What’s the Best Starbucks Drink?

April 10, 2025 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By 6th-Grade Bloggers Reagan Kaminsky and Greenlee Bartley

I would say that we have the most boring Starbucks orders on the planet, so we decided to ask other PVS students what drinks they like. If you were wondering, we both regularly order a Strawberry Açai Refresher, with no strawberries. We will be going to Starbucks ourselves and trying three of the drinks we think will taste the best. Then, hopefully we will each have a new favorite order!

For those of you who don’t know, Starbucks has odd names for their sizes. The smallest size is a “Short,” which is 8 oz. The next-smallest size is a “Tall,” which is 12 oz. The next size is the “Grande,” which is 16 oz. The next size is a “Venti,” which is 20 oz. Finally, a “Trenta” is 31 oz.

The first person we interviewed was Ms. Melissa in the US Office, and she said the best Starbucks drink is a Green Tea Lemonade with extra peach juice, in the Grande size. Next, we interviewed PVS teacher Ms. Maguire. She said that the best Starbucks drink is a Venti Mango Dragon Fruit Lemonade. Then, we interviewed 8th-grader Zoey. She said a Venti Strawberry Açai Refresher, with no berries. Next, we interviewed Ms. Emma at the MS Office, and she said that the best Starbucks order is a Venti shaken Espresso.

10th-grader Rylie said the best Starbucks drink was a Tall Vanilla Frappuccino. 10th-grader Evan claims the best Starbucks order is a Trenta Java Chip Frappuccino. Then, we interviewed 10th-grader Brooklyn. Brooklyn said the best Starbucks order is the new Blackberry Sage Refresher in the Tall size. Next, we interviewed fellow blogger Sophia Nayfack. She said the best Starbucks drink is the new Cherry Chai. We also interviewed a fellow blogger, Elizabeth. Brace yourself: this one’s complicated! According to Elizabeth, the best Starbucks order is a Grande Strawberry Açai Refresher, with no inclusions, water instead of lemonade, light ice, a splash of extra base, 1 pump of cane sugar, 1 pump of classic, in a tall cup with a dome lid. After that, we interviewed another fellow blogger, Mason. He says the best Starbucks order is a Trenta with oat milk base, 27 pumps of caramel, 16 pumps of ube (which doesn’t exist at Starbucks), cookie crumble, lemonade, olive oil, 11 pumps of cane sugar, and finally 20 pumps of mocha. Next, we interviewed PVS Spanish teacher Ms. Bartosik. She said to get the Cranmerry Lemonade Refresher. Then, we interviewed another fellow blogger, Soleil. She said the best Starbucks order is a Venti Strawberry Açai Refresher, with extra berries and cherry. Lastly, we interviewed PVS Coach Erenberg. He comes in with the most complicated answer yet: he says the best Starbucks drink is Water (in the grande size).

In this picture you will see the Blackberry Sage Refresher (Far Left), the Green Tea Lemonade (Middle Left), the Cherry Chai (Middle Right), and lastly the Water (Far Right). Photo Credit: Greenlee Bartley

Now comes the fun part: we try them! We tried Ms. Melissa’s drink (Green Tea Lemonade with extra peach juice), Sophia N.’s drink (Cherry Chai), and Brooklyn’s drink (Blackberry Sage Refresher). Special credit to our guest judge, (Reagan’s sister) Emmy Kaminsky! First, we tried the Cherry Chai. We all thought it was great, and it was incredibly hard to beat. Then, we tried the Blackberry Sage Refresher, and it was not our favorite. It was still amazing, just not our kind of flavors. Lastly, we tried the Green Tea Lemonade with extra peach juice. This one was also great, but it didn’t quite compare to the Cherry Chai.

Here you will see the winner, the Cherry Chai Tea Latte.

In conclusion, all of these drinks were great, but there must be a winner. According to Emmy and Greenlee, the Cherry Chai was the best. However, Reagan thought the Green Tea Lemonade was the true winner. (Now, it’s her new favorite order!) Although there were different opinions, the majority always wins. That means the Cherry Chai came in first!

Underrated, Maybe Undiscovered, Snacks

April 12, 2024 by szachik@pvs.org 7 Comments

By 8th-grader Jackie Padgett

Everyone always has some sort of secret recipe or combinations of food that not many people know about, so I’m here to share mine. You’ll notice a lot of these have peanut butter, cream cheese, and chocolate. Do I know why? To be honest, not really; I guess those three go really well with many things. Anyway, enjoy my five-course menu of odd and absurd food combos.

