Easy Peasy Mac n Cheesy

I'd like to share one of the more relaxing and comfort foody recipes that's great for anytime!

Macaroni and Cheese:
It's such a comforting dish. It goes great with pretty much any main dish (many times it's great just on its own as a meal). Kids and adults love it.

The first time I had macaroni and cheese, I was in elementary school. I went over to a friend's home and for dinner we had mac n cheese from the box with chicken. It was glorious. The texture of the creamy cheese sauce and those little macaroni pastas were awesome! The chunks of grilled chicken that were mixed in added the perfect amount of savory protein to the meal.
Being raised in an Asian household, I never really started out eating the stuff that other kids my age would eat. Sure I'd have a hot dog or what not but never really those quintessential things that kids ate growing up. I got introduced to pudding and yogurt when I was in high school.
But macaroni and cheese really stuck with me. Out of that first taste, I became obssessed with cheese. I am still insane about the stuff and try to buy a different and new cheese every other week. I feel like Wakko from Animaniancs and his "Cheese from around the world" song.


Below is a basic recipe for Macaroni and Cheese, but before that, a couple things on the ingredients you're putting together...


For starters, this isn’t your average macaroni and cheese. The only thing that comes from a box is the pasta itself. Basic ingredients are generally pasta, cheese, butter, milk. I add sauteed onions and a little flour. The onions really add something to overall flavor. I abhor the use of breadcrumbs before you pop it in the oven. I understand it soaks up the oil that comes out of the cheese, but it's gross. It gets mushy, and the texture is not really my jam. But if you like them, sprinkle some panko breadcrumbs on top. They're the better choice, and don't overdo it. And for those that are lactose intolerant or vegan, there's an easy button for that.


Milk & Butter - 
I mix and match when it comes to the dairy used in mac n cheese. I've started to use skim milk because I use WAY too much cheese and feel like I'm making this slightly less heart-clogging. But, if you want decadent cheese sauce, I'd aim high and go with heavy cream. It really thickens the cheese which mean you can use just a tad less flour to get it nice and creamy. Otherwise, any grade of milk is fine, and on occasion when I ran out of milk, I've used half and half which does the trick nicely. Butter is essential. It's gross to think how much is used, but don't think, just eat. Any will do.
You can absolutely sub in soy milk for the real milk, but use ORIGINAL. Nothing is grosser than "vanilla" flavored mac.... blech. And if you're going that route, get vegan cheese and vegan butter. It actually works quite well. I love using vegan butter/spread. It holds up well, and I've started using it in everything that calls for butter. If only I could easily find it in sticks!

Flour - 
All-purpose flour works great. Though on occasion, you can use a bit of cornstarch. This is your thickening agent to turn your "cheese soup" into a yummy sauce (or roux if you want to go all technical). You can definitely add more or less flour, but be careful, too much flour can turn your sauce lumpy and it will have a distinctive mealy texture and taste.

Pasta -
I'm going to have to tout the macaroni as the ONLY pasta you should be using for this dish. It's called mac n cheese for a reason. Some people think they're cool using rotini, ziti, fusili, tagliatelle, orrechiette, and other pastas that usually end with me pronouncing them in a Mario Bros. voice. Macaroni is perfect. Small with a hole. It soaks up the cheese sauce, and it's easy to evenly mix the sauce in as well. Also, it's aesthetically pleasing. A friend of mine makes fun of the fact that I talk about plating a dish like it's important. Well it is. Sorry dude. If it looks like it was meant for a puppy, chances of it being consumed go from 92% to 19%. That goes for the cranberry sauce in a can... mash it up please! Don't just let it slide out of the can and serve it like it's some can-shaped Jell-O.... Anyways, nothing makes you think of home and good, warm, fuzzy times like a casserole dish filled with macaroni and cheese.
Any kind of macaroni is great. I love using ones made of rice. The upside is that they cook faster, the downside is that they get overdone if you're not paying attention. But, undercook them just a tad and then it'll soak up that cheese sauce like no one's business. Essentially, if you use rice pasta, you got yourself some homemade "Annie's" microwave mac n cheese.

Cheese - 
It is out of control awesome. I love cheese. I'll go into that in another post at another time. For mac n cheese you have to go with the staple cheddar. Yellow, white, sharp, mild, whatever. If you want a fast dish, just use the one cheese. But if you're feeling adventurous, mix it up. Gruyere is my add on cheese cause it is just soooo tasty and has that amazing smoky kind of flavor. Or add a little pecorino or something similar. It changes the flavor which is fantastic. I once, in a fit of indecision, bought some ricotta to mix in the sauce. Interesting flavor but tasty! Buy it pre shredded or shred it yourself. Try to keep the shredded cheese on the small side, like if you used a microplane. This helps it melt a lot easier, thus creating a creamy, fondue-like sauce. (In some instances you could probably make the cheese sauce from the recipe for fondue.) And as pointed out earlier, vegan cheese is good for those lactose intolerant peeps. 

