It’s a black plastic base, rectangle-shaped with a clear lid that lets me see the prize inside. Ten pieces of sushi, circular, and lined up in pairs. The last two in the lines are the end pieces and thin slices of carrots rise out of them like orange vines. The ingredients wrapped in nori and rice would probably make any true sushi critic howl; carrots, cucumber, and avocado. Not very traditional, but the only vegetarian choice the sushi shop sells. I am not disappointed, my love for sushi is not limited to only the most elite variations of rolls. This one tastes good enough. The flavor of the rice vinegar covers a multitude of sins of the carrot variety, a pea-sized bit of wasabi, even more. It is cold and a perfect mix of crunchy and soft. Because all of my meal money went to the meal, I just drink plain water from the water fountain, though I might heat it up and make some tea later. 

The tray it came in reminds me of a canoe, long and thin, pieces of roll lined up like people at the oars, the ginger at the end packed away like a picnic lunch. 

There was an exhibit about boats at the children’s museum near my house. They had this sort of canoe simulator, basically, just a canoe set into the ground with some kind of mechanics below it so that as you stepped into it, it rocked. Then you could stand and row the oars that descended down into the machine and it felt like you were moving with the screen in front of you that showed a video of similar riverboats. That’s what this reminds me of as the not quite sweet not quite savory flavor of ripe avocado washes over my tongue. I’m not sure why, but I suppose with the chopsticks next to it, the similarities are too much to ignore. 

“Skip the filters and the art of cropping–we are going old school…..DESCRIBE your (or your character’s) lunches! So whatever it is you’re eating or ate earlier, or would love to eat, describe it! Don’t be afraid to be silly, and don’t skimp on the details. What color is it? What does it taste like? What does it remind you of? If you make it into a poem–that would be even better!”

ds106 Assignments: Instagram is done…DESCRIBE your lunch to me! 

I had no idea that this was gonna go like this. That describing my sushi lunch was going to bring up memories of a children’s museum that I haven’t been to in years or make me think of canoes. That’s the beauty of writing for you. I honestly think that is part of what I like it so much, the spontaneity of creativity that only happens as you are writing. I think it happens in all mediums, I don’t think Bob Ross has the ability to know exactly how his paintings will turn out. They will just happen as he paints them, that’s part of the beauty of it. It wouldn’t be fun if the painter was worried about the final outcome being exactly as they first envisioned it. That sounds like a recipe for anxiety. Because Bob Ross does so much the opposite, it is relaxing and freeing. For me, that creative spontaneity is the joy of painting/writing/drawing/singing/art.

I know the whole point of the assignment was to describe your lunch because you can’t post a picture of it. So I post a non-picture. I post the aftermath.

For lunch, I went to this super fancy restaurant that I cannot afford just to take a picture of my food on IG only for insta to be down!!! How rude. Since I spent $30 on this, I am going to describe it to you.

First off the table is so cute! It is a wood table painted light blue with little white dots painted randomly. Our silverware is polished super well and were wrapped in a white, cloth napkin. The $12, watered down margaritas are served in a cute mason jar!

I ordered two veggie tacos and a side of rice and beans. The tacos look incredible, the shells are homemade yellow corn tortillas with steam billowing off of them. The veggies are a mix of green and red peppers, onion, zucchini, and carrots all sauteed with a spicy red seasoning. There is a thin layer of shredded lettuce, and grated cheddar cheese topped with a spicy chipotle ranch dressing. The rice is an orange color because of all the yummy spices use, and the beans are red.

The photo I was going to post was focused on the food, but with my friend visible in the background sipping her margarita so that you know I have a friend and we are having a great time!

Lunch today was interesting to say the least. I got tired of eating pizza so I went and got a veggie burger. While I am not a vegetarian (far from it) I heard good times about it and figured I should try it. I ordered the burger with ketchup, mayo, and tomato simple but tasty I thought in my mind. I also decided to get a drink and fries that were just coated in sea salt because I wanted to see what the fries actually tasted like. I went up to the line and ordered it quickly before I changed my mind. I was scared to have my first ever veggie burger and how it might taste.

