Cheese Soup

The most interesting thing in the cafeteria today (served twice, both at lunch and dinner, I don't know about breakfast), was called "Canadian Cheese Soup." I had never heard of anything like cheese soup, but when I saw the sign it made me wonder just enough to try some.  Mostly I wondered how similar it would be to queso. I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat a bowl of queso, so I took half of a little bowl, just for a taste.  It was surprisingly wonderful.  It was much thinner than queso, so the title of soup did apply, as I was afraid it wouldn't.  I also really enjoyed the taste. It wasn't very spicy, like queso sometimes is, of course I wouldn't expect too much spice to come from Canada.  I don't really know how Canadian this dish was, but at dinner I took a whole bowl of it and found it quite enjoyable the second time.  I believe that it had carrots and celery in it.  Like queso, the soup did get a thin film on the top of it, but that has never bothered me very much.  Cheese soup was a very new eating experience for me, but it gave me a very pleasant surprise. 

Underground sensation

I've been tracking my corn intake this weekend - so far I think I've been doing reasonably...

Breakfast
Sprouted wheat cereal (very crunchy)
Soymilk (uh oh)
Unsweetened peanut butter (please don't tell me there's corn in that)
Peach

Lunch
Tuna fish
Whole wheat noodles
Milk
Butter
Steamed vegetables: broccoli, carrots, bell peppers, asparagus

Dinner forecast
Mixed (cornless!) veggie burrito
Sweet potato fries

Discovery: Mr. Natural's down on Lamar has the most amazing sweet potato empanadas! (According to the world wide wild web, some of the original empanadas were stuffed with cod fish.) Anyways, I love this pastry- fun to say and fun to eat. I really liked the sweet potato one because I love versatile this tuber is. It delivers a high performance - sweet or savory.

Granted, the casseroles bedecked with marshmallows have never really enticed me. However, this empanada was not overpoweringly sugary and fake. Mr. Natural's uses whole wheat flour and sweetens their bakery items with honey - which seems to help give their hearty pastries a distinct yet not overpowering flavor. (It's also kind of a funny way to get a little bit of your vegetable quota in...) I am infatuated with the sweet potato's potential - empanadas, waffles, pancakes, pies, biscuits - the list goes on. Plus it gives all of your baked goods such a nice orangey tint!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsARXtPbY4c&feature=related
(I like the part where he saws the pie.)

Delicious corn and fish gelatin bar

Yuck. My breakfast in a bar most certainly did not deliver on its claim to be a "caramel nut blast," nor, as far as I can tell did it fill some need for a "NUTRITION ENERGY BAR with High Protein." It is, alas, a bar of corn, with just a passing association with nuts, and none whatsoever with caramel." I don't even want to know what "blast" is a euphemism for. The first ingredient is apparently their proprietary 4 protein blend, consisting of casein, whey protein isolate, partially hydrogenated casein and whey, and soy protein isolate." Mouthwatering, no? And here we go, the next three ingredients are as bad as they get: corn syrup, sugar, and glycerin. Then follows a snappy medley of all manner of corny and unctuous concoctions: palm kernel oil, high maltose corn syrup, maltodextrin, fructose, soy lecithin, and a dusting of peanut flour and cocoa. The bar's "caramel nut blast" is powered by "less than 2%peanut butter," and absolutely no caramel at all; what looks caramel-like is the annatto added for color. The whole polysyllabic mess concludes with the slightest nod toward heavy cream and butter (much less than 2%, presumably), a pinch of salt, and some "mixed tocopherols," to "help protect flavor," we are told, and finally, the sine qua non of industrial hand-held food: fish gelatin. I don't even know what to say about that.

CORN TRACKER 8.0!!!

DAY ONE:

I ATE CORN

Beets

I tried plain beets for the first time last week. I'd made beet chocolate cake before - something I highly recommend - but I'd never straight up swallowed a beet, unadorned and on its own. I have to admit, these beets might not have been the best advertisement for their kind. The texture was kind of mushy - it was not a very pleasant eating experience. For me, the way food feels in my mouth is sometimes just as important as the flavor.

However, I love their color and their dyeing potential:
http://pbetouffee.blogspot.com/2006/07/retro-recipe-challenge-pickled-beets_12.html

Sandvich

So I wanted ice cream. But I also wanted a cookie. What to do, what to do....ah yes.

Mix the two.

I grabbed two chocolate chip cookies and hurried to the soft serve machine. After learning that the chocolate and swirl machines dispensed some sort of ice-cream soup, I placed the perfect amount of vanilla on the bottom cookie, annnnnnnd......

Ice cream sandvich.

