Tag Archives: College

Brown Sugar and Chili Braised Pork Shoulder

Having a spare hour or two in the afternoon, I decided to braise a whole pork shoulder for dinner. Although I run a lot, I could count on the help of a few friends—six to be precise—to finish off the beast. Pork shoulder is intrinsically delicious (oh fat, oh crispy skin, so the ode proceeds), cheap ($1.99 a pound!), and extremely easy to cook. In fact, I left the shoulder in the oven for two hours unsupervised during my evening class. No harm done. It does, however, require time, and time’s attendant, patience, for a proper preparation. Do not undertake a pork shoulder roast lightly: it is not a dish to be trifled with. Continue reading

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Filed under College Life, Columbia University, Recipes

Love Letter in a Lecture Hall

I don’t write very much poetry, and I don’t publish most of it here (The Donut Shop, Natchez, Mississippi to the contrary). Wednesday night, I was sitting in my U.S. Intellectual History 1865-Present lecture, listening to a talk about James Baldwin and company, when I felt inspired to jot down a quick poem. Its tangential commitment to food makes it appropriate for this website (which I suspect will be publishing more content with no relationship to food whatsoever soon).

Love Letter in a Lecture Hall

she smelled like tandoor and buttered nan
thick curry, chaat, chutney, paneer

[in electric lecture halls
the press of flesh and coffee cups make
mapping scent
like finding fiends in cham cham clouds]

she held a blue Bic and I loved it
Dear Blake, she wrote, her face obscured
behind my blinkers,
stewed love in secret pots.

Love told can be
scratched out before
the pumping pause of hearts unhinged.

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Filed under Columbia University, Poetry

Big Changes For The College Critic

As another school year rapidly approaches, big changes are coming to The College Critic. For example, I’ll have substantially less time to cook, but I’ll also be back on the New York restaurant beat. With new spots sprouting up all over Morningside Heights and Harlem, the next few months will prove. . .interesting, if not exhilarating and downright combative. But besides the annual evolutions of my personal culinary life, The College Critic will be adopting a new format for a new year. We’re going big. We’re going national.

Employing around a dozen correspondents at campuses across the country, The College Critic will be providing information on the restaurants, stores, dishes, and drinks that make your college campus tick. Every week, we’ll offer new restaurant reviews, interviews, and testimonials from college students. From Duke to Princeton, Washington University to Wellesley, The College Critic is coming to a college near you. Never dine without info again.

Maybe you’re the expert on your college dining scene. You’re the go-to-guy (or gal) on cafeteria deals, cheap eats, and  parent appropriate dinner choices. Or maybe you happen to have something to say about food on your campus, in your college town, or in your big city. Contributing to The College Critic is easy: simply email us at thecollegecritic@gmail.com. Required time and effort: minimal. Contribution to your college community: questionable, but probably significant. Best of all, we already reach a national and international audience, so this is a chance to get your voice heard. Love the Burger King up the block because they always give you an extra patty? Think the best fine dining restaurant in American is up the street from UC Berkeley?  Let us, your friends, and thousands of other college students know.

The College Critic is about to make a major mark on campus dining; no longer must we stand by and accept mediocre food, waste money on overpriced cafés, or suffer another poorly prepared coffee. Join us and the other college critics. Because there’s not just dorm food anymore.

-The College Critic(s)

thecollegecritic@gmail.com

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Filed under College Life, Meta, Miscellaneous

Movin’ Out

Finding time to eat during move-out week proves tough—with a plenitude of parties, meetings, finals, and farewells, snagging a simple meal in-between study sessions, sleep, and cleaning forces difficult choices. Should I spend an hour eating or actually try and study for that calc exam? Getting everything done without suffering a heart attack ackackackackack appears impossible. Continue reading

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Filed under College Life, Dining Suggestions, Drinks