Estia - Restaurant Week

Despite having lived in Philadelphia since 2010, as of the 15th of September, I still had not participated in Philly's Restaurant Week. Restaurant Week always seemed too expensive and time-consuming to be worth the food, and I was right.

However, that doesn't mean that dinner at Estia, a fancy but laid-back Greek restaurant, was not enjoyable. Quite the contrary! It was one of the best social events of my college life, shared with the group of friends who frequented my dorm's computer lab. Yes, apparently, solid friendships can form among strangers when we all spend 10+ hours a week in a computer lab for 2-3 years. Especially when they nonchalantly walk in on me passed out over my computer science notes.

The food was delicious, and the atmopshere and service were excellent. The walls were decorated with giant chunks of rock, and there were linen curtains at the booths and an open kitchen.

Appetizers included grilled octopus (fresh, fleshy, and slighty charred tasting), or salad. The grilled octopus also had some endive triangles, which was pleasant because it is not a leaf I commonly find at restaurants.

 The main choices were juicy (also slightly charred) lamb with a sauce I didn't like, an entire almost-deboned fish, or a vegetarian dish that the server did not recommend. 

Dessert was either honey semolina cake or baklava, with exactly 1 raspberry (although, possibly by accident, my friend got both a raspberry AND a blueberry). The honey cake was disappointingly dry and crumbly, and the gelato did not make up for it.

Restaurant Week meant that we could get a dinner meal for $35 (appetizer, main, dessert), which ultimately amounted to around $46. Yummy.

House of Pita Hanan

Last Tuesday (I know! I have so many things to blog about and not enough time because I've been programming!), SP and I went to the House of Pita Hanan, which is a food truck. I think that I'm obligated to go to every food truck on/off campus (from 30th to Walnut, from Spruce to Market, I guess) since I

1. am a college student
2. have a food blog
but I'm busy all the time and enjoy eating peanut butter sandwiches with spinach. Either way, two trucks down (the other one being Magic Carpet, but I haven't posted about them yet since I didn't take a picture of my food last time...), many more to go, 5 semesters left (oh. wow.)

Going to the House of Pita and getting a falafel+hummus+lettuce+feta cheese sandwich really cheered me up though, from the organic chemistry exam that I completely shredded with failure...(got the results back today, but I'm not looking at my exam until 3pm tomorrow so that I can stay happy for another 25.5 hours). SP and I walked in the rain for 4 blocks, and when we arrived, my jeans were drenched, my sweater was soaked, the jacket under my sweater was getting moist, and my shoes and socks were saturated with rainwater. SP, on the other hand, was just lightly speckled with rain water. It was also really cold, and I huddled under the counter-that-juts-out-of-the-truck, out of the rain, next to the engine, for a minuscule bit of warmth. Apparently, the counter is taller than me, which is pretty sad. SP remarked "You should take a picture of yourself and send it to your friends in HK and tell that that everything in America is big".

Ha. Ha.

I would've brought my camera if it hadn't been pouring.

Anyway, I enjoyed the sandwich because it had crunchy bits of falafel (NOT dry) and a nice sauce. I kind of wish they put more falafel pieces in instead of having a lot of lettuce, though. That's the whole point of the falafel sandwich, right? However, it was overall a delicious sandwich. I can't really judge falafel sandwiches though, since I've only had two in my life.

SP got rice with chicken and falafel and a piece of pita bread. For some reason, the pita bread that he got wasn't as flexible as the pita bread in my sandwich, and it was less tasty. I know it's a bit strange to measure pita bread by flexibility, but it's the perfect adjective. I think like flexible, chewy, gluteny pita bread.

House of Pita Hanan
38th and Walnut St

Quiz Bowl at UMD

Just a multicultural girl...

Livin' in the stressful world.

She took the 4:40am train going the south-ish way...

Just a multicultural boy...

Born and raised around the world.

He took the 4:40am train going the south-ish way...

A reader in an UMD room,

A sound of buzzers and voices too.

For a smile they can share a bonus...

It goes on and on and on and on...

QUIZ

BOWL 

WHOOT 

WHOOT!

So somehow I wrote a mirror to the first few verses of "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey so that it fit the Early Autumn Collegiate Novice Quiz Bowl Tournament on the 1st of October (I know! I've been super busy! No time to blog!)

