Six months ago, as I sat at home eagerly awaiting my return to Yale, my thoughts centered on Jonathan Edwards, my residential college. I couldn’t wait to live next to the courtyard again, where I could watch leaves turn from my window. I couldn’t wait to eat in the dining hall again—from home, I longed for Taco Tuesdays, Sunday brunch shakshuka, and the daily variety of soups. Most of all, I couldn’t wait to see my friends again, to reunite after our unceremonious goodbye before spring break last semester.
Needless to say, the next few months didn’t turn out as expected, and in the wake of the ongoing pandemic, I am living off-campus for this school year. But I’ve found that even though I can no longer see the JE courtyard from my window, I have still managed to find JE in my apartment, where I live with a few fellow Spiders (our nickname for JE students). And though we cannot eat in our beloved dining hall, we’ve tried to recreate the experience by cooking many of our meals together.
In this post, I’ll take you through some of the meals I ate in a week living off-campus and introduce you to their chefs, some of my best friends. We’ve had some delicious highs and some not-so-delicious lows. But as has been the case for the past few years, we’ve shared everything together.
JE takes on Yale-Harvard 2019!
RECIPE 1: Max’s stir-fry pork with onions
Max lived next door to me our first year. Our suites were connected by a fire door that did not lock, so seeing Max in our suite or hanging out in his was a frequent, and comforting, occurrence. In two years, I’ve come to appreciate Max for his dependability, easy-going nature, wise advice, and willingness to listen. But until a few weeks ago, I didn’t know he was such a great cook!
On Saturday night, Max made a delicious stir-fry shredded pork with onions.
Instructions: Use a wok or big pan. Cook sliced onions in oil for a 2 min while stirring, then take them out. Take a spoonful of Sichuan pixian broad bean paste and cook it in new oil for 30 seconds. Add shredded/sliced pork and continuously stir. When pork is still a little red, add onions back in and add dark soy sauce. Add scallions to garnish.
Profile of Max:
Hometown: Corvallis, Oregon
Favorite JE memory: housing lottery (Max loves drama)
Favorite dining hall food: chicken tikka masala
Max’s shredded pork is on the far left and far right. Apologies for the half-eaten food (we got a bit too eager).
RECIPE 2: Niyati’s chicken curry
Niyati and I have shared just about every memory together since we became suitemates our first year. Unlike Max, I’ve always known Niyati is a great cook. I’ve visited her home in Queens multiple times, where her family has treated me to a delectable assortment of Nepali foods. And, early on in our first year, Niyati made kimchi fried rice in the JE kitchen as I watched and, uh, provided moral support. On Friday for lunch, Niyati made this delicious chicken curry that she calls a “lazy chicken curry.”
I’d like to note, though, that cooking is far from Niyati’s only talent: she’s an amazing dancer, shares the best Tik Toks, always makes me laugh, and will do anything to fight for her friends or what she believes in.
Instructions: Fry chicken until brown. Add onions and fry until translucent. Add ginger and garlic. Add the following spices: cumin powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, and a bit of garam masala. Add, in this order: green chilis, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Add desired amount of water, then let cook until you get thicker gravy. Garnish with cilantro
Profile of Niyati:
Hometown: Queens, New York
Favorite JE memory: the special Thanksgiving meal
Favorite dining hall food: the special Thanksgiving meal x2
Niyati’s chicken curry.
RECIPE 3: Gabby and my… uh… cauliflower concoction
Gabby and I have also been suitemates since first year. We have spent many hours in our common room—and now, our living room/kitchen—talking about anything and everything; one minute she can bring up a super profound thought about politics or religion that will make me question everything I know, and the next, she’ll say something silly to make me laugh.
Fun fact: Gabby and I share a birthday and zodiac sign! But I guess the stars did not mean for us Leos to be cooks in the kitchen. On this day, we had no Max or Niyati, so we were left to scrape together something on our own. Enter: fajita seasoning cauliflower.
Instructions: Cut up cauliflower. In a mixing bowl (or a wok, if, like us, you don’t have a large mixing bowl), mix together cauliflower with a healthy dose of fajita seasoning. Cook in an air fryer at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Enjoy…? (If you have low-quality tastebuds like me, it will be edible. A good dousing of sriracha helps.)
Profile of Gabby:
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Favorite JE memory: snowball fight in the courtyard (until she got hit in the face)
Favorite dining hall food: lobster that they had at our JE spring picnic
Live action shot of Gabby mixing cauliflower in a wok because we didn’t have a big bowl.
I feel so grateful that the wonders of the Yale housing process brought Max, Niyati, Gabby, and all the other friends I’ve met through JE into my life. In a normal Yale experience, the physical space of a residential college is all-important: the suite common rooms, the courtyards, the dining halls. But this semester has revealed that JE transcends its boundaries of High Street and York Street. The shared meals, shared laughs, and friendships—the home it has come to embody—can truly go anywhere.
