Summer Foods Require No Recipe

It's that time of year and the food preparation is easy.

I often believe that the best food is the simplest, with the exception of curry, which is only complicated because it uses a mix of a lot of different spices. Curry isn't hard by any means, but it certainly isn't simple either.

And so, now at the height of summer, when I never really want to cook anyways 'cause it is too damn hot, I simple take the best produce and make it simple. Washed, sliced, maybe a touch of salt, maybe some spices. The most commplicated thing I have done recently involved cleaning and then blanching green beans, seasoning with lemon olive oil, a splash of vingear, and some seasoned salt and then refrigerating for a quick summer salad. Or cherry tomatoes, little balls of fresh mozzarella, a srizzle of basil olive oil, and a splash of vinegar. Yum yum.

Caprese Pasta Salad

Last night, I joined a group of fine females (and one fine male) for a trip to see the Indigo Girls perform at the Ravinia Festival. Now the nice thing about Ravinia is that the lawn seats are cheap and it is a picnic haven. So, everything brought something - some cheese, some wine, a billion or so cookies, hummus, etc etc. My contribution was a delicious caprese pasta salad.

Now a basic caprese salad is fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil - arranged neatly and drizzled with good olive oil. I made my salad by cooking a pound of pasta (I used rotelle) and then cooling in the fridge and then adding 1 pint of grape tomatoes, 1 container of marinated mozzarella balls, some lemon juice (about 1 large lemon), and a bunch of chopped up basil and Italian parsley from my garden. I overcooked the pasta just a touch and I could have chopped the parsley and basil smaller, but I was making it at 11 at night, so sue me. The only thing I might do differently in the future is to chop the mozzarella balls into smaller bits. They were quite salty and, as I hadn't salted the rst of the salad, being smaller would have spread the salty goodness throughout. Still, a good invention and one that will be repeated.

Also, today, I learned a new term. Bed-oaf. I found it hilarious. I hope you do, too.

I Miss Sebastian's

I eat lunch pretty much every day in the cafeteria. It's easy and I often can either hang out with the faculty or listen in on their conversations. But, really, the food is bad. I think it is much worse than when I was a student here, ten years ago. Of course, it could just be that I have become a food snob. But I really think the food is pretty bad even if it is attractive to teens (burgers and fries every day! Dude!)

Take today, for example. I had to go to lunch later than normal and I got there and, after seeing the menu, I almost left. Except I was hungry and an overpriced sandwich at the little cafe was unattractive to me. Available to me - burgers and fries (dude!), a bacon cheesburger wrap, pork satay stirfry (overcooked pork in a gloppy sweet sauce on ramen noodles), meat paella (don't ask), some mushy cooked frozen veggies, and an overcooked chicken breast in a creamy bacon sauce. I selected the breast with the least amount of sauce on it and then made myself a salad at the extremely small and hard to access salad bar.

And that is when it hits me. I really miss Sebastian's.

Sebastian's is a mostly lunch place in downtown Boston with the world's greatest salad bar. First, you pick any one of three lettuce blends. Then you can add as many of about a gazillion add-ons that you want. Ok. maybe not a gazillion, but at least 30, including beans, nuts, tuna, roasted veggies, fruit, cheeses... I mean, just about anything and everything. Then, they mix it with your choice of dressing throw it in what seems to be a half gallon bowl and hand it to you with a slice of pita. Price? As long as you didn't get something totally weird as an add-on - about $7. This is a salad that took me almost an hour to eat. An hour of steady eating. An incredible salad that when you were done with it, you thought, "Dude! I just ate a SALAD!"

Dudes. I just really want to eat a SALAD!