7 posts tagged “food”

So, I'm currently parked in the Kansas City airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Indianapolis.  This airport has one major, MAJOR design flaw:  When I disembarked at the gate, I noticed that there were one-way doors leading out toward "baggage claim", on the other side of which were all of the food establishments.

Confused, I went up to one of the airport employees and mentioned, quite politely, that I was a little confused by the setup; if I wanted to go get a coffee, would I have to come back though security afterward?  She replied, very snottily in my opinion, "Well, you can't bring coffee through security anyway, because it's a liquid."

Okay, I sort of understand the whole liquid-bombs thing, but first of all, the Starbucks is literally fifteen feet away from the security checkpoint.  I am fairly sure that it would be nearly impossible to add explosives to one's coffee within fifteen feet of the security employees.  Or do they think the Starbucks employees are trying to bring down the airport from within?  (If that's the case, maybe they should strengthen their background checks.)  If they are really concerned about coffee bombs being made right under TSA's noses, perhaps it would make more sense to, you know, move the Starbucks to where the waiting passengers can get at it.

The second thing is, having all of the food establishments on the other side of security creates a definite dilemma for people like me who are stuck waiting for a couple of hours for their next plane.  The only food available at the gates is a Wolfgang Puck sandwich stand, and I despise Wolfgang Puck.  Not because the food is bad, necessarily, but because WP is so goddamned pretentious that they can get away with charging outrageous prices (even by airport standards) for a decidedly mediocre sandwich.  (I paid $11.65 for a ham sandwich - not even a fancy ham sandwich - and a muffin.  And the sandwich had way too much mustard on it.)

Technically, I guess I could have left, gone to get lunch, and come back to the gate after eating it, since my layover is two hours, but the only restaurants in evidence were Burger King and Sbarro.  So not worth the hassle.  If I'd known this was going to happen, I'd have gotten some food in Oakland and saved it; they had a Califonia Pizza Kitchen right next to my gate.

Edit:  O HAY, I noticed that I'm on Vox spotlight for the second time!  Awesomesauce.

I'm back on campus, and aside from a general lack of sleep and the consequent watery eyes, I'm rather enjoying myself.  I had two English classes today, both of which are going to involve a lot of writing (one creative, one critical).  On the one hand, I'm glad to actually have an excuse to do some real writing, since I feel like I've kind of fallen out of the pattern; on the other hand, since I've never really had a good formal setting in which to test my writing skills, part of me is afraid that I'm not nearly as good as I think I am...or hope I am.

I'm considering dropping my ballet class, since the walk to the complete opposite side of campus - a good mile - every morning has the potential to become monotonous, particularly when it's this cold out.  I feel like that's a cowardly way to go about things, particularly since I like ballet and I need to do something to stay fit on a regular basis, but I can't help the way I feel about things.  Maybe my opinion will be different tomorrow, when I'm not so tired.

In place of resolutions this year, I've come up with several things I plan to do that are realistic and easy to work into a daily routine, and that I hope will greatly improve my well-being.

1) Stock up on easy-to-grab things like wheat rolls and yogurt cups, so that I can be sure to have breakfast every morning even if I have to eat on the run.

2) Exercise at least three times a week, outside of anything I might have to do for classes.

3) Do my homework the day that it's assigned instead of waiting until the day before it's due.

4) Shop less.  Browsing is fine, but my goal is to spend less money in my daily life so that I can possibly do something with my spring break besides just going home.  I'm also going to cut down on impulse buys when I do have to go shopping for food or shampoo or whatever  (e.g. no buying Haagen-Dazs just for the hell of it).

5) Try to find recipes for things that are both sweet and fairly healthy.  This will make the fact that I am an emotional eater by nature a lot less risky.  (I've started on this one already; somebody dumped a huge pile of Cooking Lights in the Book Co-Op box, so I took about 10.)

Show us your favorite comfort food.
Submitted by nosa.

