Posts by Larry Au

WTF is happening under Faunce Arch? We have the answer: a group of farmers from the New Urban Farmers, a collective of farmers based in Pawtucket, is handing out freshly roasted peppers to passersby. The group is using a giant-fire-spitting-turning-grill-thing to cook the peppers that they grew on their farm.

Similar to the award-winning Brown Market Share Program, the group aims to connect local farmers to the communities that they help feed. The group runs a market shares program that begins in late May and continues for the next 20 weeks. The price for a full share that feeds 2-3 people is $600, while a family share is $850. The program offers a payment plan that lets you pay per week. By buying into the share, you become a member of the New Urban Farmers. The money that’s paid to the program goes towards buying seeds, farming equipment, water and labor. And the produce that you get is completely organic!

So if you’re staying in Providence for the summer, consider joining the New Urban Farmers community. After all, “The community that grows together – grows together.”

While most Brown students spent their long weekend lying in bed, catching up on the latest episodes of The Office that they missed due to the recent onslaught of midterms, Brown Taekwondo was out kicking ass and taking names.

On February 19th, 58 Brown Taekwondo members took part in the Eastern Collegiate Taekwondo Conference (ECTC) in sparring and poomse (which looks something like this) competitions and ended up in the top spot. The conference was held at Princeton, with over 20 schools, including MIT, Tufts and Cornell, participating. The group was led by Master Sung Park ’96 and Randy Trang ’11, with student instructors Annam Nguyen ’12, Danielle Harrison, Jesse Madnick ’12 and Jon Truong ’12 acting as head student instructors.

The group will be defending its title of National Champions, which it took for the first time last year, at MIT in early April.

Those of you who walked by Soldier’s Arch tonight probably noticed the tantalizing smell of grilled cheese in the air. The smell comes from the newest food truck on Thayer, Fancheezical, which cooks up a variety of grilled cheeses and other comfort foods that include ingredients sourced from local farms.

The menu includes the BBQ ($6), a pulled pork sandwich with North Carolina BBQ sauce and a “secret cheese blend”; the Spicy Wheat ($5), a sandwich—not to be confused with the Spicy With—with jalepeno cheese; the Hill ($7), presumably named after our very own College Hill, which includes a mix of fresh pesto, tomatoes, and provolone and asiago cheeses; and the Crantastic ($5), which contains aged cheddar on cranberry walnut bread.

If none of the above selections appeal to you, you can build your own grilled cheese (B.Y.O.G.C.) Fancheezical even has vegan and gluten-free options for all you vegans, lactose- and gluten-intolerant folks out there. Every order comes with a small pack of gum, so your breath won’t smell like cheese for the rest of the day.

While the truck has only started churning out grilled cheeses (there’s only one review on Yelp!) and has yet to set a regular schedule, it plans to service Brown students on Wednesday nights and occasionally during lunchtimes. To get the latest updates from the truck, follow them on Twitter (@fancheezical) or “like” their Facebook page!

Unable to get a table at New Rivers for tonight? Well, BlogDH has got you covered. Here are 5 last minute V-Day date night ideas for you lucky Brunonians who want to make tonight a night to remember but forgot to make plans ahead of time.

1. Romantic dinner at the Ratty. Although taking your date to a BuDS eatery for Valentine’s Day shouldn’t even be on the table at this point, there are ways to make this trip to the Ratty a relatively romantic occasion. First, bring your own table cloth and maybe your own cutlery and tableware (rose petals scattered on the table or a bouquet of flowers would also be nice touch). Second, scout out a nice corner of the dining hall for you and your date to enjoy your carefully prepared meal. Finally, follow these 8 simple rules for the Ratty date.
2. Movie night in Salomon 101. Normally, you would have to book your rooms and request media service in advance, but there’s always the off chance that you’ll find an empty lecture hall with its media equipment still open. So spend your night going through rom-coms in the privacy of your classroom. However, as Brown tour guides like to remind prospective students, there are only a limited number of large lecture halls on campus where you can achieve this cinematic effect, so be sure to claim your classroom early.
3. Stargaze at the Ladd Observatory. The Ladd Observatory will be hosting its weekly public telescope observation nights on Tuesday from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. Alternatively, if you are unwilling to make the trip up north, you and your date could always stargaze from the roofs of certain University buildings, from the thirteenth floor of the SciLi or from the Quiet Green.
4. Take a walk in the greenhouse. While most people have seen the Plant Environmental Center on Waterman before, very few have ventured in to enjoy the wide variety of flora and fauna from all across the world. The greenhouse is open from 7:30 AM to 3:00 PM.
   
