The Importance of An Open Stomach and An Open Mind

So I wasn't really planning to do another blog post on my experience in my dining room class until my next shift as captain, but I decided to write a post about the food I tried on Tuesday.

One of the things I like about my dining room class that I've been taking is that I'm exposed to different foods that I may like or may not like, may have tried or may not have tried. It's a pleasant experience and for the foods I've never liked, there's an opportunity in class for me to try it out see if I would like certain foods if it were prepared differently.

So on Tuesday I tried -

Curried Mussels in Cream Sauce

So I've actually never been a fan of mussels or oysters because they make me feel a little squeamish. Since I heard the mussels were cooked with a creamy curry sauce, I decided to give it a shot.

 I tried it and fell head over heels with the curried mussels. I liked that the sauce wasn't too spicy and the taste of this particular curry sauce is slightly different from the way it taste in Asian cuisine.

The mussels were amazing, moist, and perfection! I wished there were more, but we were only limited to one mussel per person. Lucky for me I actually had two pieces of mussel.

Chicken Consomme Brunoise

Next was the Chicken Consomme Brunoise which is a clear soup made out of chicken stock and garnished small dice cut of vegetables. The soup was okay. I didn't like the spicyness in the soup.

Pork Chops Charcutiere with Pommes Frites and Braised Cabbage

I thought the presentation of this dish was beautiful. The pork chop was a little tough and dry. I've never had braised red cabbage before, but it had a little tartness to it, but I liked it. The Pommes Frites were fried to perfection.

The entree alternative was: arugula salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts, roasted butternut squash with a Balsamic fig dressing. I actually love arugula even though it has a slight bitter taste to it, but you hardly notice it. I got a portion of the salad on my pork chop plate. 

I really liked the salad because it was rustic, fresh, and just really delicious. The pine nuts added a nice nuttyness to the salad. The dried cranberries and butternut squash added a bit of sweetness to the salad.

Charlotte Royal Aux Framboises

For dessert we had the Charlotte Royal Aux Framboises. It's a raspberry sponge cake dessert with Bavarian cream. The dessert was light and creamy. I've eaten a lot of desserts so far in this semester, with lots of cream. I've kind of gotten to the point where I'm exhausted from eating cream. 

Overall, I really liked the food we had in my class on Tuesday especially after the mussel I had. I've never really liked mussels or arugula, but now I do. I'm really glad this class is opening me up to try new food, dishes, and a different cuisine.