According to PartsTown, “A typical five-course meal consists of one-bite hors d’oeuvres, a plated appetizer, a palate-cleansing salad, the main entrée, and dessert.” So, this is how I have organized my snack menu.

The Hors d’oeuvres

Starting this five-course meal will be no other than the hors d’oeuvres, Oreos Dipped in Peanut Butter.

*The Parent Trap’s* Lindsay Lohan dips Oreos in peanut butter. So why shouldn’t Jackie? Photo Credit Devour Dinner

If this sounds familiar to you, it’s probably because they had this snack in The Parent Trap. When I first watched the movie, I felt the need to try the weird mix of food, and I immediately loved it. While talking to students about this, 8th-grader Hunter Harrington said, “By that point why don’t you just take the cream out of the middle and replace it with peanut butter?” So, I’m stealing this idea when I get an opportunity to talk to Oreo developers.

The Appetizer

Enjoy your lovely appetizer of Crackers with Nutella and Cream Cheese.

Jackie prefers to use Saltines for her cracker base, but Ritz works, too. Photo Credit Ifood TV

I think this is probably going to be the weirdest one here. So grab some crackers, any crackers; I prefer saltines. Also, grab any type of cream cheese and Nutella. Then, you carefully apply on a cracker the cream cheese and on another cracker the Nutella. Stick them together, and you have your appetizer. My grandma used to make this for me a bunch, but she also added peanut butter to the Nutella side of the cracker (so you have one cracker with Nutella and peanut butter and the other with cream cheese). If you’re feeling adventurous, you could try that extra step of adding peanut butter.

The Salad

After that appetizer, enjoy a Cheesy Rice Stuffed Green Bell Pepper.

Meat in your bell-pepper concoction is optional. Jackie prefers the vegetarian option. Photo Credit Food Network

This isn’t technically a salad–more as something green, but this is my menu, so it works. I’m also aware that this is an actual thing and definitely has been discovered, but I feel like more people should try it as a snack. All you do is cut off the top of the bell pepper, then scrape all of the bell-pepper insides out. After you fry some rice with whatever you want in it (for example eggs, onions, etc…), put the rice into the bell pepper, top it off with a cheese of your choice, and boom. You have the most meal-like thing on this menu.

The Entrée

Now for our main meal–Pasta with Cream Cheese. You choose a pasta of your choice (I recommend bowtie or just spaghetti), and we will make it however you want.

Cream cheese on pasta can be yummy, so says Jackie. Photo Credit: Don’t Go Bacon My Heart

I think this is one of the easiest snack dishes to make. You make any pasta, drain it, then put some cream cheese and a bit of salt into the bowl with it, then enjoy! I have this a lot at my grandma’s house as this is her secret combo that I stole. This is definitely a comfort food for me as it brings back a lot of summer movie-night memories.

The Dessert

For dessert, you will be served Any Ice Cream or Sorbet, with Any Cereal, and Optional Fruit.

Ice cream with cereal is like a birthday surprise. Photo Credit Hil and Dairy

This along with the entrée is pretty self explanatory and not that unique. You scoop out some ice cream. Put it in a bowl, take out a cereal of your choosing, sprinkle it on top (just a bit, don’t over do it), maybe add some fruit and milk–those are optional, then bam: Ice Cream and Cereal. My favorite combos have been Count Chocula with chocolate ice cream, raspberry sorbet with Fruit Loops, and finally vanilla with Honey Nut Cheerios. I personally like this a lot because it adds a lot of customization into the ice cream, like you could literally try any fruit and cereal combo, and I doubt anything would taste that bad together.

I promise I eat other things that are different colors than beige, white, and brown. These snacks just happened to be similar food groups and colors. Do you have any underrated, maybe undiscovered, snacks? Share in the comments below; I’ll try them out!

The Chaos of Family Dinners

December 12, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By 8th Grader Jackie Doyle Padgett

Gil, that sneaky master of mischief, challenged the Blog Class to write about Chaos. As we are here sandwiched between Thanksgiving and Winter Holiday fare, Jackie immediately thought of the chaos of sitting down to dinner with family. Multiple generations coming together, the extra leaf in the table, the dogs loose–what could possibly go wrong?

