Room Review: Home sweet home with a sweetheart

By Stephanie Nam,

For this month’s room review SPeaker visited rather special roommates, Holly Johnsen and George Tucker living in a co-ed two-bedroom apartment. (If you did not know already, SP is running a pilot co-ed housing program, more details can be found on the SP website.) Holly and George have been active members of the community. Both have served on the house government for three consecutive years, including 2011-2012 when they served on SPEC together.  Additionally, George is still serving on Board of Trustees.

Clockwise (from top left) Holly at her desk, Holly's tea collection, Holly and George in their living room, Another view of the living room, dining room table.

Clockwise (from top left) Holly at her desk, Holly’s tea collection, Holly and George in their living room, Another view of the living room, dining room table.

Two highlights of this comfortable living room are the couches and the large TV, which is sometimes used to play video games. A unique feature of the living area is a desk facing the door, sweetly decorated with small animals and colorful articles so that it does not seem like an office desk. There is also a bookcase with Holly’s tea collection next to a dining table by the sunny window where one can see the carefully labelled and neatly stored large variety of teas as well as mugs, pots and tea cups.

Clockwise from left: Kitchen counter, spice rack, kitchen stand with George's soda maker, Holly's recipe book.

Clockwise from left: Kitchen counter, spice rack, kitchen stand with George’s soda maker, Holly’s recipe book.

In addition to her love for tea, Holly also likes to cook. This is immediately confirmed to first-time visitors by the large and sturdy cooking counter in the kitchen with a well-organized spice rack, and a small kitchen stand with some cooking magazines above which George keeps his soda maker machine. Every month she picks the recipes from the magazines that she wishes to try, and keeps them in her impressive hand-made recipe book, and on a blog: http://holly-cooks.blogspot.com/

Overall, it was a great pleasure talking to Holly and George, and seeing how a standard dorm room can be transformed to a sweet home for a loving couple. SPeaker would like to thank Holly and George again for taking time to share a part of their lives.

 

SP Inventory Highlights: Board Game Night

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_applesApples 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)

wits_wagersHow 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)

avalonPlayed 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)

ticket_to_rideWinner of the prestigious Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year), travel back to the turn of the 20th 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)

carcassonneAnother 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)

7_wonders2011 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)

dominionIn 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.

SP Officer Profile: Environment Chair

Sidney-Pacific Environment Chair Cherry Gao.

Sidney-Pacific Environment Chair Cherry Gao.

This month, the SPeaker interviewed the environment chair Cherry Gao about herself and the work she’s done as an officer.

Cherry is a first year PhD in Biological Engineering (Course 20) from Vancouver, Canada.  From her time in Canada and 10 years in Japan, Cherry knows how to speak English, French,  and Japanese!  When she is not in the lab or volunteering at SP, Cherry enjoys singing in choirs, working on her garden, and being outdoors.

Cherry has lived in SP since September 2013 and became an officer soon after arriving.  When asked why she decided to become the environment chair, Cherry replied “Sid Pac is your home, and my home.  I want our home to be an Earth-friendly space.”  Her favorite parts of being an officer are the friendships and stimulating conversations with other officers and residents.

On the topic of her accomplishments as an officer, Cherry said “Sid Pac is one of the leaders on campus in composting and I am excited to keep working on this initiative!”  So far, Cherry has worked hard to make composting more accessible to residents by introducing a new collection system and collaborating with the housekeeping staff.

Finally, Cherry offered some advice to residents on how to make SP a greener place to live:

1. Use reusable bags instead of plastic bags when you go shopping.

Plastic bags often end up in the ocean and threaten marine life. Say no to plastic bags and bring a reusable bag to carry your groceries instead.

2. Use a drying rack instead of the dryer.

Dryers suck up energy and ruin our clothes. Sid Pac has drying racks for rent – why not be gentle to our planet and to your clothes?

3. Separate your compost, recyclables, and garbage into appropriate bins.

We can significantly reduce garbage destined for the landfill by composting and recycling. But don’t contaminate! Putting the wrong stuff in the compost or the recycling bin can deem the whole batch to be  uncompostable or unrecyclable.

4. Turn off the lights when you leave your apartment or a common space.

Why waste the energy when you don’t need to?

5. Bring your plates, utensils, and cups to brunches and coffee hours.

It’s so easy: use real stuff! (Sid Pac uses compostable plates and utensils, but they still take up resources like corn to be manufactured, not to mention that they take a long time to degrade in the compost.)