5. Go on a BrownBares photo shoot. For you adventurous and free-spirited couples out there, why not document your night by whipping out your camera phone and snapping your exploits on what is arguably the most romantic night of the year? BrownBares on Thayer, anyone?

Brown-RISD dual degree students will be exhibiting their work from February 9 to March 4 at the Hillel Gallery for their fourth annual show, BASKET|CASE. The show will feature over fifteen artists who’ve immersed themselves in the opportunities provided by both campuses to create unique works of art. In the words of RISD’s Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, David Bogen, “One of the things that schools are very good at doing is compartmentalizing knowledge and inquiry… One of our aims with the dual-degree program is to disrupt that compartmentalization.”

Last year’s show, Anisotropy, received rave reviews from the BDH and MainGreen.TV, which praised the collection for its “great creative variety” as it included pieces ranging from sculptures to films. If this is to be believed, then this year’s show will no doubt be just as exciting.

So come out tonight at 7:30 pm for the gallery opening at the Hillel. There will be free food and performance art!

The College Hill Troll Community, a Facebook page created a month ago, has seen a meteoric rise in the number of hits in the past few weeks and currently has over three hundred “likes.” It is a haven for Internet trolls and troll-lovers and boasts an extensive collection of Brown related Internet memes that are generated by both the page’s admins and other individual contributors. So waste your shopping period away by either consuming the memes already up there or thinking of new ones to contribute to other people’s time-wasting. Pay it forward.

The Brown Marching Brown outside Perkins carolling and handing out free hot chocolate!

Heard of The RIB? If you haven’t heard of it before, you have now — and you’ll no doubt hear more about these girls in the future as they make waves in the world of comedy. Started earlier this year, The RIB was created by a handful of girls who decided one spring morning that Brown needed a female comedy group. Their blog, which launched this summer “after the girls had synchronized all of their cycles and participated in exactly 17 semi-nude pillow fights,” is regularly updated with diverse content ranging from humorous musings on men and periods to anguished pleas for men to “nut up” and talk to their crushes. You don’t have to be a GNSS concentrator or an avid Sexction reader to get lost in this wondrous world of female comedy (perfect study break for finals?).

BlogDailyHerald tracked down three writers for The RIB, Samantha Williams ’12, Emily Spinner ’14 and Maria Luisa Acabado ’13, in order to learn more about the pub and the women behind it. [Read more →]

Phonatic, the Vietnamese restaurant right opposite the bookstore on Angell Street, will close after this Christmas when its five year lease ends. The decision to not renew the lease of the popular eatery comes after weeks of painful deliberation by its owner and after years of struggling to survive. [Read more →]

Little Billy’s, a new food truck, has been spotted parked outside Granoff on Angell Street this afternoon. The food truck is operated by Billy’s, a restaurant in Barrington, RI and is the recipient of the 2009 RI Monthly “Best New Neighborhood Restaurant“. Run by a group of family and friends, the restaurant prides itself on its classic American menu. The truck serves Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($5), Philly Cheese Steaks ($6), Caprese Grilled Cheese ($5), Cheese Burgers ($6), Fries ($3) and Hashbrowns ($2).

Hopefully, we’ll see more of Little Billy’s in the coming days, as it adds even more diversity to College Hill’s vibrant food truck scene.