Grilled cheese, please!

There's just something about grilled cheese that makes it my all-time favorite, easy-to-make, lunch, dinner, or snack food. It might be because it's so quick to make when you're hankering for a little brain food while studying or just because there's such a variety of ingredients you can use to get different tastes and flavors, I'm not exactly sure. Either way, I love trying them in new places, especially cities that boast about serving America's best grilled cheese, such as the ones in this article. Just looking at the pictures, these three are my favorite:

1. Grahamwich, Chicago, IL
Graham Elliot Bowles is known for playful cuisine at Graham Elliot, and the sandwiches at his take-out joint, Grahamwich, are equally inventive. The grilled cheese on sliced Pullman loaf features Wisconsin cheddar, prosciutto, tomato marmalade and cheese curds, which, when melted, add an extra soft, gooey effect.

2. Beecher's Handmade Cheese, Seattle, WA and New York, NY
This Pike Place Market fixture recently expanded to New York with a big boutique and production facility. Each location grills its signature Flagship cheese-a slightly nutty blend of cheddar and Gruyère cultures-with fillings like tomato and basil. Each location also uses local bread: In Seattle, it's from Grand Central Bakery; Harlem nonprofit Hot Bread Kitchen provides excellent loaves in NYC.

3. Roxy's Grilled Cheese Boston, MA
With respect to Boston baseball, Roxy's offers the Green Muenster, with guacamole and bacon. Here, too, mac and cheese is considered a sandwich filling for the Mac & Chorizo. In an ingenious twist, Roxy's brushes mayonnaise on the outside of sandwiches, rather than butter, before slapping them on the griddle.

It's kind of like chocolate chip cookies: everyone claims that their mother makes the best. In my case, I think our own university can fit that description well enough though.. If you've never had an MSU Dairy Store grilled cheese sandwich, change that immediately. With all of the dairy products made on campus, they are the most delicious sandwiches that I have ever had. Did I mention you can free tomato soup EVERY MONDAY when you buy a grilled cheese? It's my new favorite lunch. :D

Happy National Engineering Week!

Boy, has this been the BUSIEST week of the semester (and it's not even midterms yet!) Every day since last Sunday there has been something engineering related going on to take up time outside of school and work. It's almost like Rush Week for the Greek system, except nerdier. The College of Engineering had a range of events planned from companies to come in and talk with interested students, social events for the different engineering clubs, a banquet recognizing those students and staff who have contributed immensely to the College over the year, and hosting the Engineering Expo where students can talk with companies and apply for internships, co-ops, and full-time positions. Seeing as I have yet to find an internship for this upcoming summer, my main focus of the week was researching which companies I wanted to speak with at the expo, tweaking my resume, and practicing professionalism. I'd say it was a pretty successful career fair as I gained four interviews from the experience! I had two of them on Friday and two are scheduled for next week, so hopefully at least one will go well enough so I can be employed this summer! Here's a video of how a few other MSU engineering students reacted to the week:

I hope that other engineering students were able to get as much out of the week as I did! And I'd like to thank the College and all of the groups who hosted all of the events, it was extremely beneficial!

And now it's back to studying for midterms.. but only one more week until SPRING BREAK 2012!!!! :D

Happy Hockey Day in America!

Since we are STILL celebrating the joys of hockey, I thought I would share some of the photos from the Spartan's last regular season game from last night!

Ten seniors, Class of 2012, acknowledged before puck drop.

A Spartan Senior tradition: kissing the Spartan helmet at center ice.

My three favorite Slapshots seniors; I've had three incredible seasons of cheering with these girls, and it's going to be SO different without them next season. Best of luck to all of you ladies <3

The Slapshots and Spartan Brass seniors being acknowledged after the Alma Mater at the end of the game.

Senior members getting to meet and greet with the team, staff, and head coach.

They also got to participate in the classic senior tradition! :]

Celebrating our final home game win with one of Slapshots favorite traditions: throwing ripped up newspaper in the air every time a goal is scored by the Spartans!

All the flag runners over the past three years; after a Spartan goal is scored, the flagman (or woman) runs a full lap around the concourse of Munn Ice Arena followed closely behind the Spartan Brass Tuba section!

The senior posters made by a few dedicated Slapshots members! We all got to sign the backs of the posters to thank the seniors for everything they have done for the team as well as wish them good luck in the future!

