Meat salads and buttered rolls, redux

If you’d told me this morning I’d be facing another table-full of meat salads, I’d have said you were crazy. This time we were subject to a shrimp-and-pasta number than I skipped entirely, a chicken salad that I thought was tuna (K. said he wouldn’t eat it if it was tuna, and he ate a whole scoopful, so I believe him), and a meat-free Greek salad that mostly had going for it the lack of meat. I also had a buttered roll, but only one: I was mysteriously seized with pleasure and excitement and couldn’t keep much down. (Sometimes I get too excited. See also: 300.02.) A., L., R., K., and R. shared our table, and R. talked to A. and I about putting a contract together. Full of good news, and another turtle cookie bar.

 

Salami sandwich and chips

The big complaint we have today–A., K., and myself–is the lack of condiments on the conference sandwich table. No mayonnaise? I thought we were in Milwaukee! Still, I loaded up a white roll with salami, cheese, tomato, and lettuce, and put a pile of crinkle-cut chips on my plate. I saved dessert–a peanut-and-chocolate cookie bar–for Fernando Elichirigoity’s keynote, an absolutely riveting exploration of “Living in the Age of Globally Distributed Algorithms.” I went back for seconds and picked up a gingerbread square while he talked about dolls that shop for themselves, pigeon bloggers, and called for a return to creativity and delight. Sparkled like the lemon seltzer.

 

Meat salads and buttered rolls

If you’d told me this morning that I’d be going back for seconds on beef salad, I would have said you were crazy. But it was really, really good! Sesame beef with peppers and onions. Less well received: turkey salad. None of us could tell what it was until somebody went and asked. Mostly, it tasted squishy. I supplemented with two buttered rolls (heaven!), some broccoli/cauliflower salad (vinegar-y), and a turtle brownie (chocolate, caramel, and nuts!). I ate relaxed and happy, having read my paper this morning, while listening to the wonderful Hope Olson talk about deconstruction and postcolonial methodologies in information studies. Her discussion of the potential of tagging relationships rather than entities was the intellectual equivalent of the beef salad: I was left wanting more. K. and A. shared my table, and I had the seltzer.

 

Yellow squash and tomato over pasta

I have so many last little things to do before heading to the airport that I almost went with a fried egg and toast, but that made me want to cry. So I popped down to the grocery and picked up two plum tomatoes and a yellow squash and sauteed them and put over some pasta. I ate while answering some queries for T. and trying not to worry about the part where the cable is very fuzzy. I’ll probably also treat myself to some garbage food at La Guardia.

 

Tofurky sandwich and a bag of chips

Handing off copy to L. last night took longer than I thought, so I had to buy my lunch today–tofurky on a roll with mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato, aka My Sandwich At the Pub. I had a bag of oatmeal raisin cookies in my hand but at the last minute opted for a bag of chips instead. Salty! MBWF went to lunch with M. today, so I was on my own. I read the Arts and Metro sections of the paper in the dapple by the administrative building and enjoyed feeling like the cover of a college viewbook. I dropped a chip on the ground and was just going to let it sit there, but a little bird swooped in and took this chip, roughly two thirds its size, into its beak and flew wobblily off under a tree to do some snacking.

 

Brussels sprouts over pasta with a little cheese

Tried and true lunch: Roast some vegetables, put over pasta, add some cheese. Eat half for dinner and the rest for lunch. Brussels sprouts are among my very favorite, even though they make the entire staff room smell like brussels sprouts. I ate with MBWF (rice and beans, banana, and a cup of applesauce), and lunch took on a certain urgency once we realized that I’m out after Wednesday for a trip to Milwaukee and she’s out next Monday and Tuesday for a trip to Boston. So we tried to cover all our bases: an appropriate bridal shower gift for a colleague; whether we loved or hated Murder, She Wrote; what time the senior staff meeting will be today; and which of us has the best wolverine impression. I wished I had a banana to supplement my meal, but the ones at the fruit stand this morning were too bruised.

 

Bacon, egg, and cheese on an onion bagel

S. and I had nearly a week of our lives to dissect and hash out and comb through at his kitchen table over cups of hot coffee and bowlful of strawberries, so by the time we left for breakfast it was lunchtime. We intended to go to Bergen Bagels, but halfway down the block we saw D. heading in, and I sure didn’t want that for lunch after an already stressful weekend. Too sad. So we went to La Bagel Delight instead. I had the bacon, egg, and cheese on an onion bagel. S. had a poppy bagel with lox and tomato, no cream cheese. We ate outside. It was warm in the sun, but the breeze was chilly enough that my egg got cold before I was finished. I sort of hated that.

 

Slice of pizza

A belated report from yesterday–between my late morning breakfast, the conference and Avant-Garde-Arama, lunch sort of got lost in the shuffle. A CLAGS event equals a slice of pizza from that one place around the corner just east of 32nd and 5th. I had a fresh mozzarella slice and a bottle of water. There was a whole jumble of hot sexy librarian/archivist/activist queers, and pretty much everybody ate pizza. K. had a garlic knot.

 

Half a pastrami sandwich

Boy oh boy was I nervous today! I gave my first conference paper ever at 3 o’clock, so when lunch rolled around at noon (”on your own”), I was really in no condition to consume and keep down food. The Grad Center cafeteria did not help. I walked in and was instantly confirmed in my diagnosis (I’m 300.02). Due to crowd-anxiety-freakout, I opted for the first thing I saw, on the right just as I walked in. A ready-made pastrami sandwich. The man behind the counter put what looked to me like two entire sandwiches on my plate, but when I said, “Oh no, I just want one,” he said, “You mean half?” So I took half and grabbed a bag of Lay’s baked potato chips. I was pretty amazed I could pull that off, since it required bending down with my enormous bag on my shoulder–very dicey proposition considering the number of librarians and archivists crammed in the line. I was very afraid I’d knock everything over. I ate with A. and A., both of whom had salads, and K., whose meal featured a pile of cucumber slices.

 

Yam chili, threedux

Had the last of the yam chili today, save for two single-serving portions I froze for later (who’s brilliant?!). When I went to heat it up, I thought the microwave was broken–kept pushing buttons to no effect. Nope! It was just unplugged! We unplug everything in the library now due to the profession-wide greening trend. Anyway. I ate it mostly at my desk and then finished it standing up watching J., Cutest Dance Grad Student Ever (CDGSE), and two others perform a ’site-specific dance piece’ in the reference section. It was probably the most use the reference section has gotten all year. When J. covered herself in open volumes of the U.S. Code, I had a small internal panic attack, but I was mostly able to keep it to myself. (J. and the other dancers are very, very cool, so I want them to think that I am cool too.) There was also a random tray of those horrible Italian butter cookies. I ate one that was pink and looked like it was held together with chocolate. I don’t know if I’ll ever get this horrible ‘fruit’ taste out of my mouth.