As Americans, we are convinced that the best things in life are free. MasterCard believes everything but four to five select items are priceless. Jenny from the Block has informed us that her “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” And just by being a U.S. citizen, you, too, can have several enumerated rights at your disposal. Unfortunately, Hallmark, Zales and almost every American restaurant (yes, even White Castle) have crafted their first quarter marketing campaigns to suggest otherwise.

Forget true love, a successful Valentine’s Day is contingent on one thing: your wallet. For the broke college student, however, this poses a problem. Despite all our cleverness and ‘potential,’ our bank accounts have little…or nothing…or overdraft notices to show for it. Luckily, we do have one critical advantage over the average adult: Bear Bucks, points and meal credits. Our principles for impromptu, edible Valentine’s Day gifts on Meal Plan after the jump.

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Yes. You read that right. Today is World Nutella Day. So whether you are in need of some Super Bowl snacks or just want to drown your sorrows in the fact that you only have 9 days to find a man before Valentine’s Day, this holiday is for you. We would like to share some delicious recipes with you to celebrate this most miraculous of days.

Ever had a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich courtesy of the V-Dub PB&J bar? Amazing. Especially if you put bananas on it. Nothing could make that better, right? Wrong. Here is the best combination of PB&N – peanut butter and nutella cookies!

For the baking challenged among us (myself included), we have Nutella croissants. All you need to do is put a spoonful of Nutella in some pre-made dough, roll them up, and put them in the oven! More ideas after the jump! [Read more →]

Last-minute centerpiece?

Ah football, that most American of traditions. And what Easter is for Christians, what Yom Kippur is for Jews, what Festivus is for the rest of us, the Super Bowl is for America. On this high holiday of American athleticism (and capitalism at its best), it’s imperative that we be GIANTLY PATRIOTIC by insulting each other, throwing temper tantrums over missed field goals, betting irresponsible amounts of money, and glutting ourselves on Mexican food. (Makes sense, right?) And what could be more Amurrican than New York vs. Boston? A showdown between the two in the heartland (say, Indiana…in a stadium named after an oil company). We all know that New England clam chowder trumps its Manhattan (or, to be accurate, Jersey) counterpart, but that barely scratches the surface of classic Super Bowl food. Below, our ideas for snacks you can make — be it off meal plan or completely BuDS-sourced.

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Nom.

Hi again Browntown! It’s strange how quickly time flies. Those 5 weeks spent eating home cooking (or, in my case, that semester spent eating every crumb of food in Paris) flash before our eyes, and before we know it, we’re back in PVD to fend for ourselves whenever mealtime rolls around.

Luckily, Providence Restaurant Week is here to rescue us from the ennui of ramen and the Ratty. This year, Travel + Leisure named Providence the #2 food city in the country (second only to my hometown, New Orleans), and over 80 restaurants are coming out in full force to drive the point home for this citywide food hurrah.

Participating restaurants are offering three-course lunches for $14.95 and three-course dinners for $29.95, plus some of them are offering 2-for-1 deals. ”Restaurant Week” is a bit of a misnomer (the whole deal actually lasts a fortnight), but it ends soon – January 28 – so don’t delay! Scramble now to take advantage of it before this opportunity, like your winter break and this hilarious snow, melts away. Check out the official website for menus, a full list of participating restaurants, and more information.

Read more for some ideas to get the ball rolling: [Read more →]

Assortment is key. Don't forget the flowers for a much-needed breath of life.

Thank God warm weather finally showed up, just in time for the first wave of pre-reading period freakouts. While many of us prepare to pack our bags, stick to our guns, and camp out in our carrel of choice, let’s be real: that’ll get depressing reeeal fast, and bummed-out-ness is no suitable mood for cranking out that 15-pager that you saved for the night before. Luckily, food is here to help (isn’t it always?). Library snackage is an easy enough way to lure people into being your friend and serves as a nice treat to punctuate the monotony of the exam cram. After the jump, some ideas for stocking your very own cornucopia.

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This cheeseburger won't be making an appearance (or will it?), but if it did, it'd definitely be ready to party.

There’s Sex Week, and there’s Spring Week, but as all these themed weeks draw to an inevitable and regrettable close, we need a new something to set our sights on. In hopes of filling this void, the Brown Epicurean Society introduces Brown’s first annual Food Week, which kicks off tomorrow and promises six full days of edible adventures. A wide array of events should feature something for everyone. Read more after the jump or check out BES’ website for more info.

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Cookies for yooooou.

