Macaroni and Cheese with a Side of Self-Expression

As the cold rain falls, most people feel anger or sadness creep in, a slithering reminder of all things dismal. A portent for negative things to come, the rain evokes feelings of cold, hard disarray. For me, though, the cold rain stands for an excuse to make some comfort food! In each rain drop I see macaroni swimming in a heavenly bath of just-brown-enough cheese. This is perhaps a little bit sick and twisted, but moving past the fact that i'm just a wee bit odd, doesn't this sound good? It was. The thing I love most about cooking? It's a form of self-expression. For this recipe, as an example, I started with the work of Alton Brown:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe/index.html)
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Ingredients
1/2 pound elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

In the interest of my waistline, though, I tweaked Alton's (admittedly delicious and rich) recipe around to be a bit more healthful. And, because I like to put my own spin on things, I added a bit o' Lieberman to the mix. Here's mine:

Baked Wheat Macaroni and Cheese
Recipe Inspired By Alton Brown

Ingredients

1/2 pound wheat pasta shells (shells do a great job of holding the gooey-goodness hostage)

3 tablespoons butter (I use fancy french Pamplie, but not sure it matters in this recipe)

3 tablespoons flour

3 cups Skim Plus (the *best* skim milk, hands down)

1/2 cup yellow onion finely diced (i've recently acquired a Cuisinart and oh my god i will never use a knife again, LOVE LOVE LOVE)

1/2 teaspoon paprika

a Teensy bit of Cayenne powder

1 large egg

12 ounces sharp cheddar shredded

2 Tablespoons of Blue Cheese

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Fresh black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to JUST under al dente. While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, cayenne, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes. Temper in the egg. What the heck does this mean, you understandably ask? The egg will cook (scramble) if you throw her into a pot of hot bubbling liquid and chunk of egg in your steamy pile of comforting love is NOT what you want. Therefore, add some of the hot liquid to your egg, stir, do this again, stir... just bring the temperature of the egg up and THEN pour it in. Stir in 3/4 of the cheddar cheese and all of the blue. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

Okay, so I didn't have all THAT many changes. You don't mess with a good thing. BUT I did swap the regular pasta to wheat, the whole milk with skim, and I nixed the buttery bread crumbs. Let's be honest- if you have a vat of cheddar cheese and pasta, the breadcrumbs are just not important anymore. The cooking part made me feel good on an otherwise status quo evening. Biting into the end result? Not much is more comforting.

I'm Good At Other Things

Le Sigh. I'm just awful at keeping up with my blog, and admittedly so. That said, don't give up on me just yet. Microblogging is taking the wind from my long post sails- and that's not to say it's to blame. Only, I'm pretty sure that the constraint of twitter's 140-characters or less induces creativity. And so, my dear readers, i'm totally still blogging. I'm just doing it over at www.twitter.com/frani_lieberman. There are some things that will still require long form explanation. And that's okay with me.

Alliteration City: Facebook is for Friends

In a myriad of social networks, how do we decide which friends are for where? In an internet informational highway, how do we presume to know what personal information to post? How much is too much?

I remember when Facebook was solely a virtual space for my friends from Towson University and high school friends- a way to keep in touch intermittently through semesters. Because of this, my profile shaped up to be quite personal - a photographed documentary of my weekends, vodka consumption, spring break debauchery, last-semester celebrations, festivals, etc. Facebook was for high school friends, people I met along travels, and college friends. And for a long time, i kept it this way.

I had a rule: Linkedin is for industry contacts and facebook is for friends and twitter is for everybody who is interesting. I'm in the midst of a theoretical struggle, as of late. Okay- maybe that's a bit dramatic- i'm not losing any sleep. But in any event, here's the problem: Strangers are adding me on facebook. Many of them live in New York, are in social media/PR/advertising/web/SEO/communications/marketing/what have you, or we share 10+ friends in common. And still, strangers. Certainly not friends. To deny facebook friend status seems silly- i mean, come on. it's just facebook. And we have all of those friends in common. And yet still, do I want complete strangers to know exactly where I work, hang out, who i convene with, etc? I sort of flounder back and forth. Also, I feel like saying "no" is silly. After all, it's just facebook. See, i flounder even in this blog post.

If you read this blog, then you know that this is the year of the yes. So, therefore, i'm saying yes. And so, mister Wall Street Journal reporter and mister NY PR guy and miss search engine optimizer expert, fine- we can be facebook friends. But please don't stalk me, okay?

Treasure Island Hotel Troves

Hotels around the world, listen up. Do you want to win the hearts of geeks, pop culture enthusiasts, music lovers, and pretty much everybody? Sounds beautiful, right? It's easy. Make like Treasure Island in Las Vegas. According to Dave Taylor, who is staying in this little slice of heaven while he's at CES this year, Treasure Island Hotel as Ipod Dock Clock Radios! Don't know about you, but this is enough to make me stay there.

This is how i know: http://twitter.com/DaveTaylor/status/1100627189

A Lieberman Family NYE

The Year of the Yes

I've never been big on resolutions, as I'm all for improving all 365 days of the year- or at the very least thinking about the things that ought to be changed (personally, professionally, financially, whatever) more than just once a year. That said, i suppose the New Year is as good of a time as any to resolve for better things. Here's my advice: Make an actual list of resolutions on your favorite paper and with your favorite pen (shameless client plug: Make it a Zebra pen!) and tuck said list into a drawer. When appropriate, check off the things you've resolved to do. You know you've got some self-work to do if you pull out that list on January 1, 2010 for the first time all year.

Me? As i said, I don' really list resolutions (i'm pretty positive all year that i need to go to the gym more, make all of those stupid doctor appointments i'm always putting off, get a client on Oprah, learn a language, etc). BUT: I'm looking forward to the year ahead and am content with the closing of 2008. I think i'll say "yes" a lot more this year in all areas. I'm hoping to experience a few new things just by changing my often sneer-filled no to an "okay why not" yes. This is an exciting time to be alive (Obama and the internet and Chuck Norris oh my). I look forward to living as an active participant in all things 2009- my personal year of the yes.

Writing is to Bleeding as Happiness is to Manchego

"There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." - Hemingway

that's all. move along. nothing to see here. oh wait, i lied. just finished The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. Perhaps one of my favorites ever? Or maybe, just a relevant time to read about a wise woman's struggles at love and work. The narration is both quiet and seductive- almost uncomfortable at times but always well-written. One of my favorite lines: "You see yourself through his eyes, as THE GENERIC WOMAN, the skirted symbol on the ladies' room door." In any event, if you're a twenty or thirty-something lady with career aspirations and a penchant for finding the one you actually didn't believe you wanted to find, then this one's for you. I laughed out loud plenty of times.