“The Cook’s Nook,” a place where the cooks of fraternity houses prepare meals for starving boys. While most parents only have to deal with a few guys at most in a single house, fraternity cooks have to prepare food for 50 guys between the ages of 18 and 22, which is not always easy.

Sigma Phi Epsilon’s cook, Lisa Ranck, has been working at the house for 5 years. When asked what exactly she does at the house, she says she is a “chief cook, bottle washer, and butt kicker.” Not only this, but Lisa always gives the boys advice on topics ranging from disease and illness to issues dealing with girls. Any problem the boys have with topics they are not knowledgeable in, one of them being how clean stains out of shirts, Lisa is always there to help. She is the house mom of Sig Ep and always looks out for the best interest in everyone.

She says, “It is difficult to get people to understand that the kitchen has to stay clean for health and food safety reasons. There are too many diseases that go around from unsanitary conditions. Taking out the trash is a big issue!” Sig Ep is not the only house where late night grilled cheese sandwiches are made and a mess is created afterwards. A fraternity house after a Friday or Saturday night is not a pretty sight.

Although Lisa has to deal with all these shenanigans of messy boys, she says the best part about the job is that she feeds them when they are hungry and they appreciate it. Lisa comes to the house for lunch and dinner Monday- Friday. The boys are on their own for the weekends, except for Sundays when she comes in to make them dinner for chapter.

Lisa arrives at the house around 8:30 A. M. to start with minor clean ups and then prepares for lunch, which is ready at 11:30. The food of choice for lunch in the house is Reuben or Rachel, which is corn beef, Thousand Island dressing, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese all grilled on rye bread, or you can substitute it with turkey and coleslaw. For dinner, which goes out at 4:30 every day, the boys prefer chicken parm with whole wheat pasta (by request of the health nuts in the house), steak and fries, or barbeque chicken and mac and cheese. You can say that the boys are spoiled when it comes to their meals, with a large variety of food that you can’t find in the dining commons.

Cooks make fraternity houses complete. Next time you whip up a creation of your own in your kitchen, think about the other people that live with you. Cleaning up after yourself not only benefits you and others, but it makes the cooks happy as well, and after all where would you all be without them?!

Lisa’s advice to all: “Life is an adventure not a journey, ride it like you stole it.”