Well, my comfort foods change from day to day, depending on the mood I'm in or, since I am a college student and have limited access to nice meals, how long it's been since I've had something I really like.  (For instance, when I came home for spring break, I was munching on shrimp all week just because I could.)  My main comfort food, though - the one that spans all moods and times - is ice cream.  Any kind is good, but preferably something creative and fattening.  For example:

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Yes, that was the biggest picture I could find on the ENTIRE INTERNETS.

Another good possibility is this:

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Mmmm.  Truffles.  I also am very fond of ice cream from Cozmo's, the gelato place a couple of blocks from my house in Cape.  They have well over 40 flavors of gelato and sorbet (more than Baskin & Robbins offers at one time, I might point out) and all of them are delicious.  My favorite combination is one scoop of Dulce de Leche and one of raspberry sorbet.

...Dammit, I want ice cream now.  And as everyone knows, one can't keep ice cream in the freezer of a mini-fridge.  It just can't be done.  Maybe I can get some when I go to the mall later.

So, I've realized something I really hate about my workplace.  Everywhere else on campus, people are generally good about holding doors for people; almost ridiculously good, in fact.  It's only when I am attempting to get into the walk-in fridge holding a gigantic tray of lettuce that is dripping freezing-cold water down my leg, with no free hands, that people suddenly become oblivious to the fact that I might need some help.  Yesterday I temporarily lost feeling in my right forearm because I attempted to open the door with my elbow, and the edge of it just happened to hit that nerve right behind the elbow - you know, the one that paralyzes your entire arm if you hit it at the wrong angle?  That one.

Grrr. I don't know.  I just hate working in food services.  It's always dull and monotonous, and I stupidly picked my shifts so that every single one of them is over a meal.  Do you know how annoying it is to prepare food when you're starving?  I get cravings for things I don't even like.

One good thing about that job, though, is that I know exactly what foods I should never, ever order.  For instance, the chicken salad.  The first time I prepared the servings for that, the scoops I was doling out were not staying in their scoop shape like they should.  One of my supervisors noticed this and told me, "That chicken salad's too old; it should have been thrown away."  She took that tub of salad away and brought me a new one...but she didn't want me to throw away the ones with "old" chicken salad that I had already prepared!  If anyone ever gets food poisoning and sues Ball State for the medical costs, I'm sure as hell not defending them.

And then, of course, there are the foods that are innocuous in and of themselves, but are probably not as good for you as you might think.  One of my coworkers, Justin, makes a habit of reading the nutrition facts on everything he unwraps.  Let me tell you something.  In the Atrium, where I work, the Block & Barrel deli is considered to be one of the healthiest choices to make; not such a bad assumption, considering that the other places there are a burger place, a Mexican place, a Chik-Fil-A, an Asian place where everything is fried, and a Sbarro's.  (Can't say much for the variety, either.)  But consider this - one slice of sourdough bread - just the bread! - is 200 calories.  They don't advertise that very well.

Sometime soon, I need to make some noise about some of the things that are being served here, as well as the fact that students are being led to believe that they are healthier than they are.  There are very few vegetarian options anywhere, which means that vegetarians and vegans will either have to bore their palate to death or break their bank account getting other choices at Wal-Mart.  All of the "home cookin' " options, at any dining hall, are swimming with meat and fat and starch and not much else - meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, white rice, etc.  All of the breads offered at the sandwich stands contain mostly white flour; I learned yesterday that dining services had switched from wheat berry to a lower-quality bread because it was cheaper, and wheat berry had been the only whole-grain option at these places. 

And last but certainly not least - the choices are the same everywhere.  Pizza, sandwiches, burgers and fast food, Mexican, home cookin', pasta and Chinese, as well as a variety of packaged and processed foods and a little fruit or pudding. The only places where one can even hope to find variety are the International Cafe at Noyer - which I frequent every chance I get - and the Retreat, also at Noyer.  Both of these places are closed on weekends, so the weekends are always deadly boring. 

