Marryin' Mac 'n' Cheese

So good, if we weren't already married, my husband would marry me for it.

Like pretty much all of America, I grew up on the Kraft "Blue Box" Mac 'n' Cheese. My first taste of the homemade stuff was when my brother attempted to make some while I was in high school. I not sure what happened, but it was notthe best, shall we say. I retrospect, I think it needed salt. 

Years later, I came across this recipe in Real Simple Magazine and thought I'd give it ago, but I was a little put off by the called for 6 cups (!) of milk, and using the full quarter cup of oil on the bread make my crackers waaaay too greasy, so I did a few mild changes, as listed below.

And its really good. This is maybe one of Mr. Cleaver's favorite things I cook, and every so often (as with the Cherry Pie), he'll just "happen" to the buy the ingredients and if I just "happen" to want to make it, it would "happen" to be swell. I love it too, so it's not too hard to convince me.  

Mac 'n' Cheese, adapted from Real Simple, Nov. 200. 

• 1 pound elbow macaroni
• 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter (plus some to grease dish)
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 3-4 cups whole or low-fat milk (I use 1% it turns out plenty rich and creamy)
• 14 oz.-16oz.  cheese of choice (I like cheddar or you could do a mix.)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt 

Herbed-Crumb Topping

• 1 cup or about ½ a sleeve of your favorite butter crackers (Ritz, Keebler Club) smashed
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• oregano and thyme to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Heat oven to 400°F and grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Cook the macaroni for slightly less time than the package says, so it's still a little firm. Drain and rinse.

While the mac is boiling, combine cracker crumbs, oil, herbs, salt and pepper. The oil should be just enough to coat and make the crumbs slightly stick together. 

In a saucepan, melt butter. While whisking constantly, add the flour and cook for about 3 minutes. The mixture will clump. Still stirring, add the milk and cook for another 7 minutes, the mixture will start to get thick.  Add the cheese and salt and stir until all the cheese is evenly melted.

Mix together the mac and the cheese, pour into the prepared dish and sprinkle with the crumbs.

Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden and delicious.

It'll sit like the brick of cheese and pasta it is in your stomach, but it'll be so worth it. 

Reheats really well in the oven too! 

Too Lazy For Paragraphs: A Picture Post

Yes, I've hardly posted recently. So here's a quick catch up via photos: 

My $15 dollar Easter Dress from White House Black Market. It was too cold to wear it, but I didn't care.

I made it through all 47 days of Lent. I've worn jeans 3 times since then.

Spring is on its way!

I finally got my check from Northwestern, meaning I have officially done a paid/professional directing gig! 

$1.49 Daffodils from Trader Joe's, maybe one of the best buys ever.

Speaking of daffodils, I'm currently at a sock and a half.

Later this week: a return to recipe-posting!

Cabin Fever? Jungle Fever!

So about 3 three weeks ago after about 3 weeks of not bothering to decide. Ms. Kasey and I decided on our next two-person book club selection.

A few months ago I picked up Worlds to Explore: Classic Tales of Travel and Adventure from National Geographic on a whim while browsing at The Book Cellar on Lincoln Ave. When it comes down to finding a specific book, I often find that independent bookstores don't always carry what I need and Amazon is often best.

But when I want to find something I didn't know that I wanted (some of which have become my favorite books - like Outta My Way: An Odd Life Lived Loudly and  The Essays of E.B. White, both picked up at Books Etc. in Portland, ME), I love the independent bookstore, especially when the staff post their handwritten reviews on the shelves.

But back to topic: I was reading the National Geographic book and somewhere at the head of one of the chapters they quoted a poem by Kipling, and then I read the section of India stories (oddly enough, not the section that quoted Kipling), and then a friend of mine sent Mr. Cleaver and I a beautiful yellow bedspread from her recent travels in India, and then I rented the Darling Limited.  All told -I had India on the brain, so of course, our next book had to be The Jungle Books by Kipling.

And as I was going through the stacks in the children's library I spotted The Wind in the Willows, which neither Kasey or I had read, so we made it a double read book club.

Both books, but particularly The Jungle Book(s), are those books, like Peter Pan, that are such a part of our cultural consciousness (largely thanks to Disney) that I sometimes forget whether I actually had ever read the book. (For the record: I've never read the orginal Peter Pan, either.) I finished The Jungle Books on the train this morning, one stop before mine (whew!), and as much as I love  "I wanna be like you" and the "Bear/Bare Necessities" Disney doesn't touch the original with a ten-foot pole.

I'm not going to say anything more, because we haven't met about the books yet, but I'm definitely looking forward to The Wind in the Willows and the Indian food we're going to eat when we do meet.

Did I mention that Kasey? We totally need to eat Indian food to discuss The Jungle Book. Does it go with The Wind in the Willows? Not so much. But I live so close to Devon Ave. and have never gone, so we need to get some Indian food.

PS - If you're thinking about picking up some Kipling a note: The Jungle Book is the Mowgli story only, The Jungle Books (with an 's', and the original printed form) is the Mowgli story interpersed with other Human/Animal interaction tales, like Rikki Tikki Tavi (not to be confused with Riki Tiki Timbo- a wonderfully fun, if terribly inaccurate folktale). Mowgli alone is good, but if you can find the other version, I would recommend it.

And speaking of folktales, since i don't have enough going on in my life right now, I picked up Just So Stories too.

