Some "Me" time

No New Years resolution {or lack there of} has ever given me much motivation.  In fact, I kind of skipped out on the gym for the first couple months of the year since it was so packed with "resolutioners."  I have since been going more and more. And with getting back into the swing of cooking, I am definitely going to need to keep it up, because I'm no health nut.  I like rich foods with whole sticks of butter and cheeses and carbs.  Don't get me wrong, I love veggies, too.  But I'm not going to eat like a rabbit.  I'm going to enjoy my food.  I've been listening to Julia Child's "My Life in France" on CD in my car,  {Since 1.5 hours every day of radio gets a little boring.}  and I have a newly renewed zest for food since disc one.

 ** Funny little side note: Julia and Paul Child lived in Cambridge, MA in their later years.  It just so happens that my mother and I were grocery shopping in Cambridge one day when I was about 5, when my she sent me to pick up some broccoli and I skedaddled away in enchantment of my very adult task.  Little did we know, Julia Child was overhearing our little conversation.  Julia approached my mom and said "What a delightful child!" So, you know, me and Julia... we're BFFs.**


Between listening to Julia's narrator wax French cuisine and watching entirely too much Food Network, the fire gas stove was lit under my ass.  Monday night I had some "me" time with my stove.

I hope you all recognize some good old mac and cheese.  However, this is no ordinary mac and cheese.  This is Mac and Blue Cheese with bacon and homemade bread crumbs.  I closed the recipe book and just worked my way through it.  I made my rue {cheese sauce} the way I normally do, my "secret ingredient" being some Dijon mustard.  I substituted half of the cheddar I normally use for blue cheese.  I chopped and cooked up some bacon at the same time until nice and crispy, then strained them out of the drippings with a slotted spoon into a separate bowl, leaving the grease in the pan.  I had some beautifully crusty bread that I popped in my chopper until finely grated.  I tossed in a little Parmesan cheese to that and toasted them on low in the bacon grease.  {I did discard some excess grease, but left a solid coating over the bottom of the pan.}  Meanwhile, I added a little extra pepper flakes to the breadcrumbs.  Next I incorporated the bacon into the rue.  After I slapped it all together, I popped it in the oven just in time for my beloved man-friend, Matt, to show up and partake in my "me time."

Three bowls for him and one bowl for me and two over-stuffed couch potatoes later, he proclaimed, "I'm telling you... You are the best cook I know, and this is the best thing you've ever made." or something to that effect.  A triumph over boring old mac and cheese? Yeah... I'd say so.
 

Speaking of triumphs, remember how one of the two bulbs is out in my overhead kitchen light?  Lucky for me, as I stepped into the kitchen last night and flicked on the light, the other one popped. ...hooray... {can't you sense my enthusiasm}  I needed light in my kitchen.  More than just from the stove light.  And I didn't want to be the helpless flower that had to call the landlord to fix it.  So I bit the bullet and climbed up on one of my kitchen stools.  I don't like standing on them since I put them together myself and aren't the sturdiest/safest things known to man.  But I grit my teeth and got up there, and changed both bulbs myself!  Excuse my while I pat myself on the back.  *pat pat*

So, that's what I've been "cooking up" lately. What about you?  Changing up any recipes lately? Or perhaps you took your life into your own hands to complete a household chore like me?