Mardi Gras!

Today is Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent. I'm at a Catholic school now, so I wonder what all of this will mean. I guess tomorrow I will find out. Most likely, it'll mean absolutely nothing to me personally, since I do not participate in Lent. But, I'm curious to see if there are any noticeable changes, especially in the cafeteria.
Anyway, back to Mardi Gras. It's a pretty big deal, especially in the Cajun culture of Louisiana. You probably already know all of this...and I am probably boring you. I apologize. Anyway, to celebrate, the cafeteria was serving Cajun food. Feeling adventurous, I gave it a try. I ordered Bourbon Saute, which was supposed to be prawns and crawfish over dirty rice, but ended up being sans prawns (which was saddening because I love prawns). For dessert, I got a bignet, fried dough covered in powdered sugar, similar in taste to an old fashion doughnut. The entire meal turned into a round of Bad News, Good News.

Bad News: The dumb cafeteria worker put my bignet on top of the crawfish. Nothing tastier than a fishy dessert...or crawfish covered in powdered sugar.

Good News: I got it to turn out looking pretty ok anyway. Thank goodness I have plates.

Bad News: It turns out I don't like crawfish.Or bourbon. Or dirty rice. Which is a shame, because I like other Cajun food. And, when I edit the picture enough, it actually looks delicious.
Also, it was very, very, very messy (partially because the cafeteria worker just dumped rice all over everything). I can't complain too much about the cafeteria worker, though, because I had a class with him last semester and he seems like a pretty nice guy.

Good News: I still like bignets. What am I saying. I love bignets. Some year I will learn to make them myself. And I will be just like Tiana in Princess and the Frog. Boy, I cannot wait for that day. Until then, I must say, this was delicious. Even with the awful taste from the crawfish stuck in my mouth, and the crawfish juices and dirty rice stuck to the bottom, this was SUPER TASTY. 

There is good and bad in everything, I guess, even Mardi Gras.
Oh, and no, I do not have any beads. This is a Catholic university. Come on, guys. We don't party. We study. Or at least, that's what I do...


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The Italian Grinder Sandwich

It's Thursday! Which can only mean a couple of things. It means the week is almost over; the weekend's almost here. It means tomorrow is Friday, full of infinite possibilities. It means that today I only have 2 classes: Intro to Ed and Speech (I should probably practice my speech that I'm giving today, actually...). It also means that today I get to spend time with my favorite fifth grade class. But more importantly than any of that, it means that today is Italian Grinder Sandwich day.

The Italian Grinder Sandwich is available every day of the week, but I've decided it is only to be eaten on Thursdays and the occasional Tuesday. It is also always, always, always paired with chocolate milk. This makes it the best lunch to prepare me for spending time with the fifth graders. Seriously, it is the best sandwich ever and it can be made rather simply.

All it is (and I mean really all it is, no mayonnaise, mustard, pickles, nothing) is ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone, and lettuce on bread. That's it. The bread, of course, is amazing because I'm pretty sure the school makes their own bread, but even so, simply the combination of meats, provolone, and lettuce...mmmmmmmmm. Honestly, I'm salivating right now. I LOVE THIS SANDWICH!

And when paired with the deliciousness of chocolate milk, really nothing could be better for lunch than this. 

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Why I Should Remember My Previous Lessons

So, you remember the post I did about warning signs? (Why I Should Always Pay Attention to Warning Signs) And I decided that I would never buy anything that contained meat but didn't require refrigeration? Yeah, well I did anyway.

I was really in the mood for burritos Monday night but I didn't feel like walking all the way to the cafeteria. So, luckily, I purchased some premade Mexican over Fall Break. Old El Paso just came out with a new line of premade burrito stuffers. I read reviews of it online and it sounded like a good idea. It was easy enough to make and I could keep the leftovers in the fridge while I finished eating them throughout the week. To make it, all you have to do is rip open the top of the plastic package and put it in the microwave for a couple minutes. Then, put it on a tortilla (folding tortillas is an easier task if they have been warmed in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds), and maybe add a little cheese or lettuce or whatever, so that it looks like this:

