Every grandparent’s kitchen comes standard with a recipe box full of stained recipes from years ago. My favorite crumpled up recipe from my nana’s recipe box is her chicken piccata recipe. This recipe has been passed down by the women of my family and now I’ll pass it on to you. 

This recipe is better than any chicken piccata from Bertucci’s or Cheesecake Factory, and it is the only food I crave when I am away at school. My nana didn’t just pass down this recipe to me though, she taught me the skills necessary to recreate such a special dish. Every once in a while when I get the itch to cook an elaborate meal, and I have a spare $20 to spend on ingredients, I make this generational chicken piccata recipe. 

The ingredients required are as follows: 

• 6 tablespoons of butter 
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• ½ cup of flour
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, butterflied and pounded
• 1 tablespoon of oil 
• 2 tablespoons of capers 
• ½ cup of dry white wine 
• 1 cup of chicken broth 
• 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped parsley 

To start off, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large heavy-based skillet. When it starts to foam, add the lemon slices and cook over a medium heat for four minutes. Flip the lemon often. When they turn golden brown, remove them from the pan and keep them warm. 

Now, in a large shallow bowl stir together the flour, salt and pepper. Dip the chicken breasts into the flour and make sure they are fully coated. Pat off the excess flour. 

Next, reheat the skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the oil when the pan is hot and add 1 tablespoon of butter. After the butter is foaming, add half of the chicken breasts at a time. While turning the breasts often, let them cook for five to six minutes, or until they are browned and cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and keep warm. 

Add in the capers and wine to the skillet. Make sure to scrape off any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine mixture to ¼ cup. Add in the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it bubble steadily for two minutes until it thickens slightly. Then add in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan and mix until the butter melts. 

Finally, return the chicken to the pan. Reheat it in the simmering sauce, making sure to turn it several times for three minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve at once! 

I guarantee that if you follow this recipe, I’m sure it will blow your mind.

On Thursday, April 7, Sara Lowden, a Ph.D. anthropology and environmental policy student, and Elizabeth Pellecer Rivera, a graduate ecology and environmental sciences student, hosted a Zoom lecture for staff and students titled, “Sumak Kawsay: Andean Wisdom for Living in Harmony with the Earth.” Rivera is fluent in both English and Spanish and helped translate the talk to those watching from Quito, Ecuador.

“Tonight we’ll be talking about Kichwa traditional knowledge,” Lowden said. “The ILADES Institute (Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Estudios Sociales “Los Andes”) offers the Ancestral Knowledges and Sciences program, which is one of the only programs of its kind, not only in Ecuador, but the entire South American region. The program aims to generate alternative spaces so that traditional knowledge continues to be transmitted from generation to generation, and to promote a new vision that respects plurinationality.” 

There were three guest speakers introduced throughout the lecture: Maria Cecelia Nuala Mullo, Pascual Yepez and Michelle Castro. All three are acquaintances Lowden made throughout her research, and she went on to explain how she came into contact with the guest speakers from South America.

“I met Pascual, one of our esteemed speakers, about ten years ago on my first trip to Ecuador,” Lowden said. “I was visiting the archives of FLACSO University in Quito, and as I was leaving he said hello. We struck up an easy conversation, discovered our common interests in cultural anthropology and environmental justice. During the same visit, he introduced me to Cecilia, and we’ve been friends since. I’ve learned so much from both Ceci and Pascual, and I’m honored to have them here to share with you tonight.”

Mullo, or Ceci as her colleagues like to call her, has over two decades worth of experience working with her community’s youth and churches. Along with being well versed in business and accounting, she has been a tremendous asset to her people in the development of the Andean area. She gave a presentation about the people of the Andes living in harmony with mother earth. 

Casto is a student in the Ancestral Wisdom and Sciences program at ILADES. Casto, along with another young woman, played a drum and sang a short song about the natural world inspired by their country. 

Yepez explained how his people prioritize maintaining a healthy, balanced and organic diet. He talked about how it is important that his people are connected to the earth, which means they don’t eat canned or processed foods. It’s important to their culture to keep a clean diet, so that they may connect with the animals, the moon and their souls. 

Yepez also taught the viewers a new word: “Minka,” which means working together. The people of Ecuador pride themselves on community, and many live by a mantra.

“Cook, celebrate, work together,” Yepez said. “Not just family, everyone.” 

Yepez mentioned, though, that this kind of caring lifestyle isn’t shared by all. When he traveled out of the Andes mountain range, he noticed that his people were discriminated against by other Ecuadoreans. 

“We all come from the same people, we must set our differences aside to live in harmony,” Yepez said. 

It’s a long standing debate, one that’s broken many couples up and ruined many friendships: which is the superior music streaming platform, Spotify or Apple Music? As a college student, you’ve got a lot on your plate, but the question of where you’re going to listen to your favorite jams shouldn’t keep you up at night. So, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both Apple Music and Spotify.

Although both of these streaming platforms come with an unlimited subscription for the price of $10 a month ($5 with a student account), Spotify does offer a free option. The only downside is that your listening session will be interrupted by ads every so often. 

