Mac & Cheese Nation

In the cafeteria at my office building we have all kinds of little stations. The Grill. The Smokehouse. The Mexican* station. The Indian* station. Sandwiches, pizza, stir fry and so on. We also have The International Table. And on Wednesdays the International Table is the Global Vegetarian Table. But today is Tuesday so that fact is not important. Just know that my office building's cafeteria is odd.

Anyway, the International Table has four steam tables (go Sterno!) and a little space for some cold dishes. Each day they pick a nation (or just some food group based loosely on geography) and that's the theme for the food at the International Table that day. Italian, Chinese and "Southern" are frequent nations. As is "Comfort Food" and "Wing Bar". I don't want to know what the Wing Bar Nation is, but I could totally get behind a Mac & Cheese Nation. Though I can't even imagine what the size of my behind would be were I to live in that Nation.

The point of all of this is that today was Hawaii Nation Day. Any of you who went to college with me and managed to visit the campus center on Hawaiian Pizza day might know what's coming. Because there is really nothing Hawai'ian about pizza with Canadian Bacon and pineapple on it. Maybe I could buy it with Spam and Li Hing Mui, but, whatever. It's just stupid and annoying and I would bitch loudly when confronted with it at the campus center. (Yeah, I know, I lived in Hawai'i for about two years and am no local nor expert but I don't care. It still annoys me. And this is my blog.)

So, today's International Table of Hawaii had candied yams. Which I had a lot more of in Louisiana, North Carolina and Indiana than in Hawai'i. Also present was baked Hawaiian Fish. Yes, Hawaiian Fish. I do not know what that means. Maybe they found some Humuhumu nukunuku apua'a (unofficial state fish - and does Hawai'i really have a state marine mammal or is the internet lying to me again?) and baked that up with coconut sauce. I do not know. It made me snort derisively. As did the eggplant with ginger (which really looked like their basic overbaked eggplant dish). Again, I don't know. It was all just silly. As most of the International Bar is. They did have Mango Chutney. I do see lots of Mango Chutney when I'm back in Honolulu. So that was nice. But still... it was silly. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this little peek into my madness. Because it's not like anything else is going on in the world that I might want to get upset about. Really. A nice Hawaii Nation International Bar of macaroni salad, kim chee, spam musubi, mochi and two scoop rice would totally make me forget about the painful war in Iraq, the madman running our country, the ongoing attack on my vagina and the rights I have to it (with it?), the state of our educational system, the devastation of tidal waves and so on. Well, maybe not. But I guess it would mean I could focus on those things and spend more time being useful and less time whining about my office cafeteria.

I am so shallow and useless. I'm going to read more about shoes now. I bet there's no war in Mac & Cheese Nation.


*Yes, sometimes they do have Indian and Mexican at the International Table even though those nations have a permanent station in our cafeteria.