Lent Week 6

Lent Day 37

Lent Day 36, 2. Lent Day 38, 3. Lent Day 41, 4. Lent Day 42

Only 5 Days left to go

Sunny Lemon Sorbet

It is 5:30pm in Chicago, sunny and 58°F. This is a cause for celebration.

And there's no better way to celebrate good weather than by pulling out the ice cream maker - one of the many wonderful and incredibly useful wedding gifts Mr. Cleaver and I received. We use our ice cream maker at least once a month, even throughout the winter, so to those who think an ice cream maker is that wedding gift that gets used twice and never again, I prove you wrong in this instance.

Now in interest of full disclosure, I made this sorbet a week ago when it was 35°, but after a long Chicago winter, when it finally hits 35 people start pulling out their shorts.

I had previously made a dark chocolate sorbet from that most wonderful of food-centric websites, Chocolate and Zucchini. It definitely a make again, but the sorbet, I think is really suited to the lightness and sweetness of fresh fruit. So, to bring a ray of sunshine into my kitchen, I opted for a Sunny Lemon Sorbet.

Lemon Sorbet is maybe the easiest thing to make ever.

The ingredients:

• 1 cup of fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• That's it! I love food with a small number of ingredients.

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and place in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours, again - I always let it sit over night before I put it into the ice cream maker. This will allow the sugar to dissolve and the mixture to cool, so the machine doesn't have to work as hard.

Pour sorbet mixture into the ice cream machine and churn for about 30-45 minutes for a smooth, sweet and refreshing treat! Would pair well with shortbread cookies.

Lent Week 5

Day 35.

Day 29-31.

Day 32-34.

Whenever I do a fast like this, there comes a time, without fail, that it becomes habit. As in, I don't miss wearing jeans anymore. Now when I pick out my clothes in the morning it isn't "what do I want to wear instead of jeans," it's "do I want to wear khakis or slacks today?"

Good thing too, since I realized today that Lent is 40 days until Palm Sunday + another seven days after that.

In other news, my life has gotten less crazy enough between an opening and rehearsal and dealing with way too many emails about ticketing that I was able to pull out the full seven photos this week (though don't look at Day 30 too closely - I was wicked tired and it shows). As and added bonus, I actually have some non-Lent posts lined up for later in the week - yay!

In other other news, I need a hair cut. My hair flip is getting outta control.

In other other other news, it's supposed to be 50 degrees tomorrow, glory hallelujah!

Lent Week 4

Day 28

1. Lent Day 25, 2. Lent Day 26, 3. Lent Day 27

Okay, so there are some pros and cons to this week's Lent posting.

Pros:

• On days 25 and 26. I am wearing a skirt. This is for you Crow.  Click on the titles for larger versions if you don't believe me.
• I am wearing the same sweater on days 26 and 28. Why repeat myself a day apart? Because I made that sweater. After three months of knitting, I feel as if I am justified in wearing it as often as I want until it is too warm to wear it, which at the rate Chicago is currently going, will be sometime in early June.
• Hardwood floors make awesome backgrounds.
• I actually cleaned my desk so I could take the Day 26 photo.

Cons:

• I, uh missed three days. I suck. But I was also prepping for a first rehearsal and helping build a set at the same time. (full disclosure: I wore jeans while set-building, but only during set building. I changed clothes immediately before and after, adhering to the rules I set out at the start.)
• The weather mocked me with two days of nice weather and then turned into super-cold land again. (At least until the weekend).
• I am running out of place in my apartment to take pictures. Not to mention poses. I am so not fierce.

Lent Week 3

1. Lent Day 15, 2. Lent Day 16, 3. Lent Day 17, 4. Lent Days 18 & 19, 5. Lent Day 20, 6. Lent Day 21

I was on the road on Saturday & Sunday (where I saw the Show Goats Trailer, sadly bereft of any show goats).

I did not wear jeans, I also did not take pictures. :(

Lent Week 2

1. Lent Day 8, 2. Lent Day 9, 3. Lent Day 11, 4. Lent Day 12, 5. Lent Day 13, 6. Lent Day 14

Another week another another seven days of me wishing it was warmer and that my pants fit better. That said, the goal of this little project is to be more aware of what I 'm wearing and it's certainly doing that.

In other news, Cadbury Cream Eggs are now on store shelves(and in my hand on day 13), which means those pants won't be fitting better anytime soon. Ah well.

Is my Alma Mater saying I turn it on?

A few days ago I received a valentine from the most unlikely of sources, the Office of Annual Giving at my Alma Mater or if taken literally, the even stranger source of a light switch.

Now I'm all for almuni donations, and I make a small contribution every May, but somehow, I doubt this is really going to rack up the donations for old WU.

I tired to photograph the card, but it was too long to get the whole poem in clearly, so for your reading pleasure, I shall transcribe it here:

Sometimes it's a student's hand,

Sometimes it's a prof's.

They come and flip my switch straight up

Or sometimes switch it off 

So much learning goes on here.

You help me play my role.

It's not just intellects we shape,

But hearts and minds and souls.

I couldn't do it without you.

I couldn't light the way.

Your love for this place makes me shine,

That's why I want to say,

If you keep giving every year

This room will ne'er be dark.

Your gift, no matter big or small,

Always gives me a spark!

All my love this Valentine's Day!

-Light Switch by the Door, Eaton Hall, Room 212

-------------------

In other news, when I bought him the blue argyle sweater I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened, so of course it happened on Valentine's Day.

Oh well.

This was totally unintentional, but I guess it means we're officially "those people."