Not Quite

This was one of those meals that had so much potential, but failed to live up to expectations.

The salad, for instance, was really good, especially because of the added cheese, which is a rare treat. Notice I chose a bowl with practically zero ham in it, too! No surprise there, huh?

The bread was also pretty good, especially when dipped in the main dish.

The main dish, however, is primarily where this meal failed.

The potatoes were fine, and the small pieces of pork were OK, too, but there were simply too many beans in there, which is why I couldn't finish the dish. I didn't feel like finishing the sauce, either, because I was worried about what it would do to my stomach.

As for the yogurt for dessert, well, it certainly tasted good, but the added sugar made it far too sweet. What a shame!

Total points: 5

My Version Of Natto

I really wasn't sure what to make of that pile of food on the little plate that was supposedly some kind of salad.

I mean, just look at it. It looks like something that came out of someone's nose.

Seriously.


Remarkably, the salad, which primarily consisted of eggplant, was actually pretty darn good. If it hadn't been so unpleasant to look at, I might have even gotten seconds.

I didn't even attempt to taste the soup, however, since I knew I wouldn't like it, especially because of the fact that there was plenty of mochi (thick little rice cakes) in it.

What is the point of mochi?

I did eat the fish, but I wasn't happy at all that is was deep fried. Why can't they just grill it? Grilled fish is so much better for you than deep-fried fish. Ugh!

I also ate the shredded cabbage, but I still don't understand the Japanese fascination with it.

Oh, and because a bottle of my favorite dressing, the poppy-seed dressing, miraculously showed up after just about everyone had gone through the line and gotten their food, I decided to grab a bowl of rice and cover it with the dressing. As a matter of fact, as soon as I finished my rice, I went back to get some more!

Needless to say, I got a few strange looks because of the dressing on my rice.

I kept my wits about me, though, and responded to the doubters as follows:

"Poppy-seed dressing is to me what natto is to you!"

Total points: 5

Good Thing The Salad Was Good

Yet again we had a really bad meal. I have no idea what's going on, but the food seems to be getting worse and worse.

I didn't even touch the main dish.

I ate/drank the soup, but it was about as bland as soup can get.

Luckily, the salad, which had bits of cucumber, seaweed, and squid in it, was actually pretty tasty, so I even had seconds.

Obviously, eating a lot of salad is a healthy thing to do and I should probably make a habit of it. Nevertheless, I wish the rest of the food on my tray were good enough to eat, too.

Total points: 4

Not My Usual Sunday Lunch

There was no school on Friday, because we had school today, Sunday. It was open house here.

Hopefully, not too many of the visitors ventured over to the school cafeteria, because today's meal was nothing to write home about.



The main dish was some kind of Chinese food that I decided to pass on.

The soup wasn't bad, but I certainly wasn't all that excited about eating it.

What saved this meal from being a total disaster was the gyoza (dumplings). They weren't exactly delicious, but they were good. As a matter of fact, they were good enough that I went and had seconds.

Because it has been pretty hot out, I haven't had much of an appetite lately. That's why I'm not quite as upset as I usually am about the less than adequate quality of the food that is being served.

Nevertheless, I'd rather be turning away delicious food, rather than bad food. Oh, well.

Total points: 4

Serve This Every Day And I'll Be A Happy Camper

For some reason, I never got the lunch schedule for August.

In other words, every time I head to the chow hall, I'm prepared for "Chef's Surprise."

Luckily, finally(!), today the food was more than edible.


Hallelujah!

The salad was pretty tasty.

The curry was more than pretty tasty.

The dessert was good, too.

If we had had cake instead of frozen pineapple, I would have even gone so far as to say this meal would have been perfect. As it stands, it was pretty darn good, especially considering how bad lunch has been lately.

Go figure.

Total points: 9

(Note: There's no school tomorrow, so there wont' be a post then. We do have school on Sunday, however, so that's when I'll be posting next.)

Finally, Some Meat

I guarantee you the only reason I grabbed that soup was to include it in the picture. I even told one of the students sitting next to me that it had to be the worst soup -- ever.

The soup went back to where it belonged -- down the drain.


I passed on the salad, too, because it included katsuobushi, one of my least favorite toppings.

As for the main dish: I gave away the renkon (that white stuff), but did eat the pork, which was fairly tasty.

Check out the size of that piece, though. It looks like the Lunch Lady's budget is on a diet.

Total points: 4

This Slop Just Doesn't Cut It

Today's meal wasn't much better than yesterday's, starting with the dessert, which I gave away, since it was of the ridiculously cheap and fake variety.

I mean, let's get real here. What did that thing cost? All of ¥20 or so? Hey Lunch Lady: Next time, serve up a real dessert, OK?

The salad was, oh, let's say, sufficient.

The main dish left a lot to be desired, too. See those little, disgusting wieners in there? Yeah, well, I didn't eat them. I did eat the broccoli and potatoes that you probably can't see, but they weren't very satisfying.

What is the point of serving food that looks like slop?

Survey says: So you can use it as dip for your bread!

Total points: 3

What A Welcome Back! Not!

I can't honestly say I had forgotten how bad the food here was, but I guess I was hoping that things would get better after summer vacation.

Boy was I wrong. In a big way.

This had to be one of the worst meals ever, if you can even call it a meal.

The only reason I took any of the food was so that I could take a picture of it.

I didn't even touch the main dish or the soup, and I had even passed my salad to one of the bigger eaters before tasting it and realizing that it actually wasn't that bad.

Yeah, so my lunch consisted of one spinach and tuna salad. That sure makes for an odd combo, but I liked it. I really did.

Total points: 2

Bitter Melon, Anyone?

This meal was pathetic. That's about all there is to it. What's worse: The HVC wasn't in school today, so there was no one (obvious) to give my food to.

I just nibbled at the main dish, which was sprinkled with bits of goya, also known as "bitter melon" in English.


I like sweet melon, but bitter melon? What's the point of that?

As for the soup, well, I dabbed at it, but that's about it.

The salad was OK, because there's nothing wrong with cucumber, but because there was a lot of a strange-tasting, stringy type of seaweed tossed in there, I just wasn't able to finish it.

Like I said, this meal, which was theoretically my "Welcome Back" meal, was for the birds.

Total points: 1

(Note: I will be out of town until August 16, but it will still be summer vacation then, so the next post won't be until August 22. Stay tuned and stay hungry!)