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Showing posts from December, 2023

I Built a Gingerbread House!

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I attended another event hosted by the Baking club at Loyola University Maryland and this time, I built and decorated gingerbread house.  The gingerbread house kit came with a mini village of gingerbread buildings. We four gingerbread houses that we could choose to build: Santa’s House, a Candy Shop, a Sweet Shop, and a Chalet. I picked a random one, and it happened to be the Chalet.    Gingerbread Chalet, sprinkles, and gum drops The gingerbread Chalet did give me a few problems once I started building. One of my pieces broke apart, luckily, I was able to fix it by using icing. This gingerbread house was smaller than a typical gingerbread house which made it difficult to decorate. I decided to decorate the walls before putting the roof on. I used red icing for the walls and a lot of sprinkles to create “lights” along the base of the house. Attaching the roof was tricky too. I had to hold one of the roof slabs in place for a few minutes because it kept sliding down. ...

Loyola Greyhounds vs. Mount St. Mary's

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  BALTIMORE – The Loyola University Maryland (1-9) Greyhounds faced a tough loss against Mount St. Mary’s (3-6) Mountaineers’, 77-64 on Sunday in Reitz Arena.  Jedy Cordilia scored the two first points of the game for the Mountaineers after the Greyhounds turned the ball over twice within the first minute of the first half.  Loyola’s turnovers seem to be a challenge for the team. In the seven games prior to this, the number of turnovers for the Greyhounds have all reached double-digits, excluding their game against La Salle University. The Greyhounds had 22 turnovers against Mount Saint Mary’s which the Mountaineers converted into 24 points. Offensive rebounding is another challenge for the Greyhounds. In four out of the seven previous matches, they have only had 9 offensive rebounds. In contrast, they earn between 21 and 29 defensive rebounds each game. The Greyhounds had 9 offensive rebounds and 29 defensive rebounds in this match.   The Mountaineers led the f...

Halloween Cookie Decorating!

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Maeve is one of my mentees from Student Leadership Corps (SLC). She is also one of the executive officers of the baking club here at Loyola University Maryland. She coordinated a Halloween cookie decorating event for the club and invited my other mentees and I to the event. She provided, icing, and sprinkles, and the cookies.  Maeve made all of the cookies from scratch. They were sugar cookies, but they all had a different shape. Some cookies were shaped like pumpkins, some were shaped like bats, and some were shaped like ghosts. Maeve even baked some in the shape of Frankenstein’s head. She also used orange food coloring for the pumpkin-shaped and green food coloring for Frankenstein-shaped cookies. Of course, the colors of the icing and sprinkles had to match the Halloween theme so there was a variety of purple, orange, black, green, and yellow sprinkles. There were also sprinkles shaped like googly eyes.  My cookies I chose to decorate the ghost and pumpkin cookies first. I...

Arabyola Bakes Baklava

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Arabyola hosted an end of fall semester celebration where they served baklava. Baklava is a popular dessert in the Middle East, originating in Turkey. It is made with phyllo dough, filled with chopped nuts, and topped with a sweet syrup or honey. I have never tried baklava prior to this event. I have seen a few videos of people making baklava and picture of it, but never had the opportunity to try it. Baklavas Kitaa Cashew Bite (top) and  Bird's Nest with pistachio (bottom) There were several types of baklavas served at the event. In the large box, there were Kitaa Cashew Bites, Baklava Cashew Bites, Bokaj Cashew Florets, Bird’s Nest with pistachio, Baklava Finger Cashew, and Kol W Shkor Cashew rolls. I tried the Bird’s Nest with pistachio and the Kitaa Cashew Bites. I immediately tasted the honey that coated them as I bit into them. They phyllo dough created a flaky texture which reminded me of a croissant.  I tried a few other baklavas too. One of them reminded me of a sandw...

B'More Greek Grill

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A few weeks ago, I noticed a blue food truck located near the humanities building at Loyola University Maryland. I didn’t pay much attention to it until I saw a lot of people with food from the truck. From a distance, the food looked and smelled delicious, so I decided to check out the food truck.  B'More Grill Menu I learned the blue food truck is owned by B’More Greek Grill. Their menu consists of an extensive list of dishes from Greek cuisine. I’ve never had Greek food before, so I was excited to try it.  I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out what to order because of how many food options they offered. I finally decided to order the traditional gyro which consisted of lamb, diced tomatoes and onions, and their homemade tzatziki wrapped in a pita wrap. I ordered a side of fries too. I’ve only had lamb once in my life and that was when I was 13 years old. However, I wanted to have the most authentic experience with the food which is why I didn’t substitute the lamb for...