New Drink Combinations

Expanding upon our previous post, we have developed several new drinks, separate from everything you can create at the new Coke Freestyle Machine. As always, achieving partial separation of the components is optimal, since you'll get a cool layered look that everyone will be envious of.

Here they are:




Mr. Blue
Fill 2/3 with Blue Powerade, then top off with Hi-C Pink Lemonade until you achieve this perfect color.

Ginger-tea
I know this looks odd, but it actually tastes pretty good. Fill halfway with Ginger-ale, then add Unsweetened Iced Tea.












Blue Lemonade:
Mix equal parts of Blue Powerade with regular lemonade. Note how the color layering can vary based on which is first.









Punch Tea:
Fill 1/3 with Hi-C Fruit Punch, then top off with Unsweetened Iced Tea. The fruit punch gives sweetness to the tea.

Purple Drank:
This was created sortof by accident. This is an experiment in chromatography. Start with Blue Lemonade above, then add fruit punch. If you imagine that it tastes like the grape it looks like, then it will. Otherwise, it's just sorta cool.

Eggplant (or anything)-Parm Panini

This is a very simple kick-up with large potential for variation. The Panini press is very under-utilized, but has great value.

Take any ______-Parmesan, such as Chicken or Eggplant, and put it on a sub roll from the sandwich station. Add in some extra Provolone Cheese, some marinara sauce, and Panini press that thing. Pay no attention to the crazy sizzling when the sauce spills out onto the Panini press. It should look slightly delicious by the time it’s done.

 Also note the garlic bread, which is one of my favorite staples this year at Leo's

Simple Pleasure Mondays: At Home Sandwiches

Fair Leo's Patrons,

Today I write on the fantastically improved lunch option of the at home station: the sandwiches from the "At Home" station on the upper level of O'Donovan's. Oven roasted turkey breast or seared roast beef come ready-to-carve and placed on a deliciously warm ciabatta roll... If you haven't already, try it with some cheese from the downstairs deli.

Granted neither of us are a fan of the fact that we are not able to serve ourselves, but all the Leo's employees have been super generous about proportions. We're huge fans of this new addition especially, so next time at lunch give it a shot. Hopefully a picture to come.

Keep checking in with us this week for more O'Donnovations, and good garsh check out Scott's Make-your-own Apple Pie post below!

Make-your-own Apple Pie!

This is undoubtedly our most ambitious creation yet, and it took a good amount of planning, tweaking, and preparation, but it was definitely worth it. I guarantee that if you do make this, you will gain the eternal respect and admiration of all your friends, plus whoever else is lucky enough to witness the glorious event. Note: It is MUCH better if you can make during weekend brunch as they will still have the brown sugar out by the oatmeal. Otherwise you're forced to use powdered sugar.

Total preparation time, including cooking, is about 15-20 minutes, but it's worth it if you have time to spare.

Ingredients:

1 apple, Granny Smith works best

3-4 Tbsp brown sugar, use powdered (from near waffles) if unavailable

dusting of cinnamon to cover sugar, probably 1/4 tsp.

Cinnamon Toast Applesauce- 1 medium bowl

MYOP crust

3 pats butter

extra brown sugar and cinnamon

The easiest way to prepare this is to grab an apple, then a bowl full of your sugar and cinnamon. Then make your Cinnamon Toast Applesauce with about 2 scoops of applesauce and a thick covering of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Set these down at your table, then get your butter and a MYOP crust on a circular grill platter.

Start by cutting up your apple into thin slices. As a side note, if you're willing, the recipe could benefit from more than 1 apple, but it isn't totally necessary. Spread the apples out on a plate and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over them, turning to coat, then let sit for several minutes.

In the meantime, spread one of the pats of butter on the crust. Then spread the Cinnamon Toast Applesauce over it just as you would do with boring old tomato sauce.

The apple mixture on the left, and applesauce spread on the crust to the right. Note that this does not use brown sugar, nor do I have the CTC mixed into the applesauce.







Arrange the apples on top to cover completely. Dab some more butter around on the apples, then sprinkle a little more cinnamon sugar over the top. Hand it to the Bistro MYOP attendant and watch their amusement. They shouldn't give you trouble, but if they do, be confident, tell them you've done it before and it's fine (at least, I've done it before...)

While it's cooking grab 2 scoops of ice cream. Typically you'd go for vanilla, but Leo's has been serving this "Deep Dish Apple" for some time, which is what I used.

When your pie comes out, top it with the ice cream and enjoy, with or without a spoon.

Oh yes...

Some additional notes. I've thought about adding a second crust on the top, or at least something of a crumble. Feel free to experiment, but these are my experiences:

-MYOP crust does not crease well, so it may be difficult to get a top crust to stay in place

-A lattice crust would look really sick, but I don't know how it would work. If you don't know what a lattice crust looks like, never mind.

-Granola could be a potential topping, to make this sort of like an apple crumble. Feel free to try, however, do not use Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the top, as it will burn, as seen below:

In any case, feel free to experiment, but I sincerely hope you enjoy this massive O'Donnovation.

Pear, Chicken, and Swiss MYOP

This is definitely a step toward the gourmet at Leo’s. The pears add a gentle sweetness that contrasts with the usual saltiness of a MYOP. Pears are not always available, so be sure to take advantage of your few opportunities, especially before they go out of season.

Ingredients:

1 Fresh Pear

Chicken, preferably grilled, but baked works as well. If nothing, use MYOP chicken

4-5 pieces Swiss cheese from sandwich station

baby spinach

mushrooms

MYOP crust, sauce, cheese

onions

peppers
Parmesan cheese, oregano (optional)

You’ll need to start by gathering all your ingredients on a plate, then take it to MYOP to assemble it all. Of course the key is the pear. Cut thin slices, at least 10 of them, it should take more than half the whole pear. Gather some baby spinach leaves and mushrooms, and a grilled/baked chicken breast if possible (sadly they’re not available at the Bistro anymore, but cut it into thin slices if you can get one).

