Entertainment

May 2012 - Posts

  • RED Hearts: Entertainment: It's Complicated: Books About Friendship

    By Jordyn Turney, 22, reporting from San Diego, CA, on YA novels that aren't afraid to explore the heartbreaking nature of friendships

    I just read I Heart Daily co-editor Melissa Walker's newest YA novel, Unbreak My Heart, and it really got me thinking. The book is, on the surface, about a romance. But underneath that—at its core—the cute, sun-soaked story is really about a best friendship fractured and the painful question of whether or not it can be repaired.

    Friendships, broken and unbroken, are in our lives, on my mind, pretty much all the time. I even wrote about one personal experience of such a split. Unbreak My Heart doesn't shy away from the complicated side of friendship, and these other great YA books don't either.

    Mostly Good Girls, by Leila Sales
    This book manages to be both funny and heartfelt and a little bit excruciating, all at the same time. Violet and her best friend Katie attend an all-girls private school and, in their junior year, discover how different they really are. It's a realistic tale well told.

    Like Mandarin, by Kirsten Hubbard
    In the brilliantly written setting of Wyoming, good-girl Grace pursues a friendship with Mandarin, the wild girl she longs to be. This book explores the thrilling and fast-paced friendships that so many girls experience at one time or another. The friend that's just a little prettier, just a bit more popular, and—so you think—a lot more perfect.

    Twenty Boy Summer, by Sarah Ockler
    As in Unbreak My Heart, there's a boy at the center of this book as well. A boy and a secret that, in a summer of beginnings, threatens to tear best friends Anna and Frankie clear apart. The all-too-familiar struggles, secrets, and fights are heartbreaking in this moving story.

  • RED Hearts: Entertainment: See StarKid Soar

    By Lisa Chau, 23, reporting from Ann Arbor, MI, on an awesome musical theater company—coming to your town

    Musical theater. Pigfarts. Friendship. Slap bracelets. These are just a few of the things that come to mind when I hear Team StarKid.

    StarKid is a sensational musical theater troupe formed in 2009 by a group of University of Michigan theater grads (including Darren Criss, aka Glee's Blaine) and now based in Chicago. Or you might know this team as the creators of the brilliant parody A Very Potter Musical, which had a budget of under $150 and pretty much took over YouTube.

    I recently got involved with StarKid for their first national concert tour, The S.P.A.C.E. Tour, manning their merchandise tables with the one and only Ann Arbor T-shirt Company. I had no idea what I was signing up for—beyond living on a bus with performer-types for five weeks—and boy, was I in for a surprise.

    Walking up to the first S.P.A.C.E. venue was spectacular. I had never seen so many crazy-dedicated fans in one place. They were all decked out in their pink sunnies and SuperMegaAwesomeFoxyHot tees, singing StarKid songs in unison, happily on their sixth hour of waiting in line to get the best spot in the venue. This happened at every stop on the tour.

    It didn't take long to realize why people are so in love with this act. StarKid reminds us all that everything will be okay, friends will always have your back, and you should shoot for the moon because you can surely get there.

    And that, my friends, is totally awesome.

    StarKid is currently preparing for their second national tour, Apocalyptour, where they will attempt to please the Mayan gods with their mad musical skills before the world as we know it ends. Apocalyptour begins May 9 at the House of Blues in Chicago and runs through June 10, ending at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City. Get your tickets now before it's over – the world, that is.

    Check out Team StarKid's latest musical, Holy Musical B@man!

  • RED Hearts: Entertainment: Bake Good

    By Erika Kwee, 21, reporting from Houston, TX, on an avid baker's easy, healthy ingredient swaps

    Scones, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, blondies, muffins—if it's a baked good, chances are I've either made it or eaten it in the past month. I'm avid about it. Plus, spring always seems to come with a host of occasions that call for homemade treats. I'll bake away for Easter, Mother's Day, birthdays, events, fundraisers, or for no reason at all. I even co-taught a course in it this past semester at my school, Rice University.

    There's something that scares me about the craft, though, and it's the sheer nutritional wasteland of most baked goods. Cups of refined white flour, sugar and butter and chocolate—not the kind of ingredients anyone should be eating on a regular basis. I'm all for staying true to the integrity of a recipe, and no doubt the classic elements taste delicious in nearly any combination. If I'm in the mood, there's no way you could ever get me to bake anything other than my mom's original chocolate chip cookie recipe.

    But there are times when I'm up for something different—for tweaking a recipe to experiment with flavors and texture, adding complexity, and maybe in the process even bringing in a few extra nutrients.

    I like to surf baking blogs for ideas, and there are a bunch out there with terrific healthy recipes. Some of my favorites are Oh She Glows(vegan), Texanerin Baking (Erin can "go putting weird things in" her cookies, like chickpeas, and somehow make it work), and Chockohlawtay (from a college sophomore majoring in nutritional science). Here are some ingredient swaps and strategies I picked up along the way and taught in my baking class:

    • Flour: Try using whole wheat, white whole wheat, spelt, oat, or gluten-free flour mixes instead of regular all-purpose to add fiber, protein, calcium, and iron! I find that you can get away with replacing all AP flour in a recipe with white whole wheat and hardly notice the difference. If you're using whole wheat or another heartier flour, blend it with the AP so your baked goods don't turn out overly dense or gritty.

    • Eggs: Substituting chia seeds or ground flaxseed for eggs ventures into vegan baking territory, which I think is awesome and shouldn't just be for vegans. Chia seeds and flaxseeds both add healthy omega-3 fats and can lower the cholesterol in a recipe. To replace one egg, simply mix 1 tablespoon of chia seeds or ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of warm water and let sit for 5 minutes or until mixture is gelled (flaxseed gels less quickly than chia seeds).

    • Butter/oil: Greek yogurt is a great alternative to butter. It tastes great, even on its own (take that, butter), cuts fat, and increases protein in a recipe. Replace one half the amount of butter prescribed with half the amount of Greek yogurt. I know that was confusing: For example, if the recipe calls for 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoons), use 4 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt. Oil is of course more liquidy than butter, so applesauce or regular yogurt are good subs for half the oil called for.

    We modified a molten chocolate cake in class, and it was amazing. So were scones with springy add-ins that were not chocolate chips: craisins, orange zest, fresh coconut.

    Happy, healthy baking!