Tasty Dining Hall Tips

Dear Bryn Mawr:
 
It’s drawing close to that time of the semester: red breasted robins serenade your early morning walk, the grass is getting greener, a lone cherry tree has blossomed outside of Taylor ahead of its fellows; the Canadian goose poop is getting ever thicker under foot; and, by this point in the academic year, you’re probably lusting after a home cooked meal, wishing that you had a little bit more control over what you ate.
 
Myself, I’m anxiously awaiting for the moment that confirms my new, independently living status: eating my way through The Art of French Cookingor Betty Crocker’s Cupcake mix vis-à-vis my very own,economically-priced oven. Preparing one’s own food is a satisfying and powerful feeling, a moment of affirmation, a way to reconnect with what is primal, bodily, and earthy without human sacrifice; or as critic Camille Paglia would put it, getting in touch with the chthonic powers of the Dionysian. (Brownies with gummy worms in particular tend to lend an unparalleled sublimity and luxuriance to my evenings, as well as to symbolically reaffirm the presence of nature in my life and on my dessert plate.) At other times cooking is a very meditative practice, where my premature guzzling of the ingredients is the direct analogue of humming “om” in a dark room.
 
By contrast, walking up to a buffet table is far less mysterious, involved, or in-touch with my preferences; the day I graduate is the day that I’m liberated to re-connect with my food. Until I get that chance, I have to try to reinvent the way that I eat in the dining hall.
 
Favorite new simple thing? S’mores. Put marshmallows with chocolate chips on a graham cracker in the microwave for ten seconds; watch instant pleasure expand. Continuing with the sweet theme, the best recipe that I’ve received in my inbox this week for my blog, Bryn Mawr Cookbook, has been Mexican Hot Chocolate by Mindy Huskins ’13, a student creation creatively utilizing chocolate with unusual spices—chili flakes and cinnamon sticks. Or, there’s the Strawberry Spinach Salad by Audra Fannon ’11 with bleu cheese and strawberries in syrup; or the Pasta with Zesty Marinara Sauce, prepared by Meheret Shumet ’13 on one of the Erdman stir fry skillets.
 
Ultimately, my goal is to help Mawrtyrs get in touch with their food, too: to discover and maintain Bryn Mawr Cookbookas a helpful resource and addition to student dining into the future. If you’d like to join me in my mission to re-invent dining hall cooking, or if you’d like to read how other students do it, head over to the Bryn Mawr Cookbook (http://bmcb.blogs.brynmawr.edu)to check out some recipes or submit your own at brynmawrcookbookATgmail.com. Recipes have been sorted by dining hall and food category (dinner, breakfast, lunch, Erdman, Haffner etc), with new categories opening up as recipes are contributed. The sky is the limit!
 
Happy eating,
Jen Bonczar ’11