It's already got rice, beans, and meat in it, which makes it quite convenient since to make burritos the normal way, you would need a different pot for each of these items. Once you have your inners on the tortilla (on one half only, fold the burrito. To do this properly, you must first fold the two ends so that each end of your string of insides are covered (this ensures that your beans and stuff won't fall out while you're eating your burrito). Then, roll the burrito starting with the half that has the insides on it, going towards the blank part of the tortilla. It should end up looking something like this:

Then, in theory, you should eat it, enjoy it, and clean up the mess.
Here's where the problem lies: I did not enjoy it. It was super salty, a tad bit spicy, and underlyingly bland. I dumped the leftovers in the trash and it stunk up our whole room. I couldn't take more than 2 bites of it. So, in the end, I walked all the way to the cafeteria and picked up a burrito anyway. Where I learned that, while I really love their chicken burritos, I am not a fan of their beef (it's rather spicy and I'm just not fond of spices).


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I Should Be Studying

Sorry I haven't posted all week. Midterms. 'Nuff said.

Seriously, Monday night I was already upset. It's been nothing but midterms, papers, more midterms, and, of course, drama. I am so ready for a break. And luckily, I'm getting one next week.

So, now, a week in food:

Saturday: Saturday doesn't count because I didn't really have anything interesting. Or at least, not that I can remember. I spent much of Saturday writing papers, doing laundry, and studying for my history midterm.

Sunday: Jonathon (my boyfriend), Scotty (my best guy friend), and Elle (my sister) came to visit on Sunday. Elle brought me cookies (of which I've eaten probably about 20...most of which occurred on Monday). I showed them around campus and downtown Portland, which was oh so much fun. For lunch we went to China Town and ate in my favorite restaurant ever (because they serve hot pot, which is this really obscure dish from the Chinese countryside, that basically includes anything and everything in one giant pot and the entire point of it is to keep you warm during the winter...though on a drizzly day in October it's quite delicious as well). Then, after visiting Saturday market, Powell's books, and Jackpot Records, we enjoyed dinner at Henry Weinhard's (so basically, amazing root beer, and a decent burger). Then, when they all left, I stayed up until 3 AM finishing my history paper (which had already been started beforehand).

Monday: Monday was an awful day. Let's just leave it at that. I also ate 10 cookies. And a grilled cheese sandwich. And one string cheese stick.

Tuesday: A somewhat better day. I had a delicious sandwich at the Commons which I plan to inform you all about sometime after this mess ends...so possibly two Tuesdays from now. We'll see. For dinner I had: a pork-based cheeseburger with chili on top (which I didn't finish because it was nasty), seasoned French fries dipped in my bowl of chili, a German chocolate brownie (which was rock hard, again, so I mostly just ate the frosting). I also bought, at the same time, a package of trail mix-type stuff and a Naked smoothie. I seriously looked kind of funny with an overflowing tray of assorted food.

Wednesday: 6 classes in one day (4 in a row this time because workshop added an hour to the beginning). 2 tests in a row, as well as several study sessions. I tried cream of kale soup for lunch, it was ok. And I tried a pizza bagel, which apparently needs to be heated first because it doesn't taste good cold...but I bought it with 5 minutes to get to class so...yeah. Oh, and chocolate pudding for dessert. Goodness I am in love with their chocolate pudding.

And now, today is Thursday: massive midterm day! Who knows what I'll be eating today (perhaps the homemade chicken noodle soup with a salad?) but I have been looking at great recipes to try once I get back from break (and a few cookie that I'll be trying for Christmas this year). Now I'm kind of excited to get back from fall break (and it hasn't even started!)

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Celebratory Salad

Today we got back our graded math exams, which we took last week. I was confident about my answers last week, but you know how it is: you wait and you wait and then you start doubting yourself. Or you remember all those experiences where you thought you'd get an A, but it turned out you got a D (not like that happened with my Philosophy exam or anything...I got a C on that...). Plus, let's be honest, I've never gotten a perfect score on a math test. And this is college, how am I supposed to suddenly expect to be good at math now that I'm in college?