I enjoyed my dessert that night.

Slime... I mean food.

Ever since this blog thing has been happening, I've been pretty brave about trying new things. I've just been sure to have a coke or something to wash a terrible taste down. The funny thing is, what I've tried has always seemed to be interesting at the least; most of my expenditures are actually quite tasty. That trend ends now.

Eggplant Parmesan found its way on my plate the other night. I speak in such a term because it must have tricked me into trying to eat it. The first bite told me everything. It was like I was eating a mint conditioned, never before seen, super rare action figure (Note: I don't actually own anything of the sort, just cringe with my in this nerdy analogy). By this, I mean it not only tasted like cardboard, plastic, and paint, but I also had that sinking feeling in my stomach. I probably would have thrown up on my plate, but the meal already looked like vomit, so I got confused and decided it was better not to throw up at all rather than throw up twice.

I think my adventures might be a little more timid from now on...

Gingerbread... pancakes?

Yes, gingerbread pancakes. I enjoyed them thoroughly on my ridiculous and disastrous attempt to leave Austin on Friday. My cousin took me to this little cafe, Magnolia something, and my eye was caught by the words pancakes. You see, I love pancakes. When I was a little girl, I could eat about 15 to 20 of my mothers pancakes in one sitting. Needless to say, my metabolism and hunger have abated quite a bit since then.
Anyway, I saw the words pancakes. And then, next to that, gingerbread. My head spun with the possibilities. I ordered them with strawberries inside, as fruit makes just about anything better. They were fantastic, a little lighter than actual gingerbread, but still very rich and with that thick taste. It dwelled on my tongue for a while afterwards, and the strawberries added quite a nice sweet, even lighter counterpoint to the gingerbread.
All the same, they were too rich for me. I couldn't finish them. I wanted to though...

Cafeteria Food

As I ate today's dinner, I began to wonder...Who comes up with these meal ideas? Today we had the option of either some strange (and apparently pickled) vegetables, or some delicious looking turkey-goo with broccoli in it.  The goo tasted much too strongly of bird meat, I'm guessing that was turkey, like the sign said, but I'm not sure I believe it.  And there was some dry rice to go along with it. Not that I am complaining about the food, because I have had some delicious meals there. I especially love anything with black beans in it. But the meal tonight made me wonder.  It made me think about the recipes Laura Shapiro describes in her book.  Things that you would never normally think to put together somehow get all mashed together, and while the result is edible, it is not always particularly tasty. I really do wonder who thinks up the meals for the cafeteria and I also wonder if some of them have been pulled from the Can Opener Cookbook.

Buttercream Pie...Thank You Cameron

   This Sunday, we decided to have a hall dinner. Eric Godat made us delicious Lasagna (both meat and vegetarian), and Cameron was generous to make us a Buttercream Pie. Although the Lasagna was extremely tasty, I have to dedicate this blog to Cameron's Buttercream Pie, due to my ridiculous sweet tooth I have acquired from being at college. I've never had Buttercream Pie before, and I'm glad I have now. The texture was smooth, the crust oh so flakey, and the taste was absolutely out of this world.

    Even though Cameron insisted that it was not good and there was entirely too much vanilla, my taste buds thought other wise. I've had all sorts of pies in my lifetime, and I'm now going to have to put Buttercream at the top of my list. Last week I didn't know what it was, and now I can't stop dreaming about it. The Buttercream Pie was definitely a sweet ending to a wonderful dinner, and I hope Cameron treats us with delicious sweets in the future.       

Adventures in Lasagna

This past weekend I had the pleasure of spending some time in the BC kitchen (4 hrs to be exact) making lasagna for our hallway. Using a recipe from my mom and a little improvisation I managed to pull together both a spinach and a beef lasagna. The oddest part was the making of the lasagna was how I was able to straight substitute canned spinach for a pound of ground beef. I also learned that lasagna is a lot of work, a lot more than I had thought especially when you make a double batch of sauce in large pots on a tiny cook top.
That's it for now.
Eric G

short 'n sweet

I recently found a new love - baked snap pea crisps. Green, crunchy and pleasantly filling - exotic yet familiar. I'm amazed at how different they taste from the snap peas one finds in stir-fry and the like. I like how the same food can take on so many different flavors - all depending on how you manipulate it.

Burrito

Talk about food nostalgia! I couldn't find anything interesting in the cafeteria tonight, so I settled for a tortilla with refried beans in it. Amazing how happy that sad little thing made me.  It reminded me of one of my favorite childhood foods, the bean and cheese burrito from Cafe Adobe, albeit with better beans.  I ordered that same meal practically every time I went in there. There was nothing better.  What's funny is that if was fully of refried beans and it came with refried beans on the side, along with some yellow rice that I never really bothered to finish. What a nourishing meal!  What can I say? I guess I just really love refried beans!

