Kevin Boyd explains that it's easier to be a vegan in Ithaca (or at least easier then you think!)

This week, straight back from Spring Break, Kevin Boyd brings you his grandmother's Nuts and Bolts mix recipe.

In Harry Flager's debut article, he explains how to make desserts using materials found in the average Cornell dorm.

If I could count all the chocolate chip cookies that I’ve eaten in my lifetime, it would probably worry me.

I find that the people who live in the countries bordering the Mediterranean created a lot of my favorite foods. Most of these, including hummus, pita and yogurt, are super-easy to make and incredibly delicious. A few, like tiramisu, are a bit more intense, but still can be successfully attempted by a novice. Baklava, on the other hand, was something that I was really leery about making.

Here in the good old U S of A, we have a flavor problem. As every fourth-grader knows, humans have four basic taste bud regions on our tongue: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. OK, that’s not right — in addition to there being a fifth flavor, the savory protein taste known as umami, the old idea of regions is pretty much bogus.

As the end of the semester approaches, I occasionally feel the need to peel myself out of my desk chair and stumble downstairs in search of sustenance to keep me studying. All too often, this progresses into chilling in the kitchen with my housemates and whiling away the hours with un-tethered grazing.

Thanksgiving is next week, and that means that most of the country will be going into a food coma over a smorgasbord of once-a-year delights. This leaves me with a whole range of seasonal things to write about, but one of my absolute favorites that really only comes around at this time of year is cranberries.

Dear Cornell Dining,

This semester, I have found that the muffin selection in most of the campus eateries has been substantially less diverse than in the past. This morning, I intended to take advantage of the Jumbo Muffin Deal in Duffield’s Mattin’s Cafe but found that all that was available were the following flavors: Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Chocolate Chip and Blueberry.

Now, don’t get me wrong, these are all pretty tasty. However, the first ingredient in these, as well as in the Butter Rum, Peaches and Cream and most other varieties, is "vanilla creme cake mix" (aside, of course, from the chocolate chocolate chip, which had "chocolate creme cake mix" instead).

I’m always amazed when people tell me that they can’t cook. First of all, that is one dangerous assertion to make around people of the opposite sex — the ability to create delicious food, particularly for another person, is extremely attractive, so no points for you, Mr. Easy Mac. Secondly, why not? Unless you grew up living entirely off of street vendors and takeout or live in an apartment where entering the kitchen is a health hazard, you have had a place to cook at your disposal all of your life.

So even though you will attempt exclamations of lack of time in your defense, there is really no excuse for not being able to put together something that didn’t come entirely from a box, can or dining hall.