Bagels and Lox A-gogo

Howdy ya'll!  Sorry for the brief hiatus, Tuesday night was noodle bowl in Comstock and no amount of guilt associated with neglecting my duties could lead me to skip that.  In any case, today was Wednesday, which can only mean one thing: breakfast for dinner!  I was excited all day for it, but how did it actually go?

The advertised menu was sausage, onion, and pepper omelets, bagels and lox, home fries, monkey bread, and fruit salad.  I personally think that bagels and lox is evidence of God's hand in creation, so I was understandably excited for this meal.  However, I was sorely disappointed by Smith's rendition this evening.  I definitely made the wrong decision by skipping the omelet line for the bagels, as I heard from others at the table that they were delightful (and they had goat cheese this evening!!).  By some miracle I acquired the final everything bagel, but that is where my luck ran out.  The cream cheese provided in the buffet was described as "watery", and I would have to agree.  The smoked salmon was so greasy that I was forced to get napkins to clean my hands, and the sausage was also disappointingly slimy.  I finished my meal and immediately regretted eating it, which is generally not a good sign.

They neglected to provide dessert, so I foolishly tried to substitute the monkey bread. Poor. Choice. The bread was incredibly dense and covered in a crusty layer of cinnamon, but there was essentially no flavor other than that.  When I walked out of the dining hall, I found myself longing for the fajitas I had foregone at Cushing-Emerson.  It will be a long time before I trust your B4D again, Morrow.  Also, the meal was not made better by Linger playing THREE TIMES.  Cut that shit out, you guys.  I love the Cranberries as much as the next guy, but seriously.  Until tomorrow, may your adventures with food be more felicitous than mine.

The True Southwestern Night

Hello again! I am sorry that I have been slacking BUT that is about to all turn around because I am back with a vengeance to post about Latino Celebration Night!! Why is that so exciting, you ask? Because it was catered by Veracruzana (although their actual involvement in the cooking process has been fiercely debated). Also, because of the "wind warning" and the impending threat of EEE, the catered event was held in all the dining halls rather than outside on a lawn.  Not only did I not have to fight the entire population of Smith College for a third taquito, I could sit in a chair and not have to eat food covered in grass and various insects. Everyone knows how I love a Veracruzana taquito, but how does Smith's rendition of it stand up?

Surprisingly, extremely well. The advertised menu was some kind of lime vinagrette salad, marinated chicken and steak, two kinds of taquitos (chicken and potato and carrot), rice and beans, corn with peppers, and horchata, along with locally sourced ice cream. Reading this menu lifted me up from my suicidal despair after missing mac and cheese from Hubbard grab and go, and I'm sure you can see why.  Everything I tried from it was delicious, and although I didn't sample everything, there were no noises of complaint from anyone (although this was a small sample size, as the dining hall was so full we had to huddle around the coffee table in the poetry room).  The salad looked pretty soggy as per usual so I steered clear of that. The marinated chicken was delicious and not at all dry, and the rice and beans and corn were both tasty. Much to my delight, they provided the hot salsa that I love so dearly.  And the taquitos.  Had I been given the option, I would have eaten my body weight in those taquitos. My enjoyment of the taquitos was described as "terrifying", and the speed at which I ate them "truly spectacular".

Imagine this is a taquito and you have the idea.

Although I did not try the horchata or the ice cream I was assured that I "regret not trying the cinnamon ice cream for the rest of [my] life", so that is an estimate of how good it is (especially considering that the person that said this to me is lactose-intolerant).  In short, all of you should be jealous that you did not eat this meal if you didn't, and eternally grateful that you got to experience it if you did.  Tune in tomorrow for locally grown B4D, which sounds pretty delightful. I hope our luck of Smith actually executing delicious concepts holds out.  If not, I will shovel my hash browns into my mouth and think wistfully of tonight's Tex-Mex feast. Keep it real, Morrow!

