Welcome to The Eye’s quarantine cookbook! In this collection of recipes, memories, and stories, staff members of The Eye have contributed dishes that they have been enjoying during the quarantine. These recipes not only result in tasty meals and treats, but also hold special meaning to each staffer. We hope these recipes below will speak to you and bring you comfort during these uncertain times.

Home Sweet Harlem feels like chef and owner Donna Lewis’s home. The brick walls are lined with modern artwork by black artists, while the pale yellow backroom showcases old framed photographs. Lewis’ menu—which offers Southern food like homemade pancakes, fresh buttermilk biscuits, and salmon croquettes—exudes a similar sense of comfort.

As I sat in my hot car on a sunny morning, eager to surprise my boyfriend with homemade cinnamon rolls, I had no idea that he had a much grimmer surprise for me.

Chirping cranes, buzzing jackhammers, and the singsong of truck backup alarms are the sounds that Matt Reid has been waking up to since the start of Columbia’s Manhattanville construction, which began in 2009. Reid is a resident of 3333 Broadway, a 35-story apartment complex directly adjacent to the north side of Columbia's Manhattanville campus construction site.

Every year when the temperatures start to dwindle, the leaves discard their beautiful spectrum of sunset shades, and the noise of chirping birds begins to fade, my heart sinks a little. But it’s the Sunday when I have to turn back my clock that I despise more than anything else.

Sixteen years ago, adorned in a striped, velvet academic gown, Lee Bollinger walked down the steps of Low Library—his first steps as president of the University. I wonder if the words of distinguished guest Kofi Annan, who spoke just minutes before, were ringing in his head as he walked to the microphone for his inaugural speech.