I woke up whenever I felt ready to, and got ready for lunch. I went into Roth and wondered around until I came across the Med. kitchen. It was Spain today, and the menu looked really good.
-- Sauteed Trout and Serrano Ham with Pork Belly, Chorizo and Bean Stew, and Sauteed Spinach with Pine Nuts in Beurre Blanc
-- Fried Squid
-- Ham-Stuffed Squid in Squid Ink
-- Cold Squid and Octopus Salad with Scalloped Potatoes
-- Toasted Spiced Almonds
-- Meatball, Saffron and Chickpea Soup
-- Strawberry Yogurt/Mousse/Awesome Cake
Serrano Ham: A Spanish ham which is dry-cured for up to 13 months in old mountain drying sheds
Beurre Blanc: French for "white butter", refers to a classic sauce consisting of a wine, vinegar, shallot reduction, and butterI didn't realize that this Spain day (1 of 3) included a tapas buffet. Tapas are appetizers. This was such a bonus.
The trout was great, and pairing it with cured ham won my approval. Spinach with pine nuts is also a combination I love. The stew was awesome, because it had all of that fatty, pork goodness bathing in it. The only bad thing was the beurre blanc which wasn't made so well, and was definitely too acidic. It was unfortunate that it migrated to almost everything, so I had to eat around it.
The fried squid was really good, and so was the cold seafood salad. The potato went really well with the squid and octopus. The ham-stuffed squid in squid ink was fantastic. The stuffing was salty, but not too salty, and the squid was just tender enough. The squid ink was a fun addition, because I'd never had it before. It really didn't have any flavor, and it was a pretty normal sauce-like texture. I liked it a lot. The toasted and spiced almonds were so good, too. I didn't even know what nut they were at first. Normally I find almonds to be kind of waxy and annoying, but here they had the consistency of roasted peanuts, and shattered in your mouth. I loved them, and found out what they were when I read the menu later. The soup was really good too, but kind of reminded me of the canned Progresso soup. The meatballs were just like theirs. But I really like that soup, so whatever.
The cake was terrific. I was a little hesitant to try it at first, because I find that fruit-based desserts aren't my favorites compared to desserts of chocolate, vanilla, mocha, etc.. I took a slice anyway, and it was superb. It tasted just like the yogurt part of the jello that my step-mom used to make. It wasn't like a mousse in consistency or texture at all. It was like spongy jello. It had a light strawberry flavor, and with the yellow cake inside it made a great cake. The best part is that I was recently told that they make that cake at least twice week in great quantity for lunch!
OK. I went to Gastronomy class, and when we walked in, we were offered leftovers from the class that just ended. They had sevia leaves and dulce de leche. I had some of each. The sevia leaves, which I'd never had before, was initially sugary, and then a little bitter.
After class, and a little longer still, it was time for dinner. My friend asked me to join her to the downstairs Asias kitchen for "sushi day." I didn't make the connection that that would mean it was Japan day. I tried Japan last time from downstairs, and I wasn't very pleased. But this time there was sushi, so I figured it wouldn't be all the same. I was pretty much wrong.
-- Braised Beef with Caramelized Onions, Potatoes, Miso Pickles, and Fried Tofu
-- Assorted Sushi
-- Miso Soup
-- Cucumber Salad
-- Key Lime Tart
-- Coconut Pound Cake with Pineapple
Overall, this was a disappointing meal. I was the second person on line, after waiting twenty minutes for it to open. When they opened, I swiped my card and asked for the beef. Out came the deliverer saying, "Combo!" And my friend received her combo (pork). Then he came out again, "Combo!" The person who was behind me got their combo. "Noodle!" The person behind them got their noodle pot. This continued for ten minutes. Never a beef. The line for beef became three to five people long. I waited, and waited, and finally got a beef.
They supposedly messed something up, and therefore the beef plate looked different from the demo plate by the front entrance. It didn't matter to me, and I finally joined my friends in the lower dining hall who were halfway through their meals.
They didn't give me chopsticks. The beef was good, and so were the potatoes and onions. I don't like tofu though, and there was plenty of it. The pickles were kind of strange, and the cucumber salad was bite-sized. The sushi was pretty good too, but the soy sauce tasted awful, so I had to eat it all plain. The soup was fine, but it also had tons of tofu in it. The key lime tart's filling was runny, so it was hard to eat cleanly. Other people had the same problem. It still tasted good though. The pound cake didn't shout out, "SHREDDED COCONUT IS IN HERE!", so I just took a large bite and suffered. The pineapple chunks with it tasted exactly like canned pineapple, which I like, but still. In the end, I promised myself to not eat downstairs Japan anymore.
I cleaned my dishes, and then went to Farq. to see if there were any decent desserts there that could make me at least a little happy. Before I got to the dessert table, I found a table of some friends. When I got to their table to say hello, a pastry student also arrived at the table with a giant tray of chocolate eclairs. They exchanged words briefly, and the tray was left on their table. I was very happy.
I tried one to be safe, and once I tasted the flavor of greatness, I started to make a chocolate eclair pyramid in my hands. I brought them to the dish room, put them into a to-go box, and brought them back to my room as a snack.
I got more than this, probably about twenty. They were heavenly.
It looks like there are two new additions today: sevia leaves and squid ink. And the list of foods I've never tried before coming to the CIA grows even larger!
Until the next post,
Eat well, then eat more
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