Anyways.
Tonight I made macaroni and cheese. Normally, I rock this dish. I can make this dish with my eyes closed, one arm tied behind my back, and hopping on one foot. But tonight? Bah!
The first thing I did wrong was not use Balderson's old cheddar. I got the cheese at the A&P, whereas I normally get it at the Independent (think Zehrs or the Superstore, but in Northern Ontario). Oh, they had Balderson's, but it was white cheddar, and they had something called "Old Nippy's" which sounded interesting. Turns out, it's crap. CRAP, I tell you! It practically melted in my hands while grating it, and then it didn't melt when I put it in the white sauce. The mozzarella melted okay, though.
I don't usually do this, but I put the whole thing in the oven with breadcrumbs and cheese sprinkled on top, and it ended up being super craptacular! Gah. It's sitting in my stomach like a big, bad cheesy lump.
A few weeks back, I experimented with a recipe I found on The Amateur Gourmet's blog. It was this recipe, rigatoni and cherry tomato sauce. Normally, I don't like cherry tomatoes, but I thought, "what the hell, I'll give it a try." This is the before shot:
And this is the after shot:
I added fresh basil from my "garden" (remember the Herb Tarleks?). And it was amazing. You should go check out the recipe!
Other adventures in cookery (Jen, why do they call it that?) lately have involved my ice cream maker. A few weeks back, I made ginger ice cream - it was very good, and you definitely knew the ginger was there, but it didn't have the heat or the bite of the original. Today, I attempted mint chocolate, and the results, while not as good as the ginger ice cream, are still good.
It called for real mint leaves, so while there's a green colour, it's not very strong. But it's minty! And in the freezer solidifying for now.