Salt and pepper - 
I love pepper so am always quite liberal with it, but salt, oh salt, you salty salt. Be careful when salting to taste. One minute it may taste delightful, but you will be cooking down the sauce just a little bit and the cheese already has some savoriness in it. So, just a word of caution because your dish may go from glorious to "oh my god!!!! it's like eating a handful of salt!" and then your mouth will curl into your jaw and you'll look like that guy from that Indiana Jones movie.


Basic Macaroni and Cheese
(Serves 6-8 as a side dish)

1 box - Macaroni pasta
2-3 tablespoons - butter
1/4 cup - diced onions (preferably yellow)
1 1/2 Tb. - All-purpose flour
1/2 cup- 3/4 cup - milk
2-4 cups - shredded cheese + 1/2 cup for garnish (this is a ballpark amount as I add at will until I get the consistency I like)
Salt and pepper, to taste

1 large casserole dish or pyrex (around 9x11)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the box for al dente.
3. When the pasta is al dente, drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
4. For the sauce: In a medium saucepan over a medium heat, melt the butter and then sauté the onions until softened.
5. With a whisk, slowly add the flour into the butter/onion mixture. Make sure you whisk constantly until all the flour is incorporated into the butter and there are no lumps. (You just made a roux! yay!)
6. Still whisking, add the milk. Continue to stir until milk is hot but not boiling.
7. In small handfuls, add the cheese. Whisk cheese into milk mixture until completely blended. (You may initially see clumping and sticking to the whisk, but just constantly whisk and it will all go away).
8. Continue to add cheese until it reaches a smooth consistency and the thickness of just made hot oatmeal.
9. Salt and pepper to taste.
10. Remove the cheese sauce from the heat and let stand for about 5 minutes to slightly thicken.
11. Pour cheese sauce over macaroni. Make sure to scrape all the sauce out, you don't want to waste any of that precious liquid gold.
12. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, mix the macaroni and cheese sauce. Make sure to break up any clumps of pasta that are stuck together.
13. Pour macaroni and cheese into the casserole dish.
14. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of remaining cheese over the top of the dish (you can now add some breadcrumbs if you'd like.)
15. Place dish in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is bubbling. (This gives the macaroni time to soak up all that delicious sauce.)
16. Remove and enjoy! But be careful it's wayyyyy hot! 

And there you go, some mac n cheese just for you. Overall timing for prep and cooking is about 35-45 minutes, you'll get faster as you make the dish more often.

Also, you can skip putting it in the oven if you like a creamy "just out of the box" mac n cheese. And play with cheeses, you'd be surprised at all the tasty variations you can make.

What are some of your favorite comfort-y foods?

You Will Die Alone, Partially Eaten by Cats

I'm in the mood to make more lists.

I was chatting with a couple friends the other night over copious amounts of beverages, and we were bemoaning the fact that we weren't in relationships. We joked about all the faults we had and questioned why it's so hard to find a guy in a city that is literally bursting at the seams with interesting people.

We laughed and cringed over embarrassing anecdotes that we had heard through other guys and girls. And, the idiotic things that we've done to somehow lose a guy in less than 10 minutes upon meeting them.

So, naturally liking all that I heard, I wrote them all down. Enjoy the richly ridiculous and sometimes lame actions that turned a number of male friends of yours off from a certain girl, be they friends that are girls or girlfriends or just a random girl they met in a bar. And yes, some of these things are from my own book of embarrassments. A few of them I combined because they made more sense as one general idea and whittled them down to the following (long) list:

How To Alienate Boys and Lose A Man in 40 Ways or Less:
For the New Acquaintances, Old Beaus and Man Friends in Your Life

(In no particular order)

1.     You have a man over, and your pet pulls out from the trash an utterly unmentionable object that it then proceeds to eat in front of the two of you.

2.     Vomit on him. This works especially well at any local establishment that sells alcohol.

3.     Call him, and then hang up when he answers. Except, it’s a cell, and he already had your name down in his contacts.

4.     Text him repeatedly with this symbol “?.” This is also your first text to him ever since you met him the night before.

5.     Drink too much. Then ask him if you’re pretty. When he says, “Sure” or “Yeah, I guess,” follow up with “Well then why won’t anyone go out with me!”

6.     Laugh hysterically at all your own horribly painful jokes.

7.     Playfully punch him one too many times in the arm.

8.     Confess your undying affection to him. Then, cry like a baby when he doesn’t respond the way you want him to. (This 99% of the time has to be in a public setting.)

