Bleah

I skipped square dancing last night to try a new recipe. My mom always made macaroni and cheese with Velveeta. When I shacked up with Russell, I adopted his mom's recipe which called for sharp and extra sharp cheddar cheese, so when I'm planning to make macaroni and cheese, I go buy the cheddar.

So the recipe I wanted to attempt was a baked macaroni and cheese which specified American cheese. Rather than go out and buy the American, I substituted the cheddar, which turned out badly. It was edible enough for me to have it for dinner, but not enough to pack it in my lunch today. I chucked the remainder of it. Live and learn.

I still have cheddar left over. I think I'll prepare it according to my usual recipe tonight and actually follow the directions for new recipes in the future, at least for the first time.

Resolution

Okay, I really need to go to sleep between 10:00 and 10:30 p.m. each night. Last night I stayed up until midnight, and it's really kicking my ass this morning. It seems that I can't finesse this.

A trip to the library; trying again

I stepped off my train in Baltimore this evening and immediately stepped upon a bus headed downtown. I exited at the library and quickly picked up three books:

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bridge
• Knitting for Dummies
• Cooking for Dummies

I picked up the cooking book just to scan through. I'm hoping that most of the stuff in there isn't a surprise to me, but I'm also hoping for a couple of Aha! moments.

I want to learn bridge. Jeffrey knows how to play, so I hope that he can help me get the basics down before I sit down with friends at the end of April to play.

Likewise, I want to learn to knit, so I checked out the knitting book just to browse through it. No concrete plans to get any needles or yarn, but I have located a yarn shop in the area. I could stop in there over the weekend.

Now I'm preparing macaroni and cheese — the way that I know. I'll also toss in some peas and tuna. My mom did this and baked it with slices of American cheese on top, but I just mix it up and eat it. I'm feeling the comfort already.

Wrap up

So, dinner was prepared according to tradition and enjoyed. Much better this time. Much. Leftovers were packed for tomorrow's lunch. Medication was taken. Dishes were washed. A cantaloupe was cut up to put in the fridge at work to eat tomorrow and Friday.

If I had eaten some dinner out of a box, I would have most likely spent that time just staring at my computer. This was a much better deal.

Now I'm going to sit on my couch for an hour or so and look over my books, then go to bed.