3rd Floor Library

By Helena Zhang, 3rd Floor South Hall Councillor,

New bookshelves in the 3rd floor lounge.

New bookshelves in the 3rd floor lounge.

If you have been on the third floor of Sidney-Pacific lately, you may have noticed a new addition. As part of the new beautification initiative, we have set up bookcases in the large area outside the lounge for a leisure reading library. The goal of the library, along with the library in the Owu Room, is to be a nice resource for residents seeking reading material to enjoy. Also, it would be great if that large common space, which is also connected to the 4th floor, became more lively. But in order to do that, we need your help! If you have any books that you no longer need but might be appreciated by other residents, please leave them on the shelves–any type or genre is welcome. Also feel free to come by any time and borrow a book or two, and bring some friends while you’re at it! Currently, there is a small-but-growing selection of bestsellers, sci-fi/fantasy, highbrow fare, thrillers, magazines, and more from authors such as John Grisham and Amy Tan, and hopefully the collection will multiply in the near future. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, or ideas for books you would like to see on the shelves, feel free to drop me an email at sp-3south-hc@mit.edu.

Cooking Made Easy

By Jenny Wang, SP Brunch Chair,

Easy Oatmeal

Oats make a great breakfast or snack food: it’s nutritious, filling, and can be prepared a variety of ways.  One popular dish is a hot porridge, but to make it properly, the oats need to be simmered for at least several minutes.  For me, that’s a bit too much work and time in the mornings.  Instant oatmeal is a possibility, but they are much more expensive than plain rolled oats and often contain lots of sugars, artificial flavors, and preservatives.  However, with a little experimenting, I found another way to prepare oatmeal.  It’s not quite as instant, but the prep is minimal and can be done in advance.  This is a pretty regular breakfast item for me, so I toast the oats in large batches (about 6 cups at a time for 10 to 15 minutes) and store in a glass jar.  Then, the night before, I mix up the oats with a spoonful of chia seeds and kefir (a yogurt-type drink) in a small jar.  In the morning, I eat it straight out of the jar with a spoonful of honey or take the jar with me to lab.  Either way, it’s a quick and healthy breakfast.

Easy oatmeal

Easy oatmeal

As with most of my recipes, this is highly customizable so feel free to play around with it until you find something you really like.

Ingredients

  1. 1/3 cup rolled oats
  2. 2/3 cup plain kefir
  3. 1 teaspoon honey
  4. dried fruits, nuts, seeds as desired

 

Directions

  1.  (optional) Lightly toast the oats at 350 degrees F (about 3 minutes for 1/3 cup).
  2. Mix in the desired dried fruits, nuts, or seeds.
  3. Place the resulting mixture in a small bowl, tupperware, or jar.
  4. Add the kefir and stir until well-mixed.
  5. Let sit, covered, for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (this step can be several days if you want to prepare it in advance).  The oats will soak up the liquid and become porridge-like.
  6. Before eating, top with honey and/or fresh fruit.

* Although the only “cooking” used here is lightly toasting the oats, you won’t be eating raw oats.  Oat grains are heated and steamed during the rolling process, so rolled oats are cooked before you even do anything with them.  Toasting adds a nuttier flavor.

Hot variation

If you prefer hot oatmeal, use 1/4 cup of milk (or a milk-substitute of your choice) instead of the kefir and a microwave-safe container for step 3.  Then, when you’re ready to eat it, just heat it up in the microwave for a few minutes before topping with honey or fruit.

Additional variations and comments

You can substitute any flavor of yogurt or kefir into this recipe, which may also replace the honey.  However, I have found that Greek yogurt doesn’t contain enough liquid to properly hydrate the oats.  Australian yogurt (a bit thinner than standard yogurt), works well.

Baked Kale Chips

Baked Kale Chips.

Baked Kale Chips.

If you’ve ever purchased kale chips, you know how over priced this snack food is. Fortunately, fresh kale is reasonably priced and it’s quite easy to turn them into airy, crunchy chips yourself. The flavored version makes a great healthier substitute for potato chips.

Basic Version

Ingredients:

kale (available as a bunch or pre-washed and cut in bags)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
  2. If you purchased full kale leaves (it’s a lot cheaper than the pre-washed and cut version), wash and dry the kale with a paper towel or salad spinner. You want to have as little water as possible on the leaf surface.
  3. Remove the central stem and tear the kale into chip-sized pieces. The leaves will shrink as they cook so don’t make the pieces too small.
  4. Spread the leaf pieces on cookie trays in a single layer.
  5. Bake until the leaves are crispy and slightly brown at the edges. This should take 10 to 15 minutes, but keep a very close eye on them because they burn easily. I recommend starting with 8 minutes then checking them and adding 1 minute intervals as needed the first few times you try this recipe.

