Monthly Archives: September 2014

Good bye Summer

Weather is changing, people are getting sick and summer is technically over, so what better way to cleanse your body and say bye to summer than by drinking tea, lemonade, or both at the same time! Starbucks Unsweetened or Sweetened Tevana Green Tea Lemonade is the drink to have during these days. Believe it or not, Starbucks Coffee also sells teas and they are DELICIOUS. Teas can be ordered in a variety of sizes (tall, grande, venti or trenta), flavors (green tea, green tea lemonade, peach tea, mojito tea, passion fruit tea, chai, vanilla rooibos tea, “zen” tea, black tea, grey tea and china tea), and could also be served shaken or iced. Despite all of the horizons you can explore at the Starbucks tea wonder, the green tea lemonade is the one to have!

Why this one specific tea? Well besides being my favorite, it is the perfect mixture of citrus that will help anyone get better from the flu and also say bye to summer with the taste of fresh fruit. The green tea lemonade has a soft and refreshing taste (specially if ordered sweetened) that reminds me of the Pure Leaf Tea brand, but with a more home-ish taste. Unlike all the other Starbucks Teas, the green tea lemonade can be made using the Tazo Green Tea that is found at the bottom cooler before the cashier at any Starbucks. Using the Tazo Grenn Tea will make your order about $1.00-$2.00 more expensive, depending on your size, but will add flavor to your drink.

The Starbucks Tevana Green Tea Lemonade contains anywhere from 60 to 120 calories depending on your size of choice. In other words, the green tea lemonade is relatively healthy. Also, the Tevana Green Tea Lemonade is made out of really simple ingredients, which makes it easy to replicate. All you will need is your favorite brand or kind of green tea with mint, your favorite brand or kind of lemongrass and lemon verbena, sugar, ice and a shaker, or a blender.

If you want to make your own green tea lemonade shaken, add about ½ of a cup of green tea with mint into the shaker. Then, add about ½ of lemongrass and lemon verbena, pour sugar, if you want it sweetened, to your taste, and shake! Once you shake all of your ingredients into your very own green tea lemonade, fill about ¼ of your cup with ice and your green tea lemonade. Top it with some grinded mint leafs or cilantro and enjoy! If you want to make your own iced green tea lemonade follow the same recipe, but instead of pouring everything into the shaker, pour it into the blender (this includes the ¼ cup of ice). Once you have blended everything top it with some grinded mint leafs or cilantro and enjoy! If for some reason your blender isn’t able to blend ice well, you can add some water to the mix and the texture will be easier to blend, you could also shake the ice in the shaker and lave your lemonade with a more “frozen” texture.

green tea lemonade

Works Cited: “Teavana Shaken Iced Green Tea Lemonade.” Starbucks Coffee Company. Starbucks Coorporation, n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2014.

 

Speeches

Project one just ended and I am not sure if I feel exited or nervous. I mean, I am glad that I was able to get over my first speech ever, but I am also nervous because all of the critiques I have towards my own speech are the ones that made the other speeches excellent. For instance, Luke and Caitlyn’s speeches were able to pace themselves, which allowed them to smoothly pinpoint their main arguments consciously in an understandable manner. In the other hand I delivered my speech rapidly with a loud and rushed voice, meaning that I shorten it and wasn’t able to explain everything I had planned in the matter I had planned it. I also noticed how those who were more energetic, like McKenzie, made their speech more welcoming to the public. To a certain extent, I feel that my speech wasn’t able to include the audience since I was barely able to contain myself before exploding with nervousness. Nevertheless, I did notice that those speeches that included videos, like Alex’s and mine, where more intriguing since it allowed the audience to think about the main points that were being argued. I also noticed how the speeches that contained an emotional attachment sounded somewhat more truthful to what you were saying. Taylor’s speech, for example, sounded connected to her arguments, which made it easier for the audience to feel the same connection to her points. It was until she explained the significance behind the image she was presenting that I understood where this connection was coming from; she was after all, part of her arguments. Overall I believe that the entire RCL class had strong aspects in every speech, whether it was acting professional, being enthusiastic, being funny or being knowledgeable about the topic; everyone was able to intrigue and support their beliefs in one way or another. Yes, many of us did it while standing awkwardly, mumbling, repeating the word “umm” one-too-many-times, or even with a nervous-cracking voice, but the end of our speeches justified our means.