9.     You have a man over, and your collection of granny panties are laying on the couch next to a pile of “clean clothes.”

10.  When a man talks about something he’s really into like MMA or video games, immediately retort that you hate that.

11. Write an anonymous love letter to him. Then, mail it, except you are required by the postal service to have return address on a piece of mail so now he knows it’s you.

12. Fake passing out to avoid all forms of intimacy.

13.  Tell him repeatedly that his friend is really hot.

14. When a man starts to appear interested in your flirtations and wants to get a little more serious, say you’ll be right back. But, you’re actually running to catch the last train home.

15. Upon meeting an interested man, ask him to dig your car out of the snow so you can leave the party.

16. Also, ask said man to ask all the other partygoers to move their cars. Then, leave without thanking him or catching his name.

17.  Lie about your age. Then, when you find out how young he actually is, tell him you could never date someone that young.

18.  Talk about your love of animals, especially cats and dogs. Showing him pictures of all your pets, or pets you’d like to have, also helps.

19. Maintain at least 10 stuffed animals displayed on your bed.

20. Have a trundle bed

21. Incessantly talk about things you hate about yourself like your thighs or cellulite.

22. Dress like a hobo and then attempt to be the “sexy” one.

23. As a joke, tell him you’re pregnant.

24. Try to push him onto your friends. Then, decide later you want him back.

25. Ignore his phone calls.

26. Trash-talk him to all your friends.

27.  Drink him under the table.

28. After a moment of heavy petting, don’t follow through.

29. Tell him he’s had too much to drink.

30. If/when he falls asleep, immediately leave. Army crawling is preferred.

31. After a night of fun, act like nothing happened if/when you see him again.

32.  Intimate that he is not allowed to hang out with any/all of his female friends.

33. Monopolize all of his time/life. Utilize tools such as Facebook, Gmail chat, AIM, Skype, conference calls, 4Square, etc.

34.  Encourage a new man to hang out with his friends. Then, become livid when he doesn’t call/text you in a timely manner.

35. Bring a new man to your place. Bring out your pet to show him. Kiss your pet and tell it that “Daddy’s home!”

36. Ask him to come with you to your babysitting gig.

37.  Invite him over for a movie night at your place. A double feature of movies based on Nicholas Sparks’ books.

38.  Ask him to read to you out loud. Criticize the way he pronounces words.

39.  Keep Elizabeth Wurtzel’s book Bitch out in your living room. Tell him you’re really into it and force him into a conversation about uneasy topics.

40.  Make him into a Murse (Man Purse). Have him store all of your personal belongings in his pockets. You shouldn’t have to haul around a purse that doesn’t match your outfit.

Well that's that. What are some moments in your possibly relationally challenged life that made you rethink whether you should start medicating yourself?

It's a New Year - With New Delusional Promises

Well hello 2011... into a new decade and life still keeps rushing by. It's like Ferris once said... I'm not going to quote it cause that's just ridiculous.

Anywho, in keeping with the spirit of a new year, I'd thought I'd go along and write a couple things down that are, I guess, resolutions for ye olde two thousand eleven. I'm not one to really go for these things as I NEVER keep any of them. Also, there is the need to drop some cash on these resolutions; I'm hoping that I can be frugal with everything without hurting myself.  If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.
But, here goes:

