Menu for my Imaginary Country

The Promenade
Restaurant and Winery
188 Orient Avenue
Penthouse, the Crimson Building

Appetizers

The Promenade Special: Gourmet cheeses accented by wine of the day and organic apples with salad. $10.92

A Rustic Flair: Biscuits and smoked salmon. $6.38

Summer Delight: Sliced orange garnished by goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes. $6.00

Verandah Crunch: Mixed nuts with plain yogurt. $6.00

The Alleyway: Pumpernickel bread with honey-brie cheese. $9.99

Entrees

Catch of the Day: Halibut, salmon, mackerel, or tilapia, grilled to perfection. $32.60

The Clam Shack: Fresh clams lightly breaded with honey-coated multi-grain. $28.00

Pasta Canasta: A variety of noodles with ravioli and tortellini, complimented by basil tomato sauce and Shiitake mushrooms. Salmon on request. $29.95

Countryside Platter: Organic veal, pork, and lamb, with parmesan cheese and rigatoni. $36.34

Wind of the Sea: Salmon teriyaki with clams, oysters, mussels, and dulse. $29.99

Vegetarian Variety: Platter of fake meats and breads with one salad of your choice. We do not use cows’ milk, eggs, or other animal products. $23.98

Three-cheese pizza: Our pizza features goat cheese, mozzarella, and gorgonzola, with sun-dried tomatoes. Our cheeses use vegetable rennet. All of our pizzas are baked in our traditional wood ovens. $34.99

Vegetable pizza: A variety of vegetables with mozzarella cheese and deep-dish crust. $38.99

Side Dishes

Potato slices: Accented by rosemary, basil, paprika, thyme, dill, and oregano, our potato slices are baked a golden brown. $11.99

Rice Variety: Black, brown, white, and purple rice. $11.00

Small breads: Multi-grain, white, potato, and cornbread in miniature size. $12.30

Soups and Salads

Farmer's Pride: Butternut Squash soup with cilantro. $18.22

Fisherman's Best: Genuine clam chowder with vegetables and breadsticks. $19.99

Mushroom Lovers: Cream of mushroom soup with herbs. $16.00

Sweet Salad: Mixed fruits and vegetables garnished by grass. $17.99

Multitask Salad: Meat, seafood, fake meats, fruit, and vegetables. $37.00

Keep it Simple: Lettuce and cabbage garnished by grass. $10.00

Desserts

Dark chocolate and mocha ice cream bar $27.00

Island Sorbet (orange, lemon, lime, and coconut flavored sorbets) $30.00

Fudge squares with chocolate chip ice cream, garnished by assorted candies $29.99

Chocolate cheesecake slice $23.00

Tiramisu cake slice $23.99

Chocolate hazelnut cake slice $23.00

Coffee cake $22.76

Assorted fruit with whipped cream $18.67

Plain sponge cake slice topped by fresh fruit and sugar glaze (gelatin-free) $23.00

Variety ice cream (chocolate-chip, fudge chocolate, vanilla, vanilla-chocolate, raspberry cheesecake, dark chocolate, huckleberry, blackberry, strawberry)

Beverages

Cognac (aged 12 years) $210.00

Chardonnay (8 years) $156.99

Cranberry cocktail $52.99

(For full list of our wine selections, ask your server)

Non-alcoholic: Fresh orange/grapefruit juice, iced cranberry juice, any of the former with carbonated water, bottled water, mineral/vitamin water.

Phrases of my Imaginary Country

Phrase: One hobbling crook is better than ninety-two strong monks.

Definition: One "bad" person who is too weak to do anything is better than ninety-two "good" people who are strong and zealous.

Origins: After the reign of Voledads' first duarchy, a religiously devout sister and brother pair, the Trinansitic archbishop took control of the country and installed harsh rules against those opposed to the Trinansitic faith. Monks were the new "bad guys" in their violent searches, secret surveillance systems, and total control of the legal system.

Phrase: Hag's Revenge

Definition: Hag's Revenge means a medicine that does more harm than good.

Origins: Alternative medicines became popular in the 1970s with the rise in buying of foreign goods and "exotic" objects. Alternative medicines, which were also known as "Hagfood" for the alternative apothecary stereotype (generally old women in the popular imagination), were soon at the center of a nationwide scandal, due to toxic elements found in some alternative medicines.

Phrase: Cutting cupboards

Definition: Conserving space

Origins: As cramped immigrant tenements, stylish condominiums, and massive villas sprouted up across Voledads, conserving space became a neccessary part of life. Cupboards, the traditional Voledadian storage unit, were usually heavy wood pieces of furniture, with such ornate decorations and add-ons that took up a great deal of space. The cupboards often stored less than they weighed, so many households in urbanized areas began "cutting cupboards."

One of My Imaginary Country's Founders

Voledads is the imaginary country I have created in class. One of the country's founders is Emilio Iodeco van Sprawitz, more commonly referred to as Emilio van Sprawitz. Like many Voledadians, he was born in Maintana, but his father, Franklin van Sprawitz, was from Carmellan. Emilio van Sprawitz was born in 1698, the middle child of a middle-class merchant’s sprawling family of seventeen. Emilio's grandmother observed from the beginning that he was strangely calm, cautious, and observant for a small child.

Emilio van Sprawitz attended the College of Hull and Brownstone-Morris, famous for the study of psychology and law, on a scholarship for law at the age of thirteen. Contrasting sharply with his young childhood and later adulthood, Emilio was a rather rowdy sort in college, carousing about with the higher class and accumulating large debts. He studied law very seriously, however.

Emilio van Sprawitz was the main author of the constitution, which was drafted in 1738, after the deposal of Voledads’ most powerful monarch, Otto IV.

Emilio van Sprawitz wrote propaganda papers for the revolutionary cause, headed diplomacy missions for foreign aid, and helped install the first constitutionally-ruled oligarchy. Emilio van Sprawitz served as an advisor to the oligarchy for three terms (each term equaling one year), and was nominated to the oligarchy. He agreed (somewhat reluctantly, and after a great deal of prodding) to run for a seat in the oligarchy and won a winning vote, but died before he could assume his post.

Emilio van Sprawitz led educational reform and helped lower crime ratings, but he was often criticized for his Draconian ways—he notoriously made repeated misdemeanors punishable by death.

One hot June day, Emilio van Sprawitz set out on a recreational fishing trip in his yacht with a number of other political figures. Van Sprawitz was chatting with a number of people in the cigar lounge when someone lit a gunpowder fuse. It exploded in the West Wing of the boat, the site of the cigar lounge. Van Sprawitz and those in the cigar lounge died instantly. Van Sprawitz’s assassinator was never found, and it is still up in the air whether the assassinator intended to kill him or another person.

One interesting fact was that was only revealed after his death was that Van Sprawitz was very scared of cats, and had two pit bulls stationed at the back door of his immense country house to guard specially against his neighbor’s tomcats.