You’ve probably had at least one big family dinner where all of your grandparents and cousins and friends come over for the holidays, and, if so, you know it can be utter chaos. Maybe your new little cousin is running around, and you’re stuck watching them, or your uncle brought up the same embarrassing story he tells all of your friends when you bring them to dinner. There are a lot of complicated layers and minefields to family dinners: the food, the miscommunication, the animals, the kids, the occasional assault, and disease.

Food

A lot can go wrong with food: the process of cooking it, the process of eating it; and (in Ms. Schapiro’s case) regarding what to wear while eating it.

Ms. Brady, our current French teacher, told me when she was younger her mom was cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Her family normally ate between 2 and 4 p.m. Her mom would get up early and begin cooking so that all the family would wake up to the smell of the turkey. For some reason one Thanksgiving morning, Ms. Brady didn’t smell turkey cooking. The family soon realized the oven was broken. After hours in the oven, the turkey hadn’t even started to cook. They decided to eat pizza instead.

French Teacher Brady and her parents (sans turkey)

Matteo Lam, sophomore, said he was around six years old when he held the belief that he “could swallow grapes whole.” He tried it. It didn’t end well. Matteo said, “I could’ve died; I’m okay now though.”

Zoe Groendycke, 7th grade, said one Thanksgiving her grandpa came over to dinner, and he started choking on the turkey. Zoe’s stepdad ran to the rescue and did the Heimlich Maneuver. Then her grandpa decided to leave because he thought the food tasted bad.

Zoe Groendycke remembers a Thanksgiving mishap. (No relatives were harmed in the telling of this *chaotic* tale.)

Ms. Schapiro tells us her mom is “basically a professional cook,” so for her big family dinners they focus on the food. Since she and her brother are grown adults and have their own homes, they’ve developed their own dining habits–some different from their mom’s. Sometimes dinner etiquette is an issue. Ms. Schapiro said, “My mom doesn’t like me eating barefoot during dinner–even though my feet are under the table.”

Ms. Schapiro, it is rumored, did wear shoes at her son’s wedding.

Miscommunication

Whether you text or talk in person, there’s bound to be some miscommunication regarding dinner plans. Rhys provides a prime example of the chaos that can ensue when the hosts don’t get the message.

Rhys Foxx, 8th grader, told me, “My sister came to dinner without a boyfriend, and we realized they broke up. . . . We never knew.” Until dinnertime.

This is what happens when Rhys misses key background context before sitting down to dinner.

Animals

Originally I wasn’t going to make a section for animals, but animals kept coming up in the middle of family dinner chaos. I decided these creatures could be a main source of mischief.

Sierra James, 8th grader, said at one dinner “My dad spent like 30 minutes cooking burgers, and once he set it on the table, my dog Bo jumped on the chair and ate like half of the hamburger bun.”

Bo lives in the James household and is known to steal hamburger buns. Don’t let the innocent expression fool you.

Kimberly Sayers, 8th grader, said once, “During dinner my cat was scratching the table cloth, and its nail got caught. She ended up almost pulling the entire thing off–it was filled with food by the way.”

The sharp-clawed Robo, who rules the Sayers household, attempts the dinnertable Houdini maneuver on the bathtub.

Ms. Maguire once put chicken on the counter. One of her cats, Thor, jumped up and stole an entire chicken breast.

Known to steal chicken breasts intended for dinner, Thor the cat lived out his nine lives in the Maguire household.

John Webster, 8th grader, recalled A Case of Missing Turkey: “My mom left the house, after making turkey, to pick me up from soccer. She accidentally left turkey out on the counters, and when we came back it was all gone. We assume the dogs ate all of it.”

Miscellaneous

I couldn’t choose where to put the remaining stories, so here’s a grab bag of Miscellaneous family dinner mishaps. You’ll find all sorts of things in here: music, collarbone casualties, and, sadly, sickness; try not to get lost.

(Anthony) Tony Ratner, 8th grader, recalled one dinner when “We’re in this tiny 150-square-foot room, and we have this big speaker . . . . I put it full blast playing Gangnam Style. Then I showed the fools (aka his family?) in that room the best moves they’d ever seen. They took videos and everything and we had pumpkin pie. COSTCO PUMPKIN PIE. Put that in all caps, please. Then, we lived happily ever after.”

Tony Ratner often travels with his own music, and inflicts it upon friends and family.

Sawyer Falzone, senior, recounted babysitting a gaggle of kids during one holiday dinner. They think they were 9 years old and their parents asked them and their cousin (around 7 years) if they could help babysit these kids. The kids were . . . 5 and under. One problem was that there were 5 kids . . . on a huge ranch. “Somehow we managed to keep everything under control.”

