The reason for naming this post "The Striped Cow" is that when you look at everything I'd eaten, as a whole, it doesn't follow a pattern. It's the most mismatched food day I've had so far. There isn't one basic ethnicity, color scheme, plating technique or anything about today's meals. It's the culinary equivalent of wearing a black business suit, spandex pants, yellow socks and a Santa hat.
So I got up for lunch and went to Banquet. Here's what I ate:
-- Gougons of Sole
-- Roast Pork Loin with Chorizo Stuffing, Salsa Verde, and Pommes Escalope
-- Warm Chocolate Cake with Berry Sauce
-- Lava Lamp
-- Jasmine Tea
Gougons: French for "fingers"
Sole: An oval-shaped flatfish. Member of the flounder family
Chorizo: A highly season, coarsely ground pork sausage
Salsa Verde: Spanish for "green salsa", typically based on tomatillos, green chiles and cilantro
Pommes: French for "potatoes"
Escalope: French term for a thin and usually flatted piece of meat or fish. In this case, it would be translated to "scalloped potatoes"
Lava Lamp: a cocktail drink made of cranberries, grenadine, tonic water and citrus juice
There's a lot of explaining needed for this meal, as you can see. The first course was gougons of sole which is basically a gourmet fish stick. It sounds funny but it's the truth. Fish sticks normally use cod or a cheap white fish that is light, buttery and flaky. Sole has the same qualities, but it's a much smaller fish, better flavor, and therefore more expensive. They looked like fish sticks too. The main dish consisted of a couple pieces of pork cooked medium-well, a molded piece of chorizo stuffing, an elegant puddle of salsa verde and a scalloped potato. The scalloped potato reminded me of the polenta cake I had a day or two ago (in shape). The pork was very good, but not different from any other roast pork loin I've had. The salsa verde was a treat because I love chiles and anything including them. This salsa verde wasn't too spicy but you could still feel a little sting. The chorizo stuffing was the best part if you ask me (who else would you ask). It was soft and fluffy and tastes greatly of chorizo. Chorizo happens to be one of my all-time favorite things to eat. It's a Mexican spicy sausage, come on. Naturally, I combined the stuffing, salsa and pork to make awesome bites.
The lava lamp was really cool and I'd never seen one before. In case you don't know what it is either, I'll explain. It's a champagne flute that is filled with a fruity drink and some sort of carbonated liquid. There are also ten or so dried cranberries mixed in. The little bubbles from the carbonated liquid attach themselves to the cranberries, and by the wonders of physics, they float up and down the glass on their own. It's pretty crazy.
After the main dish, we had dessert. It was tasty. It was chocolate with a berry sauce so it had to be tasty. I finished it off because it was pretty small in size, and accompanied the end of my meal with some hot tea.
After lunch I went back to my room for about a half hour or so, and got ready for my first class of Intro to Gastronomy. No, it's not about intestines and bowel movements. It's Food History. Our teacher is a nice, young guy who's apparently been all over Europe and also worked as an affinatore (one who ages cheese) in the next-door town of Poughkeepsie. The class was pretty simple and opened up the way every single thing had opened up at this school so far (with everyone saying their name, where they're from, and what their favorite food is). Then we did a little thingy where we said where we're from and what that place is known for food-wise. The information was written on the big white-board and the exercise was just to be for fun and to learn about that kind of thing.
At the end of class, we were assigned the homework of writing a two-page paper on our strongest food memory. These kinds of assignments are really easy for me, as they should be for everyone, because it's just writing about yourself. I wrote about celebrating Passover when I was little with my extended family in Massachusetts and how the food was mine and everyone's favorite part. It was a fun paper, I thought.
When that class ended, I had to go straight to Writing class because it started in fifteen minutes. Luckily, it was in the same building. On the other hand, it was up four flights of gigantic marble steps. I went up there, found the room, and found a seat. I sat in front because I'm that guy. Our Writing teacher is a very friendly woman who lives nearby and only recently started teaching at this school. She likes Harry Potter, so we immediately had something in common, and I told her during our "introduce each other" thing that I'm also a big fan of the Potz. What I like best about that class is that we open the windows. Let me tell you why that's significant. We're on the fourth floor of a building that has multiple restaurants in it. It smelled like french fries and beef the whole class. Truly great.
Then it was dinner time:
-- Shrimp, Crayfish and Lobster Etouffée with Celery, Scallions, Rice and Cornbread
-- Bread Pudding with Golden Raisins and a Halved Fig
Etouffée: A popular cajun dish of a thick, spicy stew of crayfish and vegetables served over white rice
This was a really good meal. The stew had crayfish, shrimp and vegetables in it, and the liquid was made from a lobster stock. I'd never had an étouffée before, as well as crayfish. It was a great stew and tasted just as you'd imagine. The crayfish meat just tasted like baby shrimp, and that's what I thought they were for a while. I'd been waiting for the opportunity to get bread pudding, and I was happy to get it so soon after arriving. This was pretty interesting. It was not a very good bread pudding, I don't remember why, but what I do remember is the fig. I'd also never had a fresh fig before. I was a little hesitant, and didn't know if I should be eating the skin as well. My friend told me to just eat it all, and so I did just that. It remains one of the best food experiences I've had here. That fig was awesome and sweet and juicy. I wanted more, but I didn't act on it.
It looks like today we have two new additions: crayfish and fig. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!
So that was the last day that I'd experience a new class, and from then on until mid-November I'd be continuing that routine. Although the classes will not change for a while, the things we do in them will change. I will also venture off campus and attend a special food event. Plus there's a lot more eating for me to do. Try to keep up with me, I know it won't be easy, but just think about how my stomach feels.
Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more
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