Today, my Hunger Games Began

I am obsessed with the book "Hunger Games".  I started reading it on the plane ride home back from spring break, read it all within 36 hours, and have been dying to see the movie ever since I finished the book, and today was my lucky day.  I have been counting down the hours until today at 3:30, when I was picked up for the movie.  However, I had a slight problem, after coming back from the gym at 3:10, I was a bit rushed getting ready, so I quickly peeled my succulent red grapefruit and jumped in the car.  Throughout the "Hunger Games", my stomach was grumbling...ironic, right?  Needless to say, after the spectacular 2 and a half hour movie was over, I was very excited for dinner.  We decided on Anatolia, a Turkish restaurant on 4th street, behind Kirkwood.  I've been once before, and had a delicious meal of the White Bean soup and Veggie Guvec, but tonight I decided on the Vegetable Moussaka with an appetizer of the White Bean soup.  The soup was comprised of a salty broth, with some black pepper, as well as some parsley, and of course, the main ingredient, white beans.  The soup tasted incredible, better after every spoonful, the peppery taste lingered in my mouth as I awaited my main dish.  My dish came out piping hot, the plating was extremely eye-catching as well.  I immediately went for the salad, the dill-spiced vegetables and lettuce were delectable, and my vegetable dish was cooked to perfection.  Under the cover of a baked eggplant, I discovered zucchini, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and caramelized onions.  Then, to top off the meal, the waiters brought us Turkish tea on the house.  The entire meal was delicious, and I was satisfied, if only my meal could be included in the "Hunger Games"...that would be the ultimate dream.

"Strawberries in a jam" at the C-Store

Shout out to all my strawberry lovers, this one's for you!  Okay, let me explain the issue at hand...sweet ripe red strawberries are my favorite fruit, always have been, always will be.  I could eat them every day - whether just munching on them for a snack, mixed with cereal in the morning, tossed in my salad for lunch, or cut up in a bowl with whipped cream for dessert.  My mouth is watering as I write this post.  So when I discovered the strawberries in the McNutt C-Store, I could not contain my excitement.  But...there's a slight problem...there is a disappearing act going on with the strawberries.  On Mondays and Wednesdays, I have 8 AM classes in McNutt and head to the C-Store for breakfast afterwards.  I dream about the strawberries before I go to bed and go to class hoping that there will be fresh strawberries in the morning to eat with my cereal.  But of course, if things worked out that way, life would be too easy.  To make matters even worse, sometimes, I get to the C Store too late and all the strawberries are already sold out...and they rarely re-stock them.  We need to change this mayhem, lets make a "Save the Strawberry" petition!

The Wright or Wrong Choice

Today I opted for a change of pace.  I thought about my agenda for the day, and realized that if I wanted to go to office hours after English in the central part of campus, it made sense to stay there because I had class at 3 in the Central neighborhood.  One of the main attractions to the Central neighborhood, is the food court at the Wright dorm.  I'll admit, when I was there during orientation, I despised it, and was very unhappy with the food choices it offered.  However, since being at school, people rave about it!  At first hearing, I was shocked and surprised...were they really talking about Wright?!?  But, I decided to try it again and see if the rumors were true.
Walking into Wright, the first place that caught my eye was the "Eat Right" station, a form of familiarity for me.  I was excited to find that there were asparagus cuts, which I got as a side.  Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and I really enjoy cooking it at home.  Hopeful of what was to come, I took a full lap around the food court, looking at the different options.  There was a Sbarro, a sandwich bar, a Mexican stand, and a place that served all different types of fried food.  I wasn't really pleased with the options and the memories of gross food during orientation seemed to be coming back to haunt me!  But...I was here, so I decided to make the best of it.  As always, the comfort of a salad bar was reassuring.  I grabbed a large salad dish and loaded it with the dark red and green leaves of spring mix, added shredded carrots, bean sprouts and white onions before I continued on.  Although at this point, I was getting nervous and disappointed because, to be honest, even the ingredients in the salad bar were not that appealing.  As I continued my circular walk around the Salad Bar, I added some chopped turkey.  Usually, I am hesitant to add the turkey from Gresh, because it looks slimy, but the one positive of Wright, was that the turkey looked normal.  I topped it with some black pepper for a spicy flavor, and grabbed an orange as well.  The salad surprisingly tasted pretty good, but I think I've had enough of Wright (even though I've only been there twice, it's been two times too many).  I guess it's back to Gresh for me...for a while anyway.

