BY APOLLINE BERTY

In print | Published November 6, 2008 — Updated January 11, 2009 12:44

“Cream dried beef biscuits,” “vegetarian vegetable,” “blintz bar,” “old-fashioned meatloaf,” “patty grilla bar,” and, let’s not forget, “pasta bar.” These delicacies are all available at Sharples, your all-campus food source. But don’t be intimidated by these incomprehensible terms; there are alternatives available to you at Sharples. For those times when the lines are too long because everybody decides to have lunch at the same time on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there is a salad bar, a sandwich bar, two panini presses and a wok. There are other options besides cereal, and here are some toothsome delicacies and tips by our own Swarthmorean chefs.

Tired of the meals Sharples had to offer, Esther Burson ’10 looked into the cafeteria’s other facilities. “I think I just got tired of the options that were there everyday … and I realized that it doesn’t take much more time to get creative,” she said. Burson cooks a good deal at home but hadn’t thought of doing the same in Sharples until after freshmen year, when she decided that it was more varied and healthier for her to make her own food. Whenever Burson goes to Sharples, she first makes a round and scouts for unusual or different foods or ingredients. “I don’t think I’m particularly creative, I just try to work with what Sharples has. It really depends on what they have on a given day,” she explained. Her default, though, is to check out the salad bar and get ingredients for a sandwich, salad, or stir-fry.

When making a stir-fry, Burson cuts up vegetables — broccoli, onions, mushrooms, peppers — and after warming up the wok and adding some water, she steams them for a couple of minutes, adding soy sauce or other seasoning. To make fried rice, also using the wok, she beats an egg, acquired at the grill, and scrambles it. Burson then adds brown rice, usually found at the vegetarian bar, and mixes it in with some peas or corn. One of Burson’s favorite salads includes mixed greens, sliced apple, raisins, feta cheese, and sunflower seeds. For a sandwich, Burson recommends adding hummus, and whatever other interesting ingredient you can find, as well as using the panini press. “Any sandwich is better with heat,” Burson said. Her current favorite is making a grilled cheese sandwich with sharp cheddar and an egg from the grill.

The grill is another great resource at Sharples, serving up fast food options every day and making omelets on weekends with ingredients from the other food stations brought by students. Sarah Reece’11 and Megan Colombo’11 prefer to use the wok to make their own omelets, however. “We make our own omelets, because at the grill they don’t use real eggs, they use the ones in cartons,” they both explained.

Sundays and Wednesdays, Sharples brings Swarthmore students additional ingredients to work with: chocolate chips and M&M’s from ice cream bar. With these, Nicole Singer ’10 and Myles Dakan ’10 make “Banana Boats,” a campfire dessert Singer learned from a friend. “I came up with the idea to make it in Sharples when I saw that sundae bar conveniently supplied all the ingredients, and that the rungs of the toaster ovens happen to be the perfect distance apart for baking bananas,” Singer wrote in an email response. To make this delicious dessert, according to Singer, get a banana, pull back the strip of its peel on the inside of the banana’s curve, but do not detach it. Scoop out about 1/3 of the banana lengthwise, and stuff with marshmallows and chocolate chips; toffee, peanut butter, and M&M’s could also work as scrumptious alternatives. Put the peel back in its original place, covering the stuffings, and place the banana in the toaster oven, making sure that both the top and bottom elements are turned on. Once the peel turns black, the banana boat is ready to eat.
Another original make-it-yourself-dessert is sautéed apples. Back to the wok, Burson melts butter, then adds cut apples and raisins and when the apple becomes soft, sugar and cinnamon.

To learn other recipes adapted for our cafeteria, a student cookbook is available at Sharples, to peruse and add on to.

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