College Cooking

Everyone who has graduated from a dorm room without a kitchen to a dorm room with a kitchen has probably received a cheesy book with this title from an equally cheesy aunt or uncle. It probably has recipes like "cheese quesadilla" which instructs the "chef" to dump shredded cheese on a tortilla and heat it up for a few minutes on the stove (don't laugh, I sustained myself on these junior year). Either way I like to think that I have risen above that, at least slightly and by this I mean sometimes I buy fancier cheese than shredded cheddar and occasionally I venture to Whole Foods for "trendier" ingredients. Here are the three things I go for when I find myself hopelessly wandering the isles of Modern Food.

-"Fancy" cheese. Save the cheddar for the caf and go for goat cheese, feta, gorgonzola or blue. The latter two taste fantastic with a little balsamic vinegar and roasted onions and garlic on top of pasta and all of them also make a great salad garnish. It's well known that cheese makes everything taste better, but fancy cheese makes everything taste gourmet.

-Avocados. It's a shame they're so expensive because I would eat these babies all day every day. Whip up some guac, put them on top of scrambled eggs or just eat them straight out of the shell! Sometimes I can't even believe they're good for you.

-Hummus. Sometimes I have to stop myself from filling my shopping cart with dips alone, but hummus always wins out in the end. With so many varieties to choose from I always find myself going for something garlic involved. What to dip? The sky is the limit, pita chips, carrots, peppers, tortillas and your face.

Clearly I'm no Emeril and I'm also not very imaginative, but I am not longer making quesadillas for every meal so I guess that is a success.