I have this fond memory of the cheesy, creamy goodness of the baked macaroni and cheese from the Netscape cafeteria. That memory cropped up recently, along with the thought, “Hm, it’s been a while since I’ve made or eaten mac-n-cheese.”
This recipe is influenced, of course, by others: The one from The Joy of Cooking (1997 edition), Sarah Gim’s liveblog “Macaroni & Cheese from Scratch,” Married …with dinner’s “Smackdown and cheese” (Hi Anita!), and What we’re eating’s “Orgasmic Mac’n’Cheese.” Broccoli or leafy veggies complement this dish quite well.
The crusty topping made me say, “Yes, precious,” when I rescued a small piece that fell out of the serving spoon. 🙂 I usually dislike breaded casserole toppings, but the panko made it a winner.
The sauce here ended up a bit thick-custardy, so I’ll punt on the egg next time. I might also try some herbed soft cheese like chèvre suggested in the articles, or Boursin. Perhaps add some chili sauce. Options…!
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Some non-Apple applications ought to be singled out, in my opinion, if they’ve become necessary evils. Not because one would pay money for them, or because they’re commercially produced, but because they’ve become an essential part of one’s computer habits. Yet at the same time frustration reigns during actual use. Anyone know of better alternatives to these software letdowns?
Previously: Mac OS X 3rd party applications I use, and recommend!
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Or, rather, for the cold which has been haranguing me for nearly two weeks. This soup is quite simple: Throw rice into a pot of chicken stock, then simmer until done. The small amount of rice expands into a remarkably generous serving! Depending on your taste, you can additional spices or veggies. The basic recipe makes enough for two people.
Some flavoring ideas:
- Dice an onion (and/or garlic) and carrot, then sauté them until tender.
- Pseudo-Middle Eastern: Add a pinch of saffron to the broth. If also adding sautéed vegetables, add half a cinnamon stick, 1/4 teaspoon each of ground cumin and coriander seed while sautéing them.
- Minced mint and cilantro. Maybe a squeeze of lemon. Hmm, reminiscent of Comfort Noodles?
Ingredients
- 1 quart chicken stock
- 1/4 cup rice: Jasmine works well, Basmati is fine, too
- sea salt, to taste
Method
- Put stock and rice in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- Add any extras to the saucepan.
- Cook until the rice is done, about 20 minutes. Add salt, if desired. Serve hot in bowls or mugs.
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Comfort Noodles is the name we gave this soup: To comfort you on cold days and nights, to comfort you when having a cold. This recipe was inspired by phở gà, Vietnamese chicken noodle soup, and ramen.
Oddly, I haven’t made this yet using ramen noodles. Spaghetti works easily since I almost always have it in the kitchen.
I have a problem with one of the ingredients, though, the chili-garlic paste. Practically every brand I see contains huge amounts of sugar. Too much sugar. Could anyone recommend a brand which contains little or no sweetening?
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Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Finally uploaded photographs documenting the pond Simon installed in the backyard. The process started in early 2003, and took well over a year for plants to become established. We need to replace some of the plants (the Japanese maple couldn’t tolerate the heat), but we now have lovely gold fines gravel for the bench area (much nicer than dirt).
I’ve had my MacBook Pro for about half a year. Never satisfied with limiting myself to what came out of the box, I thought it’d be useful to document what third party (non-Apple) applications I found useful, if not indispensable.
Update (10 January 2007): Thanks to SjG for mentioning MAMP, which I use frequently.
My next post on this topic will discuss third party applications that fall into that sad bucket of necessary evils: essential tools that are terrible to use. (I know I haven’t discussed Dashboard widgets, screen savers, icons and other software add-ons in this article, so I will save that for a future post.)
Next in series: Mac OS X 3rd party applications that suck.
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Wednesday, 3 January 2007
The annual MacWorld Expo San Francisco will take place next week. Unfortunately, I think my Perusal-Research List is pretty much the same as last year’s. It’s unfortunate because I have yet to find these items:
- Car stereo integration for the iPod at a reasonable cost. I’ve never liked FM transmitters, and the tape player is broken. (Not being able to play my iPod in my car for over a year really bites.) So I should get a new stereo. Something as simple as an input jack would suffice, for my not-so new car.
- Are there any bands/clips for iPods which don’t depend on having a belt or belt loops? I’d rather not resort to something as bulky as a waistband contraption.
- I have a feeling that there won’t be any revolutionary improvements in (or over) the Missing Sync for the Palm OS Treo. But, hey, I could be pleasantly surprised.
In any case, even if I don’t find products or tips for the above list, there’ll be plenty of opportunities for poking at nifty input devices, browsing for books, and grazing through the wide array of software booths!
Saturday, 30 December 2006
I recently discovered that this site is running PHP 4, rather than PHP 5. It’s also running an older version of Apache (1.3) than I expected. I might not be able to control the web server version, but my hosting service does allow me to change the PHP version.
This means you might experience downtime with this site while I attempt to bring the software up to date. Because I’m paranoid, my plans are to:
- Backup the iwaruna.com files.
- Backup its database.
- Update the PHP setting.
- Test, troubleshoot, etc.
- Restore stuffs if needed.
- Repeat with gallery site and data.
Sigh.
Update (1:08pm): The PHP upgrade seems to have gone smoothly. And it turns out that my gallery site is already running Apache 2 and PHP 5. I’ve filed a request with my hosting service to upgrade Apache for the other domains…
Update (31 Dec 2006): My hosting service has upgraded my servers to Apache 2. It might take a few days for the change to propogate throughout the Series of Tubes, but I’m relieved it was such a quick fix.
Is there really a good excuse to to interrupt —no, really, impede the user’s experience with an involuntary, uninvited popup window blipping in front of what she’s trying to view? No, I can’t say there is.
Fortunately, web browsers like the Mozilla-based ones and Safari allow us to block the ones generated via the JavaScript window.open() method, among other things. Unfortunately, there are still nasty items like advert links which display popups when you move the mouse over them. Talk about spoiling the behavior of title tips. (Example: The double underlined links at MacNN.com. Blocking would require manual tweaking of your hostperm file, AFAIK.) Vile, vile, vile.
Then a month or two ago I noticed that some blogs have implemented another, similar horror: Snap Preview, which displays a mini-screenshot of the target link when you mouse over it. Perhaps this might be useful in very limited situations (e.g., inform the users of an online gallery that specific links will display previews). But every link? Yowch. No thanks.
Lorelle VanFossen has written an excellent article on why this feature is bad, and how to turn it off if you have a WordPress.com hosted blog. Thanks, Lorelle!
This streusel (a.k.a., crumble) topping is great on pies. Especially apple pies! (A nice substitute for a top crust.) This recipe makes enough for two pies. Leftover streusel also freezes easily.
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