Ms. Zachik had a family tradition of playing flag football while her mom would make dinner. The entire family (except Mom) would go to the park with neighbors and friends. Well, during one game she pushed her dad to the ground. He ended up in the ER. “I forgot whether it was a dislocated shoulder or a broken collarbone,” she said.

Ms. Zachik is guilty of rough flag-football play in pre-Thanksgiving-dinnertime warm up.

Rachel De La O, junior, said, “Last year Thanksgiving around an hour after we ate, my sister went into labor.”

Finally in our last response, Charlie Cowley, 7th grader, faced a very contemporary Thanksgiving problem: “Everyone got Covid after our dinner.”

When I started this blog post idea, I didn’t expect to get some of these crazy stories, but, honestly, they’ve been so fun to read. If I missed you in my interview session, make sure to put your chaotic dinner story in the comments below.

Would YOU eat ethical fish eggs???

April 20, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Junior Levi Kassinove

Hello. Today I’m going to tell you a little tale about…caviar–otherwise known as the cured eggs of the sturgeon fish.

Caviar in the 19th Century

Man devouring 70K worth of caviar in seconds (grubstreet.com)

Let us travel back to the 1800s, when caviar was eaten by the bowlful by even the poorest of peasants. It was cheap and abundant, like lobster once was, which was fed to prisoners and slaves. During this time, the Russian Empire was the largest exporter of caviar in the world. They were pretty much the only producer (solexcatsmo.com). Then, the rest of Europe and the US started producing caviar. Soon, every American diner was giving caviar away as free appetizers. People were obsessed with it. There was demand, but it was still cheap. Even in the 1970s, caviar was only $60-70 per pound (nytimes.com). Comparatively, the lowest quality caviar is now upwards of $1000 per pound today (bestercaviarstore.com). What REALLY caused the upsurge in price was the immense overfishing of sturgeon. Multiple species of sturgeon declined in population, with the popular beluga sturgeon suffering the worst. It is now listed as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN. As a result, the illegality of fishing for the beluga sturgeon caused caviar industries to turn to farming, making wild-caught sturgeon extremely valuable. But, we don’t have to kill the sturgeon to enjoy the eggs any more…

How We Can Harvest Caviar Today

Female sturgeon getting an ultrasound (caviarstar.com)

Whereas the traditional method for extracting caviar involved cutting the fish’s stomach open and ripping its guts out, the stripping method is much more ethical. One method involves simply injecting the sturgeon with a hormone that separates the eggs from their connective tissue, and then massaging the eggs out of the sturgeon a few days later. This method does not kill the fish, and even allows the sturgeon to produce more eggs in the future. An ultrasound is used to determine the optimal time to perform the procedure. By harvesting the caviar without killing the fish, we can slowly repair the damage done to the sturgeon population due to overfishing. (ift.org)

But How Does It Taste?

Stylish caviar tasting (nailsbyshurik.wordpress.com)

There is a MASSIVE difference between fake caviar (bowfin fish eggs) and real caviar (sturgeon eggs). Bowfin is a bony fish that yields small, dark, red-tinted roe (caviarstar.com). Bowfin is a cheaper and easier-to-produce alternative to caviar. Even according to the Food and Drug Administration, “real” caviar comes only from sturgeon (ift.org). I’m not gonna talk about the red eggs because that’s not caviar either, although salmon roe is pretty good. A good way to spot the difference between real caviar and bowfin eggs is simply to look at the price. If you see a jar of black “caviar” being sold for $10-15, it’s fake. Bowfin also has much smaller eggs than sturgeon. The bowfin eggs will taste overly salty and fishy, giving you a terribly inaccurate impression of caviar. Real caviar is absolutely delicious. It’s subtle. Sturgeon eggs are creamy, nutty, and only slightly salty. If it tastes fishy, there’s something wrong with it.

I highly recommend that you all try caviar at least once. And, if you can, make sure that the caviar was ethically produced. As they say in Russia, do svidaniya!

The Largest Health Crisis in the History of the World

April 6, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

Luke is serious. While the rest of us explored food from around the world–British biscuits, New York’s French restaurants, sushi, Luke considered the health of our relationship with the food we eat.

By Upper-School Blogger Luke Sonderman

“Obesity is the leading cause of death in the United States,” declares The Big Think (bigthink.com). Obesity contributes to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and gallbladder disease (cdc.gov). In a day and age where acknowledging the dangers of obesity creates labels such as “fatphobic” and “fat shaming,” the rate of obesity exponentially and tragically increases (bluezones.com).