1. Learn to draw - some people say that practice makes perfect. Well, I've been attempting to draw the same stupid cake design for the past few weeks to no avail. (I'm a nerd, I like to design things that I'll end up eating in tears) It still looks horrible. Depressingly horrible. In some instances, it appears to be a foot with a dying bouquet of flowers on top. I'm sure if I could even glean some basic sense in lines and perception and what not, I may be able to create some decent design to work off of. 
2. Learn to play the guitar - even if it's just a couple of chords and figuring out that darned TAB, it'd be nice to know what that crazy 6 stringed thing is all about. And, isn't it like the foundation of every metro/emo/bohemian to know how to play the guitar? Luckily the roomie has one so I don't need to make a possibly regrettable purchase. (I also realized that being good at Guitar Hero does not make me good at a real guitar.... *sigh)
3. Find a job - oh how I really need one!! With HEALTH BENEFITS for sure! (Not really helping my case by not really actively throwing my resume out there)
4. Get into shape - or at some semblance of a shape that's not a pear or apple. It's on everyone's list so might as well be here.
5. Do some yoga classes - never been but for some reason I own a yoga mat. What does that say about my sloth?
6. Learn to dance - seems like I'm leaning towards ballet as it would maybe mix well with the yoga, though I do have thoughts of grandeur to become the next Ginger Rogers so maybe some crazy ballroom lessons... but I think I'd have to find a partner for that. I've never been one for legit dancing. Except for that time (check it, 3 times) that my mother sent me to Cotillion dance classes where I learned how to waltz, jitterbug and macarena before that crazy macarena song came out. I am a macarena queen.
7. Explore NYC - it's funny how I hear from people that have lived here for a long time that they haven't gone to certain places in the city. I don't want to be one of those. I met a sweet elderly man once who every Saturday with his wife would pick a spot on a map of New York City and then they'd go there. Wander the day away. He joked that he couldn't remember half the things he saw or tried in those place, but he was happy to have gone and known that "hey, that's what Governor's Island looks like."
8. Clean the apartment - It seems trivial, but who has seriously done a DEEP clean of their place? Taken a whole weekend and scrubbed, swept, aired out the entire place? Not to mention the things that uselessly pile up everywhere. I know there are some posters that just sit waiting to be chucked. And those acres of dresses that I keep that I should let go of.
9. Speed Date - Yes, that's right. Speed Date. But not just any old speed dating. Speed dating where I'll create a ridiculous cover story then attempt to alienate every sketchy older man who decided that this was the place to pick up a chick. I'd love to really be in a relationship, but I'm gonna use this opportunity to be the worst possible version of myself. What can that be? Any suggestions? Maybe I'll find my ballroom dance partner. heh heh.
10. Read the Bible - seems lame to say this, but it'd be nice to read it cover to cover without giving up and stashing it away in my bookcase next to all my film books. Come to think of it, I should probably re-read some of those. I'm not a very religious person, though I am Catholic, so it seems like the right time to get back into something that I was once fully committed to.

There's a nice, tidy, realistic list of things... luckily, one of my friends is game for anything so she'll probably join me in most if not all of these. Always good to have a partner in crime to motivate you.

There will definitely be more things to do cause oh the vices!

Knowing my own nature as a lazy person, it may boil down to getting one or two things on this list completed. But, even accomplishing that much would be more than I ever did before.

Here's to a new year and hopefully less lame posts. 

Happy January! 

What Do I Care If Icicles Form... (A Grievance)

So what was supposed to be a fun and jam packed one week trip back to my hometown of Arlington, TX turned into a strained extra 4 days of me and a parent getting cabin fever and reaching our tippy top most limit of backhanded comments. This was all due to that wonderful white Christmas blizzard that swept across the Northeast. A major upside is I got to spend more time with friends I thought I wouldn't get to see. Downsides were having a bag lost on the way to Texas and then on the way to NYC, a cancelled flight, cancelled party and a general sense of "I bite my thumb at you" to anyone and everyone who works for or at an airport/airline.

I am now very happy. Happy that I'm back and doing whatever sad thing I do in my life. But in a new year!

That is until yesterday...

I love snow. I know from the sound of this post that I ardently hate it all. But coming from the South, I've always been partial to it all. The way it drifts and moves in the wind. How it goes from a fluffy downy substance to packed and hard and icy. The things you can build! Forts, people, weaponry, a veritable Eden in snow. I'm not bothered by the soggy boots, digging out your car, shoveling, dirty slush and the miserable sense that you're possibly going to die if you stand outside for any longer than 10 minutes. All of this is wonderous. It's so peaceful.

What really gets my craw is crap. Dog excrement and trash to be exact. 

It seems in the grand scheme of the OMG there's a huge snowstorm outside what do we do/day after tomorrow-esque weather pattern that came through Manhattan people forgot one important thing. Curb your effing dog. Just because there's wondrous snow littering the expanse of the city doesn't mean you can just let your dog squat anywhere and then walk off like the snow is just going to cover it up forever. I'm sorry if it's snowing so hard you can barely see. But, it's really not that hard to spot your dog's business against the backdrop of sheer whiteness. It will literally take you the 5-10 seconds it usually takes you any other time out of the year to pick up after your pet. Because you know what dog owner? When the snow melts, there's feces everywhere. And you're an unsuspecting person walking down the street with some other people and you think, what is all this? And then you step in it. And you realize you're walking in a minefield of crap. Literally. Then all day the next day that's all you see.  And you're scared to go outside cause it's all there. And that stuff doesn't get cleaned!

And the trash... like the dog business, when the snow melts away, you see all the insane amounts of trash that's been littered all over the street. Because snow "magically" recycles trash too right? WRONG! And then you trip over a plastic bottle and fall awfully close to what could be a pile of dog business while walking to the bus, and you curse the day that people stopped using a trash can.

So that's that. Lots of buildup in a post to rant on for just a paragraph. What's a grievance that you'd like to air about the past year? Something that really just bothers you that a massive amount of the population in your area seems to do?