The Prodigal Son Returns

I return to Dartmouth without a meal plan...

Despite the inclement weather, my journey from Brooklyn, New York to Lebanon, New Hampshire was quite easy. Since I left when my dad told me, instead of listening to Google Maps or Waze, I made the trip in under five hours. Score!

Once I arrived at my apartment, I had the Herculean task (OK, maybe not quite that difficult or impressive) of unboxing the kitchenware starter set that Santa brought me for Christmas. Somehow, I managed to make it off the naughty list this year. After painstakingly hand-washing the pots, pans, and not-dishwasher-safe accoutrements, I had 6 garbage bags of cardboard to discard—I mean recycle!

With my garbage taken out and my kitchenware clean, I made my first trip to the Co-Op Food Store. I gathered all the ingredients I thought I would need for this week and returned home to make dinner. Having not eaten for about eight hours, I whipped up the simplest thing I could think of: penne pasta with tomato sauce, sausage, and spinach. I thought it turned out not half bad!

I will occasionally update this blog with my forays into cooking, as they are not entirely unrelated to economics. Now that I am off the meal plan, opting for cash instead of tepid cafeteria food—no offense to the hard-working, jovial chefs who staff the Class of 1953 Commons—I am responsible for budgeting money and time to nourish myself. So far, so good; I am right on budget and prep time was only 25 minutes. We’ll see how things proceed over the course of the term.

P.S. If my readers would like to share recipes, budgeting advice, or other local knowledge apropos cooking, feel free to Tweet me @jack71900 !