We went to town yesterday for groceries.
The bottom right image is of the spillway that we drive across to get to and from our campground. I asked a few years ago what happens when the water level gets too high for safe driving across the spillway. The rangers said there's a back route out that comes out through "The Base". We think that means under the arch in the top picture.
The high school sign gave us a laugh.
Anyone who follows the Crazy Good e-Book Bargains topic, or topics devoted to dead tree cookbooks, knows that I find cookbooks irresistible. Sometimes I wonder why. In my case they're probably a triumph of ambition over good sense. When I buy them at bargain prices, or borrow from the library, they're cheap entertainment. But when it comes time actually to cook I often turn to old faves. I work from my own notes (paper scraps or electronic file) and work on refining the dishes to our satisfaction.
So it was last night. We still have leftover ham from the last one we cooked, sometime before Llano. There are still sandwich slices for when we hit the road in a couple of days, but there are also chunks. Mac 'n' Cheese 'n' Ham it was! I used elbow macaroni, and less cheese sauce than in past iterations. I also baked it in a shallow baking dish instead of the usual Corning pot. This was my best result yet!
The shallower baking dish meant more even cooking and a better texture overall. It could have used perhaps a touch more sauce, or more likely, less pasta. I'd like it to have been slightly more cohesive. I'd also like it to have had more brown crust, either on the top or the bottom. I think a hotter oven will take care of that. I forgot the mustard, and neither of us missed it.
The only thing I don't like about making this dish is the cleanup. My best friend says she makes her version of it using a single pot. I want this to bake after being mixed. So there's the pot for the pasta, the pot for the sauce, the cutting boards and knives and graters and measuring cups/spoons...here's what I did after the baking dish went into the oven!
(Okay, there's also a pre-dinner cocktail glass and a lunch dish or two.) In an ideal world I'd have had all that done earlier in the day, but we were in town and then I had a conference call that delayed the prep work.
I was tired. We both were pleased. This morning's leftovers are put away, and they're as cohesive as I'd hoped.