Optional: You can bake the stems as well. They won’t turn crispy, but often become slightly sweet. However, I recommend baking the stems separately from the leaves because the extra moisture in the stems can prevent the leaves from crisping.

Trouble shooting

If your chips come out like steamed greens instead of chips, you can try cooking for longer. This occurs when too much water is on the leaves when they go into the oven. Dry the leaves better next time. You can also try leaving a crack when closing the oven door to let steam escape.

If your chips burn before they become crispy, try turning the oven temperature down and extend the cooking time if necessary.

If some kale pieces are crisp but others are still soft, remove the crisp ones before baking the soft ones longer. Otherwise, the pieces that are already crisp will burn.

Flavored Version

Ingredients

  • kale
  • salt
  • olive oil
  • grated parmesan cheese (or whatever seasoning you would like)

Directions:

Follow steps 1 to 4 of the basic version. Before baking, drizzle the olive oil onto the kale, then sprinkle with salt and grated parmesan cheese. Bake as in step 5 of the basic version.

Camera Workshop Series by the SP Photofile Chairs

By Chi Feng and Tamas Kolos-Lakatos, SP Photofile Chairs,

Based on strong interest and on the success of the first camera intro workshop, the SP Photofile Chairs decided to host a series of photography related events in the spring semester.

The first workshop on March 15th (Saturday) will cover basic camera functionalities and it will give an insight into what makes a photograph successful and pleasing. We will look at a variety of pictures taken by SP residents and will discuss their strengths and weaknesses. This intro workshop will give a brief overview of how to tell a story with images. SP residents interested in submitting their work for the photo critique are encouraged to email submissions to sp-photofile-chair@mit.edu before March 15th.

Based on the lessons learned from the first workshop, the second part of the series will go on a little urban adventure in Boston on April 5th (Saturday). We will spend the afternoon around Quincy Market and the North End exploring city life, culture, architecture, and anything else inspiring to take photos of. The plan is to create a short photo essay of the outing that tells a story in many different ways. The photo mission will come to a well-deserved break and a subsidized dinner afterwards.

The camera workshop series will conclude with a slideshow of the Boston outing photo mission on April 13th (Sunday). We will exhibit the photographers’ images, discuss their stories, and give suggestions for improvements.

Hope you can join us for any if not all of the events!

CameraWorkshop_Poster

Introducing your new associate housemasters, Julie and Neel!

Julie and Neel Shah. Courtesy of Julie Shah.

Julie and Neel Shah. Courtesy of Julie Shah.

We are thrilled to begin 2014 by joining SP! From our first introduction, it was clear that SP is a very special place—in our opinion, the best living community at MIT. We feel honored to be able to help continue so many wonderful traditions and look forward to helping build new ones in the years to come.

We have both spent a lot of time at MIT. In Julie’s case, before becoming a professor she spent a decade collecting three MIT degrees. Neel went to Brown and Harvard, but considers MIT his home too after countless visits to hang out with Julie (we started dating in college). While we were graduate students we lived in Baker House as graduate resident tutors helping to support student life. After graduating we spent several years living across the river in the South End exploring the best of what Boston has to offer. We look forward to trading tips on the best galleries, markets, and restaurants in the city! We also look forward to introducing you to the other two members of our family, Sidney the puppy and Bolivar the small parrot.

Julie spends her days in Building 33 in AeroAstro and directs the Interactive Robotics Group in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Her research group focuses on integrating robotics and autonomous systems into human team-oriented environments, including manufacturing, search and rescue, and military field operations. Her group specializes in developing robot planning, decision-making, and control algorithms that are modified to support more natural interaction with people. In her free time, Julie enjoys gardening and scuba diving.

Neel is an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, a practicing obstetrician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and a principle investigator in the Ariadne Labs for Health Systems Innovation. His research focuses on understanding the link between systems complexity and harmful medical decisions. He is also the Executive Director of a nonprofit called Costs of Care. In his free time, Neel enjoys playing guitar and cooking.

We decided to become housemasters because it is a pleasure and a privilege to get to know you. Please stop by any time (Room 268) and feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns, whether they are about life at SP or navigating the waters of graduate student life at MIT in general.

 

Sidney-Pacific Room Review: Indoor Garden

By Stephanie Nam,

SP Room Review is a new series exploring different rooms and lifestyles within the community. If you know of any awesome candidates, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

Jenny Wang, at her desk.