Hello again, fellow Morrow diners past and present!  Morrow is closed for dinner tonight, so we are doing a special lunch presentation of the food blog today.  The rest of the first years arrived bright and early this morning (read: 8 am), although I slept through my alarm and therefore missed the first hour and a half of their arrivals.  This also meant that I missed breakfast, and was forced to carry many refrigerators on an empty stomach.  My fellow student leaders and I were famished once 12 finally rolled around, and we trooped into the dining hall to steal some of the food that is technically meant for first years and their families.

The advertised meal for lunch was sandwiches, mexican wedding cookies, and hand fruit.  This does not do the spread they had laid out justice.  I want to have parent's weekend every weekend, because the food they make to impress them is out of control.  There were red and green peppers, tomatoes that were actually red as opposed to sort of off-white, grapes, and lettuce that was described as looking like "a fresh meadow garden".  They even sprinkled parsley on the turkey deli meat.  Overkill?  Maybe, but I was too busy chowing down to care too much.  I did not encounter anyone that ate the tuna, but the turkey was delicious and apparently the vegetables were fresh enough to make a delicious sandwich even without a panini maker (which can make a pretty terrible sandwich awesome).  I also ate grapes and drank the homemade lemonade that Smith made, which was delicious even though you could sort of feel the sugar on your tongue.  Setting the bar too high would be a mistake, even when parents are around.

This platter ain't got shit on what we had

I heard that the Mexican wedding cookies were as good as ever, although I have never enjoyed them that much.  If you like the feeling of chewing on wet Gold Bond powder with nuts mixed in, I'm sure they did not disappoint.  I, however, was disappointed by the jukebox being turned off in the middle of Take On Me by Aha.  Sometimes it just feels like the world is against me, you know?  Morrow will be closed for the next few days, but undoubtedly the jukebox will keep on rocking and so will we through orientation.  See you at Sunday brunch!

Morrow Back In Action

What up what up, Morrowites! It has been a long hiatus, but the Morrow dining blog is once again online due to a gas problem in Cushing that caused us to open one day early. As is the custom, we turned on Ain't Too Proud To Beg and got down to eatin'.

Tonight's advertised dinner was assorted pizzas, salad with craisins and feta, snickers ice cream with fudge sauce, and peaches. The pizzas were indeed assorted, with four types in the cart. When I got my slices the flavors were cheese, pesto and tomato, pepperoni and green pepper, and vegetable, though I only ate the first two of those and different types were coming out as each disappeared. Mine were very nice with some extra cheese on them, and my dining companions assured me that the vegetable pizza was also delicious. Other favorite toppings included Tabasco and sriracha, although conspicuously absent was ranch dressing. Still, it was quite delicious through my disappointment.

This may surprise no one, but discovering that the salad was not craisin and feta but rather tomato and red onion was more than enough impetus for me to skip straight to ice cream. Snickers ice cream is the beautiful synthesis of two of my favorite things, and although it had some pretty severe freezer burn, this particular bowl did not disappoint. I felt guilty afterwards so I tried to eat a peach, but it was overripe and I didn't get through much of it. The first years seemed to enjoy themselves, and I for one am glad that Smith makes them delicious food so they don't suspect that herbed baked tilapia is in their future. Congratulations on a well done premier voyage, Morrow, and I look forward to what's in store tomorrow.

Act Locally, Think Morrow-ly

Hello my little blog babies!


Erm, that was a bit weird. Apologiez.


Does anyone else get confused by all this "eat organic! no, don't eat organic, it's all a ruse by the government and food processors to get us to buy more stuff! eat local, and only local! wait...this man probably doesn't have enough room to grow these tomatoes 'locally' on his roof in Manhattan so they were most likely grown in his bathtub maybe I shouldn't buy these 'locally' grown tomatoes at the farmers market" mumbo-jumbo?
Does anyone else finish a Michael Pollen book and feel utterly fed up with the universe, and not to mention somewhat horribly elitist for having finished more than one book by Michael Pollen?


I sure do.


"These blueberries are from Virginia. That's close, right? But they are like four dollars more than the ones from Maine. These avocados from Chile look so much nicer than the ones from California and if I'm looking for quality and taste well shouldn't I buy them but I also want to buy locally...what should I do?"



