stay in the shallow end

Tuesday is really going to tickle my geek bone:

• At 9:30 AM, my first year of graduate school will be over.
• Apple will most likely be releasing new hardware.
• And Nintendo is holding their press conference at E3.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Welcome to a much belated last week in food. School is kicking my ass, but I thought I’d take a break and get this taken care of. I should be on schedule for this last week’s episode tomorrow.

• Monday: Bubble Tea at First Wok: If you’re not familiar with Bubble Tea, it’s basically flavored iced tea (around here, made from a powder) with a few scoops of tapioca balls dropped in and served with an extra wide straw. The straw lets you suck up the tapioca balls (bubbles) as you drink the tea. I’m pretty sure it’s a love it or hate it kind of thing, as my friend took a pull, cringed, and with her mouth agape, said, “What.. is it.. in my mouth?” In any case, my favorites are Thai and Taro, and today I got the Taro. They put a little too much powder in it, but it was still refreshing for a hot afternoon.

• Tuesday: Lunch at Michael’s Bistro: After last week’s experience at Michael’s, I wasn’t too anxious to go back, but didn’t feel like putting up a fight. I’m glad I didn’t, lunch was absolutely fantastic. Rob and I did a half-and-half swap, so I got to try half of the Grilled Ahi Sandwich and half of the Maxwell. The Grilled Ahi Sandwich was incredible. While $8 is steep for a sandwich, it had one of the largest tuna steaks on it I’ve ever seen. It was seared perfectly and heavily seasoned with a typical blackening seasoning… unbelievably delicious. The Maxwell is a sandwich consisting of chicken fingers glazed in honey. It had potential, but the chicken fingers were so overdone that it felt like I was eating rubber. Our server also convinced me that the onion rings were some of the greatest onion rings she’s ever had, so I subbed those for my side. They were good, but not that good.

• Tuesday: dessert at Arch’s Frozen Yogurt: Still crackalicious .

• Wednesday: Lunch at White Spot: I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve lived in Charlottesville for nearly three years, and this is my first time going to White Spot. I’m afraid to say that I wasn’t missing anything. Of course, I had to order the Gusburger, and it does not live up to the hype. Give me Five Guys or Riverside any day of the week.

• Wednesday: dessert at Arch’s Frozen Yogurt: How can I say no?

• Thursday: Lunch at Jaberwocky: Jaberwocky is a bar. I ordered chicken fingers and onion rings. They tasted like chicken fingers and onion rings you get in a bar. Fried, tasty, and unsurprising. I’ve still got quite a few cancer certificates to spend here, so you’ll see more shortly.

• Thursday: Dinner at Orbit: While enjoying Orbit’s $2 Guinness happy hour, I noticed they changed up their appetizer menu. Fried Jalapeno Strips! Be still my beating heart. (Given all the fried food I’d had that day, this was actually a real possibility). Unfortunately, they were “mild” jalapenos, and were not very flavorful, except for the fact they were battered and fried. Someone else ordered some cheese fries. Just as with Jaberwocky, it tasted like bar food.

• Saturday: Lunch at Take It Away: I got a very special certificate from the cancer fundraiser for Take It Away: Two free sandwiches, salads, chips, desserts, and drinks. We walked there with the dogs and had a feast on the Lawn. I had my usual, Corned Beef on Onion Rye with Deli Mustard and House Dressing on the side. She had the Red Pepper Hummus on Onion Rye. For our salads, we got the pasta salad and the pesto tortellini salad, and for our desserts, a blondie and the chocolate souffle. It was so delicious, and I ate so much that I cramped up on the walk home. As someone who likes my food to have a lot of “stuff” on it, I’m amazed at how Take It Away makes such simple foods taste so delicious. The pasta salads and dessert were both remarkably fresh with several distinct robust flavors coming from relatively few ingredients. As for the desserts, I’d never had a souffle before, and after eating it, I can’t describe it. It’s somewhere between cake and mousse, I guess. The blondie was really good as well. They both were decadently rich.

• Saturday: Dinner at El Puerto: She wanted Mexican, and I suggested El Puerto as an alternative to Amigos. Really, I just wanted more of their salsa picante ! I ordered the Poblanos Enchiladas, which were chicken enchiladas topped with Mole Poblano sauce. The Mole at El Puerto is much richer than Amigos and El Tepeyac. It’s also much sweeter, with a strong chocolate taste. While I enjoyed it, the sweetness got to me before I even got halfway through. Luckily I could switch back to their slow heat salsa picante and let them play tug of war with my taste buds.

I’d say it was an average week. The only thing worth pursuing is lunch at Michael’s Bistro. I’ll be back on schedule tomorrow with #7.

One week after my last post, Connections@UVa’s latest issue touts another unflattering statistic:

HOOS ARE TAKING CARE OF EACH OTHER: 87.4 percent of U.Va. students do not
engage in unprotected sex as a result of drinking.

I wonder how many of the 12.6% of students that engage in drunken unprotected sex and the 17.1% of students that succumbed to drunken injuries overlap due to people injuring themselves while having unprotected sex while drinking.

I’d love for somebody to explain how to be proud of these numbers.