When I moved away from home to come to college, I was actually kind of excited about learning how to be an adult.  Sure, I was also looking forward to not having my parents breathing down my neck about grades and how late I stayed out, but I was eager to prove to myself that I could survive on my own.  Part of not being treated like a child anymore is, well, not living like a child anymore, so I was secretly kind of expecting to be able to live what I considered an “adult” life.  Learning how to cook was one of the things that I was most looking forward to.  I’m capable of making more desserts than any human should consume, but for some reason “real food” has never been on my radar.  I can make cheesecake, but not spaghetti.  Cooking struck me as something that should be fun, delicious, and a vital part of learning how to keep yourself alive.

Unfortunately, I underestimated the…Cornell-ness of Cornell university as well as perhaps my own immaturity.  There is no time here for things like morning trips to the gym.  There is no time here for things like maturely sipping tea and reading novels in cafes.  There is definitely no time here to go out, buy ingredients, and make yourself a nice homecooked meal every day.  No, I do not live like an adult here.  I don’t even live like a child.  I live like an animal.  For dinner today, I sat in the basement of Olin and ate most of a bag of “x-tra cheddar” goldfish.  When I do eat “real food”, it’s dining hall food.  It’s kind of hard to justify the time and money and effort that goes into making actual meals yourself, when you’ve already paid for a meal plan.  Which is not to say that our dining hall food is bad — but I never got around to learning how to cook.

So, with that said, on Saturday I attended a cooking workshop at the Cornell College of Human Ecology’s food labs.  The instructional portion of the workshop, though brief, was actually really informative.  I am proud to say I knew all the cup/tablespoon/teaspoon conversions, and I knew how to measure flour.  However, I honestly did not know what a saucepan was before now.  Every single recipe that has instructed to me to use a saucepan?  I’ve been using a frying pan, because I guess “pan” sounds like something flat to me.  I learned how to chop vegetables (who knew, there’s more than just hacking at it like the killer in a horror film). You should keep vegetable and meat cutting boards separate, different knives are for different purposes, minced is smaller than diced, etc.  The actual cooking portion of the workshop was really fun, and I was impressed to find that every one of the foods we made as a group turned out at least decent.  We all left with a packet of simple recipes that we could try at home.

Overall, though, I think the biggest takeaway from this workshop is that even if you’re short on time, supplies, and experience, cooking shouldn’t be impossible.  As demonstrated by one of the recipes, you can make a whole pasta dish in one pot in about a half hour.  Eggs are always a good option, and you can put anything in an omelet to make it a full meal.  Once you’re confident in making a few simple foods, there is endless variety.  One piece of advice that I particularly liked was the notion that you shouldn’t be afraid of using the microwave.  I’ve had it ingrained in me (mostly by my grandmother) that real cooking never uses the microwave.  Like the microwave is “cheating” or something.  Ovens and stovetops though, are less accessible in a dorm, much slower, and often not a practical option for making quantities of a single serving for a single person.  It is possible to find a happy medium between Cup Ramen and a steak dinner, and “good” doesn’t necessarily mean “complicated”.

I wish I had time in my schedule to take an actual food lab class at the College of Human Ecology, but even if I don’t I’ve been encouraged and inspired by this short lesson that I did get to take.  So, tonight’s goldfish aside, I’ve decided to attempt to cook myself a meal at least once per week for the rest of the semester.  We’ll see how it goes.

I am nineteen years old, about to turn twenty in two months. I am a varsity student athlete in an Ivy League University. I can speak two languages, write essays, participate in in depth conversation about social constructs and philosophical beliefs with my fellow peers.

Yet the extent of my cooking experience is limited by scrambling and microwaving eggs, making pasta, dumplings, cooking white rice, and boiling veggies. While I can technically survive on my own, my quality of life would significantly change if I did not have Cornell’s luxurious dining halls to rely on.

