Delightful lunch
today on campus. Students in a class in the department of nutritional sciences
annually present two luncheons, open to the public. Today neighbor Mary and I
went to a “Fiesta” luncheon in the Bass Hall Living Room. My first time on that
part of campus in several years, and I was overwhelmed—there are new buildings
where I thought we would park, and the Bass Building is now connected to sort
of an indoor commons. I was almost lost.
The living room no
longer had living room furniture nor the small four-top tables I remember from
luncheons several years ago. About twelve long tables, decorated with bright,
Mexican-themed cloths, filled the room, the tables set with charger plates,
flatware, water goblets, and—yes—cloth napkins. Mexican decorations on side
tables made for a fiesta atmosphere.
Service was buffet
style, so I was doubly grateful that Mary came with me—she got to park the car
and then carry two plates and two desserts. Like the seasoned waitress she was
in college, she can hand-carry, stacking plates on her arm. If I’d tried that, back
when I used to help out at the Star Cafe, we’d have had two lunches all over
the floor.
The carefully selected
and planned menu offered green chile chicken enchiladas, homemade guacamole,
homemade salsa, cilantro-lime black beans and rice, and tres leches cake. And every bite was delicious. We sat at a table with several faculty and staff from the college
of engineering, and they were outgoing, pleasant, and talkative. Mostly we
talked about food. I was lucky enough to sit opposite Anne Vanbeber, chair of
nutritional sciences, and she put my uneaten enchilada (two is too many) on a plastic
plate with my rice and some fresh guacamole for me to take home. Plus, she was
interested to hear about my cookbook, Gourmet on a Hot Plate.
Student
introductions and a welcome from the class professor were followed by a drawing
for door prices—Mary won $20 gift certificate to Salsa Limon. The whole thing was
a win-win event—we had good food, good conversation, and saw education in
action. We left with small cookbooks that held the recipes for all we’d eaten.
This is my second experiences
with innovative programs at TCU in recent weeks. I may have mentioned that I am
part of a study to see if the hearing-impaired (that’s me) can be trained to
block out background noise. For forty minutes a week, I play a word game on my
phone, with a sort of weird, bonging music playing in my ears. After two weeks
I don’t know that I’m getting better, but I like playing word games. A student
at the Miller Speech and Hearing Clinic is running the study as her senior
honors project.
A wry comment from
an English major: so nice to see other sides of the college experience besides
football!
