Platonic Valentine's Day

» Celebrating those closest to you

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

 

have been in a serious romantic

relationship for the past five years—we
are very much in love, it’s pretty gross.
However, I still remember the sometimes-
depressing loneliness that runs rampant
this time of year. This is why it is so
important to use this time to celebrate not
only your romantic partners, but also all
those platonic soulmates you've collected

  

over the years. That’s right, I’m talking
about friend dates!

Don't worry, I’m not going to tell you
to embrace your singlehood by partying
the night away with some of your besties,
all the while getting your flirt on (mostly
because I am not a writer for Cosmo and
that type of strategy to handle the day
seems incredibly played out and implies
you should be sad but are pretending not
to be). Instead, I want you to consider
an honest-to-goodness celebration of

McDonald's spicy

challenge

» The Spicy Jalapeno McChicken

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

Oren McDonald’s offers a
series of food products that involve a
theme, such as the “Great Canadian Taste
Adventure,” which featured food products
inspired by Canadian dishes. This time,
they are offering a challenge where they
add a kick to the McChickens by using
various spicy pepper flavours. Since I like
spicy food, I accept their challenge.

Every two weeks, McDonald’s will
offer a different McChicken with a different
sauce that is centred around
one specific pepper flavour.
This campaign will go on until
March u. It is not yet known if
the fast food giant will change
the sandwiches every two
weeks or if they will phase the
new ones in to make them all
available concurrently.

This series will contain
three different types of
McChickens with different heat
levels.

First, we have the Spicy
Jalapefio McChicken, which is
the McChicken with a jalapejfio-
based sauce. It looks like the
McChicken except that the
sauce has jalapefio pieces and
is a bit more flavourful than

the McChicken’s standard mayo. Despite
the “Spicy Jalapefio” name, it is not very
spicy at all—being the mildest out of the
three burgers in the series. It does havea
kick but it should be easy to eat. Due to
that mildness, I did not make the “spice
face” that the advertisements challenge you
against. I guess I won this round.

With one sandwich done, it is
about to get spicier with the next two
sandwiches—a McChicken with habanero
and a McChicken with ghost pepper, set to
launch on February 12 and 26 respectively.

  

Photo by Jerrison Oracion

the friendships you've formed. Often,

as negative as it sounds, our friendships
outlast our romantic relationships—
especially at the point in our lives that
many of us find ourselves in now. We're in
that coveted “college age” brand of young
adulthood. Due to this, our friendships are
arguably a far more defining influence on
the people we become than any romantic
partner we may meet. That’s not anti-
romance, that’s just the way things work as
we evolve and grow through our lifetimes.

Image via AwesomeStuff365

This isn’t to discredit our romantic
relationships—they are just as important
to our ever-changing concept of love as any
other form we may find. However, let’s not
allow the spirit of the season to drive us in
seeking out someone to celebrate with ina
romantic way. This compulsion is not only
unhealthy, it’s stressful as well. Especially
when you probably have a perfectly good
friend group to go out and enjoy a candlelit
dinner with. Additionally, you'll probably
have infinitely more fun with a friend than
you would trying to impress some stranger
off Tinder.

I think the language we use to
describe or ascribe love can be misleading.
Associating love with the whole notion
of two bodies with the same soul implies
that you are incomplete on your own. You
aren't. No one needs a significant other to
be a complete person, and the emphasis
on these romantic ideals at this time have
never helped anyone. That being said,
humans are, by nature, social creatures.
This means that although we may not need
a romantic partner, we do need important
personal relationships in general.

So, if you're not in a romantic
relationship, what better way to avoid the
lovey-dovey pressure of February than to
let everyone who's most important to you
know you appreciate their presence in your
life? Valentine’s Day is about love, after
all—love in all forms.

 

CP QV

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Sssomehin | just wanted to teke a moment to
interrupt the regulary scheduled outdoor and
adventure photos to say | have officially graduated

with my Bachelor of Science in Mursing! a
nursing world, here | come!

Helle