Yet, despite all these last minute doubts, I got a perfect score. Raising my grade from probably a B+ to an actual A. At which point, I realized: I definitely have an A in choir, I've got an A in Public Speaking, I have an A in Early US History, and now I've got an A in math - that means I have A's in half of my classes! Of course I've got a B- in Intro to Ed, probably a D in Philosophy, and probably a D in French...but, hey, I've got A's in half of my classes!

This called for a celebration. So, I gave myself a typical college student celebration. (You drank? - No, I did not consume alcohol.) I ate. (Oh, so like chocolate cake or something, right? - No, not exactly). I ate salad. (I know, you couldn't tell from the title or anything. And I know, I know, I'm a loser, but, seriously, it was good).

See, yesterday my lunch consisted of a granola bar and a string cheese. And I knew that, though I wasn't hungry, I needed something more. So after class ended at 4, I went and picked up a salad from the cafeteria. I nibbled at it a bit, and I picked out all the tomatoes and Swiss cheese. Then, I got a text from a friend asking me to join him for dinner. So, of course, I put away the salad, did some homework, and joined him for burritos at the cafeteria. Which left this salad just sitting in my fridge, begging to be eaten. And that's what my celebration today was. Eating salad. I didn't pick up salad dressing yesterday when I bought it, so I just used my own. The salad itself had lettuce, ham, turkey, hard boiled egg, black olives, cheddar cheese (and at one point tomatoes and Swiss cheese - ew).

So, I know what you're thinking. That's all she did to celebrate? The short answer is yes. The long answer is, no. I drank one of the strawberry-melon flavored drinks that I lifted from my family's free bagged lunches during orientation (which have been sitting in my fridge ever since). And I did my French homework (will be doing my French homework after I finish this). Oh, and I can celebrate by watching choir practice and taking notes on what I want to (and need to) be learning. Yeah, the true celebration is going to be put off for a while. But next week after all my midterms are done and all my essays completed, I will be heading home (after a short detour to the Washington coast), at which point I can truly celebrate. And before that, I'll be seeing my boyfriend, my best (guy) friend, and my sister on Sunday, which is its own type of celebration. That will be a "congratulations, you've started studying for midterms! Let's take a break!" type celebration.

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Good Things Come to Those Who Wait...

...and they come in cardboard to-go boxes, too!

Before I explain why I am quite so excited, I should tell you first about why it's been half a week since I last posted. First off, I apologize. I'm sure you've all been dying with anticipation to find out what's been going on with me lately (cue the sarcasm). But, really, I am sorry because my job as a blogger is to provide you with the entertaining details of my life. And I haven't been providing you with such entertainment. So here it is:

Monday I went to the health center (again). The blood results appear to be normal (a bit low on white blood cells, which was strange since most of the possible ailments I could have actually cause high white blood cell counts)...but it's not to any extent that I should be alarmed, apparently. Also, it has been twice confirmed now that I do not have mono (which apparently seems to be spreading around lately...thank goodness I didn't join that club). Also, my organs appear to be normal, according to the scans I did on Saturday. Which is good. I have all my body parts and they're all their normal sizes. Yay! So, pretty much, after all this we've decided it's quite probable that I strained my diaphragm muscle. (Wait, where did they come up with that conclusion? Well, a couple weeks ago, the day before I started feeling awful, I went actual swimming for the first time in like 8 months. And it's entirely possible that I just simply did something strange during this, which caused me to strain my diaphragm muscle.) Basically, what this means is that I cannot swim, lift weights, or sing for the next week (did I mention I'm in choir? Cuz, honestly, not singing for an entire week is already driving me insane). So, yeah, that's that.

Also, I've kind of been a tad bit busy. Next week is my first experience with mid-terms (cue excitement here!). Which means this week and next week, nearly all my classes have papers due. So I've been working on papers and studying for tests and doing regular homework assignments and trying not to sing and trying not to lift weights (ok that's not that hard) and trying not to go insane this past week. Combine that with the fact that I really only have dry ingredients and you now know my excuse for not blogging: I haven't had the time to eat anything interesting.

But today that all changed. Because today I got something I've been waiting all week for. Honestly, I have gone to both dinner and lunch just to get this one thing, only to find out that they're out every single time. But tonight for dinner (which I ate during my 7:10-8:10 workshop), I finally got what I've been asking for: porter crepes with wild mushroom and chevre cream.

