Feb 2, 2010
Notes From A Far-Flung Correspondent
Welcome to Notes from a Far-Flung Correspondent, which features the weekly interests and musings of Bossy’s Son, who is currently enjoying his sophomore year at Columbia University in the City of New York.
This week: Men in the (Columbia University) Kitchen
Bossy’s Son loves to cook –- this should surprise exactly no one, considering how often pictures of me stirring a pot or chopping an onion show up on Bossy. Case in point, here. Oh, and here, too.
And here and here and even here.
For all of my freshman year in college, the thing I missed most about home was cooking, or maybe just the institution of the Home Cooked Meal in general. After all, there’s nothing that inspires nostalgia and homesickness like dining hall pot roast. Blech.
Fast forward to this year, where my four best guy friends and I made a promise — to each other and to our stomachs — that we would, with as much enthusiasm as we could muster, utilize the dorm floor kitchen to cook as many meals for ourselves as possible.
In early September my kind blogger mother sent me nice cookware I bought the cheapest possible cookware set at the Target© on 225th St, and soon we were cooking up a storm.
Case in point: a random Saturday in January, when four of us woke up and decided to empty the contents of our fridges and make breakfast simultaneously. On the menu? A mess of fried diced potatoes, scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, and coffee.
This is what contentment looks like on a chilly Saturday morning:
Nothing better in the world.
And there were no leech-like members of the dorm who did not contribute to the cooking and yet wanted to help with the eating? Bonus. Communal living can be annoying that way.
Or you could insert BossysMom here where she would PROMISE to not give sage advice…
Best hangover food in the world:)
Oh wow, you have a dorm floor kitchen? That’s awesome. I wish we had one of those when I was in college and then perhaps I could have avoided the Freshman Fluff. Eating Lucky Charms and smack ramen for every meal is no way to live.
Better than a diner.
this absolutely delights me to read. When my father was in college, he and a group of 4 guys learned 7 recipes by heart and each night of the week they had one of these 7 recipes. After a while each recipe had its own night and they could get through grocery shopping for 2 weeks in 10 minutes and this habit carried into their lives after college to this day Wednesday night will always be lasagna night to me!
Fun fact: My years in college were food paradise for me because, as opposed to life at home, the chicken in the dining hall wasn’t under-cooked, the soup wasn’t burnt, dishes were actually seasoned, and I never had to eat beef tongue, canned fruit or lima beans.
Yes, I grew up VERY differently than you.
Just FYI, Bossy’s son, I fell in love with my boyfriend in part because he can cook waaay better than I can. He makes dinner for me almost every night and I’m never gonna let him go. So, it’s a good skill to have for many reasons!
there’s nothing better than a guy who knows he way around a kitchen!
Jeez, my dorm kitchen was my roomie’s illegal hot plate, on which we would heat water for ramen noodles. And I know y’all are poor college students and all, but real maple syrup? So very worth it.
Wow. College men have changed since the days my male friends would come knocking, asking us to cook for them.
Dear Son of Bossy and Son of Bossy’s dorm mates,
You are Renaissance men. Totally. My BFF/boyfriend cooked WAY better than me. He cooked circles around me. And so I married him. And we’ve never been happier. He cooks, I clean up.
That old adage “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” Soooooo works on girls too. Not that that little detail is worrying any of you…
Enjoying your posts Son of Bossy!
P.S. Have you guys seen Food Inc? Because you should totally go for Support Local cooking…totally specialize. The girls will go crazy.
I like this new generation
By morning you mean 2:30pm.
YUM!
Dear Bossy’s Son and Roomies:
Do you need some table knives dear boys? Girls love guys who use a knofe to cut their pancakes into, say, fourths before scarfing them down.
I will be happy to send you a care package.
You’re probably eating better than my College Senior. She can cook, but between school and work and road race training and Total Immersion Sign Language class she doesn’t have time.
Lately it has been “What can I roll into a tortilla” or “What can I melt some cheese onto”. Or “If I come home for the weekend, will you feed me?”
You are obviously eating much better than Jenn’s college sophomore son–who works at a place called, “King Weenie” and gets all the hot dogs he can eat. Which, it turns out, is not as good a thing as one might think it would be.
–>My college roommates and I would each take a turn once a week and cook for everyone. Three out of the four weeks I was in heaven eating different things.
Go Bears.
(but don’t forget to remove your hats when sitting down to dine)
That chair in the background just screeeeeeams college bachelor, lol.
Good for you, Bossy’s Son and his dorm mates! You cook a meaner breakfast than I ever have ambition for!
Aunt Jemimamazing.
32 years after leaving college I STILL cant face tuna, peanut butter, or canned soup. Thank Gah I have since learned enough about a kitchen to never face those three again. Go Bossy’s son!
Good job on the cooking and also on making sure there was nary an empty bottle or can, within camera range, from the night before!
What good boys! They must have had GREAT MOMS to teach them how to cook!