with a toaster. Unfortunately they ultimately suffered from this tactic. Not only did they cause long and slow lines, but they over toasted the cake. Instead of “Molten” the cake was rock hard.

Peter Christian’s Tavern

PC’s presented vanilla ice cream on a chocolate brownie, with hot fudge on the top. It was good, but I can’t pass judgment because it was not the normal ice cream that they use. Sorry.

New London Confections

Located on Newport Road near the laundry mat, I went here once when I was a freshman and was given a cold shoulder as I tried to pick out a dessert to buy for my mother (obviously they did not know I was a connoisseur.) The Cookies ‘n Cream cake they presented was advertised as moist, however it was as dry as their store clerks.

The Mill Fudge Factory

This was one display from a seemingly larger company that actually came through. Out of five to six types of fudges offered, I sampled three.

As on of my favorite candies the “Mounds Bar Fudge” had a promising name, but did not live up to my expectations. It had a poor consistency and did not taste anything remotely close to a Mounds, it ruined the candy so much for me it will be a long time before I eat a Mounds Bar again.

“Belgian Chocolate Fudge” started out bland, but the full flavor hits you after about ten seconds, after that you realize that this is the pure stuff. I liken the experience to the “fuck me running” scene in Blow.

Out of the three my favorite was their “Raspberry Chocolate Fudge”. Real raspberries create the prefect raspberry to chocolate fudge ratio.

Colonial Farm Inn & Restaurant

The “Italian Chocolate Christmas Cake” had a vanilla custard garnish and an unexpected surprise: walnuts. You couldn’t see the walnuts from the outside; you could only taste them and feel the little chunks in your mouth. Texture and taste suffered greatly from the walnuts, and all in all created an unpleasant experience.

The Blue Acorn Inn

I don’t think that there was any chocolate in their “Pumpkin-Spice Gingersnap Truffles” so I’m not sure why they came. Other than that the truffle wasn’t too bad, and reminded me of late fall.

Harvey and Son’s Fine Tea

I like to think of Harvey and Son’s as the wild card. Instead of bringing a pastry they had the balls to bring “Chocolate Mint Tea”, which I found I would thoroughly enjoy on a blustery December night.

~Nacho

By Cynthia Dagenais

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. (Photo from http://www.thesharonbaptistchurch.com/modules/gallery/albums/mensfellowship/img/080207110003_breakfast-foods.jpg)

It is 9:15 a.m. on a weekday at Marist.  Some students are sleeping-in before their afternoon classes.  Others are just waking up for their morning classes, or returning from 8 o’clock classes barely awake and ready to collapse onto their beds and go back to sleep.  In various upperclassmen townhouse kitchens and the dining hall, the sounds of crunching cereal and smell of eggs and bacon emanate the campus.  It’s breakfast time at Marist College.

Everyone has heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but when students are in college, it is very hard to keep a healthy diet due to the late-night snacking after hours of studying, or even early classes that students nearly miss from waking up 5 minutes before it starts.  Many students feel as though there is not enough time to sit down for a healthy meal and instead either grab a doughnut on the run or skip breakfast altogether.

“Breakfast is something I look forward to when I wake up,” said Andrew Clinkman, sophomore and Class of 2011 president.

“Depending on the day, I sometimes eat an egg and cheese omelet, cereal, toast with peanut butter or regular butter, or a bagel with cream cheese.  It depends what I feel like eating.  I just like eating in general,” said Clinkman.

“I don’t eat breakfast. I used to eat breakfast. I don’t have time for breakfast,” said Andrew Fritzer, sophomore singer of the Marist’s all-male A Capella group, Timecheck.

Fritzer and Clinkman are residents of Foy Townhouses and tend to cook meals in their own kitchen.

“It’s not worth going to that part of campus when I can buy eggs for cheaper and make them myself,” said Clinkman.

While Clinkman acts like his own chef over in Foy, Marist’s main dining hall, located in the student center, is cooking some of the same foods, but for hundreds of students each morning.