At the MYOP station, top a pizza crust with one ladle of sauce, then lay your Swiss cheese over it and very lightly cover with mozzerella cheese. Sprinkle with onions and peppers, then arrange the spinach leaves around it. Top with the chicken, then arrange your pear slices on the very top. If you desire, top with pizza toppings such as oregano and Parmesan cheese.

Yum.

Simple Pleasure Mondays: Delectable Desserts + Sanitary Conditions at Leo's

This informative and colorful--albeit rather short--simple pleasure is to laud the efforts of Leo's on their astronomical dessert improvements. Check out the editor's choice, new and improved cheesecake. Huzzah!

Onto our next topic, sanitary conditions!
...have taken a turn for the worse (see photo). Safe to say we'll be avoiding the MYOP station for a little while.

Stay tuned for expanded drink creations, perhaps a guest editorial, and more O'donnovations in the coming weeks!

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

After the huge success of the Buffalo Chicken Pizza, this creation became quickly apparent as a way to spice up (literally) Chicken Finger Thursdays. It's actually surprisingly easy to create, and only takes a few minutes. Feel free to try this with any other chicken that you can find, but it's definitely better using the Chicken Tenders.

Ingredients:
4 pats butter
several dollops hot sauce (not Tabasco)
Long Sandwich Roll
Lettuce
2-3 Chicken Tenders
Bleu Cheese or Ranch Dressing

First, our patented Buffalo Sauce method. unwrap the pats of butter into a small bowl, then microwave them until totally melted, about 30 seconds. Add several dashes of hot sauce and stir it all together until you get that delicious orange color.
Get a plate with a few pieces of lettuce and a sandwich roll, then pick up your chicken tenders. At your table, put some lettuce in the roll and set it aside, then pour the buffalo sauce over the chicken tenders and turn to coat. Place your buffalo chicken on the sandwich roll, then go to the salad dressing and top it all off with some Bleu Cheese or Ranch. Enjoy!

 

Edit: Leo's now provides buffalo sauce near the ketchup, BBQ sauce, and mustard dispensers.  I still prefer to make my own, but this is an acceptable alternative that saves significant time.

Double Edit: The Diner today (10/4) had an attempt at recreating this as their Chicken Special. Consensus? It's much better when you do it my way.

Simple Pleasure Mondays: Coke Freestyle

Let's be honest. That large, oracular-looking coke machine next to the ice cream station on the bottom floor is starting to give us the creeps. It's got 20 banners for itself, has a touchscreen, and is probably secretly watching us to make sure we don't take food from the dining hall (unsuccessfully--GOT HEEM!). That said, I had always been curious about trying the Freestyle after seeing one at a pizza place back in California but being too cheap to pay for a soda--since all drink options are complimentary at O'Donovan's, I had to give it a shot.

My verdict? It's a pretty ridiculous machine, but worth a try just to quench your curiosity (ironic pun to make fun of their banners intended). It's got all the same options as the coke machines you'll find at the sides of each level of Leo's, plus it gives you the option to inject the soda of your choice with any number of bizarre syrups. Surprisingly, a few of the syrups were subtle and delicious--the orange-flavored coke was a personal favorite of mine.

Nevertheless, fair Leo's patrons, unless you've stumbled upon a combination that you just can't resist (please let us know) don't bother waiting in the occasionally heinous line to try the thing. As hard as it might be to believe, the machine doesn't have feelings--although given the pace of technological advancement these days I couldn't say for sure.


Stay tuned for an exposé on what's got students waiting so long for the new and improved stir fry station, as well as a plea for Leo's to retract how its new "At Home" Station is run.

Simple Pleasure Mondays: Odd-hour Dining as a Response to New Policies

Hello hello! Welcome back to another year of fine dining tips and recipes from your friends at OOTW. I (John) have admittedly been slacking off with regards to posts this year; as if living in Nevils with a block 75 meal plan weren't enough, I have been faced with a flooded apartment this past weekend... Irregardless (yes, that should be a word) I'm back to give you what I believe to be a pointer that, due to the changes in O'Donovan's this year, is more essential than ever: odd-hour dining.
What is odd-hour dining, you ask? Why should I only eat at 9, 11, 1, 3, 5, or 7? Apologies for the dad-like humor notwithstanding, odd-hour dining is simply the practice of eating at Leo's during the times that are less crowded. Odd-hour dining can turn into somewhat of an art form; one must find a time when a sufficient amount of food is still being served, yet the lines are short enough and tables are plentiful.

Usually, a safe timetable for odd-hour dining is as follows: breakfast at 9:45 am, lunch at 11:30 am or 2:00 pm, and dinner at 5:15 pm or 7:45 pm. Of course this will fluctuate on any given day, and just as the freshness of the baked cod at the "At Home" station, is sometimes unpredictable and may turn out unfavorably.
I say that this is an especially important time to take advantage of odd-hour dining mostly because of the changes we've seen on the upper level of Leo's. Much like New Jersey (#HamptonHomeland) gas stations, the food is now doled out by employees rather than self-served by students. In my personal opinion this hinders the efficiency of the Leo's lines, causing unnecessary congestion and taking valuable Leo's personell away from preparing more food instead (for all you fellow econ people, this appears to be Bastiat's broken windon fallacy incarnate). I am tempted to contact Leo's staff and inquire about the new policy--it may be time for another campaign... But until then, odd-hours dining is the best way around this new change.