Cooking and College (Can They Coexist?)
a.k.a. the reason I’ve been off the blogging grid
I started college this August and I’ve yet to figure out how to be a food blogger and a college student. It pains me to write a blog post without at least 5 beautiful pictures of food, so I’ll try to fill this post in with photos of other beautiful things.
Example #1: The beautiful 4-foot tall real Christmas tree in my dorm room (see above). My suite-mates bought the tree from the Yale School of Forestry. It is decorated, it smells like pine, and it sheds all over our room. I consider this to be a victory.
Example #2: My view when I walked to breakfast one cloudy morning towards the end of Fall.
So why haven’t I been posting new recipes from college?
The only kitchen I have access to is in a basement, so there’s no natural light to take photos.
Groceries are expensive and difficult to get when you don’t have access to a car.
Time is elusive.
The dining halls already have perfectly good cookies for me to eat.
Not failing my classes is more important than writing a blog.
These are my excuses. But, I love making and writing about food- so I’m going to keep doing it!
I have chosen this day, during finals season, when I have an exam tomorrow at 9 am, to start blogging again. I can’t give you a perfect new illustrated recipe today, but perhaps I can provide some inspiration.
I spend my Fridays cooking with an incredible student run organization called Y Pop-Up. Y Pop is a student-run pop-up restaurant. We take over a space on campus and every Friday evening we serve a 4–5 course gourmet meal to students for the low price of $16 per person. The menu changes every week. Everything is made by the students. Our business team transforms a plain room in a basement into a beautiful dining room, and they serve all of the customers. Meanwhile, I make cakes and other confections like this: (Example #3)
~dull light courtesy of the basement~
And instead of making my usual down-to-earth, comfort desserts, I’m making Gateâu Basque (a traditional pastry cream-filled cake from the Basque region of Spain) with a cognac cherry sauce.
I spend the rest of my weekend days in the library and, sometimes, in the dance studio, with the lovely ladies of Groove Dance Company:
(Example #4)
I spend a lot of time in the library, sometimes reading textbooks, and sometimes reading pamphlets from the 1893 World Fair like this one at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library: (Example #5)
I spend most of my time having identity crises, studying, loving my friends, and being thankful that I am here.
If my biggest problems are
A. choosing between college and cooking and
B. trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up… then life is pretty good.
And when your architecture class field trip leads you to a quiet little pond in New Canaan, CT that looks like this… (Example #6)
Life is really good.
I’ll be back soon with less Fall leaves and more holiday recipes from home.
