The Glop Factor on Lame Post Friday

I am cooking with wine, and by “cooking with wine” I mean sitting here typing into my laptop, sipping wine and waiting for the macaroni to cook.  I am making macaroni and cheese with little hot dogs, mushrooms, and whatever else I decide to throw in at the time (about two more minutes now).  Ah, Friday.  The day I am happy the week is over and not yet annoyed with myself for not getting anything done over the weekend.  And the home of Lame Post Friday.  What can I come up with today?

OK, the stuff is in the oven.  I am looking at true crime television.  20/20 on OWN right now, but I might switch it to Dateline: Secrets Uncovered on Oxygen.  Oops, it is 20/20 on ID, on the channel OWN.  20/20 on OWN is on at six.  I noted that just now when I went to double check which Dateline it was (I thought it was Real Life Mysteries, but I was mistaken).  I don’t know why I go into such detail, but I feel better when I am strictly accurate.

I was supposed to have the minor Mohawk Valley adventure of driving into Rome this afternoon.  However, when I left work snow was falling quite copiously.  I called my mother and we decided to put the visit off.  I hesitated because I felt it was the kind of day that, if I drove into Rome it would be horrible, but if I went home and put on my sweats, the sun would immediately shine.  Mom did not think the sun was in danger of shining, and it turns out she was right.  As I slid a few times driving home — and I don’t drive fast — I felt we had made the right decision.

I just checked on the macaroni and cheese.  Note to self:  stop trying to put mozzarella cheese in baked macaroni and cheese; it just gets gloppy.  I seem to recall mentioning the glop factor in a previous blog post (I’m not going to look for it, although I may have tagged it “gloppy,” knowing me).  Do I ever learn?  Time will tell.

Well, friends, let’s call this a blog post and get back to enjoying our Friday.  Happy Weekend, everybody!

 

 

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Hey, It’s a Blog Post

How about a cooking post, to make a change from my moaning and groaning about my health woes (yes, it gets a little old, even for me).  For one reason, I’m back on solid food.  Yay! My doctor specifically recommended macaroni and cheese.  I had some cheese in the refrigerator, so I decided to make some. I wondered when I started out if this would really be worth a blog post.  I mean, it is not the most imaginative recipe.  Then again, it is Non-Sequitur Thursday, and, hey, it’s a blog post.

I peeled and crushed some garlic, setting the timer for 15 minutes so it could “breathe”  (that is a correct use of quotation marks;  garlic cannot literally breathe, since it has no lungs) (that is a correct use of “literally” as well, so yay me).  I put on some water to boil and looked in the fridge for the aforementioned cheese.  I had mozzarella and colby-jack.  This would be great.  I grated the cheese while the macaroni cooked.

When the shells had cooked, I put it in a casserole dish and stirred in the garlic, then added butter and milk (which I did not measure), then the cheese.  It looked like a lot of cheese for the amount of macaroni.  Yum.  I covered it and put it in the oven, which I had pre-heated to 350 (forgot to mention that, but I don’t think anybody was cooking along with me as they read, were they?) and set the timer for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, things got a little different.  When I took the stuff out to stir it, it seemed the cheese had melted into a big glooby glob in the middle of the dish.  What was that all about?  Is that what mozzarella is supposed to do? I added more butter and milk, stirred some more, and put it back in for another 10 minutes.  I wasn’t too worried.  After all, it would still taste good, even if it was a pile of macaroni next to a lump of cheese.  I might just have to eat it with a fork and knife.

After 10 minutes, the glob seemed a little less globby (or I guess, glooby, as I described it before), but the milk was making kind of a soupy puddle.  Oh well, I like soup.  I stirred, then put it back in for five minutes uncovered, in hopes some of the liquid would boil off or get absorbed.  Not much did.  Oh well.

Steven was home by this time, delighted by the smell of me cooking dinner for the first time in over a week.  Um, the smell came more from dinner than from me.  We ate it from bowls, because it was still pretty soupy.  It was pretty tasty.  I could feel my body melting in gratitude for the first carbohydrates in days.  I wanted seconds but refrained.  For one reason, I didn’t want to make myself sick.  For another, I did lose five pounds since last Wednesday.  I’d like to keep some of it off.

 

And Thank You, Brian’s

Monday during our various movements dealing with the computer (see yesterday’s post), Steven and I got a little hungry. I suggested lunch at Brian’s Roast Beef Deli.

We easily found a parking place on Main street and easily found a table at Brian’s, even though they were doing a brisk lunch business. The menus were on the table, under plexiglass. I got up and checked the Specials board as well. Lots of good choices.

Steven decided on a deluxe hamburger with macaroni salad. I got garlic boneless chicken wings and a side of macaroni and cheese. I had been thinking of that macaroni and cheese ever since I suggested Brian’s. Seven got coffee to drink. I daringly ordered a draft beer, smallest size.

The waitress was one we’ve seen before. I asked her if she had lost weight since I last saw her. I always hesitate before I ask that question. I’m afraid the answer will be, “What, you thought I was FAT the last time you saw me?” I usually meet with a good response, though, and so it was this time. She had been trying to lose a few pounds and was glad it showed.

Our food was delicious. While we ate I noticed a note below the plexiglass on the table talking about how all the food was fresh made from the finest ingredients. I could tell. They were some of the best boneless wings I’ve ever had.

A lady Steven knows came in while we were there. She and her luncheon companion were sharing a large antipasto.

“Ooh, that looks good; I should’ve gotten that,” I said. “That’s what I do in restaurants,” I explained. “I look at what other people are eating and see what looks good.”

The lady said she thought my lunch had looked pretty good. I assured her it was. She may get the boneless wings next time.

We greatly enjoyed our lunch at Brian’s. It made a nice interlude in the midst of our computer dealings.

Brian’s Deli is located at 122 N. Main St., Herkimer, NY 13350, phone number 315-866-3664. They are open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight. You can like them on Facebook.