The competition has been fierce. The captions witty, deft, and cheeky. The quippy quotations were so brilliant we had to fight them off with an army of Furbies. But it’s all over now. The first annual Spring Weekend Caption Contest has come to a close. Here are the results:

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Confused by the hordes of students crowding Wriston as you were leaving the Ratty today? Unsure as to why everyone you saw was smiling so much they were nearly in tears? Today the 2015 Class Board organized Super Heavy Petting on Wriston Quad, complete with bunnies, chicks, pigs, and a goat in a diaper. Check out the pictures of our furry friends below.

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Miss the opportunity to see the opening of HALFWAY, a collaborative exhibition between 11 sophomores? Here are some pictures from the opening:

In middle school I went through a quick-bread-making phase. They were all banana breads, but I would put a whole bunch of other things in there. I made pear bread with walnuts. Then I made apple bread. Then carrot cake bread. And maybe, if I was feeling unoriginal, I made some plain ‘ole banana bread. Baking was something I did when I was extremely bored, and, while it was fun, I don’t think I was getting the point yet.

Maybe it was because I was just baking. I continued to sporadically bake throughout high school, but since I had exhausted the quick bread (may it rest in peace) I had to expand my repertoire. My new baked goods of choice were cakes, because I liked decorating them (and pretending like I worked at Charm City Cakes…a back pocket career move that I’m still saving). But baking’s downfall is that no one really wants to eat what you make. Baked goods are extra. Put them on the table in your home or dorm, and people will devour them when stressed out or drunk, but that’s not very glamorous. My cakes were pretty, but they would usually go to waste unless I forced any and all visitors to have a slice.

But cooking a meal is different. People really want to eat a meal. If you make dinner (especially if you time things wrong and it’s not ready until 9:00 p.m. and your family almost wishes you would just go back to college so they could eat at a decent time of night) people will be hungry when it’s served. Remember: hunger is the best sauce. They will be planning on eating your food, and they’ll spend more than a minute doing it.

It took me until this past winter break to start seeing why cooking is fun and fulfilling and communal and delicious. And I wouldn’t have delved into such a wonderful pastime if my little brother, Ben, had not recently become so interested in the culinary arts. Fortunately, I had nothing to do over break — a time I usually devote to a combination of eating and sleeping — so I became his devoted sous chef. Preparing meals with Ben soon became a part of my busy schedule. We made lamb filled wontons, duck gumbo, bibimbap, salted caramel ice cream, black bean burgers, and potato leak soup, among other things. I even learned how to use a mandolin to cut fruits and vegetables so thin that you could see through them.

But the mandolin (to to be confused with the instrument) wasn’t the only thing I learned about. Cooking, especially with someone whose company you enjoy, can change the way you think about food. And if you’re anything like me, food is a HUGE part of your life. Check out some things I learned that you can apply to even the smallest cooking excursions (like when I make an adapted Tiramisu in the Ratty) after the jump:

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Quick! Today may be your last chance of the semester to check out the outdoor Hope Street farmer’s market — a huge collection of local meat, seafood, produce and various other vendors such as Seven Stars Bakery. The market runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the grassy area between Rochambeau and Blackstone Boulevard, until it moves to its indoor location in Pawtucket for the cold winter months.

With or without parents here this weekend, the Hope Street market is a great place to visit and is easily accessible via the 42 RIPTA bus. It’s more than a larger version of the Wriston farmer’s market Wednesdays — the market is filled with Providence locals, cute children, and animals that remind us that people outside of the age of 18-23 exist (a phenomenon known as the “College Hill Bubble”).

In case you aren’t convinced that this market is our jam, we have a few thousand words to share…

While it may be familiar to many East Side residents, the northern end of Hope Street — just a quick ride up on RIPTA — is off the beaten path for most Brown students.

Today’s Herald explores some of Hope Street’s shops, eateries, and other offerings. Take a look, and take the trip.

Photos by Annabel Ruddle and Evan Thomas.

This tree should consider investing in a Patagonia

If you see anything pic-worthy, snap it and send it to blog@browndailyherald.com

Many former Keeney residents were shocked when they returned to campus to find that the building received a major facelift. But this summer’s changes hardly end there.

Today’s Herald featured a spread that breaks down all of this and next summer’s housing changes, which aim to create a more uniform progression of housing from freshman to senior year. Since we’ve already given you a photo tour of the new Keeney, we now bring you inside some of the other renovated dorms.

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Well, this surely must be one of the two most exciting changes to a Brown residence hall this summer.  Above is an almost-too-good-to-be-true photo of a photo of a redone conference room in Kee-nasty Keeney.  A conference room that actually looks like a nice study space? In Keeney? Impossible.

It seems the renovations the Corporation promised in the spring are already in full swing. Though the remodeling might create an underground betting circle on how long it takes the new Freshmen to break every exit sign in the dorm and/or make that nice carpet a much sadder shade (Ed.- that table does look to be about the right dimensions for a nice game of ruit), we are definitely looking forward to reports on how the rest of the updated dorms look.

Photo courtesy of Michael Gale ’14.