When my food was ready they called my last name and I walked up to grab it. I was looking for the color and texture of the burger. The bun was normal warm and crisp while the “burger thing” appeared to look like beef. I was very confused what I had ordered of it they messed my order up. I had never heard of a meatless burger looking like meat and still wasn’t sure what I had actually ordered. I went to try a fry first because I assumed I knew what they were going to taste like and I was correct. They were scalding hot slightly burnt french fries with salt they just melted in my mouth from the first one to the last. I next went in to take a bit of my burger to see what it was all about. When I tasted it, it was like beef, I was sure they gave me the wrong meal but why complain I like beef. I kept eating the burger that was oozing and dripping with mayo and ketchup until the next bite kind of started to taste like grass, I was not shocked it was more of this is what I thought a veggie burger would taste like. I took another bite of my burger and it tasted like beef again. It felt like a beef patty in my mouth and tasted like a beef patty. I was sure something was wrong, so I walked back up to the counter and asked them if I had gotten the correct burger and the lady said I had. That is when it hit me that veggie burgers taste just about the same as other meat burgers but without the meat. It was squishy and gushy just like any other burger and it was still slightly pink to where it looked like a medium well burger.

This definitely was a lunch to remember. It was strange but tasty. When I sit back and think about this meal it reminds me of a meal I had in Italy, where I tried something new for the first time and it wasn’t horrible but I like the burger better. When we were there my dad convinced me to try his tripe in red sauce. For those of you that were just like me not having a clue with tripe it, let me enlighten you. Tripe is cow stomach lining that gets cooked and served in different parts of the world. I did not want to try it because I just thought it would be gross but when we were there my dad got it and let me try it for the first time. I was surprised by the flavor and texture, it was not as gross as I was expecting. The red sauce it was in was a very good tomato sauce that was spiced up and the the trip was good while it still seemed rubbery to me, it was edible. I tried it and I am happy that I did because now I can say that I have tried it to go along with my new food a veggie burger.

For this assignment I needed to tell about the last meal I ate and describe it in detail. This blog assignment was worth 3.5 stars.

I decided to do some background research to figure out when the veggie burger was created and according to google and the Smithsonian it was in London in 1982 by Gregory Sams. This shows that during the 80’s people were not only experimenting with music, hair, and clothes but also new ways of eating and the ingredients they used. Sams used the burger to make being a vegetarian cool again because the only people that were vegetarians then were the hippies. He wanted to broaden the score of meatless burgers to more people that did not consider themselves hippies. He also helped to make vegetarian food become mainstream for more people. Without realizing it I am supporting the idea of mainstream meatless burgers with others just like Sams did in the 80’s

The inspiration for this assignment was relatively simple, I had to remember what I ate for lunch and be able to describe it in detail. I thought it was going to be harder than it was to bring up details about my food I ate. I figure if I can do it about the food I can become creative about anything.

In writing assignments I am mostly just using my blog to create the assignments based off the bank. I had to sit back and think about what I ate and the best way to describe it, but once I started to write about it, it just seemed to flow until I was complete. I picked this assignment because I know that I can struggle with details of the story that are relevant. I tend to add to many details where it goes overboard for the main idea of the story. I worked on adding enough detail where the reader understands what I go through but not to much extra where they get bored and stop reading.

Today for lunch i had a pretty fulling salad. I had put in iceberg lettuce and a salad greens mix, even though it has spinach and i cant stand it. I then put in wheat berries, which are small pea sized grain that dont have much of a flavor. I mostly add them for the nutrients. I then put in shredded carrots and cucumbers, the cucumbers being the second best part of the salad. I also put in mandarin oranges and corn to make it sweet. I wasnt a fan of the corn the first time i did it, but i am growing a customed to it. And lastly i put in croutons, my favorite part. I could eat a bowl of just crouton, but that isnt healthy.

I chose this assignment to narrate my lunches that ive been having for a few weeks now. Because if i have to go through the pain of eating it, im sure you all can go through the pain of reading a post about a salad.