I'm so exhausted by the whole thing I don't know what to do. So when the Morrow Dining hall planned a B4D (breakfast for dinner for those of you new to, well, everything) exclusively using local foods, my relief at not having to decide which foods to buy local or organic or whatever was overwhelming.

Now Brinner is honestly the only way I get through those tough hump-days (heh). We always look forward to eating typically morning-only noms while bopping along to quasi oldies. But this week was LOCAL B4D, by far the most popular Brinner all year. Local makes a difference when it comes to breakfast food, I know that much.

So this past week, there was a lot of good noms on the menu.

We started with a goat cheese and caramelized onion frittata, a big hit among all of those who actually got a piece of it. Sean, energetic as always, was running back and forth from the kitchen to the buffet line, making sure everyone was happy. Unfortunately, there weren't enough frittatas to go around, and Sean was not pleased. For all those who missed out on the goat cheese and sweet onion deliciousness, I am so very, very sorry.

I personally am not a French toast fan, but I was told it was great, especially with the local blueberry topping. Seeing as we are close to blueberry country, I am not surprised the topping was delicious.

The pork sausage was wonderful, and the roasted root vegetable home fries (consisting of potatoes, carrots, onions, sweet potatoes, and a few other assorted vegetables) were earthy and flavorful. I felt like a rabbit eating so many fresh veggies.

For dessert, we were offered baked apples and vanilla ice cream. I have this weird thing against mushy apples, particularly of the baked variety, so I didn't partake in those sweet offerings, but I did have some pumpkin ice cream. Om nom to the nomiest.


The night was hectic and emotions were running high, but, in the end, we all had a fantastic Local Nomz Brinner. Do you think that's what they will start calling it that on Smith2Eat? I hope so.

Latina Heritage Month (Sorry...a bit late, I know)

Hola amigos!

I apologize for the lateness of this blog entry--Latina Heritage Month dinner was last Thursday, and as I don't have classes on Friday, my night post-dinner quickly fell into a fiery hedonistic abyss.

...I was probably just watching Law and Order: SVU and asleep by 8pm (and dreaming of Mariska, nbd.)


*sigh*





ANYWAY.


Last Thursday kicked off Latina Heritage Month (lasting until October 15th).

A little info about Latina/Hispanic Heritage Month: Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

The term Hispanic or Latino, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race. According to the 2010 Census, 50.5 million people or 16% of the US population are of Hispanic or Latino origin.
(Read more: Hispanic Heritage Month — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhm1.html#ixzz1YSJwpOsQ)


Normally, Smith has a big to-do on Davis lawn with Latin American cuisine, complete with fajitas, salsa, and really, ridiculously long lines. But this year the weather prevented us from having it on Davis lawn (not so sad for us Quad folk who have to walk that endless journey), so we had it in our own dining hall.

I'm not sure if you know Sean, our dining-hall commander-in-chief (or should I say cheese?!...I'll stop, I promise), but if you don't, get to know him. Pronto. He makes dining in Morrow the best possible. Honestly, I don't know how he does it.

Apparently the dining halls received the menus for the festive evenings at only 5pm the previous night. As every skilled chef knows, the time it takes to prepare a salsa fiery enough to make Sarah Gregg's eyes water is not a laughing matter; Sean had his team in the kitchen at 8am the next morning.

And let me tell you, it was worth it.

There were taquitos. TAQUITOS. I can't even begin to describe how excited we all were at the prospect of delicious marinated chicken and potato and carrots wrapped in corn heaven and fried.

There was REAL guacamole. Lemme tell you, I am a big guac fan. I love it almost anywhere...except Smith. The weird powder they pour into some strange gelatin concoction makes my stomach do cartwheels.


But this...this was epic.

Real avocados. Real cilantro. Real onions.





I'm drooling in Neilson just thinking about it. And yes, I'm just as confused by my presence in the library as you are.


