Treat Yosef Well

In the main dining hall at Appalachian State University is a food court sort of place with App State's own versions of various fast food type places.  There is a wonderful salad bar, with which I have become very familiar (like what days of the week the lettuce tends to be rusty, when the tomatoes are freshly cut, when they have reached the bottom of the garbanzo beans and it's best to skip those that day) ... there is also a burrito place (Joseph Kaye called it "Fake Moe's," and that is perfect), a pizza place, a sandwich shop, a grill for burgers, and a comfort food stand that always has mashed potatoes and gravy. Perhaps the most popular, these days, has been Treat Yosef, Appalachian State's own in-house bakery. I have frequented Treat Yosef only twice since my arrival at Kellogg, but both times have been decidedly worth the caloric intake.

By far the most coveted of Treat Yosef's treats is Treat Yosef's Carrot Cake.  This is, without any doubt, the best carrot cake any Kellogger has tasted, ever.  We have Kelloggers from all over the country, and there isn't one who doesn't talk about the best carrot cake in the world at Treat Yosef.

This was working weekend; I spent yesterday between the NCDE Library and the gorgeous 5-story App State University Library.  This morning, Sunday, I was still in my residence hall room at 3:00 p.m., finishing a presentation I have tomorrow on brain science and learning, when my suite mate, Nancy, just in from doing something more fun than a brain science presentation, stopped by.  Needing to get out, I suggested the walk to town, where we dined on grilled tempeh and gazpacho at Our Daily Bread on King Street.  Hippy dippy food, but fresh and delicious and wonderful - typical Boone. We skipped dessert, as Daily Bread's speciality is supposed to be carrot cake, and we both commented that the restaurant would be hard pressed to top Yosef's.   We walked around downtown at bit, assimilated with the tourists in the Mast General Store, and headed back to campus, close to 5:00.  It was clear and pleasant outside today, and I wanted to take the long way, to walk back around the campus and see some different sites.  I had been holed up in my room, writing, all morning.  Nancy, though, wanted to get some things done back at the residence hall.  We parted at King and Depot.

I had a wonderful walk, taking in the smells of all the coniferous trees on campus - I really should write an entire entry on the different trees here.  They are beautiful.  My walk took me past the main dining hall, so I stopped in and bought the last two of Treat Yosef's carrot cake slices, took them back to the residence hall, and had a ridiculously decadent dessert with Nancy.

Now, back to work on the Cognitive Neuroscience of Brain-Based Learning, my presentation for tomorrow evening, and Designing an Accessible Adjunct Faculty Support System, my practicum's working -- but not final -- title.  This week starts Seminar III, which features Dr. Sanford Danzinger on encouraging students,  Dr. Hunter Boylan on evaluating programs, and, on Friday, a different multicultural guy than they had last year, Dr. Franklin Thompson. And dinner, tomorrow, with Barbara Bonham.  Too cool.

Oh, and the cake is much, much, much better than it looks in the photo.