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.