chicago

Phantom Gourment Food Festival 2016

November 26, 2016

September 24, 2016 was a jam packed day for the Fenway area. On Landsdowne and Ipswich street was the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival, and inside the Fenway Park Concourse was "college fest". Both events yielded a LOT of free stuff. It's almost like you start off going to college fest to check out the free promotions from the vendors, and then once you're a pompous young professional in Boston, you pay the $30 entrance fee to stuff yourself with free samples and listen to throwback jams with your old college friends at the bars on Landsdowne St.

The set up of the food festival was as follows: booths local restaurants and food retailers lined both Landsdowne and Ipswich St. Beer tents were sprinkled along the route. All of the bars - Bill's Bar, Tequila Rain, the House of Blues and more - were all open. There was a costume/dance contest happening at Tequila Rain while I was at Bill's Bar. I'm pretty sure they were playing the same songs for the dance contest in Bill's Bar because there was a stream of 1980's  - 2000s songs being played and faded into each other, and not in an ironic way.

At the end of the day, I had a great time tasting DELICIOUS local food. I went there having eaten nothing for the day, and I came out super full just from samples. Here's a list of the places I visited, and some pictures!
KINGS pulled pork slider
Foundry Lobster roll slider
Hush Puppies corn and chorizo food festival
Boston Burger Company Cinnamon Sugar Sweet Potato Fries
Comella's Pasta
All Star Sandwich Bar BBQ Chicken Salad
Cakes by Erin "drunken pumpkin" cupcake


I was expecting a bit of a burger but their glazed sweet potato fries were delicious. I'd give my first born child for regular sweet potato fries so who knows what I would do for regular ones.



Beer tastes better in aluminum cans


"Drunken Pumpkin" cupcake. I think there was a pumpkin liquor in the frosting. The makes of these cupcakes are going to be on the next episode of "Halloween Wars"!



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barb

How "Stranger Things" tapped perfectly into the millennial market

November 14, 2016

After premiering this summer, the Netflix Original series "Stranger Things" rose to the top of the charts immediately.  In eight short episodes, it found its way to steal both the Emmy's red carpets and our hearts. As a communications major, I naturally ponder: Why? What is it about the show that makes it so lovable?


image credit: Popsugar

As I started watching the series, I started realizing that the show developers must have just trolled on Tumblr for things that internet-addicted teens and twenty-somethings loved. Each character, theme, music, actor, and story arc reminded me of things that my friends and I (college-aged millennials) love. Here are my top picks for my millennials go nuts for Stranger Things:



 1. The 80s music

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We love 80's music. So much that we make music that sounds similar to it. All of the 80's throwbacks make this show relatable and enjoyable. 

2. Paranormal Activity

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For some reason, we love getting the life scared out of us. 

3. 80s High School Movie Themes
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We also love throwing it back to the 80's and the teen heartthrobs. It takes us away from the failing current political, social, economic climate of our country :)

4.  Little Kids
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None of us want to have them, but we love watching them try to solve mysteries!

5. Mystery

We love mystery for the same reason we love throwing it back to the 80s. It makes us forget about our significant cheating others, student loans, homework, and tear-stained pillows.

6. The Character Dynamics

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We love rooting for an unsuspecting character to come out as better than we thought they were.

7. The Binge-ability
Eight. Short. Episodes.

8. The Easy Halloween Costume
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Who didn't wear these costumes?

9. The Originality


This series is downright original. It's not another comic book hero, vampire, or zombie.

9. The Friendship
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Because above all, we love our friends.





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alcohol

Turning 21 - Expectations vs Reality

November 06, 2016

In the states, 21 years is the "golden age". Yes - the golden age where you can legally purchase alcohol if you drink. Many minors participate in underage drinking by begging those of age to purchase it for them, or getting using IDs to get into bars and purchase alcohol at stores. 


Me? Oh, never! How could I participate in such behavior?

Regardless of my past, the day in which my driver's license turns into a golden ticket to adulthood is fast-approaching. Naturally, I have many fantasy-like expectations of the night. I expect a delicious meal by the ocean in Marblehead, maybe lobster paired with a Cape Codder as my first legal drink, with my mother and a few close friends. Then, I buy a bottle of something easy to take shots of, maybe Fireball, to pregame, and bar hop around Salem with the girls trying local IPAs and getting in good with the bartenders. We'll be laughing all the way home in the Uber reliving the awesome night, and I'll go to work the next morning gabbing about all the fun I had.

I know it all won't go as planned like that, though. This is real life, not a glorified Sex and the City highlight reel.  

Group of friends expectation


Group of friends reality


Dinner expectation


Dinner reality


Pre-gaming expectation


Pre-gaming reality

Ubering downtown expectation

Ubering downtown reality


Ordering a drink for the first time expectation


Ordering a drink for the first time reality


Making drunk friends expectation


Making drunk friends reality


Getting back safely expectation


Getting back safely reality
Work the next day expectation

via GIPHY

Work the next day reality

via GIPHY



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