There are crackers. So many crackers. Portable, and don’t require heat or cold. Ritz crackers and club crackers. Some of them have bologna, and most of them have cheese. Fake cheese, which I get crap about from my friends, but fake cheese is delicious and I will defend it until I die. Yeah it’s a bright orange color that probably doesn’t occur naturally, but it’s so delicious. And stays good forever. In an attempt to eat something real and maybe healthy, I have granola bars, in much more natural and reassuring colors. Brownish tans, or tannish browns? With tiny marshmallows that make white dots. It’s all sticky, and reminds me of horse feed. I also have cookies. Soft, round, delicious sugar cookies with bright yellow icing and oblong rainbow sprinkles. They’re my favorite, so colorful, and fluffy, and sweet. They smell like sugar, and remind me of birthdays, with cakes that have buttercream icing. I love birthdays, anyone’s birthday, because cake. It’s been so hot lately that I’ve just been drinking water, out of my 36 oz heavy duty water bottle.

I know some of your first thoughts are going to be “EWW” or “GROSS!”, but let me explain with a little poem…

Never raw, always cooked
Shrimp or crab, nothing else is good
If the two are put together, that’s the best!
In my opinion, they are better than the rest
Wrapped in rice with avocado and drizzled sweet sauce,
The only thing unappealing about them is the cost.
I always say, “Don’t knock it till you try it!”
Even if it does go against my diet.
Sushi will always be my go-to food,
After all, it does put me in a better mood!

I thought that was pretty creative…but seriously, go try it! I never eat anything raw, only cooked. It’s so so good. My favorite sushi roll is called the Playboy Roll from Fujiya House in Central Park. Its shrimp tempura (aka fried shrimp) with avocado, rolled in white rice topped with crab and 2 different creamy sauces. DELICIOUS!!!

I’m very much so a food-e and, like many others in my generation, love to post pictures of what I eat! With Instagram down how will I ever share my meals with my followers?! I guess I’m going to have to resort to *gasp* actually using words to describe the taste on my lips and the smell wafting through my apartment. The more I think about it, this may be an even more efficient way of getting across my message about the mouth-watering pizza I ate for dinner. It’s no secret that pizza is my favorite food. I would eat it every day if I could, but it’s still at least several times a week so I can’t complain. Yesterday I went grocery shopping at Aldi for the first time. I was in shock at how cheap everything was and all the new product I had never seen on the shelves of our local Giant. I stocked up for the week and just as I was about to near the check-out line, I saw the most beautiful thing. A large, family sized pizza sat right in front of me with a whopping price tag marked $5! This pizza was huge y’all and you best believe that I brought two home with me. Figuring that I probably couldn’t eat the whole thing by myself, seeing the box wouldn’t fit in our freezer, I invited several friends over for dinner. Looking down at my plate, I see a massive cheesy triangle almost spilling over the edges. The bottom of the crust feels slightly like sandpaper (meaning that in the best way possible). Thin, crispy and hot to the touch. The cheese is perfectly melted over the bright red tomato sauce, with flecks of herbs dotted across the surface. We decided to get a little fancy and add some of our own toppings to this otherwise plain pizza. Shredded gouda cheese was melted on top and a hefty amount of BBQ was spiraled around the center. Before taking a bite, as the pizza neared my face I caught a whiff of it’s beautifully pungent scent. Are you salivating yet? I know I am. Once it entered my mouth and made contact with my taste buds, there was a moment of blissful silence. The creamy gouda, sharp salty cheese, slightly sweet yet rustic tomato sauce and of course the punchy tangy BBQ sauce was all too overwhelming. I’m making myself hungry so I’m going to stop writing this blog post and go finish those leftovers. (Still wish I could have just posted a pic on Instagram).

As I wait patiently for a website to load so I can write most blog posts about my fantastic spy life….I decided to grab a slice of pizza, my favorite, for lunch. There’s this special white sauce they use….mmmMmmm so good. Every bite is a masterpiece. Mmmmmm Pizza. Tastes so good I could never get tired of this. Had some mountain dew to go with it. you know what goes good with this pizza? Sausage and ham. Meatlovers dream. Succulent…but…why am I talking about what I am eating? Are you spying on ME? Stop reading what I am typing about! Agent Smith, signing off.

-Agent Smith