For a $6 food item made fresh in front of you at the cafeteria, this wasn't half bad. For a $6 crepe, it was a little expensive. But, generally, it was decent. The cheese was a tad strong, the mushrooms were amazing, the spinach inside was a little unexpected but so delicious. I probably could have made a better crepe, but the filling inside was something I cannot recreate. And the sauce. Woah, the sauce. My mother would have loved that sauce. It was a tad too much for my taste, but I can totally understand why someone would love it.

So, was it worth waiting for half a week, waiting in several lines to order it (because that specific part of the cafeteria tends to have the longest line), and the $6 I paid for it? Yes. Because it was a treat. It was something I probably couldn't have otherwise (especially considering my lack of food in my own room). And it was something different from the standard food one purchases at the cafeteria. I must say, I prefer the sushi (my school has a sushi chef...yeah...we're that cool), and their soup is to die for, but this honestly wasn't that bad. It was totally worth the wait and I think it's entirely possible that they wait made it taste even better (though that could be bs that our mothers tell us growing up so we'll stop begging them for things...).

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International Chocolate

Happy International Chocolate Day! I know, I didn't know it was either until earlier today. But that's ok with me.

In celebration of the day, I decided to eat some chocolate. I should mention that all of my meals today were in the cafeteria because a) my fridge is still empty and b) I'm still sick or whatever. Today, in addition to the now 9th day in a row of stomach aches, I have a fever. I'm super happy about this, believe me. But tomorrow I should be visiting the Dr. to find out what's going on and I actually am excited about this.

Anyway, back to chocolate. I actually am not typically a fan of chocolate. But, there are two exceptions: brownies and German chocolate cake. My grandmother makes this and apparently the recipe involves like seven pans or something obnoxious like that. So today, when I learned that the cafeteria had German chocolate brownies, I was ecstatic and ordered one promptly. This extasy was quickly increased when I remembered that the company that now feeds several college campuses (including this one) began as a desert company and thus have incredible deserts. This is a true fact. The brownie was obviously made with real chocolate. Actually, they use only real, honest ingredients in all of their food. But still, I was pleasantly surprised with the real taste to these brownies. Like, seriously impressed.

I'd originally promised myself to eat it slowly (since I had already had a grilled cheese (that they make using cheddar, provolone, and Swiss cheeses) and chocolate milk and, though I was hungry, I knew I should slow it down). However, it lasted me maybe 20 minutes while I was walking around campus. It was seriously delicious. Each bite was like biting into bliss. That's the only way to describe it.

Needless to say, I was completely content with today's International Chocolate Day. For a while, my stomach didn't hurt; I didn't feel stressed; I didn't feel anything but chocolaty bliss. That is true happiness.

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Homemade Soup on a Very, Very Long Day

Against all better intuitions, I decided to trek out to the cafeteria for lunch today. Perhaps I should go back and explain what my day has been today.

It all begins around midnight when I snuck back into my dorm room after hanging out with a friend all night (one of those you start talking at 9:00, then suddenly it's midnight type deals that I've always heard about but never quite experienced before...especially on a school night). Afraid to wake up my roommate (and also eager to go to bed), I got into bed without brushing my teeth, changing into pjs, or even feeding my poor beta fish. I seriously just walked in and got into bed.

Thanks to this late night, I woke up with very few hours of decent sleep (I'm still getting used to my bed). Luckily, I had class at 8:10 this morning! Hurray! So, I woke up slowly, got dressed even slower (unaware that it would be in the 90's today), and ate much quicker. Though I left with 10 minutes to spare, I was still one of the last students to reach class (the very last being the friend I had been hanging out with last night). Tuesday and Thursday classes are the longest classes, as they only meet twice a week, so the class lasted FOREVER.

As soon as it was done, I went back to my room to study (I have to have a history book finished by tomorrow and...it's not going so well...it's written in Old English). I fell asleep instead. It felt glorious.

When I woke up, I realized studying in my bed is not a good idea when I'm tired, so, around noon, I traversed to the cafeteria. And that's where this story begins to relate to food.

I am still lost in the cafeteria.

