hearty hearty

I donated plasma today, and it was kind of cool.

So obviously I needed a hearty meal both before and after the process.

Two days ago, I finally made the mac and cheese I've been vying for, using Cooking for Geeks as my reference (that's what that book is in the picture).

 [Be proud of my coaster, thanks to Free Art Fridays.  I'm loving the random university events they have here.  Arts and crafts are very therapeutic.  I was especially excited to collect lots of recipes from a magazine called Gourmet or something.  Basically glued a picture of spices to a rectangular cork piece and painted on a sprig of rosemary to pretend like it took some effort to make.  Now I always want rosemary - my potatoes need a friend.]

 Shells instead of elbow mac.  Whole wheat flour instead of AP.  Bacon fat + butter instead of just butter.  The texture of the sauce was a little off.  But that's also probably because I used this fantastically pungent 12-year cheddar I found at the farmer's market from the people who make baked cheese (the name of the dairy escapes me).  Crumbled in some ($6.53, ugh) bacon, threw in some frozen peas, and topped with fresh tomatoes.

So after I got back from a lecture that went right over my head what with the lack of coffee and glasses (I hate wearing glasses, they're so distracting)...after I trudged home in the gross windy rainy weather... after I ate a couple handfuls of pretzels while watching Friends... I prepared my station for waffled mac and cheese.  My roommate brought along a $10 waffle iron that will have to fill the void left by the lack of a wok, cast iron, and processor [ :'( ].

 It was a bit of a challenge because the shell pasta resulted in an uneven surface that was hard to coat in flour, egg, and panko.  And then it took some gentle effort to sandwich the thing between the iron to get the pretty waffle marks.  By the fourth piece, I learned to put it flat side up and then gradually press down on the iron until the piece melts a little and spreads out so happy Maillard browning happens on every inch.  Some of the edge shells broke off, but that was an easy fix - just coat and waffle them separately.

 Look at that glimmering grease.  I like the deeper color imparted by the whole wheat flour, looking like actual breakfast waffles.  I could actually feel my heart work a little harder, my adipocytes get a little bigger, my reflexes get a little slower with every bite.  And now all I want to do is make pots and pots of mac and cheese.  Especially now that there's a delicious way to reheat the leftovers.

Here's to the slowest Friday ever (after oversleeping on hw-turn-in day...showing my fellow classmates what 'I woke up like this' literally means.  Let's just say I kept my head down most of the morning).