Why is that? Upon reflection my wonderful loving parents have been making my meals since I was born and as I grew older to the age that I could develop cooking skills, my “valuable time” was better spent swimming, practicing violin, doing homework, or hanging out with friends. My mother was a stay at home mother and while I learned the basics if doing laundry and cooking before collage, my only chore around the house is limited to taking out the trash, mowing the lawn, and washing dishes. I had swimming practice six days a week therefore there was no way in which my parents would allow me to cook, and wait for me to do so that late into the night. Most nights I would arrive home with dinner waiting.

As I entered the cooking event last week I realized that this would be the first time in my life actually cooking a legitimate meal that was slightly more sophisticated. As a consequence of my privileged parental support and their recognition on the importance of academics and extracurricular, I have never really cooked. This made me realize what other skills are people in our generations lacking. Granted, this issue is not a widespread one as there are many families that continue to value traditional skills. However, the current environment I believe are increasing the number of young adults who face the similar situation as me.

Can we fix tires, fix basic electric and household appliances, cook, paint houses? Will we be forced to be increasingly reliant on outside services? Or will must of us face the fact that we have many “firsts” to do in our twenties. While it may be harder to do so without the guidance of parents, it may be an exciting thing. That’s why we have YouTube anyway right?

As an engineer, I like cooking. What other activity combines trial and error experimentation and food? But, unfortunately, I have a limited repertoire. I spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect home fry recipe. As it turns out, there really isn’t a trick to it. The secret is butter. Just a huge, very unhealthy amount of butter. I took this cooking class hoping to learn some healthier recipes.

I should mention right off that I chose to make lasagna (baby steps). I liked the recipe I was given, but there are a couple of improvements I’d like to try. Firstly, get rid of the mushrooms. Mushrooms are awful. Secondly, maybe use a sharper cheese to add more flavor to the ricotta mix? You could also probably sneak some spinach in there, to make up for those evicted mushrooms. I’d also like to try my hand at making my own pasta sauce.

I also learned some useful skills. The food lab volunteers showed us the proper way to slice and peel an onion, which I appreciated, because I can never make equally sized pieces. They also talked about selecting pans and other cooking tools, which is useful for me, because I am considering moving off campus, and that means I will need to stock a kitchen. Lastly, it was a chance to practice my skills, which I don’t get to do so often at Cornell. Partly, it’s because I’m so busy. Also, I’d never used an electric stove before coming here (our stove at home is gas) and I’m deeply afraid I will set off the fire alarm and force everyone to go stand out in the cold.

While I enjoyed cooking for myself, the best part was seeing how everyone else did. As a group, I think we did very well. Everything I tried was excellent. I especially want to try making the spinach pasta. I’m looking forward to April break, when I will get a chance to try out some recipes and practice my new skills.

Last Saturday I had the joy of cooking at the Cornell food lab in the Martha Van Rensselaer building. The students there went through a very brief presentation of some basic cooking habits such as what knives to use, then we immediately got cooking. They gave us a packet full of recipes with about a dozen “stations” where one or two of us can cook one of the recipes. It was awesome. I mean, really awesome. Each station had their own stoves, microwaves, cookware, utensils, spices, ingredients, everything.

I chose the chicken and broccoli casserole, and I worked with Helen! For about an hour, we cook brown rice, onions, chicken, and broccoli to make a pretty nice-tasting casserole. Personally, I love cooking, so I was a huge fan of this event. Something about the process of making delicious food is both fun and rewarding. And, as college students, when would be a better time in our lives to learn more cooking tips than now?

We happened to have finished relatively early so we cleaned up our station and hurried back to the presentation area where the food lab volunteers (?) had arranged our dishes as a potluck. Together, we all ate our creations, from omelets to tacos to lasagna to salmon with quinoa, and more. I seriously hope Rose does this again sometime; this was the best event ever!

