I wanted someone else to make breakfast, so Jim, Lynn and I went to another breakfast joint. The two of them have visited every restaurant in a three county area that serves breakfast. The last three, including this morning's, have been indelibly scratched.
One made Lynn very ill, as in out of it for three days, two of them in bed. She wrote a letter and has had no response, not even an apology.
On the way home we stopped at the nursery for a bag of fertilizer recommended to them. We passed a mouse gasping its last. Ending its misery was not in our pay grade. I did buy a lot of three dollar pots to add color.
I scored a three dollar Gerbera daisy, but I don't know the color yet.
The Gerbera, the shamrock, Pig and Hedgy all need to trade places.
Coming back from cards, I stopped for the golf course picture. It is becoming quite rough! Nancy and I had a great card day, putting together one great play after another. You're pretty much as good as the cards dealt, and we did what we should with what we got.
When I came in from cards, I made a new mac and cheese recipe I found. It's ninety minutes in the slow cooker. I haven't made mac and cheese since I had school children at home, I think. From my years of doing and watching, this didn't sound unreasonable.
In fact, it called for cream cheese and a little more milk than I recall using, but I'm a fan of cream cheese, and forged on. I'm here to report, what may sound good is not necessarily so. I may look around for a new recipe, or tinker with the one I found.
My taste buds told me if I skipped the cream cheese, substituted water for the milk, skipped the butter and most of the quarter teaspoon paprika, it would have been good.
It's not nice when a dinner you've worked on is disappointing.
ReplyDeleteLol. That would be an interesting recipe for Mac and cheese, Joanne.
ReplyDeleteSigh on the recipes which don't live up to their promise. I like cream cheese but have never added it to macaroni cheese - which I am grateful for after reading your post. In fact I haven't made it in years. Soon. Ish.
ReplyDeletePoor little mouse.
ReplyDeleteYes. Saddened me too.
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DeleteYes, it was young, not old, and completely bereft of instincts. I've known and admired this nursery for years. They may use poison, but probably not. They allow chipmunks free run.
DeleteNow you have me craving!!
ReplyDeleteHari om
ReplyDeleteI should not be reading about mac and cheese at one thirty in the a.m. yet here I am. Drooling at the thought - not so much thd recipe! Hoorah for winning card days. YAM xx
I use the Ina Garten three cheese recipe for Mac and cheese. The only problem is that it makes so much and we are eating it for days after. It is great when I have company. Martha Stewart also has a good one also.
ReplyDeletePoor little mouse! Poor mac 'n cheese! You'll find a better recipe soon. I wonder if that can be frozen well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have mac and cheese once in a while, I don't make it, too much work. I buy frozen Amy's or the TJs brand with a bit of chiles in it. Both are delicious.
ReplyDeleteReal southern baked mac and cheese is delicious but a lot of work. Also, I call it a heart attack in a casserole dish because it's loaded with cheese, butter,and eggs. But. It's absolutely divine!
ReplyDeleteI serve it with an equal portion of kale or spinach.
DeleteThat's terrible about your friend's experience with getting sick after eating the restaurant's food and the restaurant let to issue any type of apology or acknowledgement. That's when I would write a review on Yelp or some other social media site. They might not see it but at least others who read reviews would see it and think twice about eating there. I'm enthralled with the thought of cream cheese in mac and cheese but I'm thinking something else would have to be used to give a bit of taste/spice to it since cream cheese can be bland unless it is one of their flavored ones.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the draw of the hand with cards, same like playing Scrabble. Don't know what letters you'll get to work on.
betty
Maybe that mouse ate at the same bad breakfast place.
ReplyDeleteI made a fab mac and cheese once that called for bechamel. It was divine. I think I nabbed it from one of the food writers for The Guardian.
ReplyDeleteThe mac cheese sounds a bit flabby... in a slow cooker and cream cheese... ooh err! Cooked in the usual way with a good strong cheddar, a spirinkle of English mustard and a goodly amount of cheese on the top, a hint of paprika and grilled to a crust... lovely, delish even... not good for your arteries, mind!
