So I failed, once again, at not using my credit card. But to be fair – I lost my debit card during the St. Patty’s disaster of 2011, and have absolutely no way to access cash because Bank of America is insane and charges a monthly fee if you use the tellers. Seems ridiculous and a little evil because I feel like they are trying to phase out the tellers completely and replace them with robots..but that’s another issue. So I HAD to use the credit card! If for no other reason but to fight against the oncoming threat of robot bank attendants!
Friday was a wine soaked celebration for Petra’s new job! Yay! And a great night at Blind Tiger and The Rooftop. For those who have never been, both of these places are wonderful in their own right, but the Rooftop is a MUST SEE for people visiting Charleston. Especially if you can make it there to watch the sun go down. It illuminates the Charleston skyline and is absolutely beautiful. Not that we necessarily appreciated that fact on Friday, but I have in the past and I surely will again. But Friday was about celebrating! And celebrate we did. We actually celebrated right into Saturday which led to mass amounts of heavy foods and yummy mimosas to ward off the late night demons.
It was cold and rainy all weekend so we fought back with chili and fried chicken, and topped it all off with the most amazing macaroni and cheese known to man. I don’t know how he did it, but Mike managed to fit 87 pounds of cheddar, pepper jack, gouda with heavy cream, butter and bacon all in one measly baking dish to produce the most glorious cheesy goodness of all time. It was the comfort food of champions and the recipe (that I am improvising on because he cooked while the rest of us laid around the house) is listed below
1. Box of fun shaped noodles
2. 1 pound of bacon – cooked and diced
3. 1 pound of cheddar cheese – shredded
4. 16 ounces of gouda cheese – shredded
5. 8 ounces of pepper jack cheese – shredded
6. Heavy cream – lots
7. Butter – 2 sticks
8. Flour – to make a roué – look it up because I don’t know how it’s done
9. Milk – dash and a sprinkle
10. Bread crumbs
From what I could tell – he cooked the noodles as you normally would and then placed them in a large baking dish.
Then you make a roué using the butter and flour, like I said, look it up because every time I’ve tried to make a roué I’ve failed miserably because I’m never willing to use the appropriate amount of butter.
After the roué was finished there was heavy cream, milk and some of the cheese mixed in and stirred until it was uber creamy. And then in went the bacon. I know right. Wow.
This creamy cheesy bacony awesome mixture was dumped on top of the noodles and mixed. THEN the rest of the cheeses went on top and some sort of spicy yumminess that I don’t know what it was. I’m guessing some sort of cajun seasoning or red pepper.
Then some sliced tomatoes went on top and bread crumbs to finish it off.
The whole thing went into the oven without a timer and apparently he smelled its readiness because when it came out it was the most awesome meal of all time.
It is still raining and cold here, a disgusting 45 degrees. So I think I will rationalize eating the leftovers of this cheesy wonder tonight with a glass of wine or two. Then tomorrow it will be back to carrot sticks and salads. But there is just something about a rainy day with good friends, bad movies and delicious food that makes life great.
