There’s a reason why it’s called comfort food. In times of stress, it’s almost a given that humans turn to food to provide a tasty source or relief, distraction, or escape. And, as it has been made abundantly clear in both the news media and social media in 2020, this has been a year when all of us have been seeking and finding comfort in all kinds of foods.
The Westover community has been no exception.
Not One, But Two Cookbooks
It started this spring, when “A Taste of Westover” cookbook was first assembled.
“The cookbook came about as an addition to the graduation boxes that were presented to the members of the Class of 2020,” said Heather Capitanio, Director of Residential Life.
The senior graduation task force had come up with the idea as another keepsake for the class from their time at Westover, said Tammara Gary, the Associate Director of Admission who also serves as Senior Class Dean. Tammara assembled the mini-collection that featured seven recipes for some of the favorite snacks dorm faculty have offered boarders.
The contributors included Sarah Mannella, Maggie Nunez Fernandez, Regina Pederson, and Megan Vojack-Weeks, as well as Aramark Dining Services. The recipes included ones for Maggie’s fritos maduros (fried ripe plantains), Megan’s lemon bars, Regina’s apple cake, Sarah’s cake mix cookies, and the Dining Services’ Westover apple squares.
A second variation of the recipe collection — now called “The Little Cookbook of Quarantine Cuisine” — was assembled this fall, with a couple new recipes added alongside several of those included in the spring edition.
“This fall, we decided to send it to all our boarders with our care packages when they couldn’t return,” Heather explained. “Kira DeSimone took on the job of editing it and transforming it into a pandemic cookbook.”
Kira shared two of their favorite recipes— one for garlic knots and another for a “dirt cake.” It also included a couple blank pages for students to add their own favorite recipes.
One beloved recipe that was featured in both versions of the cookbook is for a legendary snack that has been a favorite on corridor for almost two decades — Erica’s Dip, first introduced by former dorm faculty Erica Pesce.
As an inscription on the Quarantine Cuisine collection noted, “This cookbook is our way of bringing a little piece of corridor to you. We miss you all and can’t wait until we can share a snack with you soon!”
A Faculty Tradition
At Westover, a love of cooking and baking is not just found in the dormitory corridors. A number of faculty and staff have been finding solace from the pressures of pandemic life in their kitchens.
For long-time Spanish instructor Susan Loyd Turner, however, the pandemic didn’t necessarily serve as new-found source of inspiration for preparing treats for students and colleagues at Westover. Susan has actually distributed baked goods within the School community for years.
When students would gather in the Common Room on Wednesday evenings for Peer Support (now known as Pals), Susan would regularly provide them with plates of brownies, cookies, and other baked treats. She also would bring in sweets for her classes on occasion, and she’s been known to bring in cookies for the maintenance crew after they had been out for hours early clearing the School’s driveways and paths after a snowstorm.
Although Susan hasn’t been bringing in treats this fall to School, she and her husband, John — a gifted cook in his own right — have been kept busy in their free time during the pandemic by spending more time preparing baked goods and meals for friends, neighbors, local food pantries, and other charitable organizations.
As Susan noted, “I am trying to put all the energy I am using in baking by making it helpful for someone else. It usually puts a smile one someone’s face.”
Reconnecting With Baking
Before Tom Juvan became an English teacher, he had another career of sorts as a baker — largely, at least at first, out of necessity.
“After I graduated from the University of Vermont with my degree in English,” Tom recalled, “there was nary a job to be found in Burlington which had anything to do with my degree. No surprises there. But a local deli/bakery was looking for a bread baker, and thus began my intermittent professional life as a baker.”
“All told,” Tom said, “I spent about 3-1/2 years baking — in Vermont for 1-1/2 years, then San Francisco for a year at the Tassajara bread bakery. During my PhD program I took a year off and baked again up in Middlebury, Vermont. The places I worked really ran the gamut in scale, and while I also did croissants, muffins, and other minor pastry (nothing fancy like cakes! That’s a whole other world!), bread was mainstay.”
It could also be a demanding way to make a living. “One of my jobs was actually baking all the bread for a couple of delis,” Tom said. “I went in at around 10 pm and baked through the night so the loaves would be ready in the morning.”
But Tom also found much to love in his work in the bakeries. “Something that I always found immensely rewarding as a baker was the tactile, hands-on activity of baking,” he said. “Kneading dough, shaping loaves, and the coaxing along of what is a living organism: very satisfying. It formed a kind of polar opposite to the highly intellectual activity of academia — probably why I needed to retreat to it from Brown for a year.”
More recently, Tom said, “I would bake bread at home from time to time, but not on any regular basis. And I never tackled sourdough at home, largely because the whole process of feeding and discarding starter felt so wasteful to me. Committing the time to regular baking just never seemed feasible.”
That changed, however, just before the onset of the pandemic, thanks to a gift of some starter from an alumna, Joscie Norris ’16. After doing some research, Tom said, “I found that I could keep the starter in the fridge and feed it only when I was going to use it for baking.”
And so, Tom said, “I adapted for my use a weekly baking schedule that I’ve pretty much kept up with since last January: two loaves every weekend. It works out fine because much of the time is just spent with the levain (the sourdough starter) and then the bread rising, so it really takes pretty minimal attention and effort.”
As a baker, Tom added, “I’m kind of a purist and so have not really done anything, other than experiment with some sourdough cinnamon rolls one weekend. The results were delicious, but the process was more fussy than anything I would want to do often. However, I was planning to try a cinnamon swirl loaf with one of my loaves soon, possibly this weekend!”
“Baking is wonderfully satisfying to me because of its leisurely pace, which I find calming and peaceful. I do all the cooking in the family, too, and I find that gives me a similar feeling.”
A New Cuisine From A New Colleague
This fall, Eva Zegarra joined Westover as the Assistant Director of Admissions. In addition to her professional experience in independent schools, she also is bringing to Westover a background in the culinary arts from a different corner of the world.
“I was born in Lima, Peru,” Eva said, “and therefore raised in a household filled with Peruvian cooks. Even when my family and I moved from Peru to the U.S. when I was eight, my mother always made sure to continue cooking traditional Peruvian dishes on a daily basis. Although, she did try to make a lasagna here or there,” Eva recalled, “Peruvian food was definitely more of her expertise.”
“My favorite recipe to make is called Lomo Saltado de Bistec — also known as Steak Stir Fry. It typically combines marinated strips of sirloin with onions, tomatoes, french fries, and cilantro, along with other spices served over white Jasmin rice.”
“I try to make Lomo Saltado at least once a month for myself and my boyfriend,” Eva added, “or whenever I am missing home cooking.”
In addition, she also tries other Peruvian recipes like Papa la Huancaina — a Peruvian appetizer of boiled yellow potatoes in a spicy, creamy sauce called huancaína sauce — or Ceviche, typically made from fresh raw fish cured in fresh citrus juices, and spiced with ají, chili peppers or other seasonings including chopped onions, salt, and coriander.
Asked if she would consider sharing her favorite foods with colleagues and students once Westover settles into a post-pandemic life, Eva replied, “I absolutely would! I love sharing Peruvian food with others, especially since there is such a variety of flavors and recipes to explore. Even for people with limiting diets or flavor palettes, there is a meal for everyone there.”
