CAF creations

This was our first week of full classes and it was tough after 2 months of not having any homework to suddenly have 5 classes to stay on top of. So to reduce the stress that a lot of the students were feeling and to give us something to look forward to, the cooks in the cafeteria got creative. In the first week and a half of classes we've had 3 special themes: Orange Day, Mardi Gras-CAF style. and a Chinese New Year meal!

This is the third or fourth time this school year that we've had Orange Day at lunch and I think I've figured it out. It's always the first day after a break and the idea is, "Orange you glad to be back?!" Ha ha ha. For that meal the main line has tomato soup, grilled cheese, and cheetos. When I first saw that day on the menu I was a little shocked, but it's kind of fun at the same time. I just wish they had meals for the other colors too!

For our Mardi Gras dinner this past Tuesday night the main line served blackened shrimp and chicken, crawfish boil, red beans and rice, spicy cabbage, and Mississippi mud bread pudding. That night you could smell the fish from way down the hall, which made me a little wary of the meal because I'm not a huge fish fan. I did try the blackened chicken and it was actually really good. It had quite a bit of zing to it as you would expect from Cajun seasoning. The Mississippi mud bread pudding was, let's just say, interesting. The girls at my table who got it thought that it was just a brownie. When they tried it they found out that it definitely wasn't a brownie, yet it definitely wasn't pudding either. We discovered that it was somewhat like the consistency of Play-Doh and even bounced a bit!

The last themed meal of the week was Wednesday night, which happened to be the Chinese New Year. One of the exchange students on campus actually cooked some authentic Chinese food, and it sure looked really good, which explains why the lines were super long. I, unfortunately, didn't have the patience to stand in the long lines, but I did get to try some really good lettuce wraps with sauce in the salad bar. Here's what the menu consisted of: Hot and Sour Soup, Asian Mixed Green Salad, William Lu's Grilled Special with pork or beef, Fried Rice, Make your own Lettuce Wrap, Pad Thai Mandarin Orange Cake, and Green Tea Ice Cream. That dinner seemed to be a hit with most students. Too bad the Chinese New Year only comes once a year.

Normally the cafeteria food is pretty decent. There's always a main line, a salad line, a pasta line, soups, a deli sandwich line, and the cereal bar. At lunch a grill line is also open where you can get hamburgers and then usually a grilled chicken or some other meat. I've started to realize that the menu kind of recycles itself after a month or so. Not too often do the chefs get creative and brighten up the lives of the students. I really like it when Chef Nic makes his homemade soups. Those are usually really good and differ from the normal day-to-day caf soups. For example, today Chef Nic has a roasted red pepper and tomato bisque that I had. It's just nice to get a change because after a while I find myself getting the same food. For ambitious students you can always make your own stir-fry at dinner, pizza, pb&j, panini, or anything else that creative minds can come up with.

I can't wait to see what exciting themes come up the rest of the year...perhaps a wonderful, loving Valentine's dinner?