Food? What? by Keri G. '10
I may weigh approximately two pounds, but I eat as much as everyone else. All right, more than everyone else.
Before I get to an actual point in my next post, let me say this: I just cooked large amounts of angel hair pasta with ground beef in black bean and garlic sauce. It is amazing. It will last me a week, because I lack the ability to cook food in small amounts and nearly all of my friends are vegetarians.
Now check this out: six months ago, I couldn’t cook to save my life.
I was dead set on living in a dorm with a dining hall solely because I was really just that bad in the kitchen. Well, I was extremely talented at setting things afire, but that doesn’t count. (No, not everything can be considered food by adding the term “flambé” to the end of it. “But it’s black beans and rice flambé, Mom!” didn’t work. Surprised? I was.) I’m not quite sure what happened between now and May, but suddenly I can cook things that are actually edible! Who needs a dining hall when I can go to my floor kitchen – or, better yet, when I can call Sicilia’s and order pizza? (What?! It’s the staple of the college student, save for ramen.)
Speaking of dining halls at MIT, Baker, McCormick, Simmons, and Next all have them, and Pritchett Dining is right next to East Campus and down the street from Senior House. There are talks about putting Macgregor’s dining hall back into operation – every week since the start of October, trial runs have been occurring in the dorm to see whether or not the plan should go forward. You don’t have to live in one of these residence halls in order to eat there (which is good, because their desserts are pretty great), but if you do live in any of them, you’re automatically enrolled in MIT’s Preferred Dining Program – you pay a set price ($275 this semester) at the start of the term, entitling you to half-price on anything bought at any dining hall. Translation: a full meal will set you back about $5. You do, however, have to eat at the dining halls pretty often (about 50-60 meals/term should do it) in order to break even or benefit from Preferred Dining.
So. Yes. Food. Good. Now go look at my next post, where I give you too much information about too many summer programs!
sounds so good! I can never stand to be a vegetarian!
Jon: That’s a great idea, although I do know of some similar books on the market. I received a copy of a book called “Where’s Mom Now that I Need Her?” from my mother when I went away to college. It has useful tips for everything from home-cooked easy recipes to getting stains out of clothing. You should look it up on Amazon or at a Borders, etc.
“nearly all of my friends are vegetarians.”
omg r u serious? im a vegetarian myself, but i never knew mit has so many vegetarians. vegetarians rule (chickens-no-die)!
haha, just before i read this post, I was talking to my mom about the idea that I had for her and my grandmother to make a cookbook for college-bound kids….holy ironic!
and just for that, I’ll give you a free cookbook if it ever gets published….and I get into MIT
So my cereal flambé is a failure? Awww…
Careful about cooking too much food at once, though. It’s best to not keep any leftovers longer than 3-4 days after you make it. Otherwise too much bacteria builds up on it and you risk getting food poisoning. Aside from that, happy cooking! Don’t worry too much about the fires–those make for great stories later on.