There was marinated chicken. Grilled steak. THREE TYPES OF SALSA. I had to sheepishly ask for sour cream when I foolishly underestimated the degree of heat of Sean's hot, hot salsa. It was killer.
I'm sure Adam from Man v. Food would have a problem with it (like he does with everything spicy--WHAT WHO SAID THAT?!)

Horchata, a rice milk with cinnamon, nutmeg, and other spices, was the drink of the evening. Sean even brought over cups of it for all of us to try. WE DIDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE OUR SEATS. We just sat and inhaled taquitos like we hadn't seen food in weeks.


Dessert was a whole other matter.


I'm not sure if you've been outside lately--hold on, I apologize. OF COURSE YOU HAVE. Unless you're not going to class and then we will have to have a talking of a different matter. Moving on.

It's been cold out. I heard some first-years mentioning they wanted to play Christmas songs-TOO SOON TOO SOON TOO SOOOOOON. But still, everyone is getting into the mood for fall.
And with fall, comes pumpkins, at least in New England. So imagine our excitement when--lo-and-behold--there was LOCAL pumpkin ice cream for dessert. And local strawberry, but no one really cared about that since there was PUMPKIN. Ommmmnommmnommm nomnomonmo.

nom.



omnom.





TO CONCLUDE SINCEI'MTIREDANDWANTTOSLEEPEVENTHOUGHIJUSTGOTTHISLATTESINCEITHOUGHTIHADTOMOODLEPOSTBUTIDIDN'TIHATEEVERYTHINGEVEREXCEPTMORROWDINING:

Latina night in Morrow was a wonderful success. And I urge all of you to take advantage of all the great events and learning opportunities Latina Heritage Month has in store for us!

The Story of the 6PM Surprise

Well hallo all! What's up my lil fruits and veggies?

The Morrow House Dining Blog is back from an all-too long hiatus (schoolwork and international travel had something to do with it). The blog now will beginning on the first day of the first semester of what is looking to be the greatest year ever (NO SHAME. NO REGRETS).

After too many (or not enough?) hours spent watching the always intellectually-stimulating Jersey Shore and, for some, trying to get rid of our hangovers, we trudged down to the dining hall hopeful for some chicken parm and Caesar salad.

LITTLE DID WE KNOW....

There were quite a few surprises waiting for us. First, there was a CAPRESE salad in addition to the tasty Caesar salad; if you aren't sure what that entails, a Caprese salad is a "simple salad from the Italian region of Campania, made of sliced fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, seasoned with salt, and olive oil." (Thanks Wikipedia!) It was a crisp and lovely surprise, but the best was yet to come.

As we nommed on some delicious salads, pasta, and poultry, Sean called for our attention in the music-less dining hall (it is a Thursday night, after all).

Apparently folks, there are people who do not believe in us; they do not think we can successfully keep up our reputation as not only the BEST OF THE QUAD, but also, the best dining hall on campus.

They think we will always GO THROUGH THE WRONG DOOR.

But they are WRONG. Oh so wrong. We showed them. We showed them hard. And to reward our phenomenal work, Sean tantalized us with a 6PM Surprise.

It was only 5:35PM when he dropped the bombshell. We sat on the edge of our seats, waiting for the magical hour.

We ate and chatted; the garlic bread was great, though it could have used a tiny bit more oil/butter. I just loaded it with marinara and nommed away.

THEN, at 5:48PM, Sean walked out of the kitchen carrying a tray. THE TRAY. We anxiously awaited the reveal--Elisa could hardly contain her excitement. Sean laughed at us; he knew what was under the white textile of hope. Saying a few short words, he revealed the surprise:


....wait for it.


...........waaait for ittttt.






CHOCOLATE FUCKING CHIP COOKIES.

DELICIOUS DOUGH FILLED WITH LITTLE CHOCOLATE PIECES.

THE COOKIE WHICH DEFINED THE TERM COMFORT-COOKIE.


We cheered. We laughed. We nommed.

Truly a successful beginning to the most successful year--dining-wise, that is.