The Legally Illegal Coffee

A couple days ago on Sunday September 15, 2014 to be exact, I stayed up until two am in order to practice my RCL speech. The next morning I had to wake up at six in order to arrive to The Hub early and print out my speech outline. I noticed that the line at Starbucks was relatively short (compared to the hectic line it usually has) so I decided to try an item from the secrete menu that I had been curious to try for the longest time, Starbucks “Liquid Cocaine”.

The name of this item has always intrigued me. How can a company name a beverage after one the world’s most dangerous drug? However, when I saw the ingredients that this specific coffee contained the name magically made sense.  The Liquid Cocaine is only available as a grande (or medium) but I can guarantee you that the caffeine rush will last all day. This coffee wonder is composed by four shots of espresso, four pumps of white chocolate syrup or white mocha syrup and ice. This beverage is composed by pure sugar and caffeine and therefore will keep you awake throughout the entire day, even when you are running on four hours of sleep. If you are one of the vast majorities that dislikes pure coffee or even coffee in general, then you might want to consider adding the milk of your preference (Almond, Soy or maybe Pumpkin) in order to lighten the taste.

Even though this coffee might seem as the Starbucks coffee world wonder, what I like the most about it is that it is pretty simple to do at home, and recreate in order to make it more appealing to your taste. For example, if I were to recreate The Liquid Cocaine, I would add 2 ½ shots of espresso, add 2 pumps of white chocolate syrup, fill ½ of the cup with soy-almond flavored milk, add ice, stir the coffee mixture, later on add some whipped cream and sprinkle some grinded cinnamon. This remake of the Starbucks Liquid Cocaine should make the taste somewhat more flexible and ensure a rich coffee taste, but with a softer and smoother end.

This is the perfect beverage to order after an all-nighter, a late study session, during finals week, or even if you are simply addicted to caffeine. This is the beverage to order if you want your eyes to open to the size of an owl’s eyes. However, because of the high level of caffeine The Liquid Cocaine beverage contains I would not recommend drinking too often, since it could later on bring health problems.  Nevertheless, if you do find yourself at Starbucks one day completely drained out of energy and decide to ask your barista for this secret menu item, do not ask for some “Liquid Cocaine”, say the ingredients you want in your coffee instead; asking for liquid cocaine might get you kicked out of the Starbucks location, or could take you to the police station due to the demanding illegal substances.

liquid-cocaine

Work Cited: “Starbucks Secret Menu: Liquid Cocaine.” Starbucks Secret Menu. Starbucks Coorporation, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

 

The American Educational System

In pages 164-166 of Americanah, by Chimandada Ngozi Adiche, the main character, Ifemelu, portrays this uncomfortable and disoriented critique towards how American education is set. Even though Ifemelu is able to prove that Americans are, at times, not as simplistic as they claim, I strongly believe that the position in which Ifemelu is set is caused by the difference in culture and false hopes.

In Nigeria, according to Ifemelu, education was a privilege. In other words lecture time was sacred. However, in the United States education is somewhat more open to opportunities, which means that whomever wishes to study is mostly likely going to be capable of doing such. Since Ifemelu knew how the educational system in America was set, Ifemelu was probably expecting Americans to value the opportunity that they had. That is, by focusing on proper educational ideals rather than open discussions and inexact answers.

Nevertheless, it is surreal to acknowledge how Ifemelu’s observations are true today. At a national scale, I can also observe how Americans have always been thought to say something; perhaps this is why Americans have created some sort of a “know-it-all” stereotype. At a local scale, focusing on The Penn State Environment I can notice how people tend to fall into these critiques made by Ifemelu. For instance, when I bump into someone at The Hub and I apologize, most likely that person will respond with a “you’re fine” or “you didn’t do anything”, rather than a simplistic “okay”. Furthermore when you attend to meetings, classes, or even appointments it is less likely for the spokesperson to end with a simple closing statement, the spokesperson will most likely end with a catch phrase such as “that is all ladies and gentlemen” or, as Ifemelu stated, “you are all set”.

