Food Is Her Forte

SYRACUSE, N.Y., Feb. 11, 2009 -- One part scientist, two parts food enthusiast and one part magician -- that's the recipe for 21-year-old Carolyn Meitzner, a senior advertising major whose true passion lies within the kitchen.

"I use all kinds of recipes and I try to use recipes that use some technique I've never used before so I learn something new every time I cook," she said.

Her repertoire ranges from avocado and brie dips to beef roast and cheesecake. Cheesecake is her favorite. She said she's always had an interest in cooking but it wasn't until she went abroad, during her junior year of college, that she was bitten by the gourmet bug.

"The first thing I made in London was meat sauce. I realized I needed to make something for dinner and that's all I knew how to make," she said.

From necessity and interest, grew talent and passion. She used the experience of living on her own, with a kitchen and different foods, to try to make other dishes. Her next experiment was something London is known for: rice pudding.

"I remember being at the grocery store and seeing boxes saying 'perfect for rice pudding' and I was so excited to try and make it, because I love it," she said.

Although the texture of her pudding didn't turn out the way she expected, she didn't stop there. Meitzner said that the absence of salsa in London led her to make a lot of her own and that the availability of a wide variety of salmon was why she cooked a lot of fish dishes.

Since then, cooking and baking have become a way of life, setting her apart from her classmates.

"I often decide to spend money on ingredients instead of going out. It's not that I don't enjoy going out and socializing with my friends, but a lot of the time I think about it and it's like?'Chuck's bar? Or brie?' Usually it's brie," she said.

And while many college students would make a boxed cake for a friend's birthday, Meitzner said she finds it more fun to bake from scratch. She said it's because she loves to try new things and challenge herself.

"My mom asked me, 'what would you like for Christmas?' and I was like 'a creme brule torch would be cool.' I know that's such a weird thing to ask for," she said.

Many of Meitzner's recipes come from Web sites; others from family favorites. Either way, she said she loves to experiment and make each meal her own, creating a little magic out of the ingredients.

"The first time I do a recipe, I'll follow all the directions and measurements, but pretty much after that I just measure everything by eye," Meitzner said.