1. Eggbeaters and Sharp Cheddar on a Toasted Bagel with a Two Clementines.

Upon first whiff, the smell was purely burnt toast. The bagel was well toasted, nearly black toward the center of the top, and crunched when bitten into. The hard exterior, however, gave way to very fluffy eggs that were cooked perfectly–airy but with a wettness to them. Being mostly egg white, their taste was mild, but they were well peppered which gave a bit of a bite to them.  After the egg came the real flavorful part of the sandwich, a sharp cheddar cheese, still cold and firm, it gave a nice juxtaposition to the warm, fluffy eggs. It was the most flavorful part of the dish, balanced well with a bite of clementine which, when bitten, flooded the mouth with sweet, cold juice. The meal was satisfying, but not overly filling. A bit difficult to eat due to the excess egg falling out the sides.

2. Garlic Crust Cheese Pizza with White Sauce, Green Pepper and Onion.

The aroma of the pizza was like any Domino’s delivery pizza–a strong smell of cheese and cardboard. However, the taste was far superior. The cheese, a mild mozzarella, was hard to detect once the strong flavors of the cooked onions and peppers were on my tongue. The peppers and onions gave a bit of a crunch, which sat nicely on the soft (though not at all stringy as the pizza arrived luke warm) cheese. The real kicker, however, came with the sauce. Much stronger than the cheese, it filled the mouth with a warm, nearly liquid cheesiness with each bite. The dough beneath, as well as the crust, were rife with a heavy dusting of garlic. The temperature of the pizza upon reaching the house left much to be desired, but the vegetables and sauce were baked to perfection.

3. Cheese Ravioli, Green Beans and Garbanzo Beans in a Pesto Sauce.

A “kitchen sink” type meal as I like to call it, this dish was created from the few things I had left in the cupboard/fridge. The smell of the pesto sauce was a bit overwhelming at first, but the flavors of the cheese within the ravioli and the shredded parmesan on top balanced the sweetness of the pesto nicely. The ravioli were soft on the outside, and the cheese on the inside was a bit like a paste, and a bit sweeter than expected. The garbanzo beans lacked a real flavor, but their firmness and density gave a nice heaviness that the dish would have lacked otherwise. The green beans, being canned, were quite soft–but their slight sweetness worked well with that of the pesto, which caked itself around the beans nicely. The shredded parmesan on the top gave the pesto sauce another element, evening out the strong basil flavor. The meal, probably due to the amount of ravioli and garbanzo beans, was a bit too filling.

4. Italian Style Vegetable Soup with a Buttered Bagel and Clementine

The soup smelled strongly of tomato and not much else. The broth was very thin, with only a tomato taste to it. All of the vegetables had the same overly soft quality to them, with not much of a flavor difference between the celery, pasta, carrots and potato. The stewed tomatoes were the only truly strong taste as well as the few onions floating about. The color of the vegetables left much to be desired–all were muted versions of their usually vibrant selves. The bagel and clementine were a bit more tolerable. The bagel was lightly browned, with a crunchy outside and soft, warm middle. It was buttered while hot so the butter seeped all the way through. The clementine was not quite ripe enough, and flavor was more watery than anything else, with only a faint orangey under taste.