DIT CHRISTMAS CLOSURE

Hello all!

'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas'. The lights are up all over town, and soon it will be socially acceptable to play Christmas music, just a couple more days.

DIT will be closed and so will the library from 5pm Friday, the 21st of December til Wednesday the 2nd of January.

CC. Pixabay. (2018) Santa Claus Christmas Motif

NEW LIBRARY APP

Great news, due to a lot of hard work on the part of select DIT Librarians we now have a new Mobile App, MyLibrary! by Innovative Interfaces, Inc., which can be downloaded from the App store, or Google Play.

Click here for an introductory video!

1) Install with your preferred App store.

2) Select your library: Technological University Dublin.

3) Then under Barcode: enter you Student or Staff number.

4) Your Pin: is your library pin, that you use to log into your databases off-campus.

If you need to set up your pin you can set one up with us at the desk or you can follow the direction below or see them here.

Once you have logged in you will be taken to your home page, which will update with Library Tweets! From here you can search the collection by clicking Find, which will result in a search box, the ability to Scan Book for further details on a selected book, or Search Catalog.

• Using the search box you can type in keywords to browse the collection.

• Using the Scan Book function you can learn more about the availability specific titles by scanning the barcode on the back of the book.

• Using the Search Catalog function will take you to the DIT library catalogue.

From the homepage of the MyLibrary! App you can click into Social Media and then within may select either Facebook, Youtube, or Twitter.

From the homepage you may also access your profile under My Account. within this feature you will see your name, amount of books checked out, any holds you might have, if you owe late fines, and a link to change your profile details. You may click on any of these links get more information on the items in question.

Have fun with the library at your fingertips!

CELEBRATE A LITTLE

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans of our campus. This is the time of year in Ireland where shoppers are flooding the streets for one sale or another. Christmas lights have been up since before Halloween decorations in some cases, and it's little wonder as the days grow colder and the nights fall earlier. So what better than to throw up some sparkling lights, and what else... eat far too much!

Thanksgiving is traditionally a turkey dinner. You will never forget this turkey will you?

Friends (1998) The One with All the Thanksgivings. Season 5. Episode 8. 

But come on, we are all busy, poor, and would rather spend our time and money on shopping for the holidays. So let's look at some alternate dishes you might want to make that are cheap, easy, take under an hour, and are healthy to boot.

(Click on the images to be taken to the recipes.)

Try something covered in cheese and toasty!

Television Food Network (2014) Roasted Cauliflower Lasagne. [photo linked].

Or maybe something you can slurp.

Leek and Butterbean Soup

BBC Good Food. (2017). Leek and Butterbean Soup. [photo linked].

Or something with a bit of spice.

Bengal Butternut Squash and Chickpeas with Naan

Good to Know. (2014). Bengal Butternut Squash and Chickpeas with Naan. [photo linked].

Whatever you choose, Bon Appétit!

Simple

Just in time for the weekend the library has received one of its big green boxes.  

Usually once or twice a week the library gets a delivery from our Central Services Unit (CSU) in Rathmines, where all the orders for books and magazines get delivered. Once the lovely library elves over in the CSU catalogue, and process the new materials they send us a big green box. When the box is full it feels a bit like Christmas. When we get our items we process them further and then make them available! We even put some of the nicest ones on the new book stand by the front desk. 

Since it is late in the year, we don't have much time left for orders, but we are still getting stuff in. Today we received Ottolenghi Simple, Yotam Ottolenghi's newest cookbook. 

The concept for this cookbook was to make cooking more accessible for people short on time, or ingredients, but still want to eat good food. To make things easier Ottolenghi has marked the recipes with the signifiers: S.I.M.P.L.E (Short on time, 10 ingredients or less, Make ahead, Pantry, Lazy, and Easier than you think). After browsing through this cookbook, I am sold. The recipes have easy to source ingredients, I didn't see any recipes with more than 6 steps, and the pictures of the foods inside were enough to make me hungry even after just eating lunch.

Ottolenghi's other works include: Sweet, Plenty, and Jerusalem.

If you would like to borrow this particular cookbook it can be found at shelf mark 641.555 OTT.

Come and visit us soon, or you might just have to wait in line!

Autumn Comfort Food

It's getting nippy outdoors, and it's making us hungry.  When the weather starts to turn so do our appetites, out goes the iced drinks and in comes the spice!

Did you ever wonder why you start craving sweets, spices, and all the carbs?

Well, aside from the cultural influences such as holidays that make us eat more, there is our human biology. According to (Katz, 2008; p377) hunger is "the sensations induced by a deficit in readily metabolizable energy sources". This is different, but not uninfluenced by appetite, "a desire for food influenced by cravings for specific tastes and availability of specific foods".

Here is a handy little diagram of the factors that are involved in our hunger habits.

Katz, 2008; pg 381. Actual Food Intake/Effects on Health & Weight

But though we all may a have a little scavenger/hunter in us that demands that we calorie load to get us through the hard cold winter, remember we are not bears, a lot of our cravings are psychological comfort and coping mechanisms to get us through the long dark. So while we ponder the question of why we are really hungry, lets look at a few recipes to hit those cravings.

Turkey burger with chanterelles and Gruyere

Kavanagh, J. & Murray, W. (Oct, 2018). Turkey burgers with chanterelles and Gruyere. The Irish Times. Online.

For your side, or even just a main if you are a vegetarian. Why not try this:

Potato and apple braise

Somers, C. (Sept, 2018). Potato and apple braise. The Irish Times. Online

And how could we ever forget dessert!

Toffee apple and brandy trifle

Somers, C. (Sept, 2018). Toffee apple and brandy trifle. The Irish Times. Online

So after that if you weren't hungry before, I hope you are hungry now!

Caution: after excessive eating it is wise to exercise, but maybe after a nap! Enjoy!

cc. Pixabay. (2018). Fat cat.