So the last conference food event was the OCLC President’s luncheon, always on the Monday of ALA – they herd several hundred people into a dining room in one of the hotels. The speech is usually a bit of a repeat of some of the things we hear at the update breakfast on Sunday, but it’s good hear it again, and sometimes there’s a show, or hijnks anyhow – maybe someone in a gorilla suit, puffs of smoke, something. Since this is a budget crunch year, the funny stuff was limited to a video envisioning information seeking in the future – it was sorta cool – it was like building a multi-format online information map to Albert Einstein – but there was a scuff sound – the slides sliding in – that was way too loud.
Since it’s in a hotel, it tends to be a rubber chicken kind of lunch – last year, it was really kind of horrible – Usually, you get there, and the rolls, coffee, desserts, and salad are all on the table. It’s got to be the kind of meal that can be plated for like 500. The waiters started bringing out covered plates, and I said, “where’s the salad?”, and Mark said maybe it’s all in one – economical for budget crunch year. And he turned out to be right – it was a plate with couscous salad with dried cranberries and cherry tomatoes and a bunch of watercress spraying out the side, and they came by and added a chicken breast – the kind with a little bit of the wing still attached.
Couscous salad with chicken & watercress
Couscous salad with chicken & watercress, closer view
BTW, I only took iPhone pictures of food the whole conference (well, I tried to take some teeny tiny camera pictures at PS7 but they pretty much sucked) – and yesterday I looked at Ruth Reichl’s blog, and that’s what she’s doing too. I guess I am in good company.