On Saturday I attended the Rose cooking workshop, and I made cannellini beans with tomatoes and sage. I actually went to the same event last year and made the same dish, but I forgot to blog about it. I went both times because I really enjoy cooking, but with classes and an unlimited meal plan I rarely have the time or the motivation to do so. The cannellini beans turned out pretty well, but unfortunately I was not able to try everyone else’s dishes because the cannellini dish was the only vegan dish. However, the consensus seemed to be that everything turned out really well and everyone had good time. The staff at the event were also really nice and they made me a vegan pasta dish with tomato sauce and walnuts which was delicious. The only suggestion I would have is that maybe next time they could include more plant based dishes. Plant-based cooking can be extremely easy and healthy, and in fact, many of the recipes that we made could have been plant based with just a few small tweaks.

This past Saturday I participated in a cooking workshop hosted by the Nutrition Lab. As an experienced cook, I found it to be relatively basic but certainly fun. The workshop had a lot of great tips for people who are new to or would just like to learn more about how to cook for themselves in a college environment. The event was also a really great way to learn about healthy alternatives to other meals students may turn to. Living on campus and eating in dining halls is incredibly convenient, but it often doesn’t offer student the opportunity to learn about cooking, food shopping, and healthy eating habits. At this point in our lives, it can often be hard to find the time to cook for yourself or to eat healthy, but learning skills like these are incredibly valuable in the long term. The habits we form in college will stick with us for years to come, so we might as well take the time to make sure they’re healthy ones.

Some of my favorite recipes were the salmon with quinoa stuffing and the one pot spinach tomato pasta. These basic recipes are great starting points to bounce off of and really experiment with ingredients and seasonings. Overall, the workshop was a great opportunity to get to know fellow Rose Scholars, and sample some tasty snacks! I would definitely attend an event like this again, and highly recommend that others do too.

Today’s Rose Scholars event was a cooking workshop. It was fun to be in the kitchen and it was a nice break. With the dining halls on campus, I really have no need to cook during the school year. However, during the summer I will be cooking and eating without a dining hall which means I will need to cook. Last summer I was in the same situation and my cooking left some to be desired. I mostly cooked extremely simple meals. My cooking kept me full, but it could have been tastier.

The cooking session made me realize that cooking is not too hard. The key is planning your shopping to have the needed ingredients.

The session also reminded me of my high school cooking class. My friends and I were usually good at following the recipes and making good tasting food, but occasionally we would mess up. Once we realized we messed up we would all scramble to correct our mistake before the teacher realized. Sometimes this was a difficult task, but it made for some good fun. Unfortunately, sometimes we would mess up a recipe so badly that we did not think we could safely eat the resulting food. However, if we did not eat the food at the end the teacher would know that we did not successfully follow the recipe.

Overall the cooking workshop went by quickly and we were rewarded with a nice lunch afterwards.

Today, I attended a cooking workshop with an empty stomach, but left feeling filled to the brim from all the succulent recipes my peers and I had composed. I signed up for this workshop not only because I am a major foodie and Food Network fan, but also because I realized that, as a college student who might be living off campus at some point in the next few years of school, I would need to know how to cook meals for myself.

At this workshop, my friend and I paired up to make an Asian salmon dish with quinoa stuffing. It turned out very well, if I do say so myself. There are definitely some skills I need to improve on: chopping vegetables is one, as I nicked my finger with a knife whilst dicing an onion. Nonetheless, I realized during this workshop that I actually already do possess some cooking skills that I’ve absorbed from watching and helping my mom cook over the past 19 years of my life. For example, I knew that, even though the written recipe didn’t call for it, it was necessary to add salt to my quinoa to infuse it with adequate flavor. I also didn’t need to use instruments to measure all of the ingredients, because, over the years, I have gained a basic understanding and feel for what a cup, a tablespoon, and a teaspoon look like. It is relieving to know that, if need be, I will be able to cook myself a satisfying meal. Thank you, mom. I hope that when I have children, I can cook just as well as you do and teach these important skills just as effectively as you have to me.