For the second article of the room review series, we visited Jenny Wang. She is a third year student in Mechanical Engineering, and is one of the Brunch chairs at SP, serving about three hundred people every month. She is also known for her expertise in “growing living things,” so we decided to visit and see.

At first glance into her room, you’ll see a leaf-patterned curtain behind which Jenny keeps her plants and flowers in front of the large window. The plants are arranged on a storage rack, with a beautiful fuchsia hanging on a spring loaded drying rack. We also saw a recycled mini-greenhouse that was nurturing some seedlings. Next to her desk there was a special incubator for some mushrooms. In addition to these indoor plants, Jenny also grows some of her vegetables from SP community garden – if you need any advice for a plant, now you know who to turn to.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

(CW from the top left) The mushroom incubator, the curtain covering the stand, the plant stand, the recycled greenhouse, and the hanging fuchsia.

Having some fresh greenery in the bedroom can make it feel more like home. Another thing that can help improve the ambiance is lighting. In Jenny’s room, there are a number of different lamps, each with its own purpose. Plants like the white light, and so does Jenny for studying. For relaxed reading and resting, she has put some red cellophane over some lamps. The desk lamps are connected to a power strip so they can be conveniently turned on and off at the same time.

Jenny’s tea collection.

Jenny’s tea collection.

 

Overall, the furniture is arranged to separate the living, resting, and storage areas. The desk and the bookcase stand together, just like the wardrobe and the chest of drawers are placed next to each other. On the side of the wardrobe, just above the top of the dresser, SPeaker spotted Jenny’s collection of leaf tea. Jenny’s creative and space saving storage method is to store her tea in small metal tins, and stick them on magnets mounted on the side of her wardrobe. This makes it quick and easy to find what you’d like for tea time- if you can manage to choose from the many varieties of tea!

The visit to Jenny’s room reassured us that a dorm room can be quite homey, and you too can achieve that by bringing in some things you appreciate and enjoy. Thank you to Jenny for giving us a glimpse into her room and life!

SP Officer Profile: Photofile Chairs

This year, the SPeaker will be printing a series of articles profiling the officers that work for the Sidney-Pacific house government and the work that they do.  This month, we find out about the photofile Chairs, Tamas Kolos-Lakatos and Chi Feng.

Tamas Kolos-Lakatos

Tamas Kolos-Lakatos

Tamas Kolos-Lakatos

Tamas is a third year PhD student in the department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Course 16).  He is from Dunakeszi, Hungary, a town 15 minutes north of Budapest on the river Danube.  Tamas speaks Hungarian and English, as well as some French and German.

When he is not taking pictures at S-P events, Tamas can be found at airports around the world, taking pictures of airplanes.  In addition to being an avid photographer, Tamas is a pilot.  He started flying gliders at age 16 and few his first solo flight before he learned to drive a car!

Coutesy of Tamas Kolos-Lakatos

Courtesy of Tamas Kolos-Lakatos

This is Tamas’ third year living in S-P and his second year as an officer.  Like many officers, he volunteered for the opportunity to get to know more S-P residents and be a part of the community.  As one of the photofile chairs, Tamas enjoys attending the large variety of events at S-P.

Chi Feng

Chi Feng

Chi Feng

Our second photographer, Chi, is a second year student in the Computation for Design and Optimization (CDO) program.  He hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan and speaks both English and Mandarin.

Aside from photography, Chi enjoys playing piano, website design and watching “Sherlock”.  In 2006, his many talents got him named Time magazine’s Person of the year (in fairness, he shares the title with a number of other people).

Chi has lived in S-P for nearly a year now.  He volunteered to apply his hobbies, specifically photography, towards improving the S-P community.  During his time in the S-P government, Chi has enjoyed meeting new people and being in-the-know about the government and its many activities.

Check out some of Chi’s photography in this month’s photo essay, entitled “Winter Wonderland at MIT”.

Chi and Tamas have a few plans for next semester.  Firstly, they plan to continue the photography discussion/tutorial group they started last term.  Additionally, look out for the upcoming photography contest for S-P residents.

Winter Wonderland at MIT

Photos by Chi Feng.

Killian Court. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Killian Court. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Student center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Student center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Sidney Pacific main entrance. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Sidney Pacific main entrance. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Bikes outside of the student center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Bikes outside of the student center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Building 1 and Killian court. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Building 1 and Killian court. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Stata center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.

Stata center. Courtesy of SP-photofile.