iMEBEMMilNil!IlllMil The Michigan Daily I michigandailycom I Thursday, October 27, 2011 weekend essentials Oct. 27 to 30 ON STAGE Whether you be goblin or ghoul, werewolf or wizard, classical music is an absolute must for any and all Halloween festivities. Luckily, the School of MT&D's University Orchestra plans on haunting Hill Auditorium for an evening of popular melodies and creepy classical music, all the while dressed in its costumed best. Perfor- mances will be Sunday at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. CONCERT Don't let the band's East Lansing origins deter you - rock group The Verve Pipe returns to The Ark tomorrow at 8 p.m. The band broke up after '90s success with singles like "The Freshman," but its recently reunited mem- bers will bring family- friendly tunes and its more traditional com plex arrangements to Main Street for a night of real Michigan music. Tickets from $25. 'U' international students take a bite of Ann Arbor's multicultural cuisine By Veronica Menaldi, Daily Arts Writer hen some students at the University get a hint of homesickness, they can e ly drive an hour or so on I-75 and find them- selves in the warm embrace of their former home - usually complete with home-cooked meals. But for students hailing from other countries, skipping out to their childhood house for the weekend isn't an option - after all, they'd have to board a plane for hours and fly over an ocean or two. Fortunately, Ann Arbor has the next best thing: meals that closely resemble hometown dishes of Central America, Europe and beyond. LSA senior Amie Hsu said food is a common topic for the Conversation Circle she leads. The Conversation Circles Program was started by the International Institute at the University as an opportunity for international students to prac- tice their English skills with native speakers, and Hsu has found that potlucks are often the best wayto break the ice. "Food is one aspect of culture," she said. "I think it's somethingthatremindsthem of home." Hsu said international food establishments in America don't have quite the same foods that could be found in the country of a food's origin, but these state-side alternatives are beneficial for students who find themselves as fish out of water when they first set foot on campus. Judy Dyer, English Language Institute Lec- turer, agreed that food is an important link. Since she has lived abroad for a number of years, Dyer understands the importance of the little things that remind her of home. When she taught in China, one of those things was awarm cup of coffee. In the rare moment she was able to acquire a cup of instant coffee - not quite the same as the real thing, but close enough - she was pleased. This is analogous to an international student's situation. Though the foods in Ann Arbor may not be exactly the same as they are back home, they're similar enough to where most interna- tional students would be able to appreciate them. "It's an important component of that feeling of security, feeling of familiarity and finding a piece of home where you are making your home for the next few years," Dyer said. A home away from home Architecture and Urban Planning student Ash- wini Kamath was born and raised in India and came to Ann Arbor in 2008. She said if she goes out to eat, one in three times it's at an Indian restaurant. And if she's doing the cooking, 95 percent of the time it involves Indian food like curry, rice and bread. Indian food typically consists of Indian spices, herbs, vegetables and fruits. Kamath finds most of these ingredients from international Indian markets like OM Market on Plymouth Road and Bombay Grocers on Packard Street. She said her most frequent purchases were dal (a type of lentils), egg curry and vegetables like bhindi (okra), potatoes and cauliflower. Engineering graduate student Hatim Bukhari, an international student who came here from Saudi Arabia in 2006, also said he did a lot of home cooking. He described typical Saudi Arabian food to be some type of meat combined with some kind of rice and certain spices, and condiments like cumin. .: Bukhari buys some of his necessary ingredi- ents at Arabic markets - there's one located on North Campus called Jerusalem International Market. A few of the things he buys in such mar- kets are tahini sauce, sumac, fava beans and dif- ferent types of rice. Typically, Bukhari prefers to cook at home rather than dine out. "I feel like it's better," he said. "I'm not saying I'm a good cook, but the thing is, in restaurants you're not going to find exactly what you want. You'll find something similar, so that's why I pre- fer to cook." An example of this is stir-fried liver. Though Bukhari thinks the meal turns out decent in restaurants, when he makes it himself, Bukhari knows it'll turn outjust the way he prefers. Of course, not all connoisseurs of international cuisine were necessarily raised in foreign coun- tries. LSA senior Alaina Moreno-Koehler grew up in the suburbs of Flint like many in-state students. But thanks to her father and grandparents back in Puerto Rico, she has enjoyed a great deal of See GLOBAL FOOD, Page 4B FILM To all you sweet trans- vestites anxiously awaiting the weekend for the chance to once again break out your Frank-N-Furter or your Riff Raff, the State Theater has heard your pleas and is giving you not one, but two nights of the cult classic that makes us all want to do the time warp ... again. "The Rocky Hor- ror Picture Show" will play tomorrow and Saturday at 11:59 p.m. AT THE MIC Ann Arbor has a repu- tation as a hotbed for visiting musicians. Tomorrow, the sounds of some of the fin- est jazz around will be heard in the Cady Room of the Stearns building as The Jeff Hamilton Trio - head- ed by the renowned percussionist, who has accompanied musical legends like Ray Brown and Ella Fitzgerald - will perform at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are free. PHOTOS BY ANNA SCHULTE AND ALDEN REISS DESIGN BY BRIAN MARGOSIAN