What is obesity?

According to the World Health Organization, obesity is defined as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health” (who.int). Obesity is measured through the Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is measured by taking a person’s body weight in kilograms, and dividing it by their height squared (cdc.gov). According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), people with a BMI of 30 or more are considered obese (cdc.gov ).

Weight gain is “caused [by] extra calories . . . being stored in the body as fat” (nhs.uk). This being said, the most effective way to lose weight for people with a fast or slow metabolism is eating less food and exercising more, says Harvard Medical School (harvard.edu). With a caloric deficit and more calories burned, weight can be lost and a normal BMI can be maintained (nhlbi.nih.gov). However, sources like England’s National Health Service says the causes and solutions can be complicated by the particulars of diet, exercise, genetics, and underlying medical conditions (nhs.uk).

Dangers of Obesity

As of 2020, 41.9% of Americans are obese (cdc.gov). There is a difference between being overweight and obese. On the BMI scale, one must be between 25-30 BMI to be overweight, and 30+ to be obese (who.int). Being overweight simply means that someone weighs more than what is medically recommended for their weight and to get back to their recommended weight it is recommended that they reduce their food intake (as advised by their physician) and exercise more (diffen.com). Obesity is actually a disease which comes with the major health risks mentioned above. Recently, we saw 50.2 percent of hospitalized Covid patients suffered from obesity (beckershospitalreview.com).

2.8 million people die every year because of obesity (who.int 2021). That is more deaths than four and a half US Civil Wars (nps.gov). According to the World Health Organization, 46% of abdominal obesity in the world could be caused by fast food (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). In the United States on any given day, ⅓ of adults eat fast food (cdc.gov). According to Harvard University, some common causes of obesity are “the ready availability of food at all hours of the day and in places that once did not sell food, such as gas stations, pharmacies, and office supply stores; a dramatic decrease in physical activity during work, domestic activities, and leisure time, especially among children; increased time spent watching television, using computers, and performing other sedentary activities; the influx of highly processed foods, fast food, and sugar-sweetened beverages, along with the ubiquitous marketing campaigns that promote them” (harvard.edu).

How does culture in the United States influence the growth of obesity?

According to Dr. Nancy Trout, “[O]ur American culture promotes obesity. Environmental influences steer us to choose unhealthy foods and eat portion sizes that are far too large” (advancingkids.org). Recent “Robert Wood Johnson State of Childhood Obesity data shows that 19.3% of children between the ages of 2-19 in the United States have obesity” (advancingkids.org). Dr. Trout goes on to say that staples of many of her child patients include “hot ranch Cheetos or Doritos, Oreos, sugary cereals such as Frosted Flakes or Fruit Loops, Lunchables, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, . . . pizza, . . . sweetened iced teas, juices, sports drinks, sodas and chocolate milk” and even says that since the Covid-19 pandemic, many child patients reported that they are “not engaging in any physical activity” (advancingkids.org). Unlike other countries, in the United States, high fructose corn syrup is used in many products such as Heinz Ketchup, Quaker Oatmeal, and soda (ronproject.com). Obesity is affecting children, adults, and senior citizens.

Conclusion

It has become apparent that the Obesity Crisis in the United States is being fueled by American Culture. Physical well being needs to be taught in schools, and parents need to be held accountable for what they feed their children. If people don’t know how to combat the problem, then how are we as a nation supposed to fight the epidemic? We, as a nation, need to educate ourselves on the dangers of being obese and how to maintain a healthy body weight.

My Three-Michelin-Star Dining Experience

March 29, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

The Blog Staff wanted to explore FOOD FROM AROUND THE WORLD. We’ve examined the best fast-food chicken-sandwich, the best street food, wagyu, fish, and the mercury found in fish (thank you, Levi). Indy takes us inside a Michelin-Star restaurant–the world famous Le Bernardin.

By Junior Epicurist Indy Behr

The Background

Le Bernardin is a seafood restaurant that was founded in 1972 in Paris, France, by Maguy and Gilbert Le Coze, and they received their first Michelin star four years later, and then two more stars four years after this. In 1994, Le Bernardin relocated to New York. Eight years after the move, Gilbert Le Coze died, and his widow continued operating the restaurant. After this, Gilbert Le Coze’s former student Eric Ripert became a co-owner of Le Bernardin. Maguy Le Coze and Eric Ripert continue to co-own the restaurant today.