It may have been the last REGULAR season home game, but we still have the CCHA playoffs to look forward to since the Spartans did so well with a sweep this past weekend! :D

And as a side note, congratulations to my favorite NHL team, the Detroit Red Wings, for continuously breaking the record of winning 23 consecutive games on home ice! Let's go Red Wings!!!

The best game you can name is the good old hockey game!

Happy Hockey Day in Michigan, which also coincides with Hockey Weekend Across America! Founded in 2006, this holiday was created so everyone in Michigan can celebrate their love for hockey and the growth of all kinds of hockey organizations! Michigan boasts over 2,500 youth and amateur hockey teams and this number is constantly growing year after year. Obviously, Michiganders truly love their hockey.

To honor this weekend, the Detroit Red Wings are holding their first outdoor practice in Detroit's Clark Park that is open to the public for a small donation or fee. They've played and practiced outside before when they played in the Winter Classic at Chicago's Wrigley Stadium, but this is the first time local Red Wings fans can enjoy seeing their beloved team at home. Hockey players always talk about how much they love playing outdoors, since that's where most of their dreams started. It's great to see the NHL bringing hockey back to its roots.

And just in case anyone hasn't heard this yet, the Detroit Red Wings will be facing the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Winter Classic 2013 at THE BIG HOUSE IN ANN ARBOR, MI! It'll be their second appearance in the Winter Classic games, but the first time on "home" ice. I plan on buying tickets the moment they go on sale, and not to mention for all the other events that will be happening in Detroit for the two weeks prior. They are also talking about hosting the Great Lakes Invitational at the Big House as well, so we'll get to see our Spartan hockey team play outdoors AGAIN without having to wait for the next Big Chill!

Okay, and my last little blurb about hockey: tonight is the Spartan's last home game of the regular season and we're honoring ALL the seniors, players and Slapshots members alike. If you want to see a fantastic game and cheer on your fellow Spartans, come to the game at Munn! The seniors are being honored at 7:30pm and puck drop is 8:05pm! We're playing University of Alaska Fairbanks, and hopefully we'll be able to make it a six-point weekend sweep with another win tonight!

Wow, I guess I didn't realize I was such a hockey fanatic..
GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

Go Green. Beat Blue. Give Red!

I feel (and probably look) like a war hero in the medical department today. Before I tell you the story, let me explain why.

Currently, Michigan State and the University of Michigan are battling to see which school can get more participants, whether it be students, staff, or alumni, to donate blood to the American Red Cross. It's an annual event in the beginning of Spring semester, and MSU's goal this year is to collect over 1400 units! There are several places on campus that you can go to to donate to make it more convenient for everyone interested. You can check the times, locations, and dates here.

But back to my story. I had an appointment scheduled right before lunch, so I didn't really have time to eat after class (don't worry, I ate breakfast though!) I also have a tendency to iron deficiency, so it's more difficult for me to donate than other people. So I go to my appointment time, wait around for about half an hour before my blood pressure and hemoglobin are tested, and then find out that my iron level is too low to donate.

Strike one.

I had the opportunity to test the hemoglobin on the other side of my body, so I accepted, and thankfully it was just above high enough for me to donate! After taking the health question exam I was led to the beds to finally give blood. Unfortunately for me, I hadn't had much water all day, and my veins were dehydrated, so the first time I got poked with a needle, it missed.

Strike two.

Too many things had gone wrong initially already, but I wasn't ready to give up yet. Luckily, everything worked out the second time on my other arm, so I was out of there in no time after that! The only thing bad was that I had both arms wrapped up in gauze and red tape, and a band-aid on each of my middle fingers. Like I said earlier, a true blood donation war hero. :p

I love the intense rivalry between our school and that other one down the road, and being able to participate in it just makes me feel that much more school-spirited! If you have the opportunity and are willing to donate, please do so! It's an awesome feeling knowing that you can possibly save a life by donating blood. I'm not a big fan of needles or pin pricks, but I find it much more rewarding knowing that I'm part of something bigger than myself.

Go Green. Beat Blue. Give Red!

"Together we build the future."

Is the motto of Michigan State's newly inducted colony of the sorority, Phi Sigma Rho! I'm not sure if I had ever mentioned this in the past, but I am now officially a member of the Alpha Class of what will be MSU's newest sorority next fall! We are an engineering and technology focused sorority for girls that are interested in Greek life and Sisterhood but are far too busy with their studies and jobs to be a part of just any sorority on campus. Honestly, it still is pretty time consuming though. I hold the Historian board position, so I'm required to go to the E-board meetings as well as the general meetings for all of the members. But, it is definitely the greatest decision I have made all year.

