When we think of healthy foods, American cuisines rarely come first to our minds. It is certainly not a coincidence that Americans have been stereotyped as couch potatoes and junk food gluttons. To create a safe and intellectually stimulating environment where we examine this issue, Cosi chairs Georgia and Wen invited residents of SP to participate in a dinner discussion on June 29, 2014. The topic of the discussion is “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food”. A group of about 15 S-P residents with a diverse range of cultural backgrounds participated in the lively exchange. Universally agreed upon was that there is a problem with unhealthy eating habits in our general populace. Identifying the cause and the mechanism behind the problem had also been straightforward. But conflict arose when solutions were proposed.  Three main approaches were vocalized by various participants. First, regulatory measures such as taxation of “fatty foods” should be imposed on food suppliers. Second, regulations on school lunches should be set to cultivate healthy eating habits at a young age. Third, the public should be further educated on the harmful effects associated with junk food indulgence, and people should be aware of marketing strategies food companies employ to promote their products. During the discussion, participants shared their personal experiences regarding food choice, and a few mentioned differences in diet across different cultures. The dinner concluded with potential topics for future discussions, one in particular being the current state of higher education. Be sure to keep an eye out for upcoming announcements from the Cosi chairs if you are interested! Additional references can be found here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&#commentsContainer

http://theweek.com/article/index/240554/should-the-us-adopt-a-fat-tax

By Ryan Kelly, SP Inventory Chair,

Everyone knows about SP’s extensive movie collection, but you may not know we also have an equally large collection of board games for any occasion.  As an avid gamer myself, I’d like to highlight a few of my favorite games in the inventory; I encourage you to give them a try.  There’re games for all levels, from casual party games to more in depth strategy.  Need a group to play with?  I host a game night almost every Thursday, email sp-inventory-chair@mit.edu if you want to join.

Casual Games:  for the large friend group who thinks they don’t like games

An easy go to: Apples to Apples and/or Cards against Humanity (4+ players; Undefined Time)

Apples to apples and its more… ahem… mature variant Cards against Humanity work well with any group size, and can be an excellent way to get to know your group, maybe more than you want.

A little bit of trivia, with some gambling too: Wits and Wagers (4-7 players or teams; 30 min)

How many black keys are on a standard 88-key piano?  Know the answer, great.  Don’t know it, no problem.  Everyone takes their guess, then you bet on which person’s answer is the closest without going over (a la Price is Right).  This game works great with trivia buffs and novices alike, and mooching off others’ knowledge is highly encouraged.

Lies and Deception: The Resistance Avalon (4-10 players; 30 min)

Played mafia?  You’ll enjoy this game of hidden roles, lies and deception.  In this battle of good vs. evil, the loyal knights of King Arthur try to go on quests, while the evil minions of Mordred try and spoil their plans.  Find the minions, and victory is at hand.  But just who can you trust?

A Gateway to Gaming: Accessible Strategy Games for everyone

Travel across America: Ticket to Ride (3-5 Players; 60-90 min)

Winner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), travel back to the turn of the 20^th century and build a network of trains around the USA.  Every turn is simple; place a new route, pick up train cards, or acquire new routes to complete.  Sounds easy, but beware!  There are limited routes, and you’ll find yourself competing with other players to complete your routes in time.

Build your Kingdom of meeples: Carcassonne (2-6 Players; 45 min)

Another Spiel des Jahres winner, in this game you will cooperate (or work against) the other players as you all build a medieval kingdom.  Place your meeples to claim cities, roads, and fields for yourself.  This is another excellent entry level game with simple rules, and guaranteed close games.

Strategy games: for those who want a little more challenge

Draft an empire: 7 Wonders (3-7 Players; 45 min)

2011 Spiel des Jahres winner (see a trend?), you are the leader of one of the 7 great cities of the Ancient World. Gather resources, develop commercial routes and affirm your military supremacy.  In each age of 7 wonders, you will pick a card from a hand of 7, then pass the hand to the next player and repeat until the hand is gone.  Slowly build your wonder to greatness.  The game plays differently every time, as you build a different wonder with different goals.  Do you become a paragon of science, or dominate your neighbors with your military empire?

Build a deck for domination: Dominion (2-4 Players; 30-45 min)

In Dominion, each player starts with an identical, very small deck of cards. In the center of the table is a selection of other cards you can “buy” as you can afford them. Through your selection of cards to buy, and how you play your hands as they draw them, construct a powerful deck, striving for the most efficient path to the precious victory points by game end.  The game is different every time, with 10 new kingdom cards and a new path to domination.

By Jenny Wang,

Having a good stock of fast, easy recipes is probably the most important part of saving time in the kitchen.  Here are two of my favorite recipes to help you start or grow your own collection:

No Knead Flat Bread

No knead flatbread, toped with pear, gorgonzola and arugula. Courtesy of steamykitchen.com.