I cant believe there not Hummus?

Yah i made the mistake of trying the lunch room hummus tonight

needless to say they were less than edible

the texture was that of gum that has been chewed for over three hours and it slowly falling apart while still having some parts more attached to the whole than others (anyone who has chewed gum for an extended amount of time will be able to identify with what i am describing)

For those of you who were eating with me, for give me for editing my comments on the blog now, but i feel its necessary.. either way the smell of them was that of a mixture of mayo and mustard....oh wait and i forgot the final ingredient... a rotten diaper 

the taste was way too strong of beans, yet they didnt taste like beans..they tasted like rotten beans mixed with some sort of spice

The appearance of them was the worst, it looked like some sort of food that my dog might have tried to eat that didnt sit well with her

although i didnt like these hummus i will admit that i am willing to try others hummus 

im sure that the lunch room's hummus are below par

-billiam

Tots Alot

For breakfast today, I ate tater tots.

Those things are good. What could make a better side (or breakfast) than tiny deep-fried mashed potatoes?

I mean, I had a biscuit too. It was all right. But inevitably, I would turn back to my tots.

Now, the humble tater tot is a great piece of art. The crispy golden outside, the tender white inside....sounds alot like chicken, and this would probably taste like chicken if chicken tasted like a potato. Or just heaven.

Anywho, whether you eat your tots with ketchup, hollandaise, or on a burger, they really are not something to be missed.


Adrian Gonzalez

Condiment Surprise.

Today for lunch I had a seemingly average meal. Chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, and some fruit. Nothing really worth writing a blog over, until I discovered a foreign substance on my chicken... mustard.

Now, I put mustard on my grilled chicken sandwiches, but this baked chicken was covered in mustard. I am amazed that I didn't realize this sooner, as the whole time I was holding the tray, I was bothered with a strong mustard sent. It was a gamble, but I figured it couldn't have been any worse than the green beans.

The verdict: not bad. The mustard surprisingly did not cover up the chicken taste, and I was once again surprised on how simple condiments can add so much to a meal. Would I eat it again? Yes, actually. I would recommend it, too.

peach plum pear

I recently bought a grab bag of dried fruits. Pears, peaches, plums, apricots, & apples. No added sulfites it touts! I've had dried apricots and apples before, but the plums, pears, and peaches were a new experience for me. I have to admit, dried fruit is not always the most alluring of snack foods. Swarthy wrinkled slices of fruit tend to look like they've seen better days. I also find it interesting how I can consume much more dried fruit than I'd ever be able to eat if it was fresh. However, their taste and texture makes up for any lost aesthetics in my opinion.

Dried fruit is pretty leathery, but I find that to be part of its charm. It's chewy and hearty - the flavor is so poignant and concentrated. I also have fond memories associated with it - it was always a camping trip staple. Does anyone else have connections at times between tastebuds and memory?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV1a6UBdrPk

Drafthouse Food

I had a surprisingly good meal Thursday night at the Alamo Drafthouse. Non-Austinites in our group should definitely check out the "Alamo" next time you want to eat and see a film in Austin.

The Alamo is a local movie theater chain (with a few other locations in Texas) which serves food and drinks during your film and also holds myriad special events and retrospective screenings (www.drafthouse.com).

Some of Alamo's food can be shoddy at times, but tonight my "Chicken Caesar Wrap" was quite delicious. They stuffed a modestly baked flour tortilla with chicken fried in a crispy, golden batter combined with romaine lettuce, tomato, and all mixed in a creamy sauce with just a soupçon of Caesar dressing.

The added side dish was chips and salsa, which were insipid. But it was perfectly fine because the delicioso fried chicken strips (really more like chunks) made up for it.

Taco Cabana

The other night, while sitting around a game of cards listing things we'd rather be doing, Billiam expressed a craving for taco cabana. Upon hearing that I'd never visited this alleged institution, the group decided that it was necessary to go on a late night taco run....at the time it seemed like a great idea. With only twenty dollars we purchased enough tacos to sustain the lives of five full grown mexican men for three years. It was awesome. Upon returning home we slathered out tacos, quesadillas, and tortillas in queso and guacamole. Although the imitation mexican food had the familiar stink of fast food, like most deep fried things, it was delicious. In the best interest of my arteries I don't plan on repeating this meal more than once a month I find myself looking forward to the next late night run to taco cabana. I guess cheap food isn't always bad.

