Back to School

It’s probably just the time of year, but I find myself actually missing school these days. I just read a post on The Kitchn about spicing up college cafeteria food and suddenly I was back in my own college cafeteria. I remember very vividly the smells, the trays, the gray and mauve decorating scheme, the card swipers, figuring out where to sit… I was a vegetarian for most of my college years and went to school in the South, where they put meat in green beans, so most of my lunches consisted of veggie and cheese sandwiches from the sandwich bar. And I always, always, drank raspberry iced tea. I’d almost forgotten about this until I ordered one at a restaurant a couple weeks ago and realized it tasted like “college.”


I know my college days weren’t all light and fun and happy, even though that’s how I remember them. I struggled seriously in my first semester with my chosen major (biochemistry—that didn’t last!) and homesickness. Although I had quite a few friends and friendly acquaintances, I mostly felt like an outcast at my happy/sunny/preppy Christian college. I had a dark, sarcastic sense of humor, I liked “secular” music, movies, and TV, I devoured fashion magazines and design blogs instead of the Bible (okay, I’m not a total heathen—I read the Bible, too), my clothing choices leaned toward the thrift-store indie-rocker look. I am by nature a loner and this was only emphasized at college. I probably looked lonely and pathetic to an outsider, but you know what? I enjoyed eating by myself most days, reading a favorite book or magazine and observing the people around me. I liked spending afternoons dawdling in the library, finding a forgotten corner to hole up in and read books that weren’t required for class. I liked spending fall evenings strolling through the small town adjacent to the college. It’s strange to think that there will never be another time like this in my life. The next time I get excited/scared about college, it will be in 17 years when my daughter goes. I don’t have the luxury of loneliness anymore. I have a husband and daughter to be accountable to, who will worry if I go off by myself for too long. Don’t get me wrong, I love that my Saturday nights are now filled with hanging out with Josh, watching movies, drinking wine, and making dinner together. But every once in a while, I’d like to return to my college days with a lonely evening eating a cheese and veggie sandwich, watching Freaks & Geeks with some vending machine snacks, followed by a stroll through someone else’s neighborhood, getting glimpses through living room windows of the life that I now have.

So, in honor of college, a “recipe” for another sandwich I often had for lunch after I moved into an on-campus apartment and had a real kitchen.

Ingredients:

Pre-sliced honey wheat bread, preferably Kroger brand (if they still make this)
Your favorite baking apple, cored and sliced
Some havarti cheese, sliced (dill is good, plain is fine)
Butter
Maple syrup
Salt and pepper

Place sliced apples on a foil-lined toaster oven tray. Dot each slice with a little butter, drizzle with maple syrup, and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Bake in toaster oven, turning once, until apples are soft when pierced with a knife. Place apples on a slice of bread, drizzling with any leftover juices in the tray. Top with havarti and another slice of bread. Wait, if you have time between classes, to eat until the cheese has softened and melted a little bit from contact with the warm apples. Enjoy with some Dijon kettle chips and raspberry iced tea. Have some chocolate chip cookies (from your care package from mom!) for dessert.