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Originally published in The Northern Light.

It seems like the last thing college kids need is a list of foods that will make them horny. Aren’t our hormones rampant enough already? The desire for sex is evident across all cultures spanning over thousands of years; as has the desire to find the perfect potion to get anyone in the mood.

An aphrodisiac is considered to be any substance that’s consumed to increase libido. Popular aphrodisiacs you may have heard of before include oysters, dark chocolate and red wine. With little research on the effect of aphrodisiacs, most evidence is subjective. Whether it’s a placebo effect or the real deal, a delicious aphrodisiac inspired meal this Valentine’s Day is sure to please any date, in or out of the bedroom.

From the dangerously delicious to the down-right disgusting, aphrodisiacs vary and may even be counter-intuitive. Balut, the Filipino delicacy that is fertilized duck egg, is famous for its aphrodisiac qualities. In my travels to the Philippines, I tried Balut, and the only desire I had afterwards was to vomit. If you’re curious, or desperate, you can find Balut at the New Sagaya Midtown Market.

For an Alaskan themed Valentine’s dinner, focus on fresh seafood, especially oysters. Make your way over to the Bubbly Mermaid in downtown Anchorage where they have a monopoly on the best oysters and champagne in town, creating the perfect recipe for a romantic evening. Legend has it that Aphrodite arose from the sea in an oyster shell as the Goddess of love and fertility. Salmon is said to have aphrodisiac elements as well. For the adventurous eater, crushed up caribou antler and bear claw are sought out by the Far East as a powerful aphrodisiac. I do not recommend trying to get your hands on it, but the oosik bone — the baculum or penal bone of walruses, seals, sea lions and polar bears — is sold on the black market by Native Alaskan’s to buyers in Asia who prize the bone as an aphrodisiac, according to Jeremy Sacks, author of “Culture, Cash or Calories: Interpreting Alaska Native Subsistence Rights.”

Champagne and red wine is a Valentine’s Day classic, but don’t totally rule out the power of beer. Before beer was made with hops it was produced using gruit, a collection of herbs used to bitter and flavor beer. The use of gruit was left to the wayside when the puritan and protestant brewers wanted to phase out the, apparently, aphrodisiac qualities that gruit supposedly possess. Using hops grew in popularity and has been the norm in beer ever since. However, modern brewers are looking to this old fashioned way of making beer as a unique way of flavoring their ales. Breweries in Alaska, in fact, are venturing into the gruit world. Alaska Brewing Company’s Alaska Winter Ale, is made with a combination of gruit and hops, as is the Baranof Island Brewing Company’s Sitka Spruce Tip Ale. The aphrodisiac qualities of these specific beers are unknown, but it’s worth a shot.

Whether fact or fiction many of the above mentioned foods will make for a great dinner, snack or even conversation starter.

Inspired by a recipe I found on Pinterest, this recipe was posted on the food blog “With food+love” and was titled Pomegranate brownies with cacao nibs and sea salt. I decided to give it the college student spin and make it for myself. I used a box brownie mix and dark chocolate chips instead of cacao nibs and bought pomegranate seeds already harvested from the fruit, which made the process much simpler. I also opted out of the sea salt as I felt there was already so much going on with the brownie as is. Don’t forget to account for the ingredients needed as part of the box brownie mix. This usually includes one or two eggs and oil.

Red wine and dark chocolate brownies with pomegranates.

Ingredients:

One box of brownie mix and ingredients that correspond with the mix (I used a dark chocolate brownie mix)

1 and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips

1 cup of red wine (I used a red blend)

1 pomegranate or 1 package of pomegranate seeds

Directions:

1. Spray the baking pan with cooking oil and preheat the oven to the temperature indicated on the box.

2. Prepare the brownie mix as indicated on the box.

3. Pour one cup of the chocolate chips into the brownie batter and stir them in until mixed well.

4. Pour the entire bowl of batter into the oiled baking pan until all the batter is evenly distributed into the bowl.

5. When the oven is preheated cook the brownies for the time indicated on the box.

6. Check the brownies periodically by putting a fork in the brownies and seeing if the fork comes out clean.

7. When the brownies are done immediately sprinkle the 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips over the brownies.

