Recently, Shawna told me about a book she read in her office. For those of you who don't know Shawna used to work in the Sexual Awareness Center at her school. The center keeps a wide variety of books on a variety of sexual subjects on hand to help the SAC crew understand all different viewpoints on sex. Shawna says she happened to pick one up that was from a Christian viewpoint, which championed the idea of married sex as better sex. The book goes on to suggest that married sex is like macaroni and cheese, comforting if a little bit boring. Immediately Shawna took exception to one thing. She exclaimed that macaroni and cheese is many things but boring is not one of them. Kraft mac and cheese may be boring, but there are so many ingredients you can add to make this comfort food more "exciting."
However, soon after this exchange I happened to journey to Seattle with Valerie and my cousin looking to purchase some D&D dice. Being Mega, my cousin needed to stop and eat and he took me to Beecher's Handmade Cheese in the Pike Place Market. Beecher's claims to have the "world's best" macaroni and cheese. My cousin and Valerie ordered the regular macaroni and cheese, while I, feeling adventurous went for the "Mariachi" mac and cheese. "Mariachi" mac and cheese means Anaheim chiles and vegetables. We dug in overlooking the curd making vats that the Beecher's Seattle spot is famous for, and I was underwhelmed. Too many veggies, not enough mac and cheese. The chiles did not add any "south of the border kick" (thats direct from the Beecher's website). But then my cousin offered up some of his plain mac and cheese. And my taste buds were delighted. More than delighted, I enjoyed every sneaky bite of that savory goodness. I mean its cheese made like a yard away from you. Served hot, all day long. All I wanted was more of this cheesy goodness, luckily way too much macaroni and cheese was ordered and I got to eat my fill.
Which brings me abruptly to the conclusion of my post. (I was never good at transitions) Yes, macaroni and cheese can be exotic, you can add almost anything to it, and its almost always going to be good. But sometimes hot steamy straight up, plain old macaroni and cheese is just as tantalizingly delicious, sometimes even more so. I mean when you have the best ingredients already, like Beecher's awesome cheese, nothing can really go wrong.
So I guess the Christians sometimes get it right.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
A Mac and Cheese Weekend
You read that title and you're thinking, Laura must have had an amazing weekend, and I did! One of my favorite cousins (Jennifer) was in town, and I saw my friend (Lori)'s band play in a Seattle dive bar. Now I realize this blog is often about the positive (cause whats more positive than mac and cheese) and none of the negative, and this post is going to be a little different because one experience was better than the other.
I slightly cheeted (haha, get it, like cheese....never mind) and we begin this blog on Thursday which was also St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of March Madness. Having downed an Irish car bomb AND a Guiness before dinner I was sufficiently tipsy, and rather munchy. But food was slow and chicken and dumplings, not exactly munchy fare. BUT Valerie had made up some Kraft macaroni and cheese, wait for it, shells. And I had a couple spoonfuls and in my tipsy haze decided them delicious and wished I was having mac and cheese. The world granted my wish and gave me this mac and cheese weekend.
Saturday night we went to Cafe Nola, which is a restaurant on Bainbridge where we often eat dinner with the family. Its kind of fancy, known for delicious drinks and spectacular service. They just changed over to a spring menu, and lo and behold, there was a Dungeness Crab Mac and Cheese on the menu. I immediately knew I had to order it, surpassing my favorite dish truffle cheese fries and a salad for this pleasing sounding pasta. I was worried before it arrived because I hoped it lived up to the description of a "light cheese sauce," it arrived and I noted that the cheese sauce was indeed light, and I sighed in relief. This was a mistake. The crab was the best part. And it was delicious, don't get me wrong. But the cheese sauce sucked. It was too watery, and too bland. I guess I should have stirred the crab in to give it more flavor, but as it was I ate it off the top, and while it made me love the crab it made me dislike the pasta. There were also peas here I forgot to mention, and they were, forgettable.