It' big and crowded and I don't want to look like a dumb freshman...but I am a dumb freshman. Luckily, I discovered soup today, so that's what today's blog is truly about.

My favorite soups in the whole wide world were, until today, as follows:

1. Miso soup (especially from Infinite Soup in Tacoma...where they include like three different types of mushrooms)

2. Clam chowder from the can

3. Brocolli cheddar soup (especially from Panera Bread, but I like it just about anywhere)

4. Chicken noodle soup with oyster crackers (I only eat this at Grandma's house, though).

5. Split pea soup

However, after today, split pea soup has proudly moved up to position number 2. Seriously, I loved the school's split pea soup. It had large chunks of actual ham. And, though you could tell it was from real peas, there weren't chunks of peas in the soup. The texture was smooth and creamy. And, best of all, there were hardly any spices. I could tell there was some salt and maybe a few other slight flavors, but, basically it was peas and ham. Soooooo gooooood. They don't seem to have it often, which is disappointing. But, I guess I'll just have to use it as a special treat. I am seriously in love with this soup. If it were possible to marry a soup, I'd marry miso soup and cheat on it with this soup.

In addition to soup, I had chocolate milk because I wanted milk (I didn't have choir today so I didn't have to worry about it coating my throat). And, after a bit of studying, talking to a fellow UP student who used to be in high school with me, and more studying...I ran into another friend and ate lunch with her. This time yogurt covered pretzels, which were expensive ($4 for a tiny bag), but oh so goooooood.

I went with this friend to class, ended up late for class, and then hung out with her and a bunch of other people after class. Then, I left the group to go with my roommate to get groceries (especially my missing cheddar cheese and some Ritz crackers). And now I'm back, and I'm blogging, and I still haven't finished the stupid book for history and I think my mind is going to either explode from all the stuff I have yet to do but don't want to do, or melt from the 90 degree heat (all my shorts are filthy and, since I still haven't done laundry, I am hottttt). I'm wearing pajama shorts but I'm still dying. I'm just not used to this crazy heat.

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Non-Dorm Food

I almost skipped lunch today. And my stomach wasn't happy. My usual Thursday allotment of time between my two classes was shortened, as I had to venture to Vancouver, WA today. When I returned, I spent the remainder of my break studying and getting only 1/4 of one assignment finished...which is way less than I intended to complete. Thus, I was unable to eat until after my second class...which begins at 2:30. After class, my stomach was yelling at me to eat something and the rest of my tired body agreed, so I went to the nearest food...the cafeteria. I already knew this was a bad idea because a) it was in between meal times, so food was scarce, b) I have to walk past giant mint leaves to get into the cafeteria and the smell of mint makes me gag, c) the food there is really, really expensive...especially the to-go food that they sell between meal times, and d) to-go food is never all that good. Yet, knowing all of that, I still went because I have very little non-breakfast food items and because I really wanted something hot and was hoping there would be hot food (it's literally been several days since I had food that wasn't pre-packaged).

I was wrong to hope such vile hopes. The cafeteria had virtually no food. So, I bought the only things that looked good: an egg salad sandwich and a pear. This totaled to $6.25 (remember, Oregon doesn't have sales tax, then look at that number again. $6.25 for hard broiled egg and a couple sliced of lettuce on bread, and a pear). Still, knowing the price, I bought it, and walked the long walk back to my dorm. Too hungry to handle the stairs, I took the elevator up all 8 floors of my dorm, the entire time thinking about the money I had just wasted.

I decided to save half my sandwich for dinner because it was between meal times and why not split up the food...make all $5.25 of sandwich worth every bit. It was a tasty sandwich, don't get me wrong. And the eggs are only cage free eggs. And the bread contained no high fructose corn syrup. But still, it was expensive.

Worse than the sandwich, though, was the pear. For the same amount of money that I could probably buy several pears at the local grocery store, I bought one, single, crunchy pear. That's right, crunchy. I know what you're thinking, and that's what I was thinking on my first bite as well, Pears are supposed to be soft, not crunchy! I wasted a whole dollar that could have been used elsewhere on a single unripe pear.

This is why I'm experimenting with making my own food. Because at least when it's a waste of money and a waste of food, it's my fault.

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