Review

met here last summer, they had played against each other in B.C. at some point, so they knew of each other. Bibbings played highschool basketball at Rockridge Secondary and club basketball with 3D Basketball Academy during the spring and summer time, while Vandenberg played at St. George’s School and DRIVE Basketball.

Like all student-athletes, the two basketball players missed some time due to COVID-19 shutdowns. But according to them, this time off really helped separate the players who had been practicing during the shutdowns from those who hadn’t. They both stayed active with their respective clubs, which held outdoor sessions.

“Before COVID… I wasn’t that recognized [or] that good,” Vandenberg said. “Then I started getting more recognition because I put in more work whenever, I guess, a lot of people were chilling out.”

Stingers’ head coach Rastko Popovic also appreciates how hard his rookie point guard has been working.

“At the point guard position it’s tougher,” Popovic said. “Because we do have two really good point guards on our team, but what I like about Jack a lot is he’s a competitor, he competes, he’s not afraid, and he works really hard.”

Popovic has also been impressed by his two players’ maturity and ability to adapt from a high school setting to university, while juggling basketball and school.

Bibbings is currently enrolled in sociology, while Vandenberg is studying psychology, but they’re both keeping their options open, as they’re not sure if they want to stick to those programs yet. Another thing that has impressed Popovic is the duo’s work ethic.

“They want to get better everyday, they’re very coachable, they listen, they’re both going to keep improving and hopefully by next year they’ll be able to make bigger contributions to our team,” Popovic said. But that’s not the only thing that matters. Popovic also looks at the kind of people he’s recruiting, and what they’re like off the court, and it was all positive when it came to and

“They’re very very good kids in general, they’re good people, and that’s important to us when we recruit players.”

ARTICLE AND IMAGE BY DALIA NARDOLILLO // COMMUNITY EDITOR

Located on Clarke Street, the Dumpling Hut is almost not visible to the naked eye. If you drive past it you will probably miss it if you do not look up and see the sign.

Walking through the front door of the Dumpling Hut, you are greeted by an entrance full of postit notes from guests who have tried the restaurant.

AMBIANCE:

I decided to try out the Dumpling Hut on a Friday afternoon. The restaurant itself is pretty small, but you instantly get warm and homey vibes when you walk in. Something that I found pretty interesting was a huge traffic light in the corner of the restaurant.

I was expecting the place to be packed but to my surprise, it was only my boyfriend and I in the restaurant and we got to pick our seats. In terms of service we got waited on pretty quick by a very friendly server.

FOOD:

The menu itself was pretty compact. The restaurant offered portions of dumplings in either 10 or 16 pieces. You can also choose to get them steamed or fried for an extra charge.

I’ve had experience in the past with fried dumplings and whenever I ordered them, they would always sit pretty heavy in my stomach; so out of caution, I went with the steamed ones. Out of all the filling options on the menu, the combination of lamb and coriander was speaking to me. My boyfriend and I ended up ordering the same thing. I ordered 10 dumplings and he ordered 16. While we were waiting, we could see the chef preparing our dumplings. We could view her laying the outside dough of dumplings and carefully filling each one. When we got the food, we dug in. The dumplings were a delightful explosion of flavour, as the coriander in the filling brought a level of freshness to the dumplings. I absolutely loved it. I dipped my dumplings in the spicy sauce that they had on the table and it elevated the flavour for me. I rate the dumplings 9/10.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

I feel that for the location and the price of the dumplings, it was excellent. The other dumplings on the menu vary in price, depending on the quantity, filling and whether you get them fried or not. For $15, I got a great plate of food, great service and a very cool atmosphere. I definitely recommend trying out the Dumpling Hut if you are in the area or even if you have a break from classes.

BY DALIA NARDOLILLO // COMMUNITY EDITOR

Are you a bookworm and don’t know what book on your TBR list to attack first? I have a perfect solution for you: Concordia’s very own book club. Journalism student Alexandra Blackie started the Concordia Book Club this winter semester and is looking forward to welcoming many new students to the club. Blackie wanted to join a book club when she started university in September, but the only book-related club was Concordia’s comic book club. She jokingly said, “No hate to the comic book club but that’s not really my niche,”

The lack of an actual book club was Blackie’s motivation to kickstart the initiative and form Concordia’s official book club.

“It did take a little bit of a long time for it to get started. There were a lot of back and forth emails with the CSU,” Blackie explained.

Blackie wanted to create a social space that did not feel like school. She wanted a space where book-lovers could come together to read novels that are either popular right now or ones that not a lot of people know about.

In this club, Blackie doesn’t dictate the books that the club members have to read.

“I don’t actually choose the books, I gave them a stack for the first meeting that they chose from. We just go through a TBR jar. Everyone sent me titles that they want to read and we go from there,” Blackie said.

In terms of how the club functions, Blackie came to a mutual agreement with the other club members that they would read one book for the entire month. At the end of the month, the club regroups in a meeting.

“We picked our first book at our first meeting

GRAPHIC BY CARLEEN LONEY // GRAPHICS EDITOR

over Zoom out of a pile that they chose from. For the next book that we read, we are going to pick from a TBR jar,” Blackie explained. This month’s read is The Guest List by Lucy Foley. The club currently has 22 members. As the weather warms up, Blackie hopes to host in-person events like picnics where the club can discuss their current reads.

For interested participants, you can go through the CSU active club portal and email a_blackie@icloud.com.