VALHACKS

“Val Hacks” is a column dedicated to exploring the culinary possibilities of Valentine Dining Hall. This week, Ivy Haight ’25 presents her recipe for “The Secret to Strawberry Shortcake.”

When presented with the components of “strawberry shortcake” at Val, some questions might come across your mind: What is strawberry shortcake? How can cake be short? And what do strawberries have to do with it? I don’t have the answer for any of these questions, but I can say that I have perfected the strawberry shortcake recipe at Val.

Directions

In a bowl, mix together ingredients in the following ratio:

• 3/5 vanilla soft serve far, “Weight in Gold,” which can be found on all streaming platforms. He shared his feelings about the project and its reception. “[I felt] very good because I knew it was killer. The EP was done for two weeks to a month before I turned it in,” he said. “I was listening to it that whole time and I really liked it.”

Despite his years of experience as a musician, Smith’s delay in releasing more music is split between apprehension — “I was scared to put out an EP before because I criticize myself too much” — and a self-admitted laziness: “I really could be releasing so much music — I’m just lazy. I make the songs and I just, [laughs].” While he has the desire to release his music, Smith confessed that his true desire is to make it. All of the other aspects of the sharing process are a necessary evil. “I’m really bad at promoting my [music]. I’m telling you, I’m so lazy,” he said. “If all I had to do was make music, that is all I would do.”

As a self-made artist, Smith had some things to say about the beginnings of learning how to make music like he does: “Why not? If you want to, do it. That’s all it has to be. Listen a lot, play a lot if you want to be good. It’s about how much time you put in. I don’t think talent is a real thing, quite frankly. I think that if talent is anything, it’s the amount of dedication you naturally have towards the task.”

Read the full article online at www. amherststudent.com

• 1/5 strawberry compote

• 1/5 dairy-free whipped topping (trust me on this one — the dairy-free is better)

On a separate plate:

• Gluten-free biscuit

The key here is to heat up the biscuit for 8 to 12 seconds. It’s a game changer. The biscuits look moist, but they’re not, and the microwave solves all your problems. From there, you can dip the biscuit in the strawberry-soft-serve whipped topping concoction.