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Saturday, June 4, 2011

Eating my way through my College Reunion



Tonight I'm reporting to you live from Canton, NY and at a much earlier time than last night's entry from Ottawa - I mean, it's only 2:20am this time.



If you've never heard of Canton, which is about 3 hours northwest of the Albany area near Canada, I wouldn't be surprised. I hadn't either until it was time to look at colleges. And whoever was hired to do St. Lawrence University's marketing definitely did their job. I still remember the specially-labeled SLU water bottles and the camera they gave out to perspectives that said "Picture yourself at St. Lawrence." Cute, right?



Well, it's been six years since I graduated (10 since I started college....where does the time go?). Now that I'm back, aside from catching up with classmates, I have basically one thing on my mind: food.



I had planned out my eating strategy for the weekend which would include dinner at Sergi's Pizzeria and Banquet House, brunch at the Dana Dining Hall, and a stop at the Bagelry in Potsdam to pick up a cordon bleu bagel sandwich.



My first stop, and the real priority of the weekend, was having something we like to call a "fat bag." In the simplest terms, this is a medium size pizza, made into a calzone and deep fried. I've been told it has about 1,600 calories, and I don't think that's an exaggeration.



Even so, when I ordered it today and absorbed the aroma of fresh grease on the baked pizza dough, it smelled like college.



Long before attending SLU, most pre-froshes/perspective/visiting students hear about these infamous artery-cloggers. Every student's night out ended at Sergi's. The fat bags come in either cheese or pepperoni, but when ordering freshmen are warned not to actually call it a fat bag. The restaurant dubbed them their famous pizza rolls and they don't appreciate the nickname, for obvious reasons. But, occasionally, an inebriated youth might accidentally call it what is truly is - a fat bag - and get yelled at and possibly not served at all. In which case they might have to resort to their ramen supply in their dorm room. Oh, the strife of a college student...



The bagel sandwich order is a bit less complicated and I plan to get it Sunday before heading back down to Albany via the B,L,T (Blue Lake, Long Lake, Tupper Lake) route through the Adirondacks. The cordon bleu sandwiches bring me back to when I was a regular in the Potsdam night scene, attending frat parties, going to pitcher races every Friday, and cheering at Clarkson University hockey games against SLU annually.



Finally, Dana brunch was the day-after ritual for a weekend of partying. Most would just go in their pjs, pull out a red tray, go down the assembly line picking out home fries, eggs, sausage, pasta, muffins and/or waffles. When you got to your wooden seat, you'd people watch and regale friends with tales of the night prior. The experience would be topped off with a trip to the soft ice cream machine.



After the entertaining weekend I've had, I'm looking forward to brunch tomorrow (T-minus 7 hours). I'm debating wearing my pajamas. I think it would add to the nostalgia.



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