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!
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