We (4 frosh guys and me, the sophomore... the "leader") took a 4:40am train, two metros, and one taxi to get to UMD from Penn by 9:00 am. We were a few minutes late, but other teams didn't arrive until later anyway. The tournament was pretty intense and fun! Of course I messed up a few times :( but we came 4th overall out of 14 teams, which is quite neat.

Since we missed breakfast (due to a lot of 20-minute waiting at the metro station and bus station), during the bye round, we got food at the "UMD version of Huntsman Hall", and I got waffle fries from Chick-Fil-A. SP commented that it's pretty sad that I'm taking pictures of fast food for my blog. I suppose the point is that I'm recording fun times, and this Quiz Bowl tournament was DEFINITELY fun (despite the fact that I had 3 hours of sleep, slept on the train a bit, and was demented for comp sci homework for the next week).

We got back just in time for the dining halls to close (not that it mattered to me, because I lack a meal plan) so we went to the Mediterranean Cafe and I got a Falafel wrap and the dude charged me 2c less, which was cool. The falafel wrap sauce was really nice.

Hummus (The Restaurant)

At Pennfest, I got to sample pretty much half (or 25%. I don't know Hummus' serving sizes) a meal from Hummus. In fact, I could've sampled a bucketful of falafel and pita if I really wanted to... the next morning, as I walked around campus for MI Green, I saw that the whole platter of pita (kilos and kilos!) was on the floor. Delicious, but social suicide to pick up. The servers were friendly (well, of course they would be; here was the one chance to win the allegiance of some 2000 college students!), and the food was all vegetarian!! It was surprising, because before that, I had passed a whole herd of dead cooked animals in the form of deli food, subs, pepperoni, chicken curry...

I really liked the spring-roll-type-thing, and I'm not sure what the filling was but it was really umami. The hummus was beany and the pita tasted gluteny/yeasty (which was unexpected) and pillowy, which contrasts with the normally more dry pita bread that I'm used to. In all, I did enjoy the food by Hummus.

In other news, SR (who gave me the peanut butter cookie), abides by the vegetarian-most-of-the-time-unless-the-animal-flesh-is-getting-thrown-away. This sort of encourages me to be that type of vegetarian (in that case, I wouldn't be a vegetarian anymore), because it means that less food is wasted. Interesting concept, since I've been trying to figure out the logistics of being a sorta-freegan. More on that when I feel like typing an essay.

Hummus Restaurant
3931 Walnut St.

Lentil Chips!

One thing that really irks me after learning about celiac disease is that "gluten free" is not "healthier" than a normal diet. Celiac disease is when your body can not break down gluten; celiacs lack the enzyme. This does not mean that gluten is bad for you. GLUTEN IS DELICIOUS. It is a protein found in bread! "Gluten-free" food does not mean it's somehow more salubrious, or more "natural". Gluten-free wheat bread is well... not really "natural" [although I'm starting to despise that marketing gimmick too]. Yet, "Gluten Free" appears right under "Trans Fat Free!" and "No Cholesterol!" Now, I know that the Mediterranean Snack Foods company is not the only company that does this [Pirate's Booty is another], but in general, this practice is like labeling an apple as "No Cholesterol!", or water as "Calorie Free!". It's stating the obvious to appeal to the public, because advertising and journalism tell the public that "x-Free!" = healthy.

A diet for celiacs is not deemed healthy, since many of the foods aren't fortified with vitamin B12 and folate, whereas most grain/gluten-containing foods have fortified vitamins/minerals from some law in the 1970s [in the U.S., at least]. Going on a "gluten free" diet as a non-celiac is like going on a "peanut free diet because some other people are allergic to peanuts".

How many people do you know are true celiacs? I know one. Apparently it is 1% of the population, although this doesn't state much since Graves' disease is also 1% of the population and I know 3 other people with it [not including myself].

Anyway, I had to put this out there because I'm getting sick of hearing people/girls [yes, sexist generalisation, but I believe more girls do this than guys] talking about their salad and their complete abstinence from bread and cool foods, not that salad isn't cool.

I got these Lentil Cucumber Dill chips [no packaging image, but here is the shiny image for the website] because there was a rather high protein content compared to potato/corn chips, and cucumber dill seemed like an amazing combination! I was thinking that it'd taste something like dill pickles. That would've been amazing; imagine a sour, watery, crispy chip like that! Speaking of which... are there burger flavoured chips out there?