(also good for pizza crust)

• 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 3/8 cup lukewarm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoon granulated yeast
• 2 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar if desired
• 2 1/2 to 3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour depending on how thick you like the dough.

1. The day before, mix oil, water, yeast, salt (and sugar if using) in a large bowl.  Then, mix in the flour.  This is a no knead dough so it will be quite a bit stickier than normal bread doughs.  Make sure there is room in the bowl for the dough to rise to two or three times its original volume.
2. Leave the dough at room temperature for about two hours to rise.  After it has risen, you can store the dough in the fridge (cover the bowl with plastic wrap) for up to a week.  It may develop a beer-like smell (due to the live yeast) if you store it for too long, but it should still cook up fine.  The dough can also be frozen if necessary.  I like to prepare the dough in a large tupperware for easy storage.
3. To cook, line a baking tray with parchment paper and spread a fist-sized chunk of dough on the paper.  The parchment paper prevents the dough from sticking to the baking tray and makes clean up a lot easier.  Spread the dough as thin as you can without making holes.
4. Gently brush the dough with olive oil if you’d like.  You can also add toppings like shredded cheese and arugula.  Essentially, anything that works well on pizza should work here.
5. Bake in the oven at 500 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 to 15 minutes until the dough is cooked through.  If your oven doesn’t go this high, use the highest temperature setting and bake for a bit longer.  The first few times you try this recipe, check on the bread during baking to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Easy Miso Soup

Miso Soup. Courtesy of www.steamykitchen.com.

Traditional miso soup is make from dashi (fish stock) and miso (fermented soy bean paste), but there are now plenty of packaged instant soup mixes.  However, by adjusting the traditional recipe, you can make miso soup from scratch just as easily as from commercial mixes.  The ingredient amounts are not critical in this recipe so you can adjust to suit your own tastes.

• 1/2 teaspoon bonito flakes (can omit if you don’t have it, but it gives the soup a more complex flavor)
• 2 teaspoon miso paste (I like white miso for this, but you can also try other types for a different flavor)
• 1 teaspoon dried wakame seaweed
• chopped scallions, cilantro, and/or other herbs for flavoring
• 2 cups hot water

* bonito, miso, and wakame can all be found in Chinatown or Whole Foods.

1.  Set the water to heat before prepping the rest of the soup.  If you have one, an electric kettle is likely the fastest way to heat water.  Microwave and stove top works too.  The water should be very hot, but doesn’t have to be boiling.
2.  Mix the miso paste with a bit of water to soften it.  If you don’t use miso much, just soften the miso directly in the soup bowl.  I make this soup a lot so I just keep a jar of softened miso in the fridge and add a couple spoonfuls to the soup bowl.  In it’s original form, miso paste will last months in the fridge.  The softened miso doesn’t last as long, but should stay good for at least a couple weeks.
3.  Crush the bonito flakes as small as you can into the soup bowl.
4.  Add in the wakame and herbs.  Although not authentic, I like to add some Thai basil and vinegar.  Feel free to experiment with herbs or to leave them out altogether.
5.  Pour the hot water into the soup bowl.  The hot water will rehydrate the wakame and cook the herbs slightly to draw out more flavor.  If the water cools too quickly to properly rehydrate the wakame, cover the bowl.  Once the wakame softens, the soup is ready.

This recipe also makes a good base for noodle soups.

By Vadim Smolyakov (SP Interest Groups Chair)

Sidney-Pacific is without doubt the best graduate residence in the universe! This is largely due to the talented community of graduate residents such as yourself with a diversity of interests. But how do you connect with peers who share the same passion for activities and interests you enjoy? Interest groups were created just for that: to bring together students with similar interests. With interest groups you can connect, meet new friends and plan events!

Interest groups have over 15 main groups with over 20 subgroups. To sign up: check and save the “I’m interested” box next to each interest under your account page, and you’ll be added to the group e-mail list. Also check out the main interest group page for an overview of the most popular groups: https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/interest_groups.php Are you a Star Trek fan and want to catch a movie? E-mail the movies mailing list. Do you prefer the outdoors and a weekend-long hiking or a cycling trip? E-mail the trips, cycling and hiking mailing lists. Interested in discussing the controversial topics of modern day education? E-mail the academics list or an SP officer chair. You can reach any officer in person or by e-mail at: http://s-p.mit.edu/people/officers.php

Subsidy amounts for interest group events. Courtesy of the author.

Interest groups negotiate funding for group activities each semester. Claim it! Interest groups provide a subsidy of: $5/person for 2-5 people, $7/person for 6-7, and $10/person for 8-15 people. Advertise an event through interest groups, save itemized receipts, and e-mail sp-interestgroups-chair@mit.edu for reimbursement. It’s as simple as that! More SP participants equals more funding for activities you enjoy! For more information visit the interest groups main page: https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/interest_groups.php

Dive In!

