Fancy Feasting

I feel a change in the tide. Although it's still cold outside, it feels like those Iowa City springs when I would eat cucumbers with salt for dinner, while my roommate and I admired the sky, aglow at sunset. In grad school, I walked some slightly brisk nights, with a tomato in my pocket, for a barbecue with some vegetarian friends. That was how I found out that asparagus is, in fact, palatable. My friend would barbecue it and brush it with Italian dressing.

As another sign of spring, last week I decided to try going to the gym downtown. This new gym, which so far has made my most obscure muscles ache, caters to a more sophisticated crowd than the free student fitness center and includes classes ranging from belly dancing to "Michelle Obama Arms." It's nice to get back into the swing of things.

When I say I want something 文大男 uses some magic and makes it happen. Remembering barbecues in grad school, I suggested a barbecue date. He owns an actual, real barbecue machine...uh, I mean grill...which makes him "very man," as we might say in China. We had Quorn chicken on the grill with BBQ sauce. I made Turkish marinated chickpea salad (middle), and he made some barley salad with onion, cucumbers, and artichoke hearts. (click to enlarge)


This weekend was our very productive "study date." Along with the date came your usual study foods, such as pizza, crackers and cheese, and fruit salad that I had a hankering for. The fruit salad had grapes, cantaloupe, strawberries, kiwi, and mango.


It looked like a rainbow, so we had to take a picture.

-吴碧芙