That's the one thing that I regret about not going to Macalester - the food.  I could have feasted like royalty there.  The one day I went to visit there, just in one location they were serving sauerbraten - real sauerbraten - and pickled herring.

Pickled fucking herring.  At a school cafeteria.  And it was really good, too.

Wise up, Ball State.  Not everyone likes "typical" college fare all the time.

Now that my rant's over, I'm going to end this post with a few good things that have happened over the past couple of days.

1) Yesterday, while getting lunch at the International Cafe's breakfast bar, I noticed that, after cooking omelette ingredients that included bacon and ham, the cook asked if I was a vegetarian before she used the same pan to cook my mushrooms and tomatoes.  I'm going on the assumption that if I had said "yes", she would have used a different pan.

2) Also at the International Cafe, I got there yesterday ten minutes after it had officially closed (I couldn't help it; my work shift didn't end until seven) and, upon seeing how distressed I was that I had missed the salmon dinner, the lady there put together a plate just for me.  Not only that, but she gave me two pieces of salmon, since the first piece she gave me was slightly smaller than the rest.

3) Today in psychology, we were talking about families and their effect on a child's development, and my teacher made a point of not only including GLBT parents in the discussion, but also pointing out the ways that such a family arrangement can be beneficial to children.

Share a song you recently realized you can't get enough of... no matter how many times you listen to it.

Food diary.

Yesterday:

Breakfast - yogurt

Lunch - half a wheat bagel with cream cheese, apple juice

Dinner - salmon, sliced tomatoes and onions, kiwi

Today:

Breakfast - yogurt

Lunch - baked potato with cheese, green beans, yogurt, dried fruit

Dinner - mashed potatoes, hard-boiled egg, kiwi, Odwalla bar, milk

Three random things about me:

1) I will never be too old to do the Chicken Dance.

2) I love the way I look in a dirndle.

3) There is a certain streetlight close to my dorm that literally goes out every time I walk under it.

What's your morning beverage of choice?  Coffee, tea, juice?  Homemade or store-bought?

In a former life (read: when I still lived at home) I would always have a smoothie in the morning, either fruit (usually raspberry) or coffee (basically a nonfat Frappuccino without the ice).

Unfortunately, I no longer have access to a blender.  So now, my beverage of choice is either milk (with my cereal) or water (to take my allergy meds).  Occasionally I'll head over to the library after my first class and get a mocha or something.

Food diary (yesterday):

Breakfast - slept through it (oops)

Lunch - vanilla yogurt, dried fruit

Dinner - chicken, mashed potatoes, roll, milk

Today so far -

Breakfast - peanut butter on wheat bread, milk

Lunch - half a roast beef sandwich, banana, water

On another note entirely - as I saw on Strive2Be's blog from yesterday or early this morning, Vox actually used my suggestion for a Question of the Day, and I completely missed it.  I'm a little miffed about that; I would've liked the chance to answer it.

(Otherwise known as Hot Topic.)

Don't get me wrong, I like Hot Topic a lot.  I just kind of have to laugh about how I really like it in spite of myself, since I can see the obvious irony in the fact that kids assert their individualism by buying overpriced, mass-produced gothwear.  Whatever happened to thrift stores?

Cons:

1) Overpriced. I like corsets as much as the next wannabe trannie, but I don't really want to pay $50 for one.  About the only things I can afford there on a regular basis are pins and makeup.

2) Pretentious.  This store caters mainly to certain subcultures that define themselves according to what music they listen to, not realizing that this so-called "non-mainstream" music automatically becomes mainstream when they start selling t-shirts at Hot Topic.  (Not that the music isn't fun to listen to anyway.) And then, of course, there's the irony mentioned above. 