One could argue that Dorie Greenspan is to pastry what John Bonham is to drumming (though her appeal is a bit more subdued). The reverence she’s earned in the food world is well-deserved: she’s written ten cookbooks, won five James Beard Foundation and IACP awards (the culinary equivalent of Oscars), and collaborated with the likes of Julia Child and macaron master Pierre Hermé. As if that weren’t enough, she’s a contributing editor to Parade Magazine, a long-time contributor to Bon Appétit, and the creator of “Tuesdays with Dorie,” an online baking club in which hundreds of food bloggers test and write about one of her recipes. Her most recent cookbook, Around My French Table, was a New York Times Bestseller and named Cookbook of the Year by Amazon and Epicurious. It’s no surprise that she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America–she’s everywhere.

Feel like basking in her genius? Well, you’re in luck: Dorie Greenspan will be giving a lecture and book signing in the Lownes Room of the Hay Library tomorrow night at 7:00. The lecture is sponsored by the Mel and Cindy Yoken Cultural Series and will be followed by a brief reception, which in this case hopefully translates to eating fresh-from-the-oven madeleine cookies with Dorie and pretending to hold our own with her in a conversation about baking. (We can dream, right?)

After the jump, a Greenspan original recipe for fluffy, dreamy white chocolate pie with hidden bananas. No-bake = no-brainer.   [Read more →]

Image courtesy of MomofukuFor2.com

Cooking in a dorm presents a number of challenges. Pinpointing a reliable recipe, finding the transportation to the grocery, scrounging for ingredients, and actually putting it all together in a neat, tasty package is no easy task. Combine that with dorm kitchens being senselessly turned into extra housing, and we’ve got a real quandary on our hands.

Luckily, I’ve struck gold. This is the easiest, the cheapest, the sexiest thing ever to happen to that greasy dorm kitchen of yours: Nutella freakin’ whipped cream. All you need are a pint of heavy whipping cream and a jar of that heaven-sent choco-hazelnut divinity. Put them together and magic happens. This stuff has inspired marriage proposals and eternal devotion from several classmates, and it makes just about anything sweet even tastier.

1. Pour the chilled whipping cream into a nice big bowl (ideally this should be metal and also chilled, but whatever you’ve got will do).
2. Using either a hand mixer or those ripped guns of yours (plus whisk), whip the cream at high speed. You’ll be at this for several minutes, during which time it’ll really start to thicken.
3. You’ll know it’s on the cusp of becoming legit whipped cream when your whisk forms little ripples that stay put. Now it’s time for the Nutella. Spoon in about a cup of it and continue to whisk vigorously until everything’s fully combined.
4. Proceed to gorge yourself by way of scooping the whipped cream on top of warm brownies, frosting cupcakes with it, dipping croissants into it, or faceplanting directly into the bowl. Use your creative license.

What will they think of next? Around the beginning of the semester, little muffin-shaped confections started popping up on Saturdays and Sundays amidst the Blue Room’s pastry mainstays. The personal bread puddings have cupcakes’ handy cuteness and come in two new flavors every weekend. Today, for example, there’s peanut butter-apple and strawberry mocha chip. We have on record that a pint of espresso goes into the strawberry mocha batch. Go in today (don’t forget, they close at 5 on weekends) and see for yourself whether they’ll give you an espresso jolt.

Past flavors include peanut butter chocolate banana, strawberry and Nutella, and cinnamon maple raisin. Aw yeah. However, personal experience would suggest that, as these things go, temperature is more important than flavor. It seems like a cardinal rule that baked goods’ quality is inversely proportional with the amount of time it’s spent out of the oven, and that’s particularly true in this case: the lukewarm ones are, yes, a little gummy, but if you swoop in at the right time, you can snag a molten, carb-y treat.  The bread puddings join Ivy Room mac and cheese, Kabob & Curry and Shanghai in the Blue Room, specialty stuffed French toast at Jo’s, and a Belgian waffle bar in the Blue Room as projects of Brown’s new culinary manager, Aaron Fitzsenry. Exciting things are going on in BUDS!

The College Hill Café brings together two spectacular things: Blue State’s coffee and the ability to use declining balance. It’s hard to even consider going to the Blue State hub further up Thayer when you can use Monopoly money at its bookstore location. If you’re lucky enough to snag a table near a plug, it makes an excellent study location, too, within easy reach of as much caffeine as your little heart desires.

This experience is only made all the merrier by the discovery of two more spectacular things: dirty chai and grilled cheese. Dirty chai, in addition to being fun to order, is delicious to drink. It’ll give you your coffee jolt and tea fix simultaneously by way of an espresso shot dumped into a tall glass of creamy, spicy chai. (How did it take humanity so long to put those two together?) Sip this alongside Blue State’s rendition of the grilled cheese, which panini-presses multigrain bread with sharp white cheddar until it’s charred just-so, providing you with a crispy, melty, soul-warming final product. The sandwich itself inspires angelic choruses; the combination is a magical thing, the perfect fuel for a Sunday afternoon spent studying.