“Breakfast is a popular meal here,” said Suzanne Rizzo, “we usually have over a thousand students who come through here in the morning,”

According to the cash register receipts, this past Thursday between 7:30 to 11:00 a.m., a total of 601 students swiped into the cafeteria for breakfast.  Depending on the day, the number of swipes for breakfast can be higher or lower than the statistics for last Thursday.

The dining hall has a variety of foods available: assorted cereals, fruits, bagels, toast, English muffins, eggs, pancakes, sausage, bacon, home fries, doughnuts, yogurt, granola, muffins, and made-to-order omelets.

“The best breakfast they have [in the cafeteria] is waffles.  The wafflemaker is great, you put the batter onto the hot pan, turn it over, and wait until right before it beeps, and then take it out so it’s nice and soft.  Put apple sauce and maple syrup on top, sit down, and dig in,” said Ben Colsey, a sophomore living in Midrise.

Rizzo said that some of the most popular breakfast foods served in the morning are cereal and omelets, “especially those omelets made by Tracey [a morning-shift cook].”

The cafeteria is open from 7:30 to 11:00 am for breakfast on weekdays, and 9:00 am to 2:00 pm on weekends.  For those students who do not have a set meal plan, a swipe of your Marist ID during the breakfast hours costs $4.50 for an unlimited amount of food per meal.

Although Sodexho, the catering service that provides the food for Marist’s dining hall, offers many choices of food to eat for breakfast, are they all good for you to start off your day?

According to Nutrition and Eggs,  eggs are an “eggcelent” source of protein and contains all the essential amino acids needed by the human body.  Eggs also contain cholesterol, not as much as you might think.  Cholesterol is important in many aspects of the human body’s function, including the maintenance of cell membranes, and production of sex hormones, cortisol, Vitamin D, and bile salts.

Cereals can either be great breakfast choices, or one of the worst.  Most cereals contain massive amounts of sugar.  The dining hall offers both sweet “kid” cereals such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cocoa Puffs, and the adult-marketed cereals for you to choose from, such as Special K.  According to AOL Health, cereals containing whole grains, nuts, and fiber can reduce your risk of diabetes and heart disease.  General Mills guarantees whole grains in every box of cereal.  Whole grains contain antioxidants, fiber, magnesium, and carbohydrates; these help protect cells from getting damaged, provides normal bowel movement, helps to build our bones and muscles, and provides energy for the body, respectively, according to the General Mills website. When looking at nutrition information for cereals, look for boxes containing whole grains and less sugar.

General Mills cereals with whole grains (Photo from http://ryanmay.com/images/Gen_Mills_Image.jpg)

Bagels are not generally considered to be healthy choices for breakfast due to the amount of calories and carbohydrates they contain.  The carbohydrates in bagels can quickly turn to fat, according to Associated Content, and can make you hungry for more food after consumption.  The worst part is that the toppings usually put on a bagel tend to be high in fat and calories, especially when used in excessive amounts.  For example, a plain bagel with cream cheese from Dunkin Donuts contains about 500 calories, according to the site.

Since last year, the Marist dining hall provided nutritional information on the various foods available for students to eat.

“We’re trying to go green and help the environment, and everything indicates calories and how much sodium, sugar, fat, etc. is in the food,” said Rizzo.

Rizzo also believes the dining hall offers healthy choices for the students.  “The new flavored water machine encourages those who don’t like water to drink it,” said Rizzo.

What is the best breakfast? According to Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent to CNN’s health website, the “A+ breakfast” is oatmeal with skim milk, a half-ounce nuts, berries, and orange juice.

“This is the ultimate breakfast because you’ve got a whole grain in the oatmeal, a protein in the skim milk, heart-healthy fats in your nuts, and the berries are a great source of antioxidants. You can wash the meal down with a nice glass of orange juice, which is loaded with vitamin C and potassium,” Gupta wrote on the site.

There are pros and cons to every type of food, but it is up to the student to choose what is best to start off the day.

For healthy breakfast tips, go to http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/qt/betterbreakfast.htm.

