I woke up this morning to a campus transformed by the night’s snowfall; finally, a delicate coating of white powder covered the barren black trees, a fitting conclusion to December’s first full week. Correspondingly, my toothsome Driscoll lunch was an appropriate end to both my first semester classes, and my allotted dining hall appearances for the week—indeed, ten meals has carried me only to Thursday as of late. The 11:20-12:35 time slot left me starving, per usual, and I was overcome with a wave of ecstasy when I entered Driscoll’s lunch line to find my favorite menu selection.

Savory satisfaction need not look any further than the rich portabella mushroom burgers. These decadent units consist of delicately toasted rosemary flatbread layered with juicy marinated mushroom slices, sweet caramelized onions, and jalapeno cheddar, topped with a sizable dollop of creamy red pepper aioli. Each bite bursts with a complex combination of umami tastes, providing the fortunate diner with a lusciously textured and flavorful experience. On any given day, the barbeque lentils atop brown rice similarly satisfy my constant, unabated hunger for quality eats. Bound by a base that harnesses the flavor of Middle Eastern spices, the thick, clumpy lentil combination interacts with each rice unit so that every forkful promises to be a heterogeneous mixture of both sweet and savory taste, and firm and mushy texture. The golden macaroni and cheese was the final hearty component of my midday meal—possessing the creaminess I had been craving, the decadent globs of cheese-coated pasta tubes and tender sausage chunks fused together in a most tantalizing fashion. When constructing individual forkfuls, I make sure to consume bites of macaroni with the delicious roasted vegetables. A varied medley of finely sliced carrots, onion slivers, broccoli florets, and succulent mushroom slices, the whole mixture is seasoned to perfection and then roasted so that each individual vegetable piece retains some crunch while developing a semi-soft consistency. I relish the curried cauliflower florets equally, their vibrant yellow color a testimony to the intense cumin flavor that seeps into their textured, once-white surface. Although not pictured here, the butternut squash bisque was another cornerstone of my meal. I revel in the creamy light orange puree, the consistency of the squash body creating a silky smooth liquid that fuses divinely with my taste buds. The velvety solution coats the small oyster crackers I add in, infusing them with earthy flavor and saturating each one with the rich liquid. Indeed, the arrival of the snow and wintry weather renders me powerless against the comfort of hot, hearty eats.