If you’re looking for a couple of easy and delicious snacks or appetizers, look no further than these recipes from Freshmen in the Kitchen. Although the title of the cookbook suggests otherwise, a kitchen is not even really necessary with these recipes. For dorm-dwellers like me, this is especially important. Impossible to serve homemade hors d'oeuvres if you live in a dorm, you say? Read on.

First, the smoked salmon dip. This recipe has three ingredients, so it is vital to buy the highest quality ingredients possible. Although the recipe doesn’t specify which kind of salmon to use, I much prefer the flavor and texture of hot smoked salmon to cold (hot smoked is cooked thoroughly and has a smoky flavor, while cold smoked is perhaps more widely used, sometimes referred to as “Lox”…perhaps a comparison to elaborate further on in another blog post). Luckily, Ann Arbor residents have a fabulous smoked fish source right in their own backyard: Durham’s Tracklements and Smokery in Kerrytown. It is located on E. Kingsley, just a little ways down from Zingerman’s. They offer hot and cold smoked salmon. I recommend trying a sample of both if you’re not sure which you prefer, because the dip will only be as delicious as your salmon.