Macroscopic Bits
Daily adventures, from OPERS to the dining hall.
Photo by Celina Chen
I got two flour tortillas, Mexican rice, chorizo crumbles and potatoes, ground beef, and an unrelated pork chop. This was topped off with cream cheese, guacamole, cheese, and diced tomatoes and onions. I definitely overstuffed the shells because they were bulging when I picked them up, but the food was pretty good so I didn’t care. Even though it looks awful in the picture (I swear it looked better in person), the pork chop was well-seasoned—both inside and outside. The tacos were so delicious I don’t even have the words to describe them, so I won’t.
Overall, I rate this dinner a 9.5/10.
|
Every day, there are two pots of soup in the dining hall, but the choices aren’t always good. For those days with quality soup, you have to hurry to snatch a bowl before it runs out. One such day featured chicken noodle soup. I literally saw someone fill the soup bowl up to the brim with the chicken noodle soup, leaving like three scoops left inside the pot.
I’ve actually already eaten the dining hall’s chicken noodle soup in another week. I mention this because, when I ate some of the soup, I thought it tasted a bit different from last time’s soup. It was a bit less tasty than I remembered, but it was still alright. In the soup, there were pieces of carrot, large chunks of chicken, and noodles. The carrots, chicken, and noodles were soft and well-seasoned along with the soup.
Overall, I rate this dinner a 7.5/10. When I had the soup hot, it tasted a bit strange, but, after I let it cool down, it tasted so much better for some reason (??).
|
Bonus Ice Cream Review!
Soft-serve ice cream is the best thing to ever exist, so the ice cream station is possibly the most visited place for me in the dining hall. I always check what flavors they have. So far, I’ve seen: mango, pineapple, vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry. The ice cream machine has three places where it dispenses ice cream, meaning it holds two flavors on the sides and the middle dispenses a combination of the aforementioned two flavors.
There is also a topping station of sprinkles, marshmallows, Oreo bits, and butterscotch crumbs. I 100% recommend the butterscotch crumble and normal sprinkles together because their combination is the greatest thing I have ever eaten.
Here is one version of my ice cream (it was pineapple and vanilla together):
Classic vanilla always delivers. However, the pineapple ice cream hurt my tongue the way eating actual pineapple hurt my tongue, so I think that says something good about the dining hall’s ice cream (?). My favorite flavors of ice cream I’ve tried so far (I’ve tried every flavor because I have ice cream almost every day) are chocolate, vanilla, and raspberry. The mango and pineapple aren’t really up to my standards.
I rate the ice cream a 10/10. Perfect ending.
|
Rock Pigeons
Rock Pigeons proliferate in cities where people actively feed them. Although they normally feed on seeds and fruits in the wild, pigeons happily pilfer human leftovers. During courtship, pairs often preen, or clean the feathers of, each other to show affection. Fun fact: Rock Pigeons have small bits of magnetite in their beak, helping them sense the Earth’s magnetic field and navigate. You can often find pigeons scavenging in crowded places like the Boardwalk.
|
Heermann's Gulls
Like pigeons, Heermann’s gulls are well adapted to city life. You can identify adult gulls by their red beaks, white heads, and gray body. They are omnivores that feed on all sorts of marine animals, eggs, and insects. Heermann’s Gulls also harass and steal food from other birds like Brown Pelicans for food. The Boardwalk and the beach are great places to spot Heermann’s Gulls.
|
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawks are diurnal Birds of Prey and mostly feed on mammals and reptiles. Adult hawks feature black wings sparkled with white feathers and black tails with white bands. They also rock a bright orange-red chest and head. They perch high in trees and survey the forest floor for prey, so you can often spot one either soaring or gloating amidst the redwoods on the way to OPERS. These hawks also have a distinct call, repeating a high-pitched “ker-ker-ker”, making them easy to distinguish.
|
Palace
A strategy-based game in which players are forced to play a card higher than the current one or take the entire pile, with some exceptions. Sabotaging and luck makes it fun to play with many people.
“I've played it ever since I was a child in elementary school, with my summer school friends. I was surprised to see it here.”
- Edwin Tang, Cluster 4 Speed
This short, fast-paced game can be completed in a matter of 1-3 minutes as players chain cards together to empty their hand first. The rapid setup and gameplay are well-suited for playing while waiting for meetings or between activities.
You can find these fun and inviting games at the picnic table by the Quad as well as in the Quad itself!
|