Pros:

1) Hot Topic is unarguably the best small-town hookup for generalized Rocky Horror attire.  (Unless you count the Internet, which I don't.)  Of course, if you live in the big city, it's pretty easy to bypass HT entirely and find what you're looking for at a vintage place a la Red Light.  Plus, if you're in a big city, you might actually be able to find outfits for certain characters and not just general slutwear.

2) They've branched out from clothes and also sell jewelry, oddly colored makeup and hair dye, action figures, buttons and the like.

3) Despite the high prices, they do have pretty good sales.

4) Fun to look at.  I get the feeling that the salespeople get really annoyed at me when I spend half an hour in their store and then don't buy anything, or maybe buy a lipstick or something.

I hope you don't assume because of this entry that I have disdain for Hot Topic; actually, I am quite addicted.  Those of you who know me fairly well know that I love tearing apart things that I like, particularly movies.  I just try and keep the place in perspective whenever I go there.

Today is Day 2 of my Quest for Less Dessert.  (This isn't a Lent thing; I just decided to buckle down on myself and the timing is pure coincidence.) I have not eaten dessert or anything that could be written off as not-dessert but really is (hard candy, Laffy Taffy, etc.) today or yesterday.  For me, that is a major accomplishment.

I am now keeping a food diary for myself.  I'm putting it here because knowing that other people will see my food diary will make it less likely for me to cheat.

Yesterday:

Breakfast - none.  Bad decision on my part, but I was in a hurry.

Lunch - burrito from Qdoba.  Beef, black beans, rice, sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole.

Dinner - all-fruit smoothie, Odwalla bar.

Snacks - a couple handfuls of popcorn

Today:

Breakfast - another Odwalla bar

Lunch - chicken salad and tomato slices on croissant, all-fruit smoothie

Dinner - chili, dried fruit, oatmeal, milk

Snacks - ??

I seriously think I am addicted to dessert. I don't think sugar has any addictive properties in and of itself, so it's probably more of an emotional addiction than a physical one, but still. 

Yesterday I was pretty fine, although I was tempted to have an Andes Mint or two.  Today the cravings started.

First, it was cherry spice cake.  I'm still craving that.  Then it was gingersnaps.  That wasn't helped by the fact that I could have sworn I smelled them on the breeze.  The cravings aren't as bad as I would have expected, though, considering my habits.

I have decided two things:

1) Today when I go to Wal-Mart, I am going to get a couple of fairly healthy dessert things, such as angel food cake and instant pudding, so that if I do have an uncontrollable dessert craving (which I hope not to have, but still), I can go to my dorm and have a lighter dessert instead of running out and buying a candy bar or a brownie.

2) If I manage to stick to my new less-dessert plan until next weekend, I will make a cherry spice cake, eat one piece, and give the rest out to other people so I won't be tempted to eat more.  (My plan, as it stands right now, is to only have one dessert once every three days.  I'm not sure how long that will last, but I'm hoping this incentive will help.)

What is your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving table?
Submitted by Kadeeae.  

Well, ordinarily, I would have to say "mashed potatoes", because I am a carb addict and my family makes really good mashed potatoes.  But also considering my family and the fact that the matriarch, my gramma, has a sweet tooth big enough for all of Muncie,  I'm kind of leaning towards pie.  In all seriousness, I have never been to a family Thanksgiving when there have been fewer than fours kind of pie - pumpkin (of course), French silk, some kind of berry, and usually something like pecan or sugar cream.  But then there was that year when David made that delicious molasses pie, and there's usually apple or cherry, and someone always brings cheesecake.  So we've got no shortage of desserts.

I've been drinking this one kind of yogurt like it's the freaking elixir of life.  I swear, I have gone through three eight-packs in two days.  I have decided I will have to bar myself from buying any more for quite some time.

I'm not going to Spectrum, Peter Pan or the harvest festival tonight.  Instead, I am cleaning, sorting, and working on homework and projects.  Aren't you so pround of me?  I am going to do everything I can, also, to make sure I do not procrastinate the hours away.  This is my last frivolous act.

Underbaked,

~Carly