Both Spotify and Apple Music allow the same amount of members to have profiles on the same billing account, and both streaming services give you three months for your free trial. One of the only differences between the two is that Apple Music has over 75 million songs in their roster, while Spotify has just about 70 million. What they lack in songs, they do make up for in podcasts, with over 2.6 million to choose from. This is significantly more than Apple Music. 

When it comes to Bluetooth speakers and accessibility, it’s still a draw. Apple connects to Airplay, iOS devices, HomePod, Apple Watches and TVs that are compatible with Siri. Spotify can hook up to a multitude of devices as well such as the Amazon Alexa and Echo speakers, and it is also available on the Xbox and PlayStation. 

For tailoring your library to your own preferences, Apple Music gets the upper hand. Most people who go back and forth between the two express that it is easier to find new music and curate playlists through Apple Music. The genius technology from Apple tracks your favorite songs and includes a mix of your preferred genres in their New Music playlists. Spotify’s comparable service is their Daily Mix, which adds music from artists you already know.

There is no definitive answer to the burning question on everyone’s mind. The cost is the same and you get virtually the same experience from both streaming services. Apple Music and Spotify have very similar attributes that keep them the top tier music platforms on the market. It all comes down to where your loyalty lies, because at the end of the day there is no changing the minds of avid Apple Music or Spotify listeners. Those with iPhones will be more inclined to utilize the software they’ve grown up on, with the exception of the people who prefer starting fresh with their music libraries on Spotify. Below is the comparison of the two, so you can decide for yourself which platform suits your needs the best: 

Spotify

• Free with ads
• $5 student subscription discount
• Up to 6 members on an account 
• Free trial for three months 
• Over 70 million songs and 2.6 million podcasts 
• Available on Bluetooth devices 

Apple Music

• $5 student subscription discount 
• Up to 6 members on an account 
• Free trial for three months 
• Over 75 million songs 
• Separate app for podcasts
• Available on Apple compatible Bluetooth devices

Nicole Birri of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts is a third-year nursing student at the University of Maine. When she’s not studying, she enjoys spending time with her friends, taking care of her pet rabbit and hitting the gym. 

Although she is on track to graduate in the spring of 2023, like many other students, she’s navigated plenty of struggles during her academic career. She juggles working mandated clinical hours at Northern Light Acadia Hospital while taking seven courses centered around her major. 

Her graduating class started off with 99 students enrolled in the nursing program in 2019. Now in the spring of 2022, only 32 remain. 

“Being a successful nursing student is all about managing your time well, getting your school work done but also making sure you make time for friends and fun as well,” Birri said. “You’ll go crazy otherwise.” 

This advice is easier said than done, but Birri expresses that being a nursing student comes with its downsides as well. Her days are filled with difficult classes, engaging with her study groups, all while balancing her grades and social life.

Birri also recently got the position of fundraising chair of the Orono Student Nursing Association (OSNA). 

“The OSNA seeks to create an inclusive, supportive community for all nursing students – we aim to provide members with educational and service opportunities and provide a place for like-minded individuals to bond over their chosen career path,” Birri said. 

This has helped her find friends with common interests that face similar challenges. 

She’s also in charge of raising money for the Student Nursing Convention that takes place each year and celebrates the hard working student nurses, such as herself. 

All of these extracurricular activities haven’t stopped Birri from being on the Dean’s List four consecutive semesters in a row. 

For Birri, the tribulations of the past three years of nursing school have only made her more confident in her career path. 

“Honestly, what makes it all worth it is making it this far,” Birri said. “I have gained a sense of pride in what I do within the medical field.”

During her second-year, Birri was placed into the clinical study portion of her degree. Since the fall of 2020, she has been working at local hospitals which has given her both real world experience and college credits. 

This year, her placement was in Acadia Hospital within the psychiatric wing located in Bangor, Maine. Although this wasn’t her first choice, she knew that the psychiatric nursing course was the most interesting one she had taken. Once she got to work closely with the patients, it solidified her decision.

“In the medical field you just treat them and leave,” Birri said. “In psychiatry it’s more patient-based. You’re actually spending time with them and treating them fully.”

In previous summer months she worked at a retirement home in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a med-tech with 23 patients of her own where she was in charge of passing out medications, following the doctor’s orders along with tending to an additional 236 people in case of an emergency. 

Feeling slightly overwhelmed, she knew that a summer away from hospitals was in her best interest. She plans to quit her summer job this coming summer and take a step back from her overloaded schedule. However, after graduating it will be full steam ahead for Birri. 

Her next steps after her undergraduate career will be studying psychiatry nursing in graduate school and obtaining her master’s degree in order to become a nurse that administers treatment in the ER. It’s an extensive and taxing career path, but she is confident that with her determination and level-headed attitude, she will be able to navigate the world of medicine. 

The University of Maine’s Lord Hall Gallery opened its new exhibition “Faculty 2022” on Feb. 11. This year’s faculty feature art exhibit includes work by five accredited artists and professors. The gallery is showcasing the artwork of Ellen Roberts, James Linehan, Ed Nadeau, Greg Ondo and the late Owen F. Smith, from Feb. 11 to March 18.