Gouda Day Sunshine

On a sunny Sunday morning like today, some friends and I walked to Bloomington Bagel on Kirkwood (North Dunn Street) for brunch. I was really in the mood for brunch because I got up early for a morning work out.  I have only been there once before, and ordered a bagel, because if it isn't obvious from the name...it's a bagel place.  However, today, I wasn't really feeling a bagel, I thought about opting for a salad, but then decided against it, I was craving hot soup.  The weather in Bloomington has gotten a bit cooler outside, with the Tornado watch on Friday night, and soup was acceptable.  I ordered a bowl of the soup of the day, Roasted Red Pepper and Gouda soup.  I really love eating red peppers.  I mean I can cut one up and eat the whole thing, but roasted red peppers...well, for me it's a food that I'm not really sure I like.  You might be able to relate.  I'm sure you all have your foods that your think you like, then you try them and well they just are what you thought.  So I was really risking it today by ordering the Roasted Red Pepper and Gouda Soup, because I don't even really think I have ever tasted Gouda cheese, this was a whole new concept for me.
The soup came out steaming hot, and at first spoonful, I was blown away.  This soup totally hit the spot.  It was flavored perfectly, with a great combination of roasted peppers mixed with of pepper, garlic, and salt.  As I stuck my spoon in the bowl, it entered the creamy mash of the roasted red pepper, which melted in my mouth, with just a couple surprise bites of Gouda cheese sprinkled throughout.  I finished it quickly, and continued to put my spoon in the bowl, hoping for more.  I have to say, it was a Gouda brunch, and I look forward to going back for another bowl.

Food Glorious Food

I'd have to say, my entire day was filled with yummy food.  Starting at lunch, I made my own salad without leaves (what we call lettuce) because I am bored of having the same thing over and over again.  My salad consisted of pinto beans (for protein), chickpeas, red peppers, and shredded carrots.  Since that was not going to be filling, I decided to try the "Eat Right" section in Gresham, and decided on steamed spinach (literally obsessed, everyone should try it, it's just so good) and this mix of marinated vegetables such as zucchini, eggplant, squash, onions, and peppers.  I mixed the spinach and the marinated vegetables together, and that was also relatively tasty.  As well, to my surprise, there was fresh fruit!  I chose a ripe yellow banana (which was a difficult find because the majority of the bananas at Gresh are bright green), and a small container of green grapes.  My lunch was good mixture of food.

As for dinner, I was excited not to eat at Gresham again.  Being in a sorority at Indiana University, we had a special dinner pairing with our "Little 5" (an annual bike race) fraternity pair.  I was excited to get a taste of the food at a new house that I had never eaten before, and we were having a BBQ.  In my opinion, it's hard to mess up food for a BBQ.  I am not a huge hotdog fan, and I don't eat sausages, but as a third option, there were turkey burgers.  I love turkey burgers!  I grabbed a turkey burger, some spreadable yellow mustard, and a whole lotta fruit.  They had a fruit salad with oranges, canteloupe, grapes, peaches, and honeydew.  I love grapes, canteloupe, and oranges, plus they were fresh and tasted yummy.  However, my all time favorite fruit is strawberries, and boy, did they have those!  They weren't sour, but sweet, bright red, and addicting.  I could eat strawberries all day.  As I was taking a second helping of fruit, I noticed a ginormous strawberry in the bowl, so I took it, because I figured...why not??? No one else seemed to want it!  Dinner was a perfect way to end my foodie-filled day.

