dilettante, dabbler, novice, amateur, or whatever.

My name is Megha. I go to school in Austin, Texas, which is one of the weirdest and greatest places on earth. I am a psychology major, a lover of food, and a dabbler in the art of cooking. You’re probably asking, “Don’t you have better things to do than start a blog, like say, trying to get into graduate school?” Okay, okay, I can’t argue with that. I do have a million and a half things on my plate from an on-campus job to an upcoming summer semester at Oxford University. However, nothing in this world breaks my heart more than horrible, bland, tasteless, college cafeteria food.

Freshman fifteen? I haven’t heard of that. Oh, you must be talking about the freshman THIRTY.

During my freshman year of college I was completely clueless, to say the least. I was eating pints of chunky monkey for dinner (and hey now, it wasn’t always because I had been stood up and forced to spend another lonely night creeping on facebook). I felt too rushed, too exhausted, and too tired to bother with the daunting task of finding healthy food to eat. I scrounged around for a meal whenever I had a moment to breathe. I was depressed and feeling absolutely terrible about myself. And if there was good food out there, I certainly didn’t know how to find it or even what to do with it.

So many students seem to think that just because we are poor, unfairly busy, and beyond stressed out, we can't eat healthy and delicious food. I am here to prove that you don’t need to be a chef to eat well and that you CAN make quick, simple, and healthy food without spending an arm and a leg or slaving away for hours in the kitchen.

The moment I moved into my apartment, I started cooking food. No. Actually, I started falling in love with food. I no longer needed a giant plate to satisfy my taste buds, because the big flavor was all in the few simple, quality ingredients I was using. I was shedding weight, spending less money, and learning more and more about the fine art of preparing food. I began to appreciate simply cooked asparagus with a drizzle of olive oil, a dash of cracked black pepper, and a sprinkling of salt more than a bowl of ramen noodles or easy mac.

Thankfully, I have an inspiring mother who taught me to use food as a therapeutic form of expression. She has shown me how relaxing, enjoyable, and utterly rewarding preparing your own food can be. She is the creative chef who inspires me to cook every day.

"Cooking is an adventure, so have fun with it," my mother always tells me. 

So this, my friends, is my adventure.