As I observe more in detail what Ifemelu’s main observations were in pages 164-166 I can better understand why her view towards the American educational system is pessimistic. I can also understand why the American education seems as struggle from her point of view. In fact, when I think more in detail about Ifemelu’s observations, I can also somehow critique the American educational system.

Commencement Speech delivered by Steve Jobs

The commencement speech delivered by Steve Jobs in 2005 at Stanford University is probably one of the best, if not the best, speech I have ever heard. From the message to the way the speech was delivered, Jobs commencement speech had it all. Jobs speech was set around three personal experiences that he shared to the graduating class in the form of stories; these stories narrated how he had reached success, lost it all and was still able to succeed because he stayed “hungry and foolish” (Jobs). Even though I believe that Jobs speech was great overall, if he had not delivered it the way he did the greatness of the message would have been lost.

Steve Jobs delivered his message with carefulness, he did not yell, he did not emphasize his voice on certain parts or highlighted certain events with assertive questions. Instead of using these expected speech given keys, Jobs kept a passive voice in which he used long pauses to truly leave important facts to deliver the message to the audience. These pauses were long enough for the audience to interpret and think about what he was trying to emphasize through his stories, but not long enough to bore the audience and elongate his speech.

Even though Jobs did not use any gestures and barely did eye contact with the audience, his posture and sureness about the topic was enough to deliver a speech in a professional manner. In other words by observing Steve Jobs speech I noticed that a professional speech does not need to have gestures, movement, eye-contact, posture, emphasize on certain words, variation in voice, assertiveness etcetera, a professional speech needs to be delivered by someone who dominates the topic and can calmly deliver the central message without rushing or confusing he audience.

Want to watch the 2005 commencement speech delivered by Steve Jobs at Stanford? Here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

The Pumpkin Spiced Latte is Back

The past days at State College, PA have been chilly; which is no surprise of why Starbucks has re-integrated the Pumpkin Spiced Latte to their menu. The Pumpkin Spiced Latte is composed by pumpkin puree, vanilla syrup, pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin flavored milk, espresso shots, and whipped cream. Nevertheless, the ingredients portions change according to the size ordered. If ordered tall (or small) the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is averaged to have 300 calories, from which 100 are fat calories. If ordered grande (or medium) the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is averaged to have 380 calories, from which 120 are fat calories. If ordered venti (or large) the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is averaged to have 470 calories, from which 140 are fat calories.

Nevertheless the Pumpkin Spiced Latte can be ordered hot or cold, meaning that this acclaimed beverage can warm you up on cold days with its creamy foamy flavor, or it can cool you off with its refreshing, creamy-iced flavor. If ordered hot, you will receive a rich creamy beverage toped with whipped cream and foam, which means your coffee will have a soft and smooth taste that resembles the texture found in warm boiled milk. If ordered cold your coffee will be prepared without the foam, and placed in a cup with ice-cubes and whipped cream. The absence of the foam will make your coffee somewhat thicker, yet the creamy texture will still be preserved. The coffee will be refreshing enough to quench your thirst and cool you off from the sun, similar to what an iced cold Kool-Aid would do.

Regardless of your temperature preference, the Pumpkin Spiced Latte will bring fall to your pallet in very sip. The orange color your coffee will obtain resembles the orange color the trees around you will express. The pumpkin flavor will tie perfectly into the season’s atmosphere and holidays. There is no doubt that the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is the favorite fall Starbucks coffee.

If you wished to prepare this fall favorite beverage at home, you would make it following the instructions of the Starbucks tall Pumpkin Spiced Latte version, which is similar in size to a regular coffee mug. First you would add milk and pumpkin puree to a saucepan and allow it to reach a heated temperature, without boiling it. Once it has reached a hot appealing temperature you would add ½ spoon of vanilla syrup, ½ spoon of a pumpkin pie spice and 1-2 shots of espresso (depending on your coffee preference).  If you want to have this drink hot, stir constantly as you add the ingredients, once you’ve created a foamy layer pour your beverage into a mug, top it off with whipped cream, more pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon sticks and enjoy! If you want to have this drink cold simply fill about 1/3 of your mug with iced cubes, then add your coffee mixture into your mug and top it off with whipped cream, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon sticks and enjoy! If done correctly your homemade pumpkin spiced latte should take approximately 15-20 minutes.