Hamburgler

This evening, I opted to go with a traditional American meal: that is, I had a cheeseburger with onions, french fries, a Coca-Cola, and a soft-serve ice cream for dessert.

While seemingly an humble meal, this classic has been enjoyed by our country for....years. All the separate flavors meld together in the stomach like a mad wizard's love potion.

The basic cheeseburger was the standard greasy fare, wrapped in wax paper. With the addition of the onions however, the soft buns and patty gained a distinctive crunch and bitter flavor, accenting the sweetness of the cheese.

The french fries at the cafeteria are actually top-quality. Sprinkled with a little salt and doused in ketchup, its no wonder that fast food joints the world over picked up these pillowy potato sticks. The sweet ketchup lends its red goodness to the salt of the fries.

As for the Coca-Cola, what better way to wash down a predominately salty meal with this fizzy beverage? While brown and tasting strongly of soda water, Coca-Cola is still one of my favorite beverages to eat with a burger and some fries.

Lastly comes the soft-serve ice cream. Delicious! This frozen treat rounds out the meal with its melting chocolate and vanilla taste.

Lipophobes, eat your hearts out. Oh no wait. You might have a heart attack.

-Adrian Gonzalez

Chicken and Goat cheese

The other day when we had that "Green Dinner" I finally had free-range chicken for the first time in my life. I have to say that it was probably the best damn chicken I've eaten thus far. While there was obviously a wide variety of flavorly mixtures, I felt like I could still taste and absorb the natural flavor of the chicken- which was so wonderful, for a change!
About the same time I felt compelled to taste the delectable goat-cheese-and-beet salad, as it was somehow staring at me as I walked by on my way to the desert section. I didn't get any for myself at that time, but managed to steal some from an all-too-willing Zoe. I found it to be one of the most disgusting foods in the history of my life up to now. I don't think the texture of the almonds or pecans (whatever they were) mixed well with the texture of the beets and goat cheese. It was too much of an abnormal combination for me to handle, so that's the end of that adventure.

Tellings of Tofu

   So I've always wanted to try tofu because people always talk about it (especially vegetarians), like it is the next best thing since sliced bread. The oppurtunity has never come up to partake on the meatless treat, but the other night, they served a bell pepper, onion, and tofu concoction that I couldn't resist. The rumor with tofu has been that it really has no identifiable taste, and it is the texture that is to like or dislike. It supposedly acts as a sponge and absorbs surrounding flavors into its soft and chewy cube like structure. Through my tofu experience I have found that this is to be true. The texture was a bit chewy/stringy and it is something that you would have to get used to.

   Since I like bell peppers and onions, I thought the tofu was pretty good, but I could see where combined with certain things the tofu could only highlight an utter disaster. Although it was not at all bad, I think that Tofu and I will have an open relationship and I will most likely not make time to visit it often. I am finding it difficult to understand why anyone would want to make tofu there all time favorite food. I just think that there's better food (meatless or not), although there are those tofu tyrants out there who just can't get enough. 

   I would have to give my time with tofu a rating of a 6 (1-10), it was tasteful to say the least due to the surrounding flavors, but the texture was unusual. Perhaps I will have better moments with tofu in the future, because the quality of the tofu coming from the school cafeteria is a little questionable. So I can now say I have better understanding of tofu and its properties, but will hopefully only devour it on select occasions. 

  

Lichi

I know this isn't a recent food, but I feel I have to share it with the world.  I was in Oxford last summer, taking a summer course at St. Hugh's college when i discovered the unusual fruit called lichi.  We had a catering staff and the food was very good, and we had the option of picking fruit at the end of every meal.  I noticed that some people would take these little white grape-like things (they were already peeled, apparently, they come with a shell and a seed), and since everyone who didn't know what they were seemed afraid of them, I decided to try them.  I don't really know how to describe the flavor of lichi, and it has been awhile since I have had them, but I do remember them being very good. I haven't had any since last summer and I sort of miss them for their weirdness.  So, that was my exciting food discovery.  I know it probably doesn't sound that exciting, but let my end by saying that anyone who has never tried lichi definitely should. 

