Anappetite: Experiences and Food from a Student

September has ended (cue Green Day) and by now most students have developed... some feelings  (likely mixed) about their university experience, as well as some important insights. Taylor Institute I'm putting mine to virtual paper to record them for myself as well as anyone else who may benefit from them :), please leave a comment if you have any of your own! Put your class times and rooms in a calendar The "Download Calendar" button in the UCalgary portal is a lifesaver for this. I was pretty confused and lost in my first days until I figured this out and imported all my class times to Outlook. It's always useful for scheduling any other activities so you don't have to think of conflicts in your head. Bonus: Your calendar can probably send you a notification 15 minutes before your class in case you forgot about it. Leave time for lunch When I registered for my classes, I tried to leave a 1-2 hour gap around 1pm for lunchtime. I'm extremely happy I did...

Is Korean Fried Chicken as good as it sounds? Chicko Chicken is a popular Korean Fried Chicken chain in BC that recently opened its first Calgary location in Harvest Hills (next to T&T Supermarket). This location definitely has more of a take-out vibe with enough seating for only about 2-3 groups of people. I ordered the half & half (about $25) which is half sizes of two different flavours, and chose the soy garlic and cheese snow flavours (not spicy). You can also choose boneless or bone-in, but not both. I opted for boneless. Soy garlic on the left and cheese snow on the right The chicken was perfectly cooked and had a nice crunch to it. Both flavours were slightly sweet (I personally prefer wings less sweet, but it's certainly a style many enjoy and I still liked it). The soy garlic wings were yummy as expected, and the delicious cheese snow flavour was quite interesting. It had a sort of cheese powder on top that gave an interesting artificial cheese taste...

While looking for tapas in Calgary on a whim, I happened upon Barcelona Tavern; a Spanish-inspired restaurant that serves Paella and other Mediterranean meals. Located on Stephen Avenue, its prominent sign and bull logo draws you in. Inside is a large space with many televisions showing sports events and modern bar/restaurant decor. I didn't end up having any tapas, but I had some of the Seafood Paella ($29) which has mussels, clams, prawns, calamari, and of course "bomba" rice (a type of short-grain Spanish rice generally used for Paella).  The paella was quite delicious, and both the seafood and rice were nicely cooked. I can't speak to the authenticity as it's been years since I had paella in Spain, but it certainly didn't feel inauthentic to me. The rice was crispy on the bottom (my favourite!), and I only wish it had more seafood. Next was the steelhead trout with cauliflower puré e, blistered tomatoes, rapini, and a great and interesting swee...

Welcome to my blog! I've officially spent my first week at UCalgary (move-in week, which is the week before classes start) and it's been my first taste of residence and residence food. Move-in day (Sunday) was the most nerve-wracking this week. There were many cars lining up for keys/Unicard pick-up (many cars getting lost as well…), and of course there is stress involved with packing everything you might need (much more so for non-Calgary students) and correctly following the precise yet confusing instructions. I would highly recommend uploading your Unicard photo in advance to skip the long line for taking a photo and checking the move-in brochure for more detailed information than the email. Lunch at the Landing (the university buffet) was free for students and their parents for the day. It was by far the busiest day, but the line-ups moved quickly. In the evening, residences had a floor meeting to go over general rules and meet the other students staying on the same f...