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.