How my brain works

5:00 pm: "I should make something for dinner that will give me plenty of leftovers so I don't need to scrounge up something for lunch at work tomorrow... Ooh, mac & cheese casserole with ham... and there are potato chips crumbled on top. Sounds really unhealthy. I'm making it."

5:30 pm: "Something about the technique on that recipe seemed weird."

6:00 pm: "Something about the technique on that recipe was DEFINITELY weird. Has Sara Moulton led me astray? She does say it's a recipe from a family friend, not actually her own recipe..."

6-9:30 pm: "TV... shiny, pretty colors."

9:30 pm: "Dang. I still need to figure out something for lunch, because I'm not bringing the mac & cheese now. Hmm. I have leftover ham. I could make a sandwich if I had any bread.... I should make bread."

2:30 am: "Why, WHY do I always decide to make bread at 9:30 at night, so that I'm up until well after 3:00 waiting for it to be done?"

Yes, here I am, waiting for the loaf of bread that I decided to make at 9:30. I know full well that it has to rise for at least 5 hours. I wish I could say that this is the first time I've done this, but it's not... it's more like the fourth or fifth time I've done this. At least I'll have really good homemade bread for my sandwich for lunch tomorrow...

As for the less-than-stellar mac & cheese that I alluded to: Bette's Macaroni and Cheese from Sara's Secrets for Weeknight Meals, by Sara Moulton. I love Sara Moulton. She's a petite gal (we have to stick together, you know), and she knows her stuff in the kitchen. She's never led me astray before, which is what makes the mac & cheese even more disappointing. The recipe has its good points, but the technique is weird. I was expecting a typical creamy mac & cheese concoction, and what I got was a very dry, decidedly uncreamy dish of potato chips and melted cheese on top of pasta and ham. It's not terrible, but some major alterations are needed before I foist it on others--and foist it I shall, because (once the recipe is fixed) this thing has "potluck" written all over it. If nothing else, it's a good reminder of why I like to try out new recipes on myself first.