Nearly every first year student worries about putting on the dreaded “freshman fifteen” upon entering college, which makes the dining hall and food options offered by a university a major focal point of conversation among its student body. While most colleges across the nation have a variety of options in their dining hall and the students are satisfied, a lot of colleges simply suck in the food programs they provide for their students. However, while those programs may not be ideal for the student body, administrations often work with students to get insight into creating better menus, offering more variety, and improving overall healthiness of the food.

My university is not one of those schools that eagerly works to improve the situation in the dining hall, even though it is overwhelmingly a huge issue on campus.

From day one, I have heard nothing but complaints from my peers, and even my professors – and now, two and a half years later, complaints and concerns of the dining program (created by Sodexho – a program which works with many schools across the nation) still circulate on a day-to-day basis.

As a campus, Hollins students are indisputably guilty for interminable complaining about the issues with Sodexho as a program and the administration taking responsibility (or lack thereof) for student concerns over food issues, but I don’t blame anyone for their incessant pressure on trying to improve the situation. Hollins doesn’t offer a varying meal plan; its unlimited access to the dining hall from breakfast until the cafeteria closes at 7pm binds students to the meal-plan, making getting off the meal plan nearly impossible.

I have seen a huge variety of issues that students have brought up to the public forum: not enough variety in the menu options, foods not being cooked at right temperatures or having a decent amount of heat to them (especially the meat), alike foods such as quesadillas and burgers are in rotation every day (French fries are offered every day, too), no options for vegans except tofu in the salad bar (and very futile options available for vegetarians – especially at a school where vegetarians are a majority), unhealthy options clutter the stations (one night, three types of potatoes were offered: waffle fries, curly fries, and tatter tots), the ingredients on the labels are not present (what about students who have food allergies?), and most of the time, labels are not even put out near a station.

These are just the minimal grumbles that have been brought up over and over again within the student body, and no one from the administration or the manager of the dining hall ever really gives a solid answer on how to fix the program. The few times promises are made to make a change in the dining hall, nothing ever happens.

Many students have tried to jump start programs. For example, last year some students started a petition to get cage-free eggs instead of regular eggs on campus. I believe nearly 500 students signed it (in a school of 800), but the petition was ignored. How can 500 students be ignored? Students tried starting a food committee, but that didn’t last for long – no one seemed interested in taking on the responsibility, especially when everyone knows that the administration has no interest in really making changes. The Health Department has even been called before, and that wasn’t enough to jump start any movement. Honestly, I think students feel like nothing can be done – especially since everyone on campus knows that a contract was signed between Hollins and Sodexho a few years ago, making the partnership inevitable. The contract seems more important than the well-being of the students, at this point.

Although many point to Sodexho, I do not think all the blame can fall on the national food company. Many other universities use Sodexho, but they have no qualms about what their students are being served and neither do the students. The plan Hollins picked is not pleasing students, at all, and that needs to be addressed by those who have the power. Hello administration, are you listening yet? It seems like the only people who could do something are the administration, but I don’t think they care. After all, they don’t have to eat there night after night.

While the rest of the students have numerous complaints, I specifically have two:

My friend’s mothers who went here talk with smiles on their face about the food. They absolutely loved it, and it seems like it was such a coveted memory of long meals with their friends eating some good meals. Now, students rush to eat what they can (if anything, especially on weekends) and then compare food poisoning stories with their friends. In honor of our amazing alumni that Hollins toots so often, why not fix something that was so popular? Also, I think it is ironic how the food improves drastically whenever alumni, Board of Trustee members, or prospective students visit campus. Fondue and prime rib was served during Parents Weekend once, and I have to say, I haven’t seen either one since.

Whether or not it seems like it, food is a huge part of college life. If you live on campus, you eat there like it’s your home. No one should fret about whether or not they will have adequate options for dinner or if they will get sick from the Ranch Dressing that tasted more like spoiled milk.  While my fellow peers have said enough is enough over and over again, I think change will not come until the administration does something. And based on the way the administration has handled things in the past, I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Now, tell me about your dining hall. Do you love it or hate it? Does it stand out from other schools across the nation? Do you think the administration at your university is conscious of the food that its students consume on a daily basis? I want to know what (kind of crap) you are getting fed by both the dining hall and the administration.

