Here doggie!

Trying not to kid myself about the nutritional values and benefits of hot dogs, I concentrated on the task at hand… convincing the lady
at the register to give me yet another free meal card because I
forgot my stack at my desk. Yes, yes, they are expensive
to print… I promise to keep this one close to my belly. New card in
hand I wondered if hot dogs are really that bad. They aren’t really, right?

Walking up to get my tray I spied the desserts and a fruit granola looking thing caught my eye. “Corndogs are enough,” I chastise myself. Just grab a couple of dogs and get a salad, no dessert. Balance, yin and yang, that’s what I need. Unfortunately after the
plate full of dogs, condiments, drinks and, yes, the dessert I had no
room for the salad on my tray. Too much yin never killed anybody, did it?

I love corn dogs and they love me… At least they do not cause all of the world’s expansion problems. Luckily the dogs were hot and the corn bread was not too gooey, they were perfect.

The fruit granola thing was good, not too sweet but drier than I expected.

Ok, time for the yang. Marching to the salad bar I noticed a nice lady bringing out fresh corn dogs, fresh and hot. I forgot about the salad… With an empty plate in my hand I just kind of stared.

“Corn dog?” she asked; do I detect pity in her eyes?
“Please…” I’m ashamed of myself.

did somebody cut the stroganoff?

I enjoy making beef stroganoff from scratch but I also make the down and dirty version with some Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup.

Heading over to Bruce’s station intending to try theirs, I am faced with a sea of brown goo with lumps of white floating throughout. I decide to try it anyway.

I don’t feel that I should have to cut my stroganoff. There’s just something fundamentally wrong with that. Nor should the meat be dry and chewy.

 

stir fry

okay, much better today, although i consumed too much sugar between sweet n’ sour sauce, sweet tea and ice cream. the stir fry is pretty darned tasty, so worth standing in line for, and you can get a sea of sweet n’ sour sauce to go with it. The columbo machine is back up and running AND, they had these great “italian” green beans. All around, pretty good today. My faith is restored a bit.

The black pepper incident.

Walking through the bustling Dining Hall, I spy the grill aflame. Hurriedly, I make my way to the back of the line to ensure my receipt of a fresh slab of ground meat.

No such luck.

The cook takes an already charbroiled patty out of a bag and tosses it on the grill. So much for fresh today. I hand him my empty plate and he carefully drops it in the middle. I’m off to the condiment station. An extra slice of cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced onions, tomato and a pile of pickles adorn my reheated slab of meat. I decide to splurge on a couple of fries (yes, just a couple) then I’m off to the salad bar for my spinach salad. Out of the corner of my eye.. I see a fried stick like object at Bruce’s station. Hum. Sidling over, I grab two off the tray.

Following my cohort, Jim, into the Westhampton room, we sit at our far table (cuz we need sunlight to dispell the seasonal affective disorder we suffer from because we work in a windowless dungeon) which has already been previously soiled. Squishing ourselves into the opposite end of table away from the tainted area, we sit and sigh with anticipated delight.

Jim, facinated by the fried vegetable medley stick thing, picks it up and carefully surveys the item.  

Ah, lunch. I’ve been looking forward to a bun-less burger. I grab the salt and pepper. With the pepper in my right hand, I tip and shake. I search around the room with my eyes, frantically seeking a culprit as the cackling erupts from across the table. Setting the pepper shaker abruptly down and picking up the cap… oh, it’s broken. It must have slipped off.

I scrape the excess pepper off the pickles and enjoy my reheated meat. 

The vegetable stick is crusty on the outside but soft and gooey on the inside. Corn and some other things fill the fried cavity. Is that the leftover zuccini from yesterday?

The grilled prok report

Well, i’m guessing it was pork. I can’t believe I ate it, but excessive BBQ sauce helped. Sadly, the best thing today was the salad bar. Also, I was wrong. If you buy 7 meals, you get the 8th for free. Maybe we’ll get prok again. I wonder if they serve prok in Miami? Kim?