swt61

I'm pretty sure I've talked about my macaroni before. But today I'll tell the origins and recipe as I make a batch to take to my coworkers that have to work weekends. In late 1989 I was getting ready to go for my first tour on the F/V Ocean Rover, in the Berring Sea. It was nearing Christmas and I was helping two gay friends who owned a furniture store in downtown Anchorage. They always needed extra help for the holidays, as they had lots of holiday gift items and such. As I was on my lunch break and crossing the street, I slipped on some Black ice, hidden under some fresh snow. I landed on my ankle, but thought I was OK. After working for the next three days, my foot just got bigger and bigger until I couldn't get a shoe on that foot and my toes wouldn't touch the ground. Being a bone head I kept telling the guys that it was fine and I should keep walking on it to keep it limber. At this point I was about two weeks away from the new boat being completed and going on it's maiden journey. They ended up calling my Mother when I wouldn't admit it might be worse than I thought. She came, saw my foot and immediately drove me to the emergency room. After explaining to the Dr. what had happened, he agreed that it probably wasn't broken, because he said the pain would be far too great to walk on it for 3 days. However he wanted Xrays to be sure. Once the Xrays were developed he showed me the full and jagged break. He was dumbfounded as to how I had been able to walk on it at all, let alone for 3 days. After resetting the break and getting my first and only cast, I had to come to terms with missing out on the maiden tour of the fishing boat. My Mom insisted I stay at her house while my leg healed. One night when she was out, I got really hungry. The only thing I could find in her cupboard was Velveta shells and cheese. I don't like that kind of cheese sauce with macaroni, so I found some sour cream and thought that might help with the flavor. It did. That was the start of my journey to make my idea of the perfect macaroni and cheese. It took a few years to tweak and perfect, but I've been making this dish at Thanksgiving for at least 25 years now. This year after talking about it with a coworker, I decided to make an early batch as there seemed to be a lot of interest. Here's my recipe for a large batch. 2 lbs. Lg. Macaroni elbows. 2.5 lbs. Tillamook cheddar cheese. 1.5 lbs. Tillamook pepper jack cheese. 1 pt. heavy cream. 1 pt. sour cream. 1 lb. thick cut bacon. Most of these ingredients are available at Costco for a nice savings. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. First I cook off the bacon, then crumble it into small pieces. Next I cube up the cheese to make it melt much easier. Save about 1/2 cup of each cheese to grate and top off the dish. Take a lg. 8 qt. enameled dutch oven and pour the pint of cream into it. This is usually when I add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the cheese cubes. Slowly heat and melt cheese into cream at about medium heat. Once the cheese is incorporated into the cream and is melted to a smooth consistency, add the pint of sour cream and bacon pieces. Cover and keep warm on low temp. In a large stock pot heat up 8 to 10 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt. Once boiling cook macaroni noodles to al dente. About 6 to 7 minutes. Drain pasta well and slowly stir into cheese sauce. Add grated cheeses to the top. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and broil for 5 to ten minutes. This will give a lovely, cheesy, Brown crust. I'm toying with the idea of adding sliced jalapeño peppers, but haven't experimented with this yet. I have added red pepper flakes, but didn't love that. This should be served warm. And reheating should be done on the stove top with a little added milk. This will keep reheated portions from getting oily, like they do in the microwave. It does freeze well in portion sizes.

Just got back from grocery shopping. Now I'm waiting to see Iron Mike kick Jake Paul's ass.

I call it bachelor's casserole. Polish sausage, potatoes, onion, corn, bell pepper and mushrooms. Really, whatever I have in the fridge.

Last night my new landlord brought me a rotisserie chicken from Costco. So tonight I made chicken/green chili enchiladas. I also made a blueberry cobbler that I delivered to said landlord. She was very surprised, but one good deed deserves another. Didn't take pics.

I'm using it as the base for my sauce.

Cooking a shrimp pasta dish for tonight. But for now just prepping the shrimp. I like to keep the shrimp shells and legs. I boil them in water and reduce it down to a shrimp stock. So much flavor left in those shells. It's great for making a sauce, but if using a bottled sauce, it's great to add to the pasta cooking water.

Have a phenomenal day!

Happy Birthday!

Your lisp does not keep that comment from qualifying as sexist. Oh wait, now I see it. Nevermind.

I'm on the lookout for Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, as well as any Leon Russell albums in vinyl or CD.

One of my favorite albums...

Belated Birthday wishes.

Been through Beeville many times. Have fun!

Don't get excited Brent, I believe those are scones.

^ What he said.

I like butts.

Looks better than P Diddy's lunch.

And burger warmer.

I use it as a K1000 amp.

Got some WAGU ground beef at Costco, so... Double bacon cheeseburger.

Did you have Fred Flintstone over for dinner? Looks fantastic!

As a gay man I'm happy to see that a bunch of dangling sausages is equally appetizing to us all. I feel as though we've found some common ground here. I'm a little disappointed not to see any rump roast though.

I like to run the needle across my amalgam fillings, and depending on the tone that permeates my temperal lobe, I can determine the performance.