It all started last summer when my Biosystems Engineering friend emailed a small group of us girls asking if we wanted to be a part of starting a sorority on campus. Her cousin is the president of Triangle, the engineering fraternity, here at MSU, and he heard about it through their National Conference over the summer. My initial thought was that it was going to be rather difficult to get a bunch of engineering girls, considering there is such a limited number of us on campus to begin with, who would even want to be in a sorority in the first place. That all changed when I went to the first meeting we held in the fall. There were eight of us and we talked with some of the VPs of the National Sorority of Phi Sigma Rho about what we needed to do to make this happen.

And now, six months later, there are twenty-seven dedicated members, all striving for the same thing: the bond of Sisterhood. I love each an every one of these girls, and I'm so ecstatic to be a part of something that will continue at MSU for years to come! We have so many plans to make this sorority as successful as possible including fundraisers, social events with other fraternities and sororities MSU and non-MSU alike, and even potentially getting a Phi Rho house in the near future!

Here's a few pictures from our celebration after induction yesterday. It was held in the Engineering Building (I mean, honestly, where else would you hold an engineering sorority inductance?) and we also got to start our member education so we can become chapter members in the fall!

Starting our member education! We got a head start by memorizing the 

Greek alphabet earlier this past week!

MSU girls before Induction.

My Pearl Sister, Pam. <3 Since we are the Alpha Class and have no previous MSU class to induct us in, the wonderful ladies of Phi Rho from the University of Michigan were each assigned to one of us to become our Pearl Sister. Pam is absolutely amazing, and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful or warm-hearted sister to gain from being a part of Phi Rho. She was also Historian of the Eta Chapter at UMich, and I hope to learn a lot from here to make our chapter just as great!

The five girls who TRULY got this going: (L to R) Jena, Kristin, Rachel, Sarah, and Krista.

MSU and UMich sisters celebrating!

All MSU and UMich ladies of Phi Sigma Rho!

The Alpha Class of the MSU Chapter of Phi Rho!

I absolutely cannot WAIT for all of the events planned for this Spring and next Fall having to do with Phi Rho! There's going to be Rush events, socials, a formal ball, study groups, a lock-in, but mainly just times to hang out, have fun, get to know each other, and form a Sisterhood that will last a lifetime.

#phirholove

I'm not afraid to take a stand.

Woooooo the New York Giants won the Super Bowl XLVI! 

Not that I really cared who won, BUT Greg Jones (an MSU alumni) is a Giant! He got his first Super Bowl ring in his first NFL season! I also just recently discovered this, but Jones also proposed to his girlfriend right after the game, on the field, with all of the celebrations and confetti falling down for the big win. How PERFECT was that moment for him?! And of course, she said yes. So congratulations to him on those two accounts! :D

But really, everyone knows the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials. This year, it was kind of odd how the commercials had trailers that were released in the weeks previous to the game, though. Does anyone else agree? I felt like I had already seen a majority of the commercials and it hadn't even hit halftime. Oh well.

While I wasn't impressed with as many commercials as last year or the year before, I still had a few favorites. The Coca-Cola commercials are just classic. I think it's really cool to see them bring back their iconic glass bottles and polar bears in their commercials nowadays. The Dorito ones are always really funny as well, especially the one with the dog bribing his owner. And despite the product that their selling, the Budweiser and Bud Light commercials are always pretty creative. My FAVORITE new Budweiser commercial didn't play last night, but I'll post it here so everyone else can see. It's fantastic. Just look at all of the hockey players faces when the fans rush in. Absolutely beautiful.

To see the making of this commercial as well, go here. It's a really short clip, but it shows how much effort and dedication it took to make this happen. I love it!

Among the other Super Bowl commercials, my favorite had to be the Chrysler commercial for imported from Detroit. Last year's featured Eminem, which was AWESOME considering he grew up with our automotive economy and suffered the hardships from it that we all know of so well. This year they used Clint Eastwood with his famous line, "The world will hear the roar of our engines. Yeah, it's halftime America, and our second half is about to begin." In particular, I'm not a fan of Chrysler brand cars, but I LOVE the inspiration that comes out of Detroit auto commercials.

What were some of your favorite commercials? Post links on the comments here!