{shortcode-74c9c725dd9fe1f58e7172ae202cebdf32796d17}It’s 1:20 p.m. on a Wednesday. I’m only five minutes into my lecture, and I’m already bored out of my mind. I also happen to feel a bit peckish. My next move? Pulling up the HUDS online menu. Oh, HUDS menu, which I love just enough that I type you into Google two times a day but not enough to actually bookmark, how I could ramble on about your wonderfulness. And so I will!

Its Reliability

Hungry late at night and want to know what Brain Break has to offer? The HUDS menu is there for you. Feeling cold and a little sick and wanting soup? The HUDS menu is there for you. Want to pretend you’re busy on your phone as you avoid a semi-stranger semi-acquaintance’s gaze? The HUDS menu is there for you. The HUDS menu never fails you, and it should be applauded for that.

How it Fosters Exploration

Sometimes, knowing what I’m going to have for dinner that day isn’t enough. Sometimes, I want to know what I’m going to have for dinner in six days. And the HUDS menu lets me do that. The HUDS website always has the answers, and the answers are (usually) delicious.

Plus, when I do my obligatory daily browse, I often find food options that I wouldn’t otherwise know were available — or even existed. I’m not ashamed to admit that the HUDS website is the only reason I know what “gremolata” is (for you non-HUDS-ites it’s a green sauce made of parsley). Those days, I end up trying something new and with another thing to thank the HUDS menu for.

Its Morale-raising Abilities

Integral to my love of the HUDS menu is of course its ability to literally act as a menu — which means it’s the messenger of my favorite type of news! The reminder that there’ll be smoked salmon and ice cream on Sundays? It’s enough to instantly raise a girl’s mood. The HUDS menu is essentially my mood ring.

Plus, I mean, how could I love anything more than something that tells me that chicken and dumpling soup is being served that day?

Honorable Mention: The HUDS website

Although my love for the HUDS menu is everlasting and limitless, I do want to give a special shout-out to the rest of the HUDS website! Tons of useful information on there, like BoardPlus-eligible cafes and dining halls, hours of operation, and information about interhouse restrictions.

I don’t know when exactly this habit-turned-compulsion-turned-love began. Perhaps it was the first month of freshman year, when I had to strategically plan for the days when Annenberg was no longer even passably edible. It also could have been around winter, when the fear of finals forced me to look to do literally anything except study. Nonetheless, no matter how this love began, it will regardless live forever. I love you, HUDS menu.