My Visit

I am very much a foodie, but until February 20, 2023, I had never been to a restaurant with a Michelin star. On that day, I visited Le Bernardin in New York City, which has three stars, the most a restaurant can get. Normally, getting reservations for this restaurant is very difficult, as it is relatively small despite its popularity. As a result, because we only decided to go a week before our visit, the only reservations my family could get were for a Wednesday night at 8:45 p.m. Though it was almost midnight before we returned to our hotel, it was all worth it. My whole family got the eight-course tasting menu, and I am going to go course by course and review each one. In the end, I will give each course a rating out of 10.

The Courses

The first course is called Tuna-Urchin, and it entails a tuna tartare, essentially minced raw tuna, on a small wafer. The tuna is topped with a small amount of sea urchin flesh. I have had many tuna tartares, and this was unquestionably the best take on it I have ever had. It was minced to the perfect size and seasoned very well. I had never had sea urchin before, and it was actually pretty good. It has a pretty strong flavor, but there was not too much of it, so it did not overpower it at all. This course was an 8/10.

The second course was the Scallop-Caviar. This had a slightly warm tartare made with scallops. The dice was much larger than with the tuna. It had a very rich texture and was sweet, and our waiter explained scallops are the only seafood that caramelize due to its sugar content. It had a scoop of Osetra caviar on top, which is one of the best forms of caviar money can buy. I have had caviar before, but never such a fancy type. These two parts of the course worked very well together, and the caviar was definitely what sealed the deal for me. I rate it an 8.5/10.

After this, we had the Lobster course. It was small pieces of lobster with a salad made of grapes and fennel. Fennel is a vegetable with a similar texture to a carrot but with a flavor kind of like licorice. The lobster was very good, but, honestly, I think the grapes were a little too ambitious. The big bold berry overpowered the lobster. The fennel, however, worked really well with the lobster. I am giving this course a 7/10.

The fourth course, the Langoustine course, was absolutely my favorite course. The langoustine was like lobster but so much more tender. It just melted in your mouth. It had an egg-white-based wild mushroom sauce and aged balsamic vinegar, and both of these sauces were great and complemented the langoustine. This was a 10/10… at least.

The fifth course was the Dover Sole, which had a very traditional buttery almond topping, and it has a sherry wine emulsion. Dover sole is really tender, and it’s one of my favorite fish dishes. The sauce went with it really well, and I enjoyed the crunch from the almonds. I rate this course 8/10.

The sixth and last entree course was the Halibut. It had really nice baby root vegetables. The tiny carrots were definitely my favorite of the vegetables. However, the best part of this course was the bourguignon sauce. If you have ever had beef bourguignon, it is the same as this. The beefy red wine flavor actually goes shockingly well with the very meaty and flaky halibut. Thanks to this sauce, this was a solid 9/10.

The first dessert course was Pistachio. It was a pistachio praline, and, to be honest, I was not a fan. I do not really like pistachio flavor that much, so I am biased, to be fair. However, the sauce was also not my favorite. I liked every other course, but I would have been fine with only one dessert course. This was a 3/10.

Lastly, we got a pear sorbet. The sorbet had a very nice presentation with a perfectly round scoop. It had delicious chunks of pear sprinkled throughout that really added a nice textural component. This was an incredible way to close out the meal. I only wish this was our only dessert course. 10/10

Overall, I really enjoyed Le Bernardin. It’s a big investment, but if you have the chance, next time you’re in New York, I recommend you visit.

Treats From The Philippines

March 28, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Upper-School Blogger Alyna Rei

I have never been to the Philippines before let alone out of the United States. But traveling there has always been on my bucket list. Along with traveling comes food and bakery goods. Note: I eat Filipino food on a daily basis. And, sometimes, it is cooked by my grandma–who is from the Philippines. But, Filipino baked goods overall are totally different from the day-to-day food served here in the U.S. I am writing this with an American perspective.

Puto

Before you yell at me for saying a bad word, Puto is a treat. It tastes like plain pancakes. Puto is basically a steamed rice cake. For me, I have always eaten Puto shaped in a muffin form, which is the most common shape for Puto.

Kutsinta (koo-chin-ta)

When I go to any Filipino store, I always search for their Kutsinta. Kutsinta is another steamed rice cake, but it’s a lot sweeter and gummier than Puto. Kutsinta tastes like brown sugar with a tapioca consistency.