At 6:00 in the dining hall, the SGA will be hosting a Town Hall style forum for students to come and discuss their views on the take out policy with Sodexho Dining Services. Representatives from the SGA, Senior Staff and Sodexho will be present to answer any questions students may have.

It takes 7.5 kg of wheat to produce 1 kg of edible weight in a pig

If you haven’t noticed, Sodexho is trying something different with the table scraps that we leave behind after we eat. Sodexho is now sending their non-meat scraps and leftovers to a local pig farm rather than have them throw away. The large green bin featured behind the plate collection area is now for the pigs. Throw away your trash and meat first, and then dump your leftover food in. Once again another positive step forward by Sodexho.

Déjà en ligne depuis le site du Collège, nous avons fait le choix de créer une rubrique ad hoc, plus directement accessible, depuis le blog de l’Apel. Pour accéder à la rubrique Menus Cantine, régulièrement mise à jour, merci de cliquer ici.

Illustration empruntée à Aliziz, via la Maison des Illustrateurs

Hi, my name is Dan and I’m a Ramsayholic.

They say the first step is admitting the problem.  That said, I must be a hopeless addict because I really don’t think it’s a problem.  Hell’s Kitchen has become my favorite hour of schadenfreude on television.  I’m hooked on the feeling that comes with watching Chef Ramsay tear down these self-important assholes who call themselves great chefs.

Here come the spoilers, so if you missed the premiere, you can watch the streaming video here.

I really enjoyed how they got right into the cooking of the signature dishes this season instead of wasting time meeting the contestants.  We’ll learn all we need to about them soon enough.  Based on the signature dishes and the first night of service, it looks like the front runners are Carol and Ben.

The most deluded contestant by far is Lacey.  Not only does she think making steam pans full of generic gruel for Sodexho makes her an experienced chef, but she apparently thinks she’s attractive.  She actually said that a lot of people will probably see her and say, “Here’s another pretty girl trying to be a cook.” I’ve got news for you Lacey, most of the viewers are more likely to say, “Here’s another sea cow with no skills who fell ass-backwards into a spot in Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen.”  Admittedly, I’m not a fit guy, but then you don’t here me talking about how good looking I am.

My pick for a dark horse contestant? Despite her huge mistake with the sugar in the risotto, keep an eye on Colleen.  Gordon loves to try to break people down, but he often picks on the people he sees the most potential in.  If she can put up with Chef’s shit without quitting or making another major mistake, she may very well find herself at the Borgata with $250,000 in her pocket.

Decomposition rates of certain items:

-Paper: 2-4 Weeks

-Glass: 500 Years

-Styrofoam: Never

Much to many students delights, Sodexho food services announced over the break that they were no longer using styrofoam containers in the dining hall. They have switched to an “ecotainer” made by International Paper. We were leery at first about the claims that the cup is biodegradable, however, closer research shows that it is. The ink is made of soy and the cups meet industrial composting regulations set by the BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute). Is this the end of styrofoam?

No.

The caps that are used with the cups are PS-6, which is polystyrene. Polystyrene is styrofoam, which never decomposes, washes up on our beaches and kills wildlife. While we have cut out a significant portion of the styrofoam being thrown away, this cup is not 100% environmentally friendly. This is a great advancement made by Sodexho, but we recommend to students that either you go cap-less, allot enough time to drink your coffee in the dining hall using one of the mugs that can be washed and re-used or invest in your very own reusable mug.

Here is a link to a website with some interesting re-usable mugs: http://www.franklygreen.com/my_weblog/2007/12/reusable-travel.html  

Deer Hills Vending Inc… Offering  Free Vending Machines to  facilities on Long Island and Tri State area. www.deerhillsvending.com Is one of the fastes growing independent companies in New York. 631-979-9321