As classes end, dorms close and snow falls, students head back home with a few goals in mind: see friends, visit with family and stuff their faces.
Even if you aren’t celebrating Thanksgiving, there’s probably some delicious food you miss that isn’t available in Bloomington. Whether it’s your family’s special casserole or just a plain old Zaxby’s (this is one of my biggest challenges living in the Midwest — no Zaxby’s), there’s food you can’t do without.
There’s no better way to eat food than to read ?about it.
That’s right, I’m talking cookbooks.
You might be an avid fan of Julia Child or just eyed your family’s cookbooks suspiciously, but cookbooks have a lot to offer to readers and anyone who likes food.
In middle school, my best friend and I had become crafty and decided cooking was another form of art we wanted to learn. We continuously checked out cookbooks in our school library that taught how to cook ethnic food.
She eventually mastered the slow cooker after accidently dropping the blade on her foot and walking on crutches for a few months, and I made a failed attempt at a German gelatin dessert.
A few years later when I was vegan, I returned to cookbooks for easy ways to make muffins without eggs.
Though the only thing special about my diet now is that I don’t eat red meat, I still think cookbooks hold a vital element for anyone willing to take a shot at ?baking.
A well-planned cookbook will contain a forward, instructions on how to keep your kitchen, definitions for those utensils you’ve never heard of and descriptive words that make you want to eat the page.
My parents are divorced, and I usually divide up the holidays equally with them.
This year, I will be eating out with my father to try something new and hopefully please everyone, including the extended ?family.
My mother and I will be spending time together indoors, watching holiday movies and cooking all of our favorite dishes.
Pinterest has become our handy-dandy ?cooking buddy.
You might know that Pinterest has become a plethora of foodies and simplified recipes. And if you haven’t, I’m happy to have enlightened you.
Cheesy buffalo dip, peppermint cookies and pumpkin French toast are just a few items that have caught my eye.
I like to print off recipes from the site and file them in my own cookbook (an old binder from school) for kitchen use. You can look at everything on your computer, but just try scrolling on a laptop when you have sticky dough fingers.
You won’t regret winding down after hours of baking to a good book with a stomach full of your own, hopefully tasty, handiwork.
So this year, add a cookbook to your holiday reading.
Take a swing at making an experimental dish to add to Turkey Day.
You might just start what could eventually become a new tradition.
maehogan@indiana.edu