Along with Puto, Kutsinta has the familiar “muffin” shape. Photo source: pinoycookingrecipes.com

Pandesal (pan-de-sal)

Pandesal is another one of my favorite Filipino treats. To other people, Pandesal looks just like regular bread rolls. But, I prefer Pandesal over any type of bread. Pandesal is more doughy and floury than other types of bread. If I do have Pandesal, then I typically have it with breakfast before school. You can even have Pandesal with other things: such as butter, peanut butter (I like the crunchy peanut butter with Pandesal), beef, and even on the side with your meal. There are also a lot of flavors to get. My favorite is the pandan. Pandan tastes like coconut with a hint of vanilla, which confuses me since the color is green.

The outside of Pandesal is crispy while the inside is soft and fluffy. Photo source: seriouseats.com

This is pandan-flavored Pandesal. I pair this up with butter to get a sweet and salty taste. Photo source: sugarampsprinkle.com

Mamon (ma-moan)

Mamon is Filipino sponge cake. Like Pandesal, there are many flavors: such as butter, ube, mocha, cheese, etc. My favorite is butter mamon since it’s common and easier to get. When I’m in a rush for school, I usually take mamon with me since it’s easy to eat. Mamon tastes sweet but airy.

*Red Ribbon* is my favorite brand of mamon. Photo source: TripAdvisor in Las Vegas

If you do wish to try these bakery goods, I would recommend actually going to a Filipino store as that is the closest you can get to the taste from the Philippines. The only stores I am familiar with are “Seafood City” and “ Island Pacific Market.” Mind you these stores are not in the Coachella Valley. The nearest Seafood City would be in Rancho Cucamonga, and the nearest Island Pacific Market is San Diego, Orange County, and Los Angeles. Out of all of these sweet treat options, I would recommend you try Pandesal. It may appear just like bread, but it tastes so much different.

MERCURY SEASPIRACY

March 23, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 2 Comments

By Junior Levi Kassinove

Hey, you. Yeah, you! Put that tuna sandwich down, or tuna sushi, or…whatever you’re eating that includes fish and listen up. There’s an astounding amount of mercury in your seafood. The amount of mercury in bluefin tuna, the fish commonly used in tuna sushi, is around 1 part per million (mercuryfactsandfish.org). To give you an idea of how high that concentration is, the FDA recommends that adults do not eat more than 6-8 ounces of albacore per week. A can of tuna typically holds 3-5 ounces. Albacore, which already contains a relatively high amount of mercury, has 1⁄3 of the mercury concentration of bluefin tuna (edf.org). So, you essentially cannot eat more than ⅓ of a can of bluefin tuna per week. Maybe that isn’t that difficult for you. Maybe you don’t like fish. But, if you often indulge in tuna, you’re probably getting more and more frightened with every line you read. And, I don’t have good news for you.

Effects of Mercury Poisoning

Let’s say you’re reading this article after you’ve had a nice dinner at a sushi restaurant. You’re not adventurous, so you stayed away from the monkfish liver, the live jumbo shrimp, and the squid balls. You played it safe and went to town on the tuna nigiri. Well, here are the effects of the neurotoxin you just ingested, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

-Numb or “pins and needles” sensations

-Cognitive impairment

-Impairment of speech

-Loss of peripheral vision

-Loss of muscle coordination

-Seizures (my.clevelandclinic.org)

-Multiple organ failure (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

-Death

How did tuna become infested with so much mercury in the first place? Why is your tuna nigiri laced with thermometer juice? The answer lies in the food chain. There is a low level of mercury present in our waters, so many microorganisms contain a small amount of it. The bluefin tuna, being a large fish, is far up on the food chain. A small fish eats tons of microorganisms, gaining their mercury. A larger fish eats many of those small fish, and the level of mercury grows exponentially as you go farther up the food chain. This is why sharks contain the highest concentration of mercury out of all seafood (sharkconservation.org.au).

The Takeaway

The pescatarians are obviously trying to kill us all! Eat more steak. Eat more plants. But, as we say in Wagyuland, fish is best eaten in moderation.

Being a cow is actually healthy

March 23, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Junior Luke Sonderman

Cows eat grass. Do you eat grass? You heard me correctly: I asked if you eat grass. Most people would probably say, No, I don’t eat grass! But, if you want to regulate your blood sugar, slow the growth of cancer, lose weight, and eat healthier, then you should be like a cow and add wheatgrass to your diet.

