More Students Can Cook on Their Own

Brittany Wong, Asst. A & E Editor

They may admit to a willingness to sit back and let their mamas do all the work in the kitchen, but plenty of PCC students are making tentative headway in their cooking endeavors.

Take Charles Erickson, a 19-year-old fashion major, who, with the unshakable certainty of a sous chef, said he cooks “anything and everything.” He’s particularly ace at BBQ. His friend, Chris Rodriguez, a 20-year-old English/pre-law major had to give his best efforts in the kitchen some thought.

“My specialty is probably Mexican food and that goes for breakfast and dinner. Everything we know, the moms taught us,” he said, motioning a thumb towards Erickson. Rodriquez recalled one occasion when he put his manly cooking skills to the test for a girlfriend.

“It went over very well. She said she liked it. Then again, she might have been lying. But I thought it was delicious,” he said. Katheryn Bryant, a 19-year-old business major, cooks for her family. “I cook on the weekends, for my grandma who’s sick. For her, I make things like stir-fry with very little salt. My best dish is salmon croquet, though. It’s like a crab cake, but instead of crab inside, it’s salmon.

There’s no real recipe, it’s just my dad in the kitchen showing me what to do, step-by-step. You cut up the fish, chop the bell pepper, ball it up, oil, and season it,” she said. Buddies Muhammad Boulraly, Bernard Lacombe and Robert Zilly corroborated on each other’s cooking inexperience. “I don’t have time,” said Boulraly, an 18-year-old business major.

“I don’t know how,” added 19-year-old architecture student Lacombe. Laughing, 18-year-old business major Zilly lent his friends an excuse: “The kitchen is not in our room. It’s our parents’ room. It’s too far away.” Still, for all their defenses, the trio said they’re able to cook pasta and rice. Camilo Baca, 22, undeclared, scores free six inch sandwiches at the Subway he works at, so cooking isn’t a necessity, he said. Has he learned anything from his time as a sandwich artist?

“Nothing about cooking, but I have learned about profits: how one little glop of mayonnaise is considered precious by the company and how we’re only supposed to put like, there olives on each sub.” Michelle Gao, a 19-year-old economics major calls herself a seasonal cook. “It depends on whether it’s the holiday season or not, but also on what I have in the kitchen. I like to cook what myboyfriend likes.”

Gao, who counts chicken curry among her best dishes, has a few cooking guidelines: “Buy organic food, so you don’t gain weight. Use less MSG and less oil. Don’t overcook anything, so you won’t get sick,” she said. Britain McHorter, a 19-year-old fire technology major, enjoys cooking for himself.“I just cooked chicken today. It was pretty good.

Later on, I made cereal and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”For cooking novices, McHorter has a few suggestions: “Never leave the stove on, don’t burn your food, and once you get started, don’t let your friends know you’re cooking or else they’re all going to be over asking for some.”