Soup, sandwiches, cheese and biscuits, yoghurt

Tonight’s supper was much like every other one I’ve had here, but I have noticed one big improvement since my first evening here, and that’s in the quantity of filling in the sandwiches.

See example A:

Versus example B, from tonight:

If I had anything to do with this improvement, then: I’m sorry I had to be the critical friend, but thank you for taking the feedback and acting on it.

(Also: every time I eat a corned beef sandwich it has a different dressing with it: I think tonight’s was burger relish? (British burger relish, that is, which is a very sweet, very lightly pickled relish of tomatoes and onions. It used to be a staple of those burger vans that pop up at various public events before vanishing as mysteriously as they arrived, but you don’t often see it now.) Is this a game you’re playing, kitchen staff, to see if the blogger upstairs can identify the dressing? If so: good game, carry on!)

The other sandwiches were a strange but not unpleasant version of a BLT where the three ingredients were chopped up and stirred into mayonnaise, presumably to make them go further.

---

I’ve just remembered that I usually start supper reviews with the soup, but honestly I don’t have much to say about it. It was ‘vegetable’ tonight, which tasted of vegetables and very slightly of the herbs that were more apparent visually than… whatever the taste equivalent of ‘visually’ is¹. It was good, because of course it was: the soup here is always good.

I think tonight’s Supper Coordinator was a little surprised that I didn’t want more from the trolley, or tonight’s special of jacket potato with baked beans², but I was still quite full from lunch (a pleasant novelty after some recent lunches), and I knew that, behind the curtain, on the windowsill where it’s nice and cool, I had this little lot waiting for me:

Starting from the back left, moving forward: mature cheddar (not very mature: more just out of teenage years than settled with a grown family and too much debt, if that’s not a metaphor too far³); Mexicana (cheddar with chillis, which I have always been fond⁴); Jarlsberg (a bit rubbery and oddly sweet- i.e. just how it’s meant to be, and I’m never sure if I like it or not); then on the right at the back Applewood smoked cheese (not very smoky – I only worked out it was the smoked one by process of elimination); red leicester (one of my favourite cheeses, in any form).

And lots of bits of crackers, plus a few that somehow mostly survived their postal journey intact and which therefore have their moment of fame at the front of the photo. The big square one on the left (wheatgerm or something, I think) has now taken the lead as my favourite, although the one that’s just a digestive by any other name⁵ was good with the cherry yoghurt which finished the meal.

And so, buenos noches, mis Ananas. ¡Hasta mañana!

---

1. Gustatorially? Is that even a word? If someone wants to google it for me then please do: you know I’m tired and off my game when even a word puzzle can’t stir my interest. ↩︎
2. Hence the weather warning of severe winds for the weekend ahead, I guess. ↩︎
3. A meta-far? …… I really need to finish this before I crack up as much as the crackers have. ↩︎
4. Hollow out a big beefsteak tomato or a pepper (capsicum, for US readers), fill it with a mixture of microwave Mexican rice (the one with beans in, which I’m pretty sure any Mexican person would consider an insult to their rich and varied cuisine, not unreasonably) and chopped Mexicana cheese (or any other cheese with chillis), wrap loosely in foil and bake in the oven until the veg is soft and the cheese is bubbling, opening the foil for the last ten minutes or so to let everything brown a little. Serve with salad, guacamole / salsa / sour cream to taste, and some garlic bread as well if you’re hungry.
   See, I can do recipes, too. If you can call that a recipe. 🤨 It’s very good, though, I promise. ↩︎
5. That would make a good post title… 🤔 ↩︎