What is wheatgrass?

“Wheatgrass is the young grass of the wheat plant, Triticum Aestivum”(webmd). It is grown as a microgreen (to learn about how microgreens are grown visit my microgreens article on thebirdonfire.org). Wheatgrass has many proven health benefits. You may see wheatgrass sold at farmers markets and used as an ingredient in juices and juice-cleanses. Here’s what wheatgrass can do for you.

Slow the Growth of Cancer Cells

Wheatgrass has dozens of proven health benefits: one being slowing the growth of cancer cells. In a study conducted at the Sinhgad Dental College and Hospital on the effect of wheatgrass on Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)–one of the most common forms of cancer, Professor Sangeeta Jayant Palaskar along with colleagues concluded that “the aqueous extract of wheatgrass has an inhibitory effect on the oral cancer cell line proliferation” (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Wheatgrass is known to increase oxygen levels in the blood, and since cancer cells grow best in oxygen deprived blood, wheatgrass will slow the growth of cancer cells by up to 65%, according to Dr. Alice Williams at the Origym Centre of Excellence (express.co.uk/life-style/health).

Lose Weight

A study conducted in 2015 by Doctor Gil Bar-Sela and colleagues at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa showed that there may be promising evidence that wheatgrass can increase metabolism aiding in weight loss (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Studies have also shown that ingesting wheatgrass daily can reduce hunger and help patients maintain a healthy caloric deficit to safely lose weight (prevention.com/food-nutrition).

Regulate Blood Sugar and Diabetes

According to the Journal of Herbal Medicine and Toxicology, “[W]heatgrass is very effective in enhancing the levels of lipids and glucose, which in turn helps in controlling diabetes” (24mantra.com/blogs/health). According to a study at Pondicherry University, India, wheatgrass can increase the capacity in which insulin can bind to its receptors, increasing the efficiency of insulin in type II diabetes patients (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).

Contribute to a Healthy Diet

Wheatgrass contains phytochemicals which help boost the immune system (health.clevelandclinic.org). Wheatgrass can also assist the gut in breaking down food because of its enzymes (webmd.com). Wheatgrass also contains Vitamin A, C, E, K, B, and Calcium, Iron, and Magnesium (webmd.com).

Summary

In conclusion, there is no reason that you shouldn’t take wheatgrass!* It improves your gut health, slows the progression of cancer, aids type II diabetics, and helps you lose weight! It is a super potion.

*Do adhere to medical guidelines if you have allergies.

I started a microgreenery in my friend’s backyard.

March 15, 2023 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Luke Sonderman, Backyard Farmer

Microgreens. No, I’m not talking about broccoli and baby carrots. I am talking about microgreens. What are microgreens? I asked myself that same question before I spent a thousand dollars building a farm.

What are microgreens?

Microgreens are vegetables that are picked as young seedlings right as leaves begin to grow (integrisok.com). Microgreens are grown in many varieties and can be found at farmers markets and fancy boutique grocery stores. If the microgreens are grown hydroponically (grown in water with no soil), you can find them at stores and farmers markets still growing in the package!

How did I become a microgreen farmer?

I decided to go into business with my best friend Ethan after he pitched the idea of growing microgreens to me. I had no idea what microgreens were, but after researching microgreen business models, I discovered that it was a business venture with very little risk. Ethan found a business in Joshua Tree via Facebook Marketplace that was selling a 10ft x10ft microgreens grow tent, microgreen racks, microgreen grow trays, a grow tent ventilation fan, several LED grow lights, and booth decoration for farmers markets. After purchasing the equipment, we built the tent and set up the racks with lights. With our farm assembled, we began doing research into the most profitable microgreens to grow and the most popular microgreens at farmers markets.

How microgreens are grown

After starting our farm, we had to make the big decision whether to grow our greens in soil or hydroponically. Hydroponically-grown microgreens are grown in water trays with no soil. This means that when you package them, if you put water into the container they will continue to live and grow as long as they stay in water. For simplicity, we grow our microgreens in soil. It is much easier.

When can you buy our microgreens?

Since we are still in the testing and licensing phase of our farm, our microgreens are not yet for sale. In coordination with multiple local farmers markets, we plan to have multiple farmers market spots throughout the seasons where we will sell our microgreens, mixes, and microgreen beverages! So, in the next few months, when you are at your local Coachella Valley farmers market, look for the name Little Sprouts, and try some microgreens. Maybe you’ll get a little friends and family discount!