Queso

Ok wow so the other night i took Griff to get some queso from Taco Cabana and i think he though it was delish...but either way i wanted to describe one of my favorite foods in this entire world... Queso ...its chunky yet smooth... it tastes like cheese yet has the feeling of eating a yummy ice cream Sunday.. it just slides down the throat, but instead of it being cold like ice cream its warm and gooey .. the most that i write this the more that i realize that i really cant describe foods without having to reference other foods  sometimes the simplest foods are the hardest to explain because you wana jsut say... well duh it tastes like an apple..

so why do things that are things (ie drinks jolly ranchers cough syrup) that are labeled as tasting like grape  not actually taste like grapes? did grapes once taste like a grape jolly rancher? iunno im just kinda confused we deff need to discuss this sometime  or at least post ur responses btw eric is deff dancing to and just ran into the door of our room...give him a hug next time you see him

poor eric

For lack of anything to say

I have never blogged before so here it goes:
First I made a double cheese burger in the cafeteria the other day but the semi-hardened cheese forced me to combine the two burger tops and dispose of the bottom bun.
Second Dak and I watched a history channel show on acids and their uses in society. I was amazed to find out how many applications they have. But back to food, did you know that gelatin is formed when animal bone is dissolved in hydrochloric acid, and that gelatin is a common additive in a lot of processed foods and the main component of jell-o? Also acid rain has a pH of tomato juice and vinegar is mostly acetic acid which has a lower pH that carbonated sodas
That's all for now
Eric G

Oh boy! Jell-O!

For days now I have been eyeing the Jell-O in the cafeteria - it's red translucency quivering and calling to me for some reason. I guess I have happy childhood associations with Jell-O - something comforting - something nonsensical and fun. So I finally succumbed and sat down yesterday with the first Jell-O I've had in years. The taste of it (I think it was cherry flavored? Though the color is really the only thing that would make me assume that.) has probably never been anything to write home about but the texture!

It has structure and yet it doesn't somehow. It doesn't quite melt in your mouth but not a whole lot of chewing has to go on. It's wiggly in a nice-not-freshly-killed-seafood kind of way. Jell-O is definitely an amusing food to eat and a nice palate cleanser to boot. In the end, even though there's really no food in that food, I kind of like the idea of Jell-O for its vast and whimsical creative potential. Plus gelatinous is fun to say.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbqVGWayvyw&feature=related
(70's Jell-O commercial)

Leaves

Yay, I finally have an account! I will proceed to speak of my odd and slightly disturbing experience of a tree leaf in my chicken noodle soup the other day. I thought it was a bay leaf, and then I tried to eat it, and it had no flavor. None whatsoever. If I had to think of a descriptor, I would have to think it would be like trying to ingest a piece of... hmm.... laminated cardboard. I think that would be an apt description texture-wise, but the flavor was nothing like that. There was no flavor. I know I already said that, but it's true. It was really bizarre.

And now all I want to know is how it got in my soup...

Neophobia: Insects at Cambodian market

Neophilia and Neophobia

Those are the terms food writer and former patent attorney Jeffrey Steingarten uses to describe the omnivore's predicament. "The tricky part of being an omnivore," he writes "is that we are always in danger of poisoning ourselves. Catfish have taste buds on their whiskers, but we are not so lucky. Instead we are born with a cautious ambivalence toward novel foods, a precarious balance between neophilia and neophobia." He writes this in the Introduction to his book The Man Who Ate Everything, in which he chronicles his journey to overcome his own food phobias (including all desserts in Indian restaurants, with which I have to agree, Squid Boy's homage to tapioca nothwithstanding). If you've seen Steingarten in his role as curmudgeonly judge on Iron Chef America, you won't be surprised that he undertakes this project in part because he's appalled at how accepted peoples' food issues have become. "People should be deeply ashamed of the irrational food phobias that keep them from sharing food with each other. Instead, they have become proud and isolated, arrogant and aggressively misinformed."

Too cranky, or right on the money? Do we have to be tolerant of the (food) intolerant?

Tapioca

One of the few things that I truly like about the cafeteria is the continual presence of a desert course at every meal. Whether it breakfast or dinner, there are always sweet things to be had. Recently I've taken to eating Tapioca pudding. At my home dinner was very rarely bookended by desert, and so I'm accustomed to a time without it. Tapioca pudding was an utter rarity. Although Tapioca exists in it's handy ez-open box it had rarely been used to make actual tapioca pudding. I find myself enjoying the pudding texture, the strange marbles of clear gelatin, wondering if this is what sweetened Frog Eggs would taste like. It is sweet, but not excessively and it has a tendency to turn into a milky fluid if left undisturbed in the heat long enough.

Welcome to Salt Cod and Coolwhip

This Blog is established for Southwestern class of 2012 LLC "Salt Cod and Coolwhip: Adventures in American Gastronomica." Feel free to post your responses, your feelings and your comments on the blog! I'll be collecting emails and getting the list together shortly. I suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed, which I think will be running - I'll have to double check, just to see when your friends throw up new posts.

-Ben P.