I stayed on campus over spring break, and while I had a great time binge-watching “Parks and Recreation” (again) and revisiting the same parts of the city that I’ve been to dozens of times because they’re the only places realistically accessible by public transportation or bike, I did run into trouble when it came to food.

Going out to eat for two or three meals every day was way too expensive, so I cooked dinner for myself and ate leftovers whenever I could.  The first thing I made was a type of spaghetti that my mom’s side of my family always made when I was growing up. It goes great with pizza or parmesan chicken or pretty much anything, and my cousins and I love it. It also has five ingredients (not counting seasonings) and is really easy to make.

First, I got out my largest pot and started boiling water to cook my spaghetti. While that was boiling (which was about a half-hour because dorm kitchens), I chopped up half a bunch of parsley (stems removed) and four medium-sized cloves of garlic. I chopped the garlic very finely but just kind of smashed my knife down on the parsley because it doesn’t have to be evenly cut.

When the water was boiling, I put in my spaghetti and let it cook until it was al dente, about ten or so minutes. Then I drained the pasta and left it in a colander and cleaned out the pot. I put it back on the stove and set it to low heat. Then I put in about two tablespoons of butter and the parsley and the garlic, some salt and pepper, and drizzled in some olive oil. I wanted the butter-parsley-garlic-oil mixture to be able to coat all the strands of spaghetti, so I kept adding olive oil until there was enough olive oil and butter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan.

I let the parsley and garlic cook until the former was dark green and wilted and the latter was starting to brown a bit and giving off a good aroma. Then I added in the spaghetti and turned off the heat and tossed the pasta with a fork so that it was all evenly coated in the mixture. When I was about to go eat it, I realized that this would go realllllly well with some grated parmesan cheese, but I didn’t have any so I just ate it cheese-free on my bed and wished with every bite that my mom was the one who had to go back into the kitchen to wash dishes instead of me. But it was still buttery and garlicky and delicious and tasted like home, and together with a dose of Leslie Knope it chased away my spring-break-blues.