Number of residents in each interest group category. Courtesy of the author

The SP aquarium before (left) and after (right) Pedro’s improvements. Courtesy of Pedro Perez.

As a Sidney-Pacific resident you may have noticed some changes to the lobby aquarium over the past few weeks. Many of you have asked for advice on maintaining not just a fish tank, but a natural living habitat for various organisms to coexist.  Surprisingly, very little work goes into making a great-looking aquarium. However, like any craft, there are many small tidbits worth knowing that can save you many sacrificial guinea pigs… guinea fish? Either way, in this short guide I will write some of the holy rules of fishkeeping passed down to me.

1. Bigger is better

When starting out as a novice, it is a common mistake to want to buy as small a tank as possible. However, this is not the best route to take. Smaller tanks (30 gallons or less) are harder to maintain due to less volumes of water allowing for greater fluctuations in temperature and chemical balances. This often leads to disastrous and expensive results.

2. The biochemistry of fish world

There is a lot that can be said about the underlying biochemical mechanisms that keep a fish tank up-and-running. Fortunately for you, most of it is not necessary to successful fishkeeping. When starting a new tank you will need six things: water, a tank, an inexpensive water conditioner (fish do not like chlorine in their gills), gravel/substrate, light fixture and a filter.

3. Cycle of life

Next step is to cycle your tank. Fish poop just like us. Unfortunately, they also end up breathing some of their poop. You need bacteria in your tank to break down this nitrogenous poop into less toxic chemicals. Put a school of small hardy fish in the tank that will help culture these beneficial bacteria.

Your cycle should be complete in about a month or so. Thereafter, you will be able to slowly begin adding new fish into the tank (one fish every week to two weeks). Make sure to research species compatibility before mixing angry fish with peaceful ones.  You may also add plants at any time you like, however be advised to do a bit of research into plantkeeping in the aquarium. Two good places to start are:

http://www.101tropicalfish.com/fish-compatibility-chart/freshwater-fish-compatibility-chart.php. (for fish)

and

http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm (for plants)

Voila! Enjoy your new domain as you rule over it as you see fit.

By Pedro E. Perez, SP aquarium chair

Last month SP held a photo contest for its residents.  The contest had two categories: “normal” photos taken with cameras, and “mobile” photos taken with mobile phone cameras.  The winners were voted on at a coffee hour by other SP residents and the winners were given amazon gift cards ($20 for 1st prize, $15 for 2nd, and $5 for 3rd).

All the submissions can be viewed in the following links:

https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/photocontest/photos_names.php?secret=20131 (Normal Photos)

https://s-p.mit.edu/myacct/photocontest/photos_names.php?secret=20132 (Mobile Photos)

Normal Photos:

First Place

Sunset over Lake Geneva from the Epesses (Lavaux region of Switzerland). (by Ayush Bhandari)

Second Place

Third Place

An airplane crosses the Moon as it departs Boston for another journey.(by Tamas Kolos-Lakatos)

Mobile Photos:

First Place

Neuchâtel, Switzerland. (iPhone 5) (by Ayush Bhandari)

Second Place

Third Place

Smoke and mirrors (by Peter Krogen)

Flying an experimental aircraft (Courtesy of Tamas Kolos-Lakatos)

Dreaming of flying? Ready to start? Already in training? The MIT Flying Club gives you wings to experience the fun and excitement of flying.

In the Fall of 2005, several MIT students banded together to start a new club at MIT dedicated solely to flying. However, the MIT Flying Club has been around since nearly the beginning of aviation. The “Technology Flying Club”, as it was known at the time, purchased its first plane in 1927. Interest in flying reached its peak in the late 1940s, when student members flew several different types of aircraft out of Beverly and Bedford airports. Later that year, two pilots, in an effort to attract new members, attempted to drop leaflets upon incoming freshman announcing the club.

MITFC members at a fly-out (Courtesy Tamas Kolos-Lakatos)

The Flying Club was reborn in 2005 to provide members the opportunity to meet and interact with others who are interested in aviation. Throughout the academic year, MITFC holds a variety of informal gatherings where members can meet to talk about aviation, listen to lectures, and watch movies.  In addition, MITFC organizes airshow visits and airport outings during the summer. Club membership is open to everyone, regardless of age and experience.

The Club also organizes fly-outs to nearby destinations throughout the year. If you would like to fly over Manhattan and loop around the Statue of Liberty, or fly-out to Martha’s Vineyard for a picnic, this is the place for you to find such opportunities. Fly over the MIT campus to experience the bird-eye view of the MIT Dome or spot your room at SP from the air. MITFC will give you the wings to do so!

If you would like to find out more about Flying Club, feel free to contact SP residents Vishnu Jyothindran (vishnu88@mit.edu) or Tamas Kolos-Lakatos (tkolos@mit.edu).

By Vishnu Jyothindran