BUT
On Sunday night, I ventured to Seattle with Shannon to see Lori's band, Chele's Kitchen, play out in the U District. I was starving, and while my usual U District fare is Indian food from Taste of India, I couldn't wait that long to eat (and Shannon doesn't like Indian food) we instead headed up from the ferry to Von's, a bar that sits right across the street from downtown shopping like Nordstrom and Macy's. I've been here for drinks three times before, once with Mark, Silke, and Emily for drinks and complimentary brownie for my birthday; next with Brooke and Scott for beers; and finally this winter with Jacob for multiple cosmos (good times for all). They have wonderful deals including an always $3.50 martini. BUT they also have a wheel which is spun every half hour indicating different drink specials (thus the multiple good time cosmos, thanks to the $3.50 for cosmos deal). However, I have never had food here. They have a lot of bbq stuff, which sounded soooooo good. And lo and behold they have mac and cheese and it's $4! Why? Because its on this light plates menu. You order up 2 or 3 and they make a meal. Fabulous. So not only did I get a Caesar salad and a pulled pork slider (which was delicious with onion crisps and cheese) I also got a small portion of mac and cheese. It was amazing. It had shells which are an awesome pasta, and gooey cheese melted on top. It had some sort of spice added to it which was to die for. I almost wished I'd had two servings BUT the sandwich was good too, so win win. Consequently they had no good drinks special when I was there (house wine was the special) but we enjoyed a couple beers and went on our way.
Now, what do we learn from this experience? Its that mac and cheese, like life is unpredictable. You never know where you're going to find it, or how good it's going to be. There are so many variations on this seemingly simple dish that I could go on writing this blog forever, I mean there are so many different combinations of noodles and cheese alone, without toppings (spices? crab?) but sometimes what you want is to go home to the same old reliable pasta and cheese.
I slightly cheeted (haha, get it, like cheese....never mind) and we begin this blog on Thursday which was also St. Patrick's Day and the beginning of March Madness. Having downed an Irish car bomb AND a Guiness before dinner I was sufficiently tipsy, and rather munchy. But food was slow and chicken and dumplings, not exactly munchy fare. BUT Valerie had made up some Kraft macaroni and cheese, wait for it, shells. And I had a couple spoonfuls and in my tipsy haze decided them delicious and wished I was having mac and cheese. The world granted my wish and gave me this mac and cheese weekend.
Saturday night we went to Cafe Nola, which is a restaurant on Bainbridge where we often eat dinner with the family. Its kind of fancy, known for delicious drinks and spectacular service. They just changed over to a spring menu, and lo and behold, there was a Dungeness Crab Mac and Cheese on the menu. I immediately knew I had to order it, surpassing my favorite dish truffle cheese fries and a salad for this pleasing sounding pasta. I was worried before it arrived because I hoped it lived up to the description of a "light cheese sauce," it arrived and I noted that the cheese sauce was indeed light, and I sighed in relief. This was a mistake. The crab was the best part. And it was delicious, don't get me wrong. But the cheese sauce sucked. It was too watery, and too bland. I guess I should have stirred the crab in to give it more flavor, but as it was I ate it off the top, and while it made me love the crab it made me dislike the pasta. There were also peas here I forgot to mention, and they were, forgettable.
BUT
On Sunday night, I ventured to Seattle with Shannon to see Lori's band, Chele's Kitchen, play out in the U District. I was starving, and while my usual U District fare is Indian food from Taste of India, I couldn't wait that long to eat (and Shannon doesn't like Indian food) we instead headed up from the ferry to Von's, a bar that sits right across the street from downtown shopping like Nordstrom and Macy's. I've been here for drinks three times before, once with Mark, Silke, and Emily for drinks and complimentary brownie for my birthday; next with Brooke and Scott for beers; and finally this winter with Jacob for multiple cosmos (good times for all). They have wonderful deals including an always $3.50 martini. BUT they also have a wheel which is spun every half hour indicating different drink specials (thus the multiple good time cosmos, thanks to the $3.50 for cosmos deal). However, I have never had food here. They have a lot of bbq stuff, which sounded soooooo good. And lo and behold they have mac and cheese and it's $4! Why? Because its on this light plates menu. You order up 2 or 3 and they make a meal. Fabulous. So not only did I get a Caesar salad and a pulled pork slider (which was delicious with onion crisps and cheese) I also got a small portion of mac and cheese. It was amazing. It had shells which are an awesome pasta, and gooey cheese melted on top. It had some sort of spice added to it which was to die for. I almost wished I'd had two servings BUT the sandwich was good too, so win win. Consequently they had no good drinks special when I was there (house wine was the special) but we enjoyed a couple beers and went on our way.