Breakfast for Dinner

As I am sure many of you know, we have been hit with a hard case of global warming, well at least it's been pretty bad in Bloomington, Indiana.  Who would've expected that in late March, it would be 80 degrees?  I didn't, and to make matters worse, I was extremely unprepared.  What makes this weather even more difficult is the amount of food you can eat without getting even hotter...there aren't many choices.  After debating back and forth of whether or not I should get another salad from Gresham (oops, I mean Grosshum) - one of the only things that is okay in this hot weather, I decided against it.  I'm bored of my typical meal, but there aren't many other options.  I decided that since the weather has gone down to 68, instead of being up in the high 80s, it was okay to get an egg-white omlette.  Breakfast for dinner is good, but you have to be in the right mood.  I ordered at the Sandwhich bar (they make omlettes on the reg., all day, every day), "one egg-white omlette with mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, and turkey."  Turkey not a typical omlette meat, but I don't eat ham, and I wasn't in the mood for cheese.  I was looking to get a piece of fruit as well, but just my luck, everything looked old, rotten, or mushy.  I tend to like fresh fruit, but that's just me.  Anyway, the omlette was alright, and I got some bright orange baby carrots from the salad bar on the side, which were quite munchable.  I guess I am surprised to say that my meal was pretty decent.  Happy eating!

Wrap It Up

Tonight I was feeling extra adventurous, so I decided to try something new at Gresham.  Instead of getting a grilled chicken sandwhich and putting it on my salad, which I have started to do...I decided to flip it and make a chicken wrap out of lettuce.  Clever, right?  I sure thought so.  I grabbed a grilled chicken sandwhich, a salad bowl filled with 3 large pieces of romaine lettuce, two sliced tomatoes, some pickles (a lettuce wrap is not complete without pickles and I must say, they are delish), and some yellow mustard.  I took my piece of lettuce, spread it with mustard and a piece of chicken, and then topped it with a tomato and the pickles.  I am not a chef, but I must say this was one of my better ideas.  It was actually pretty good, and you will not hear me say that a lot about the food at Gresham.  This was a nice change-up from a typical salad and I look forward to eating it again.

My Big Fat Greek Salad

Yesterday was my first day back at school, and to my surprise (not), none of the campus run dining halls were open because of Spring Break.  Myself, and a couple of my friends decided to go to Village Deli on Kirkwood for dinner.  I have only been to Village Deli once before for breakfast, which they are known around the IU community for.  Especially for brunch on Saturday or Sunday when you're hungover...  But I had never been for dinner.  I decided to go the semi safe route and order a Greek salad, with some added grilled chicken as protein.  Although it took about 15 minutes too long for us to get our food, it was worth the wait.  There was a mix of spring mix lettuce and some bright green romaine (not the light green-brown kind I am used to from Gresham), the olives were big, the onions and tomatoes were sliced nicely and fresh, the feta cheese was crumbly, and the grilled chicken was another added bonus.  The salad was delicious, and for once, I was full.

Gresham vs. Grosshum

When I think about eating food at the Gresham "cafe" in the Northwest neighborhood of Indiana University, the first word that comes to my mind is gross.  So I like to call it Grosshum instead of Gresham...catchy, right?  This is not my first time away from home, I lived overseas in Israel and I know what it's like to eat in an institutional setting.  When I was touring different colleges, I made sure to try the food in all the different dining halls.  I can remember the delicious falafel from Muhlenberg College, or the soggy hoagies from the Drexel Cafe.  Maybe, I'm picky.  When I was growing up, I had access to any type of food I wanted...I was living the life.  And then coming to college was a total reality check, food wise.  

Now that I am coming back to school after spring break, I am ready to look at things differently.  I am ready to be adventurous.  My new mission is to try something new in Gresh every day and update you guys on my new food adventure.