"Proper" Meal Mondays! I came up with that brilliant name on the way back from the dining hall. It seems like I come up with all of my good ideas while walking back to my dorm room from the dining hall. It must be some sort of extra special ingredient they put in the food. Back to the point. I decided to go ahead and follow the meal suggestions today. When I say "suggestion," I mean the food is placed side by side so that the two foods (usually a meat and a veggie and/or grain) compliment each other. Today, cajun shrimp and rice were available, along with flank steak, wild rice, and beans with carrots. I chose the flank steak, wild rice, and beans with carrots. Then, I added my own spinach salad on the side with tomato, cucumber, and red pepper. It was slightly awesome.
The really cool thing about that meal was that it almost made me feel as if I was home. Plus, I had nearly every spectrum of the food pyramid and it was healthy ("A" plus!). Honestly, the rice was really, really yummy. The steak was, too. The beans left something to be desired, but the carrots were sweet and made up for the beans. All I want to do now is go home and fix this meal my own way. While I was eating, all I could think was that it was a shame the kitchen didn't serve medium rare steak. Personally, I think it tastes much better that way, but that's just me.
I also started thinking about what the dining hall will begin serving when Thanksgiving comes around. Then, I thought about Halloween. They have to serve at least a special dessert, right? My friends and I had a conversation about Thanksgiving food today (the reason for my thoughts at dinner). All I could think about was my aunt's cornbread casserole, because cornbread was served at lunch. The casserole is to die for. My friend and I began talking about what we did and did not like about Thanksgiving food. Well, in her case it's "I like this, not that." In my case, it's "I like this and that...ooh and that over there. OH MY GOSH, WHAT IS THAT? I'm gonna eat it. That wasn't as good as what I thought it'd be, I better try some more of it, just to make sure my tastebuds weren't mistaken. Hmm...nope, not quite as good as what I thought. Third time's a charm. Ooh, pie!" Funny thing was, when I started thinking about traditional Thanksgiving food, my first three thoughts were different sorts of casseroles - sweet potato, cornbread, and green bean. Thanksgiving's all about the casseroles, isn't it? I'm not complaining about it. I think it's fantastic, but it never occured to me before.
The last paragraph may have seemed off topic, but during the conversation, I thought about this amazing wild rice recipe that my mom and I found over the summer. We both agreed that between its pretty color and flavor, it'd probably have to be inducted into the holiday food menu. See? Everything ties right in! The recipe has wild rice, craisins, orange juice/peel, and maybe some other ingredients, but they're not important for the picture I'm trying to convey (deliciousness). I don't think the recipe would taste really good with the beans and carrots I had at dinner, but pairing it with a marinated steak would be good. The dining hall is a very inspirational place. Who knew?
Now that I think about it, I need to share the recipe for the wild rice. It's even called "Harvest Rice Dish." How appropriate for Thanksgiving! My mom changed the recipe a little bit, because we didn't have all of the ingredients necessary. The end result was probably better anyway.
This picture isn't representative of my mom's creation. The use of white rice in place of the brown rice really adds to the contrast and beauty of the dish.
I think that just about wraps up my thoughts for today. If I come up with some weird name and theme for another day, I'll be back soon. If not, I'll be back for Super Waffle Saturday.
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