Oxford dinners
– Guest post by Paul Simeon – “My trip to England for a summer school in plasma physics”
It’s nice to try out another school or another country. I did both when I spent the last two weeks of July at the University of Oxford, eating and sleeping in St. Edmund Hall, the oldest place still teaching undergraduates in the world. Arriving with few expectations about the food, we were all pleasantly surprised at the dining hall. Each night for two weeks, the staff served up a different three-course meal at 7 pm sharp. When some people showed up late the first day or two, the servers lightly scolded them. The chefs needed to know how many dishes to prepare. They had a vegetarian option if you told them ahead of time, but otherwise everyone got the same thing. And it wasn’t the average stuff dished out at a standard American college cafeteria.
Week 1- Monday 12th
The starter was a big wedge of honey dew melon on the rind, presliced to make it easy, and garnished with a lemon slice and one (too) sweetened cherry. The main course was roasted duck with mushroom sauce, accompanied by boiled carrots and small potatoes on the side.
Dessert was an amazing raspberry meringue.
Tuesday 13th
Fish cake with small salad (lettuce and watercress sprouts), which came with a red sweet and sour sauce.
For the main course we had a turkey breast (or just the part that we use for chicken fingers) with a slice of baby Swiss cheese (I guess) and diced tomatoes on top. Dessert was something that might be called banana cream pie. It had a thick layer of cream like coconut cream pie, a layer of pureed bananas near the bottom, with a graham cracker crust and a thin layer of chocolate on top (with chocolate chips). It was very good.
The dining room of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford University. Picture taken by Tobias Hartmann.
Wedesnday 14th
Salad with chopped up tuna fish (in oil and vinegar, thankfully!) with tomatoes, olives, and potatoes to start.
It was alright, but I wasn’t in the mood for fish, especially pink tuna instead of albacore. The entree was roasted lamb slices in a thick red sauce.
The lamb was pretty tough, and the sauce was too strong. The sides were good though: roasted potato chunks with onions and cauliflower au gratin. Dessert was a pear soaked in some sweet liquid, that tasted like liqueur or rum, and sprinkled with giant yellow glazed crystals.
Wikipedia suggests amaretto liqueur. This was my least favorite dinner, and each of the dishes was my least favorite so far.
Thursday 15th
Half an avocado with small shrimp in a sauce. Sauce wasn’t that great, but the avocado was good.
Followed by one half of a roasted chicken, one of each piece on the bone and baked potato that was covered in oil or butter. Very moist and tasty. The ending was two ladyfinger cookies in a strawberry-flavored mix between whipped cream and the British style of yogurt. Someone said it was meringue.
Friday 16th
Starter was skinny fish with heads on, fried. It was like anchovy. The French and Spanish people at the table knew what it was, but I didn’t recognize or remember the names they said.
The main course was thin slices of tough, red beef smothered in gravy, with sides of cauliflower, potatoes, and fluffy rolls. Dessert was mixed chopped fruit in a sauce with whipped cream on top.
Sunday 18th
Salad with lots of stuff in it. Ham, cheese, tomato, radish, cucumber, lettuce, gherkin. It was good. It was almost less like a salad and more like a bowl of random cold things. On the side was a gravy boat with a light salad dressing that was most likely vinaigrette.
The main dish was interesting, and pretty good. It looked like a big lump of roast, but it was actually a thin slice of beef that was rolled up with bread crumbs or stuffing in the middle.
And, of course, they put gravy all over it like every other dish. The Germans at the table knew this dish quite well. The sides were broccoli, cauliflower, and croquettes – fried cylinders of mashed potatoes. Dessert was a simple bowl of assorted berries and grapes with a dollop of whipped cream (actual whipped cream, not the fluffy stuff in tubs or spray cans). Nothing too fancy, but it was good. I’d say this was one of the better meals of the two weeks.
(to be continued) – Read Part II
Other bites in England:
– Cous Cous Cafe in Oxford
Soon-to-be new posts:
– From popadom to Bombay pizza
– Pie and mash at the Ship Inn Upavon and Pieminister
– England’s healthy fastfood chain: Pret A Manger
I have recently started a blog, the information you offer on this website has helped me greatly. Thank you for all of your time & work.
1Very well written article. It will be useful to anyone who utilizes it, as well as myself. Keep up the good work – i will definitely read more posts.
2Oh my goodness! a tremendous article dude. Thank you However I am experiencing issue with ur rss . Don’t know why Unable to subscribe to it. Is there anybody getting equivalent rss downside? Anybody who is aware of kindly respond. Thnkx
3Way cool, some valid points! I appreciate you making this article available, the rest of the site is also high quality. Have a fun.
4I like this website very much so much excellent info .
5Appreciate it for this post, I am a big big fan of this website would like to proceed updated.
6Really wonderful information can be found on weblog.
7I like this site because so much useful stuff on here :D.
8We are a bunch of volunteers and starting a new scheme in our community. Your web site provided us with valuable info to paintings on. You’ve performed a formidable activity and our whole community will likely be thankful to you.
9But wanna input on few general things, The website layout is perfect, the subject material is rattling wonderful : D.
10I’ve read several good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how so much attempt you put to create such a excellent informative site.
11hi!,I love your writing so a lot! percentage we keep in touch extra about your post on AOL? I need an expert in this space to solve my problem. Maybe that’s you! Taking a look forward to see you.
