By: Lio Salazar, Features Contributor
This year’s Thanksgiving Sit-Down was held on Nov. 21 in the Dining Hall. Students were served a mini caesar salad with the option for croutons. I am a crouton girlie, but there was something about these croutons that were a tad too toasted for my fork to get through, but that didn’t stop me from eating every last bite.
I decided to start with a plate from Cucina – typically the pasta/pizza station. I got a slice of the carved ham, a scoop of the mashed potatoes and some stuffing – turkey gravy on both – and some confetti corn; there was also a vegan option at Cucina, which was a stuffed roasted squash with rice, vegetables and tofu. Due to ham being a pretty salty meat, the cranberry sauce on it was a very nice touch to make it even more delectable. I also really enjoyed the stuffed squash I got, as someone who isn’t vegetarian or vegan but still tries to be open to different foods. I thought there was a wonderful mixture of flavors that complimented each other well – the tofu and rice was pretty piquant, the harshness of the roasted squash skin, and the retained sweetness of the inside of the squash really made it for me.
After getting through the first plate, I went to Delicious Without (the station that serves food without – hence the name – the top eight allergens) and got the carved pork loin, brussel sprouts with bacon and a single cube of sweet potatoes. I am prefacing this section, and the rest of this article with the announcement that I don’t like sweet potatoes. I haven’t liked sweet potatoes since I was a kid and really wasn’t expecting myself to like them now. I did, however, try some during the Sit-Down, and much to my surprise, I still don’t like them. The carved pork loin had a very nice seasoning to it, and the sweet potatoes at Delicious Without had a nice glaze to them, but I really think the best food at this station was the roasted brussel sprouts with bacon. I know that brussel sprouts are an acquired taste, but something about Dining Hall’s brussel sprouts with the bacon really did it for me. I think brussel sprouts’ naturally earthy taste was really brought out by the salty and thick-cut bacon bits that were mixed in.
I also got a taster plate from The Grill: a bun, a small slice of roast beef, a small piece of chicken, and some sweet potato fries. To no one’s surprise, I didn’t like the sweet potato fries. The chicken was really well seasoned, and I think the roast beef with the potato bun was really good as well.
I really liked the cornbread I got at the Sit-Down, but my favorite dessert, hands down, was the pumpkin spice cheesecake cookie that was so gingerly handed to me by JoAnn Feary. I also tried pumpkin pie for the first time and was delighted by how much cinnamon I actually tasted over how much pumpkin. I don’t know if this converts me to being a pumpkin spice girlie now, but I did enjoy the time I spent and the food I ate during the Thanksgiving Sit-Down.
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