Garlic. Enough Said.

This weekend was pretty good. I love living in a building where people just come to hangout. I hate to say this, but living at the Wesley Foundation makes my friendships effortless.

Friday started out like any other Friday. I finished my classes early, exercised a bit, then got ready for the day. Then, out of the blue, I had a huge urge to cook something that I could share with people. So, I had to do the only logical first step I could think of... call Loran Luehr. For those of you who don't know my dear friend Loran, she is a Nutrition major. She loves every aspect of food; cooking it, eating it, sharing it. Just the thought of making food that is meant for more than one person to eat makes her giddy. I called Loran and told her the plan to make a communal dinner for the people at Wesley, and She was on board at the word go. "What did you cook?" you may ask. Well, I decided to make Bugna Cauda. This is the best dish my Grandma Emling makes for my family. The fact that it is so simple and everyone just shares one central pan in the middle of the table just makes it a single dish that defines the word family.
So we had the food and we had the people. The only problem was one of the four ingredients in Bunga Cauda. My fear of creating this dish for the first time was realized when I put the cans of anchovies in the cart at walmart and Taylor Wilson just about fainted. I was cooking for college kids. Not only do most of the people I was cooking for not eat anchovies, but half of them would gag at the first sight of a fillet. After seeing Taylor's reaction to the unmentionable fishies, I decided to swear Taylor and Loran to secracy and not tell anyone about the anchovies. That lasted two seconds... Loran of course let it slip to her boyfriend. But surprisingly, not too many people found out. While preparing the meal, I was surrounded by memories at my Grandma's house when she makes it for me. Just the smell of garlic wafting throughout the Wesley Foundation made me feel at home. It was probably the 13 cloves of garlic that I put into both pans of Bugna Cauda that helped me accomplish this, but I felt like I was among family.
This semester I'm not going to be traveling home up in northern Illinois too often, which is a huge change from last semester. It feels weird to be separated from my family for such a long time. As I stay down here at school and grow closer to all of my friends, I realize that they are a second family. I hate to get all sentimental, but it is a family that is there for me when my parents and sister can't physically be here. The weekend was great because I was able to just relax, play board and wii games, hang out, and just be with friends. I am greatful for the fact that I can share a home cooked meal with all of them, even if we all reek of garlic when we are done.

       go crazy and share something with someone,
                Bethany