Now, what do we learn from this experience? Its that mac and cheese, like life is unpredictable. You never know where you're going to find it, or how good it's going to be. There are so many variations on this seemingly simple dish that I could go on writing this blog forever, I mean there are so many different combinations of noodles and cheese alone, without toppings (spices? crab?) but sometimes what you want is to go home to the same old reliable pasta and cheese.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I'm about to lay some magic on you
Shawna Leader and I became fast friends in the fall of 2005, right before we graduated from high school. Soon after our first fateful hangout (in which we both talked of our passionate love for music, specifically The Beatles) we began making regular trips to Seattle, each time making the same dedicated walk from the ferry terminal to the downtown shopping areas, always down 1st obviously because 1st is a gradual incline, less of the steep hills one encounters when pressing up from Alaskan to say 2nd or 3rd. But thats neither here nor there. Basically since we started making said trip we have always passed The Bookstore Bar which is located in the lobby of the Alexis hotel. We always liked the Alexis because of its lights, its friendly doorman, and because of the charming bar. Not only does it have a kickass name but also a great little warm vibe. Magazines and books are displayed on the walls, and in the summer they have a cute little patio to sit out on first. Most of the time you can see business people sitting sipping martinis. But we never saw anyone with books. We vowed that once we turned 21 we would be the classy individuals sipping drinks and reading books. So we waited.
In the spring of 2009, I finally turned 21, and Shawna and I waited for our moment to be perfect. On a summer evening the two of us headed to The Bookstore for Happy Hour, excited for our experience. It was as warm and cozy as we wanted it to be. We cracked books, we ordered Cosmos, and life was good. Then we ordered the Happy Hour Three Mac and Cheese for $5 and that's when life changed. This was a divine mac and cheese. We headed out to see "500 Days of Summer" feeling wonderfully happy.
Like every wonderful thing that comes my way, I'm often calling the item into question. Maybe it wasn't as awesome as I thought, maybe it was awful.
It wasn't awful.
I have returned to The Bookstore again and again, taking always the most fabulous of people (Brian, Jacob, Nicole, and not to give anything away but Shannon and Kari). Their drinks are always impeccable, and their mac and cheese never fails to disappoint. I mean for $5 you think sometime it would, but it doesn't.
For my official review I went to The Bookstore after a wonderful day of adventuring with my friends Shannon(holla Shannon!) and Kari (holla Kari Bo Berri!) The bartender was super attentive, as we sat at the bar, and super nice. He introduced Kari to a French Martini which is delicious. We then proceeded to order the Blue Fries. Fries with bleu cheese and bacon. Delightful. Soooo yummy. So for a second I thought, maybe no mac and cheese for me, cause you know too much cheese, but then I figured why not. So I did, and it was amazing, duh.
First off its elbow noodles, which when executed correctly (aka not boiled too much) can be awesome. These were awesome elbows. Then they top it with a light cheesy sauce, not too heavy, but not too light. I mean its the happy hour portion and you get your fill. They top it off with a sprinkling of bread crumbs which add some very nice texture to what could be a boring dish, if the cheeses weren't as awesome as they were. I ate almost all of it, leaving as Shannon said four noodles to be carried off. It even paired alright with my Tricerahops (haha, who doesn't love beer and dinosaurs!) The magic of The Bookstore is really its my first bar experience, and it has always been this perfect bar, this place where I can go to feel classy, and I always seem to be there eating the right food, talking with the right people. I've only ever been their with awesome, so how could it ever be unawesome? I don't know. I never have a bad experience there.
If you're ever in Seattle do yourself a favor, visit The Bookstore, order up a Cosmo, and dig into some delightful mac and cheese. Unless you suspect (as I'm beginning to after figuring out the common denominator) that *I* am the magic then you might as well take me with you...because it never disappoints me.
(Sorry for not posting sooner, been busy, will promise to get more on track!)
In the spring of 2009, I finally turned 21, and Shawna and I waited for our moment to be perfect. On a summer evening the two of us headed to The Bookstore for Happy Hour, excited for our experience. It was as warm and cozy as we wanted it to be. We cracked books, we ordered Cosmos, and life was good. Then we ordered the Happy Hour Three Mac and Cheese for $5 and that's when life changed. This was a divine mac and cheese. We headed out to see "500 Days of Summer" feeling wonderfully happy.
Like every wonderful thing that comes my way, I'm often calling the item into question. Maybe it wasn't as awesome as I thought, maybe it was awful.
