Yum, yum

Tonight, Gourmet Josh made authentic homemade macaroni & cheese - courtesy of one of Alton's recipes (the one for the stovetop variety). It was yummy, but there is one thing I've learned that has made me a passable cook in the last couple of years. It's to always have your meez together - that being short for "mise en place", a French term that essentially (for an amateur) means to have all your materials prepared, measured, and ready ahead of time. Read Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential for a wonderful explanation, and a generally enthralling read. And don't order fish on Mondays.

This time, though, I didn't quite have it together, as I'd forgotten to grate the cheddar cheese. So in the process of frantically grating it, I managed to grate my finger at one point instead. Quickly remedied with a Sesame Street band-aid. And I didn't use quite enought salt. But we liked it OK, and David gobbled almost four bowls of it. But he pretty much skipped lunch so we expected that out of him.

I also probably could have gotten by with one fewer egg and a little less cheese. The recipe was written for 8 dry ounces of pasta and I scaled it up to 16 (the size of the box), figuring we'd get lunch tomorrow out of it for minimal extra effort. But it wound up a little too saucy - scaling the sauce portion up by 50% instead of 100% would have probably produced a better result.