PSL

Works Cited: “Pumpkin Spice Latte.” Starbucks Coffee Company. Starbucks Coorporation, n.d. Web. 10 Sept. 2014.

Ifemelu’s “Student” Civic Space

“Americanah”, a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie brings into light many civic spaces that many different people still struggle with today. Even though some might not be as noticeable as others, the one that seems to me Adichie is trying to highlight the most is the “civic spaces” involved in a student’s life.

As soon as “Part II” of the novel evolves, Adichie brings into context Ifemelu (the novel’s main character) and her scholarly life in both Nigeria and the United States of America.When Ifemelu was in Nigeria many protest occurred that did not permit the students to attend to the university since there was no professor to teach the class. This may be viewed as a “double sided civic life coin”. In one side we can see how most part of civic life is preformed at school since when there is interference, in this case the protest, civic life cannot continue to endure. In other words, the everyday life of a student changes. In the other side of this “coin” we can observe how being a scholar, or student, evokes this civic space. This is perhaps the most obvious way of interpreting the importance Adichie gave to Ifemelus student life. When observed I interpret it as this: if Ifemelu would not be a student, then the novel itself would have no civic path in which to endure. This civic path, or space, includes traveling to The United States of America, wanting to acquire an education, the stereotypes involved in the story line, and even meeting Obinze.

Because Adichie settled her novel within the lines of a student’s life, the civic spaces are mostly polished in her novel. This means that it is what brings the essence of being civic into play, since we can see how her scholarly life affected her everyday life with the protest, her shared enterprise by switching educational institutes, her civic infrastructure by changing her way of seeing things about the distinct educational systems and the structures of attention by not emphasizing more on stopping the protest itself.

Passion Blog Ideas

When I first read about this assignment, the first thing that came into my mind was a coffee related blog. I absolutely love coffee; I drink two to three cups everyday in different style, flavors and manners. In fact, sometimes I visit Starbucks three times a day whether it is to grab a coffee and go or sit down and enjoy a book while a take small “sips”. Therefore, I can write a review about a new coffee I try at Starbucks or discovered from their not-so-secret menu. Everything from cappuccinos to Captain Crunch flavored Frappuccino’s can be found there and every week I will uncover the deliciousness the Starbucks menu has to offer. I could also include some posts that involve more coffee-concentrated drinks that may become useful for everyone who didn’t have much sleep, or might going through finals week! However, I am aware that a lot of people aren’t as much as a coffee drinker as I am or do not simply like caffeine, so I will also be writing a blog post about Starbucks smoothies & tea variety. In fact, for this specific blog post I might even be able to include the Starbucks “recipes” so that my readers can order something that interested them or, in a more adventurous note, can try to create them at home.

Another idea that came through my mind when I read about this assignment was discovering a new “underground” song every week. In other words, rather than going into iTunes to find the new “next” hit, people can go into my blog and discover a new “deep house” song that is enjoyable. Even though this might be seen as a controversial topic since everyone has different taste in music, I am willing to ask my blog readers to leave comments with a certain rhythm, artist or style they would like to see me blog the most about. However this does not mean I will not write about some songs from artists that are already famous, this just means that I wont be blogging about the songs that are already famous from these artists. I like to think about this blog idea as the “underground” trail of deep house music.

The third idea I have for my passion blog is more of a fun, creative and artsy idea since it consists of writing about different inexpensive DIY projects that a college student could do to upgrade certain objects they previously owned. For instance, I can write a post about how to turn your old red sneakers into “watermelon shoes”, or how to turn your old broken shower catty into a desk organizer. In other words, my DIY blog would be a nice fun way that college students could turn to see what to do with their free time, or a blog they can rely on to learn how turn their something old into something new. From shoes to lamps, this DIY blog will teach my readers how to upgrade their dorm room without spending much money, if any.