A WEEK OF DRY STEAK CELEBRATIONS

(10-14NOV2008)

We’re being spoiled at the DFAC, or at least we’re experiencing what passes for it here.

The USMC celebrated their 233^rd birthday on the 10^th, and the DFAC celebrated with a cake, patriotic streamers, red-white-and-blue tablecloths, and the go-to menu for a celebratory meal: mummified steak.

I expected them to leave the decorations up for Tuesday’s Veteran’s Day, but they removed the streamers and tablecloths, opting only to serve us steak and cake again in recognition of the holiday.

And, of course, they always serve steak Friday nights, along with some sort of seafood – “lobster tails”, fried shrimp, scallops, or the like. Many of my colleagues look forward to Friday dinners, but I have never craved the dry, fatty steak they plop on my tray. I eat it, usually for lack of a suitable alternative, but I use it mostly as a conveyance for A-1 Sauce, and I always pass on the seafood in deference to my New England upbringing.

I have craved real clam chowder (‘chowdah’) more than once since I’ve been here, and one day of war zone steak a week is more than enough for me.

DFAC = Dining FACility
USMC = United States Marine Corps