33 Hours in Three of Indiana's Cities

With an early morning start to the weekend, I made my way to South Bend for my third graduation in three weeks. This time around, the focus was on Notre Dame's commencement exercises for the graduate programs of the colleges of Arts and Letters, Engineering, and Sciences. And after two years of coursework, Lauren was up to receive her Master of Arts in Romance Languages and Literature degree; it was exciting (I'm sure there's a more justifiable word to use instead) to see her complete this part of her academic journey (the next one of which kicks off in the fall at Emory). In many respects, commencements are events that reenergise me and the work I currently do in higher ed-- I'd like to think we strive to ensure the best experiences for our students. However, as a graduate ceremony, this one was particularly interesting as it reinvigorated my own motivations for graduate study in the future. In any case, following the conferral of degrees and a light reception, I joined Lauren and her parents at Legends of Notre Dame (where we were extremely luck to find an empty table with many families on campus this weekend), before continuing my short visit to Indiana and my next stop at Valparaiso.

Graduation Season (and Seasoning Chicken Calzone)

Well, the collegiate graduation season is certainly upon us and soon, too, will high schoolers be on the move to this chapter in their lives. Last weekend (and as shall be the main focus of this post), the timing worked out perfectly for me to be able to attend my alma mater's Baccalaureate and Commencement activities, without conflicting with the Baccalaureate and Commencement activities of Denison's which took place this weekend. And already the time has brought me to gear up for my drive to Indiana next weekend for Notre Dame's graduate Commencement exercises! But until then, I will be posting like crazy (or at least aiming to) so that I can catch up on missing items that have occurred between my conference trip to New Orleans and today's graduation. [I do want to note that five concurrent posts are in the works at the time of me writing this one; unfortunately I haven't figure out how to control time to make the frequency of my posts any more logical.] Speaking of graduation, it's rather strange to think that it was only two years ago since I graduated from Albion, but who knows, perhaps another graduation ceremony or two are still in my future. In any case, before I continue, I do want to congratulate once again the class of 2012 in its entirety for successfully completing the requirements needed to graduate! And what better way (okay, I can think of a few alternatives) to celebrate than with chicken calzone?! [Extra credit for originality?]

A Dinner of Dialogue to End a Great Semester

When it comes to dining, the act of sharing in its many forms can oftentimes go unnoticed as an additional diner, an agent in the dining experience that aids in the facilitation and promotion of a memorable meal. As we wrap up a busy moment of the academic year, our Listening for a Change group made it a point to do our best in sharing what limited time we had with each other for each other. Granted not everyone could make it--but they were certainly with us in spirit--and it is in this light that I want to offer the a prompt to digest: in the dialogue of food and memory, who and what is being shared? Any time we reflect and recall, analysis thoroughly and build upon, or listen and change, we're sharing in a communal experience rooted in conversation with our self and position in relationship to others. At the risk of trying to sound too theoretical for my own good, I'll stop the analogizing there and simply present here a colourful dinner of humble ingredients and humble people that gathered around the table one last time to celebrate in dialogue of everything we've accomplished this past academic year, including getting to know more about each other as people and not simply as faculty, staff or student.

Deux Dégustations : Le Chocolat et Le Camembert

At its core, gastronomy can be (and has been) simplified to mean one of two things (and I summarise): "the art or science of good eating" and/or "the food of a specified area." In my world of food, I translate it generally as "the study of food and culture" (given that I see food as culture) and as such find that the term "gastronomy" is as diverse as it is holistically interdisciplinary and adaptable. Now, if gastronomy is essentially the theory (and in the case of academic programs, blog sites, catering groups, it's an essential foundation), I would consider the dégustation (apparently the cognate "degustation" is true in English, though I've often simplified the term to mean "tasting" for lack of a more familiar word) to be gastronomy's true practicum, i.e., the manner of "applying gastronomy," of appreciating the very food you would otherwise spend the time studying. Indeed, just taking a look at these websites (1, 2, 3 and 4) should give you an idea of on the relationship that exists between food consumption and your environment during consumption. Perhaps you've taken part in a wine tasting, or have been fortunate enough to enjoy a seat at one of the most difficult restaurants to get a reservation? In either case, you'll have experienced a true degustation, one which typically engages your perception of the experience; in either case, you'll be encouraged to pick out flavour profiles and take in notes of the geography of an ingredient's source or you'll be presented with a piece of artwork masterfully matched and appreciated by all five of your senses. Wherever your foodie experiences may fall in that range, it is within this aforementioned spirit of experiencing food that I would argue that any moment taken to slow down, to truly appreciate each component of the food in front of you, and to understand each part as a components of a greater picture, such as our class dinner at The Refectory, is a moment given to degusting (and a triumph for the Slow Food movement). Having said all this, and as befits a course on French gastronomy, two of our final class sessions for the semester included practical dégustations of our own, following readings in advance on chocolate and Camembert.

Community Culture Kitchen: Southeast Asian Culinary Culture

On the Tuesday following my return from this year's NAES conference, I embarked on our fourth Community Culture Kitchen event with Marilyn and a group of very engaged students. I'm not sure if it was the simplicity or organisation, or just the fact I've become much more comfortable with the food and culture programming pattern, but this happened to be one of the smoothest-running CCK events I've led to date. In the end, we pulled together a four-item menu that highlighted the diversity of southeast Asia and the simple yet rich tastes of some of its influences, ingredients and recipes. On the menu were starfruit salad, Thai noodles, fried eggplant and leche flan.

Letting the Good Times Roll: 40th Anniversary of NAES Celebrated in NOLA

 

Well, hello, Blogosphere! For those of this on-line world who take occasional interest in my foodie experience, I would like to express my apologies for not keeping up with the blog as of late. (And yes, I know I've still got quite a bit of work to do in terms of upholding my New Year resolutions.) For those just now finding my blog for the first time, welcome! As I write this post, it's amazing to consider the last two weeks have truly flown by; in the next couple of days, I hope I can bring the blog back on track to its once-steady course. The adventures of this post bring us back to a very early April 5th, the morning of my flight from Columbus to New Orleans (via Charlotte) for the 40th anniversary of the National Association for Ethnic Studies.

Six International Folk, Including an American: The 20th Anniversary of the French Film Festival

A little under two weeks ago, I joined Alejandro, Brendan, Christine, Ellen and Jeremy on a voyage to Virginia, leaving campus by 4am, for the 20th anniversary French Film Festival. Before 1pm (earlier than past Denison groups) we arrived in Richmond, the main street of which had been lined with the colours of France. Upon first sight, I knew this would be not only a voyage of film and French, but most certainly of food!