12I do consider all the ideas you’ve offered for your post. They are really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too brief for starters. May just you please extend them a little from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
13Thank you for helping out, good info. “I have witnessed the softening of the hardest of hearts by a simple smile.” by Goldie Hawn.
14Wonderful website. A lot of helpful info here. I am sending it to some pals ans additionally sharing in delicious. And naturally, thank you on your effort!
15Hey There. I discovered your blog the use of msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your helpful information. Thank you for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.
16Hi there, I discovered your blog by way of Google at the same time as looking for a related matter, your site got here up, it looks good. I have bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
17Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
18With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My blog has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any methods to help prevent content from being ripped off? I’d certainly appreciate it.
19I dugg some of you post as I thought they were very helpful very useful
20You are my intake, I possess few blogs and rarely run out from to post .
21This is the precise weblog for anyone who needs to seek out out about this topic. You realize so much its almost onerous to argue with you (not that I actually would need…HaHa). You positively put a new spin on a topic thats been written about for years. Nice stuff, just great!
22Loving the information on this internet site, you have done great job on the content.
23I conceive you have mentioned some very interesting points, thanks for the post.
24I not to mention my friends have been reading through the nice procedures found on your web blog then then I got a terrible feeling I had not thanked you for those secrets. Most of the young boys happened to be certainly excited to read through all of them and have now surely been having fun with those things. We appreciate you simply being indeed kind and also for choosing this sort of beneficial ideas millions of individuals are really needing to understand about. My personal sincere regret for not saying thanks to sooner.
25Excellent post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Very useful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this certain info for a very long time. Thank you and good luck.
26Its such as you read my mind! You seem to grasp so much about this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or something. I feel that you just could do with some p.c. to drive the message home a bit, however other than that, this is excellent blog. An excellent read. I will certainly be back.
27I’ll immediately clutch your rss feed as I can not to find your email subscription link or newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly allow me recognize so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
28As a Newbie, I am permanently exploring online for articles that can benefit me. Thank you
29What i do not understood is actually how you are not really much more well-liked than you might be right now. You are so intelligent. You realize thus significantly relating to this subject, produced me personally consider it from so many varied angles. Its like men and women aren’t fascinated unless it is one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. Always maintain it up!
30I am often to blogging and i really appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking for new information.
31Keep up the wonderful piece of work, I read few articles on this website and I believe that your blog is very interesting and contains bands of wonderful info .
32Please let me know if you’re looking for a article writer for your site. You have some really great posts and I feel I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some material for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an e-mail if interested. Regards!
33This web site is my inspiration , real superb style and perfect subject matter.
34I do enjoy the way you have presented this particular problem plus it really does provide us some fodder for consideration. Nevertheless, coming from what I have witnessed, I really trust when the commentary pack on that individuals keep on point and in no way get started upon a soap box of some other news of the day. Still, thank you for this outstanding point and while I do not really go along with it in totality, I regard your standpoint.
35The crux of your writing whilst sounding agreeable originally, did not really sit well with me after some time. Somewhere within the sentences you actually were able to make me a believer unfortunately only for a short while. I however have a problem with your leaps in assumptions and one would do well to help fill in all those gaps. In the event you actually can accomplish that, I will definitely end up being impressed.
36Ini adalah tips yang sangat bagus, terutama bagi mereka yang masih baru di dunia blog, informasi yang singkat dan tepat… Terima kasih telah berbagi ini. Artikel yang harus dibaca.
37Excellent blog right here! Additionally your site rather a lot up very fast! What web host are you the use of? Can I am getting your associate hyperlink for your host? I want my site loaded up as quickly as yours lol
38As I site possessor I believe the content material here is rattling great , appreciate it for your hard work. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck.
39I was very pleased to find this web-site.I wanted to thanks for your time for this wonderful read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
40It’s perfect time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I wish to suggest you few interesting things or tips. Perhaps you could write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!
41I am really enjoying the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog readers have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Safari. Do you have any ideas to help fix this problem?
42I enjoy the efforts you have put in this, thank you for all the great blog posts.
43An attention-grabbing discussion is worth comment. I think that you must write extra on this topic, it might not be a taboo subject however typically people are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers
44Good day very cool website!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your website and take the feeds additionally…I am happy to seek out numerous useful information here in the post, we need work out more strategies in this regard, thank you for sharing.
45This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.
46I’ve been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or weblog posts on this sort of area . Exploring in Yahoo I at last stumbled upon this web site. Reading this information So i’m glad to convey that I have a very good uncanny feeling I discovered just what I needed. I so much certainly will make certain to do not disregard this web site and provides it a glance regularly.
47Good info. Lucky me I reach on your website by accident, I bookmarked it.
48Nhiều nghiên cứu cũng cho thấy việc uống trà xanh điều độ có thể hỗ trợ chuyển hóa chất béo, tốt cho tim mạch và giúp duy trì sự tỉnh táo trong công việc. Tuy nhiên, nên uống trà với lượng vừa phải, tránh uống lúc bụng đói hoặc quá gần giờ đi ngủ vì hàm lượng caffeine có thể ảnh hưởng đến giấc ngủ ở một số người nhạy cảm.
49As I website owner I believe the subject matter here is really excellent, appreciate it for your efforts.
50