It wasn't awful.
I have returned to The Bookstore again and again, taking always the most fabulous of people (Brian, Jacob, Nicole, and not to give anything away but Shannon and Kari). Their drinks are always impeccable, and their mac and cheese never fails to disappoint. I mean for $5 you think sometime it would, but it doesn't.
For my official review I went to The Bookstore after a wonderful day of adventuring with my friends Shannon(holla Shannon!) and Kari (holla Kari Bo Berri!) The bartender was super attentive, as we sat at the bar, and super nice. He introduced Kari to a French Martini which is delicious. We then proceeded to order the Blue Fries. Fries with bleu cheese and bacon. Delightful. Soooo yummy. So for a second I thought, maybe no mac and cheese for me, cause you know too much cheese, but then I figured why not. So I did, and it was amazing, duh.
First off its elbow noodles, which when executed correctly (aka not boiled too much) can be awesome. These were awesome elbows. Then they top it with a light cheesy sauce, not too heavy, but not too light. I mean its the happy hour portion and you get your fill. They top it off with a sprinkling of bread crumbs which add some very nice texture to what could be a boring dish, if the cheeses weren't as awesome as they were. I ate almost all of it, leaving as Shannon said four noodles to be carried off. It even paired alright with my Tricerahops (haha, who doesn't love beer and dinosaurs!) The magic of The Bookstore is really its my first bar experience, and it has always been this perfect bar, this place where I can go to feel classy, and I always seem to be there eating the right food, talking with the right people. I've only ever been their with awesome, so how could it ever be unawesome? I don't know. I never have a bad experience there.
If you're ever in Seattle do yourself a favor, visit The Bookstore, order up a Cosmo, and dig into some delightful mac and cheese. Unless you suspect (as I'm beginning to after figuring out the common denominator) that *I* am the magic then you might as well take me with you...because it never disappoints me.
(Sorry for not posting sooner, been busy, will promise to get more on track!)
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
I love geeks and a depressing conclusion
Stove Top Mac-n-Cheese
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound elbow macaroni
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 eggs
- 6 ounces evaporated milk
- 1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Fresh black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
- 10 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
Directions
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente and drain. Return to the pot and melt in the butter. Toss to coat.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and mustard. Stir into the pasta and add the cheese. Over low heat continue to stir for 3 minutes or until creamy.
Today my mother chose to dine at her friend Robin's house. So instead of our traditional Friday night dinner at the grandparents' house, Valerie and I were on our own for the evening. We were both feeling lazy and a bit under the weather. At first I searched for recipes for bacon and cheese, but I was a little underwhelmed by my finds at all recipes.com and I quite frankly didn't feel like dealing with bacon today (I know, crazy). I then typed in macaroni and cheese recipes to Google, just to see what popped up, and to my great surprise the first recipe to pop up would be a Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe by none other than Alton Brown.
For those of you who don't know Alton Brown, stop what you're doing and go watch him. Do not watch his grape juice commercial, do not watch the American Iron Chef, or the Next Iron Chef, or whatever cooking show he plays host to. Find him in his own show, "Good Eats" when it is on whether on Food Network or YouTube. In fact, you can watch recipe clips, including this recipe on Food Network's website (if you want to see a link to this particular recipe, click here) I have to warn you because in the next line I am going to swear.
Alton Brown is a motherfucking genius.
I first caught his show after watching Emeril one night (I used to worship Emeril Lagasse, I met him, I have an autographed cookbook. Bam!) He did a special on how to cook a steak. He has this weird off the wall humor while he teaches you what seems really simple but can actually be fairly difficult. In my first episode he taught you how to purchase the right steak for your tastes/particular need, what kind of pan to buy, and how to cook the steak to your liking. He teaches you the terms to use while making goofy references. I can't think of any now, but trust me they're priceless. Alton (yes, I am going to refer to him by his first name, cause I feel like I know him) and his team used to run their show out of his neighbor's house (yes, an actual house) because cooking is THAT easy, so easy you don't need a fancy set with funky fridges and stoves. All you need is a live honest to goodness house. Anyway what I love about Alton is how he makes everything so easy. Plus he's a geek. Like me.