Unfortunately, I was really upset with the quality and taste of these chips. Firstly, there was an overwhelming amount of saltiness. I just checked the sodium content: 260 mg/serving. In comparison, Lay's Original Potato Chips has 180 mg sodium/serving, and I think those are salty already... So, I believe there is 44% more sodium in the lentil chips. Uh, bleh.

The second part that I was highly discontent with was that it tasted like there was sour cream powder smothered over it, but it wasn't even fresh sour cream. It was like... salty, garlicky, pungent sour cream.

No cucumber taste.

Some dried dill flakes.

No lentil taste.

Super crunchy, though.

In other words, stay away. They're also kind of very expensive [probably due to the high markup. I'm telling you, a Dining Dollar equals at least 2 real dollars...].

International Dinner!

My dorm house holds an International Dinner each year, which isn't super international, but is chill nevertheless. There was Chinese, French, Spanish, Mediterranean, and Swiss food. I stayed far far away from Chinese food...because I don't like commercial Chinese food in the U.S. The "French" food was baguette with fondue, although technically speaking [according to my Swiss friend, who's an exchange student], fondue is actually Swiss. He made some swiss potato cheese thing which I didn't get to try :(. Also, he said that you're supposed to make the fondue first, and THEN stick it in the fondue warmer thing, to keep it liquidy. I'm not going to comment any further, because, when found by the Penn Internet Police [hey, they probably exist], I'm going to get suspended for criticising a professor's personality [or, my grade's going to go down].

Anyway, the cheese cubes basically sat in wine in the fondue-maker, because that's not how you make fondue.

This is some Spanish omelette, some corn or flour fried tortilla thing [It. Was. Drenched. In. Oil]. Soooo delicious though!

Mediterranean rice with pita. This pita was the thinnest pita I've never seen in my life... it was wafer thin. Interesthin'. Haha.

I'm not sure what ethnicity this cake was supposed to represent, but the chocolate truffle was extremely soft and ganachey, so I'm guessing it's French. It seemed to be really fresh, actually...Nothing hard and oily, like lower-grade truffles. This cake is definitely not American because it was a small slice by American standards [Think, 1/3 of the size of an American "slice of cake"]. It was extremely moist and gooey, and very dense. It didn't taste like bitter cocoa chocolate, but it wasn't overwhelmingly sweet either. It was almost pudding-like, and most definitely not a brownie. I would say there were plenty of eggs in this cake.

This is amazing... from the Mediterranean table: an almond stuffed into a fig! Amazing!

Not in photos: I had some potato [really nice spices] and dulce de leche [not to my liking] from the Spanish table, and I also didn't try the gazpacho :( since I didn't bring a cup. It's BYOUtensils/vessels!

South Pacific

Yesterday evening was prom. I didn't go, because I'm not interested in the over-$200-for-the-ticket-and-the-dress-and-shoes-and-blah. I also don't like dancing much. I actually wanted to see the preprom, because then I'd see people in their dresses and stuff, and hot guys in their tuxes, but I think it wouldn't've made much of a difference to my level of happiness, mingled with exhaustion. A, SL and I went to NYC to watch South Pacific, on 65th. I've never seen a musical before, so I found this rather intriguing. Though, despite the awesome performances [as in, Very. Talented. They know the words and lyrics so well...it almost seems real, along with the shifts in scenery and the wonderful orchestra], I don't think that musicals are my thing. It was an experience, though, sitting in that theatre at the very back [and thus, the very top], and seeing every motion happen fluidly before my eyes.

Anyway, we went to a Medditeraean restaurant, Nanoosh, on 68th and Broadway, before our show began. We had to wait for 20 mins or so, which really sucked because we were sort of pressed for time. They have approximately 56 seats in the store, and it was PACKED! However, as soon as we got seated, all the other tables started clearing up, too, which was rather upsetting. [Hah]. I got this Labane wrap, which was ridiculously DELICIOUS. Labane is actually this yoghurt cheese, and it's still sour... it actually tasted just like thick yoghurt. I think I'm going to start putting yoghurt in my sandwiches, because of this. Oh yeah, there was quinoa salad. It. Was. The. Best. Quinoa. I have. Ever. Had. It was sweet, with raisins and cranberries, but also sour. Ahhhhhhh.

SL got some hummus with sun-dried tomatoes, and A got a mushroom hummus wrap. They also got this pomegranate tea, but I personally don't like pomegranate. We managed to consume everything in 15 minutes. Which was... kind of sad, because we had to, since we were pressed for time, but I would honestly have rather savoured the meal for 30 minutes.