Internationalism in the Middle

Last night my program had an international potluck. We generally have a get together at least once a semester with the MA, PhD, and faculty for our small program.

So last night's party was bring your own favorite ethnic food (not necessarily from your own culture). And my what a spread we had! There was Syrian chickpea salad, kung bao chicken, Chinese pancakes, dolmas and yogurt, Ukrainian apple cake, bacalao, chicken and rice, beef stew, cheese, Indian curried squash, serbian cookies, spicy chili corn bake, ratatouille, apple pie and vanilla ice cream, Argentinian empanadas, and I brought pizzelles.

We feasted! And there was much discussion about why we weren't running restaurants instead of pursuing these degrees. Clearly there was much talent in the room. We finally decided that a rotating restaurant would really be the way to go. Each group could run the restaurant one night. So we could have Middle Eastern, the Korean, then European, then Chinese, then Latin American, etc etc.

So, while there are some serious limitations to living here in the Middle, my new friends and colleagues can certainly cook! And tonight, while we stay inside to hide from the incoming blizzard, we're making chicken tikka masala, saag, and homemade naan. We'll let you know how it goes.