Sometimes I find it funny that it took me so long to get this far. I've been cooking and baking for people for so long. My first full blown cooking experience happened in college. Back then when most college students were concerned about what frat party to go to or which major to stick to I was thinking about what meals I was going to make for my roommates that week.
Much like any kid just out of high school I was terrified to go to college. This was the first time away from my parents for a long time and living away from home. For me that also meant having to feed myself. My Mom had always cooked. I only did that on special occasions. Why cook if she was going to? Well she wouldn't be there anymore so I was going to have to feed myself.
I was one of the lucky ones. Our school "dorms" were more like apartments. We had two bedrooms with a kitchen and a living room/ dinning room set up. They also came equipped with a full size fridge and two burners. That summer vacation before college I went with my mother and bought some kitchen equipment. To add to my small kitchen we bought one frying pan and two pots, a toaster oven, and an array of small kitchen gadgets. Also my mother let me borrow her Southern Living cookbook. It was six books in one! There was a thirty minute meal section, a section for chicken dishes, a section for healthy cooking, a section for desserts and a few others I don't recall. In the end it had so many recipes that I figured if I could just follow them I would feed myself just fine.
The first week of school I picked out my recipes and made myself dinner. Jennifer who lived in the same room as I saw what I was cooking and within that first week was offed me to go half on the groceries if I cooked for her too. I had no problem with this. It was actually easier to cook for more people. Within a month my other two roommates joined in and I became the only person I know to this day that cooked for their roommates in college. I made roasted chicken, stir fry, pastas, cookies and cakes all with just two burners and a toaster oven. It was really something I looked forward to each day, seeing them enjoy something I had made.
Really, what brought this reminiscing on? A BLT Salad out of that same book. I was flipping through it today to get ideas for my grocery list and I decided to make that salad that they used to enjoy so much. It is a simple recipe: lettuce, tomato, bacon pieces, boiled eggs and chicken with a BBQ sauce/mayo dressing. It was always that dressing that I had to make extra of because they loved it so much. Really it was a great book to start my journey. It was simple and the recipes were always a hit. So to my old college roommates thank you so much for allowing me to share my first attempts with you. Jennifer, Kelly and Karissa I hope everything is going well with your lives and much happiness to you always.
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