ReplyDeleteLX
Now that sounds like a real Mac Cheese!
DeleteThe golf course is looking lovely and wild. Sorry to hear some breakfast places just aren't up to scratch and making people ill is definitely a no-no. I've never been a fan of mac and cheese.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Making mac and cheese is fun when it turns out good.
ReplyDeleteBeing veggie in Scotland means that until recently, Mac Cheese was your only option!
ReplyDeleteSad when a new recipe sounds wonderful but then isn't. Same with breakfast out - places that sound wonderful but not so much.
ReplyDeleteI think that breakfast is the best meal to eat in a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteMostly.
Sometimes.
Macaroni and cheese with cream cheese? No thank-you. I haven't made from-scratch macaroni and cheese in forever. It is good though. Please don't judge me but I love Kraft mac and cheese from the box. I really do. Sometimes I make it "for the kids" and they let me have some.
Younger Daughter and I would do the rounds of breakfast places and rate them on a weird scale: formica quantity, crusty old servers, grumpy cook in the kitchen, grease splattered orders, barking staff, etc. We found the higher on the scale these qualities were the fresher and better the food. Huge marks for homemade homefries.
ReplyDeletePoor wee mousy.
XO
WWW
That's exactly how Lynn and Jim rate breakfast places. Homefries and grumpy cooks are the foremost qualifiers.
DeleteI don't think I've ever made macaroni and cheese from scratch. it's one of the few processed foods we eat. and yeah, cream cheese?but I don't see how substituting water for milk or skipping the butter would make it better (doesn't butter make everything better?). skip the cream cheese and use the real stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe recipe had ample cheddar and mozzarella, plus evaporated milk. I probably would leave butter, after all, but not another cup of milk. Rinsing the evaporated milk can would be adequate. Actually, it was a decent recipe except the cream cheese.
DeleteYour place looks lovely.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
Great pictures. Especially your flower pots and the golf course returning back to nature.
ReplyDeleteSitting down to write a post is sometimes extremely hard. I might have just gone to bed.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Cooking For Yourself world!
ReplyDeleteI would keep the cream cheese, because it makes life better. And butter, that is Julia Child said there can never be enough.
ReplyDeleteNo, I think you did the right thing, keeping true to the recipe.
Love Mac and cheese and often choose it in restaurants in the States. That golf course looks a bit rough, is it still in use?
ReplyDeleteNot in use and its future unknown.
DeleteSlow cooking can be disappointing.
ReplyDeleteWhat did Lynn eat that caused her to become so sick? Does she know if it's one particular item? Did she see her doctor to find out if she had food poisoning? If she did, it should be reported to the health dept. Three days can seem like forever when you don't feel well.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
She had orange juice, I didn't.
DeleteButter, milk, hard cheese (sharp cheddar is my preference)and a little flour to make the white sauce... cream cheese in mac and cheese? Never heard of it!
ReplyDeleteInteresting mix of mice, restaurants and cream cheese in this post. Ok, those things didn't actually touch each other while sharing the same post.
ReplyDeleteThe best mac and cheese I've ever had was in a restaurant in Mississippi. Had lots of garlic in it... and a variety of cheeses.
ReplyDeleteI have no sympathy for the mouse as I HATE them. I am now off to find a mac and cheese recipe for the crockpot. Peaked my cusiosity!
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne, it seems you are keeping yourself busy and entertained. I so hope your health remained good after the move. I'm seeing a podiatrist next Monday because of a stress fracture on my right foot. But other than that, life goes well. My family has monthly game night. We play dominoes, not cards, but oh the laughter! Peace.
ReplyDeleteThe mouse was probably put on Dcon warfarin which I a take as my stroke preventative (blood thinner.
ReplyDeleteBummer about the mac and cheese recipe. Hope you have better luck with the next one.
ReplyDeleteHow cute this little mouse is!!!
ReplyDelete