8. Sprinkle the pomegranate seeds over the brownies.

9. Let brownies cool for about 15 minutes and serve to the one you love.

Originally published in The Northern Light.

In an age where virtually all music is in the palm of our hands, it’s hard to believe why anyone would opt for an outdated analog format of listening to music. Despite Apple music, Spotify, Tidal, good ol’ fashioned YouTube, and other music sharing software and apps the vinyl revival is well on its way into 2015 and is spearheaded by an unlikely generation – the millennials. Those late teen to thirty-something-year old’s are putting vinyl LP’s (long playing albums) back on the shelf in a neighborhood near you.

One half of all record purchases are by people 25 and younger according to research done by Music Watch. With over 13 million vinyl albums sold in 2014, this is the highest vinyl sales have been since 1989, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

In Anchorage, vinyl records are available in multiple locations; Title Wave, Barnes and Noble, and Anchorage’s newest record shop Obsession Records. Obsession Records opened its doors on Nov. 28, 2014. Verna Haynes runs the shop alongside her husband and son where they buy and sell vinyl records as well as electronics, turntables and speakers.

Nostalgia was the main proponent in Steve and Verna Haynes conception of Obsession records. Their collection grew as did their desire to share with the community their love of vinyl and music.

“Years ago, my sister dragged home a few boxes of records and we had this nostalgic moment and had so much fun looking through them. All of the sudden, it became this thing and he [Steve] just sort of took off with it. All of a sudden he’s out there and he’s chasing records and collecting, and then we had this huge collection. He wanted to be able to communicate with other people that like vinyl, that like music,” said Vema.

The shop has all walks of life come through the doors, but it’s the millennials that want to take vinyl to the next level, with better sound quality and modern music.

“I’ve got that 20-30 year old range and they got jobs and they can invest in the better turntable and better components, and they are at a point where they can take it a step further. They want better sound, that kind of thing, invest a little more money. They are serious about their vinyl, they want quality vinyl, they want it to sound good. Then you have people like me in their 50’s who are coming back to it.” said Vema.

Hannah Dorough, UAA English major with a love of vinyl, can thank her parents for introducing her to the record world. Dorough doesn’t think vinyl is coming back, but that it never left.

“I mean, I like it because vinyl is cool. And you get this awesome feeling when you listen to them. It’s like the musical equivalent to opening that old, dusty book, you know? It’s just cooler to have on vinyl and just feels good to listen to. Honestly, they never truly went out of style. Like the people who love vinyl still love it, still buy it. Even CD’s are rarely bought anymore, but the people who love them go out and buy them,” said Dorough.

Local musician Ian Wahl, age 21, grew up listening and playing music. Wahl appreciates the opportunity vinyl gives you to listen to the music as the artist intended, something Wahl believes is hard to come by.

“I think the appeal has a lot to to with the look and feel of vinyl. I also tend to only listen to older records so it kind of makes me feel closer to the artist that recorded the tracks because that is the way they heard their music and the music that inspired them. In this day you can go online and find almost any song ever recorded and released, but with vinyl you have to hunt through second hand stores and garage sales to find a certain artist or record which makes listening to it more rewarding. I also like having a whole record because I hear songs that I might otherwise not have on B sides of albums that weren’t remembered. When you go online and look for a certain song you find it and play it and you get the other top 40s hits from that artist and genre but you don’t hear the song in the context of what that artist was feeling and creating at that time.” said Wahl.

With a nostalgia transcending generations and a sense of pride, vinyl gives millennials a fascinating and traditional format of listening to music and expressing themselves. Whether you’re a 50-year-old whose always had a love for vinyl and never believed it went out of style, or a 22-year-old with a box of old records your grandparents gave you, vinyl is here to stay

Victoria Petersen

College Cookbook: Aphrodisiac Alaskana

For TNL: Record revival: Music’s comeback kid