Susan Smith, the curator of this exhibition and director of the Intermedia Program at UMaine chose which artists were to be featured.

“The exhibit shows work of featured faculty who choose their own work — typically works done since the last faculty show — and each academic year about half of the art faculty show work. So, it is rotated each year,” Smith said.

Walking into the gallery, viewers are greeted with Roberts’ piece “Lake Stone Rhythm” on the right. The most striking of her series is displayed for this year’s exhibit. Her layered intaglio monotypes utilize materials found in nature, and are the subjects of the pieces. The use of vibrant watercolors contrasts the edges of the geodes, tree bark and a singular nail that are showcased on the paper. 

The preview to Linehan’s work can be seen on the left after Roberts’. The seven panel oil and acrylic canvases were the preview to the largest installment in the gallery. Linehan’s “Yes I Can,” which was sixteen framed pictures across and six acrylic paintings down, held a wide variety of scenes, portraits, animals, landscapes and lots of clowns. They ranged from something of an early 1900s triumph aesthetic, religious glory to again, sad clowns. It was a shock to learn that these pieces were not free-handed by the acclaimed artist, but actually a collection of paint-by-number pieces.

“James Linehan has been collecting paint-by-number pieces since the start of the pandemic. Their commonality is the fact that they are all paint-by-numbers, not done by him. They show us a view of Americana in their themes of small town, four seasons, objects, places and people held dear,” Smith said.

Notable artwork also done by Linehan includes “House on Fire,” which was the second largest installment in this exhibition, which was made up of more than 25 canvases in various sizes. The fiery oranges paired with a neon palette gave the piece its name.

Moving further into the gallery you can find work by Nadeau. His “Last Ditch Effort” piece captures a Mac-truck overturned on a snow laden road with car debris, legs and a police car in the corner of the page that tugs at the heartstrings.

Ondo, who also has been featured in the Lord Hall Gallery in the past, submitted two untitled stained glass pieces for this spring’s exhibition. One was hanging in a window with direct sunlight, the other propped up on a twelve-panel metal frame.

In the center of the gallery, you can find Groce’s work with graphite and acrylics on paper and mylar. The mixed media piece creates an amazing sort of optical illusion that holds an entire story scrawled across the canvas, broken up by maps and body parts that intentionally show through the mylar if you take a closer look, or a step back. Out of all the installments at the faculty feature exhibit at the Lord Hall Gallery, her piece “Orientation” was the most captivating due to all the elements involved. 

Down the hall there was a series of props that made up the Owen Smith portion. 

“His work focused on artist multiples and fluxus kits. The work in the show spans 2005 to 2020, and includes items that werte works in progress and ephemera from his studio,” Smith said.

Smith worked with Owen’s wife to curate this part of the exhibit. Along with his legacy, he left behind a statement piece of three plastic guns, each with a different definition left up to interpretation. Titled “Fun, Fear, Fallacy,” it was accompanied by an airplane safety graphic, and beside that, a memento of scissors that were confiscated after 9/11.

For more information on “Faculty 2022” and previous exhibitions, visit https://umaine.edu/art/lord-hall-gallery-page/.

Having been to almost every restaurant in the Bangor area that serves the delicacy that is french onion soup, I’d like to say I’m one of the most qualified to rate which bowl of bread soaked in beef broth, onions and topped with melted provolone cheese is the best of the best. For this review, I sampled a variety of Bangor area restaurants and assessed different french onion soups based on the criteria of toppings, garnishes and broth.

Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub: 5/5 Stars

I have ordered french onion soup twice from Paddy Murphy’s Irish Pub, and both times it has been served at the perfect temperature. The broth is evenly seasoned and contains the perfect amount of onions. On top, you’ll find a perfectly melted slice of provolone cheese. Overall, it was amazing. If you’re looking for the best french onion soup near the Bangor area, go to Paddy Murphy’s. 

Applebee’s: 4/5 Stars

I was skeptical about ordering french onion soup from a chain restaurant, but I was pleasantly surprised. The only reason I docked their rating by one star is because when I placed a to-go order, they gave me a cup of broth with no cheese on top. So, don’t be fooled, it may have been great but they can still be stingy. 

Yamas Bar and Grill: 3/5 Stars 

Yamas Bar and Grill’s rendition of french onion soup gets an adequate 3/5 star rating. The serving of onions added into the broth was fine, the bread wasn’t too soggy and the cheese was toasted to my liking, but the broth contained far too much oregano for my taste. 

Timber Kitchen & Bar: 3/5 Stars 

Although Timber has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp and reviewers praise the kitchen’s high quality ingredients and the restaurant’s dining ambience, their french onion soup gets a 3/5 star rating from me. Picture perfect garnishes don’t always make the food taste better. Timber decided to spice up their dish that should have remained traditional. I was taken back when they handed me the bowl topped with what looked to be like Funyuns. Paired with this unprecedented switch-up, their broth lacked salt and the cheese tasted like next to nothing. All in all, I advise Timber Kitchen & Bar to stick to what they know, and don’t mess with the french onion soup.