But you're saying "Laura you didn't bake macaroni and cheese" and the answer is, no I did not. The answer to that is that Alton's baked recipe sounds a lot like the mac and cheese we made last week which Valerie has yet to blog about (it's no longer my fault I made her an admin :P) So instead I chose this easy one pot macaroni and cheese that is also Alton's recipe off of an episode entitled "For Whom the Cheese Melts 2" (Bwah haha! Get it? Get it?!)
On the plus side:
+ It was easy. (In the clip, a kid makes this while Alton sticks his head in a window) It only took one pan, and if coordinated correctly minimal measuring utensils. (Guess who didn't coordinate correctly but I am mildly stupid so, yeah no.) This is good when you are looking for a not processed alternative to boxed macaroni and cheese, which bring us to point two.
+It was fresh which means its just better
+The cheese is waaaaay yummy, and again the mustard adds a lovely bit o' flavor to it.
On the minus side:
-The cheese sauce wasn't as smooth as I wanted it to be, not like macaroni and cheese number one chronicled in our descent into the underworld.
-It lacked the special something brought by macaroni and cheese number one.
What I'm trying to say is, Valerie and I picked the wrong first recipe. Or perhaps the right first recipe. It has set the standard, it had creamy cheese sauce and interesting flavor, things no other macaroni and cheese have yet to bring to the table. I hope we didn't find our holy grail on the first try and will now be futilely searching for a better recipe. I hope this is not the case. Although I doubt it because my mom says her friend Robin has a recipe involving GORGONZOLA MMMMMMMM.
Tomorrow night our grandparents are taking us to MorMor for dinner, last I checked they had a delicious macaroni and cheese with salmon or something on top. Maybe my new blog post will be closer than you think. :D
Sunday, October 17, 2010
In the name of science
Valerie and I bought a couple different boxed macaroni and cheeses to try over the course of our very boring day off tomorrow. I am ready to try these Kraft-y delights after tonight's debacle.
Tonight we dined at Red Robin. Although renowned for their burgers, Red Robin also has several other tasty options including chicken fingers, and chicken sandwiches. Their menu also includes macaroni and cheese. So we ordered it, in the name of science and this blog. While the waitress gets points for splitting it for us in two adorable cups, this is the only way this macaroni and cheese gains points. Ok yes, it fools you with Cavatappi noodles which are awesome, but the cheese sauce was underwhelming. Moreover its like they sprinkled some cheddar on top and thought that passed as home baked crust. Uh-uh girlfriend. This is unacceptable mac and cheese. It has no flavor! Cheese always has flavor! (unless its swiss...ewww...it must have included swiss).
We have decided that we need to make rules about ordering macaroni and cheese in restaurants, that perhaps not every time will it be a good idea, but now we have the macaroni and cheese behind us, and we can continue on with our regularly schedule Red Robin burger consumption.
Tonight we dined at Red Robin. Although renowned for their burgers, Red Robin also has several other tasty options including chicken fingers, and chicken sandwiches. Their menu also includes macaroni and cheese. So we ordered it, in the name of science and this blog. While the waitress gets points for splitting it for us in two adorable cups, this is the only way this macaroni and cheese gains points. Ok yes, it fools you with Cavatappi noodles which are awesome, but the cheese sauce was underwhelming. Moreover its like they sprinkled some cheddar on top and thought that passed as home baked crust. Uh-uh girlfriend. This is unacceptable mac and cheese. It has no flavor! Cheese always has flavor! (unless its swiss...ewww...it must have included swiss).
We have decided that we need to make rules about ordering macaroni and cheese in restaurants, that perhaps not every time will it be a good idea, but now we have the macaroni and cheese behind us, and we can continue on with our regularly schedule Red Robin burger consumption.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
A Laura Side Note
I can't speak for Valerie, but I (Laura) am an awful cook. I grew up with my mother, who is a fabulous cook, and my grandmother who taught my mother how to be a fabulous cook. She did the cooking in our house, I did not. Furthermore, in college when I had a kitchen of my own I had a roommate, a boyfriend, and a roommate, who made wonderful food for me. So I have never really needed to be good at cooking, believe me when I didn't have these wonderful people to cook for me, I subsisted on tomato soup, salad, and beer (beer has nommy calories). Plus I don't think I'm good at cooking, and I don't tend to enjoy things I'm not good at. I think if I was proficient at chopping, slicing, and measuring I would enjoy it more, but that comes with practice of which I have none. But maybe this new blog will give me the necessary skills to like cooking. Maybe.
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