Car Trouble

Anyone who knows me knows I love my car. It's a 2004 Honda Civic EX. When I bought it, it made me happy. I had just totaled my 1997 Civic on the Northern Parkway on Long Island. A person in the right hand lane decided to stop dead in the middle of a busy highway. As I rounded a bend, there he was. My car looked destroyed, but aside from a dramatic moment, my passenger and I were fine. Of course, then I got sued, but that was another story that ended anti-climactically with the suit being dropped. 

When I bought this car, it was a moment of pride. I got a great deal. I paid as much for it as I did my 1997 Civic. And this one has automatic locks and power windows, a CD player, a sun roof, and drove like a dream. I say ‘drove,’ because after almost 10 years and 160,000 miles, it's having some challenges.

Last month, the heat shield fell off. This is no big deal. It fell off my 1997 Civic. It doesn't impact the way the car drives, but it does make it noisy. The car now rattles a little at low speeds. So getting out of the driveway or the parking lot is like listening to a steel drum band.

Next, the A/C cut out. If you know me, you know I love the A/C. I'm a sweater, so even slightly warm days make me unhappy. Also, I have hair that responds dramatically to any kind of moisture in the air. In short, the A/C keeps my windshield from fogging up and my hair from exploding. It's a win-win. The A/C just needed to be recharged, which I could take care of at my next oil change, or so I thought.

Then, the inevitable happened. And I say inevitable because it is unexpected, annoying, and ridiculous. And those three happening all at once to me periodically is a given. The car was left outside, with the trunk open, overnight, during a torrential downpour. The names of the guilty are being withheld to protect the innocent. Emptying the trunk and sopping up the water was no small feat. Fortunately, the weather dried up and I think it's finally dried out after three  days. But at the same time I pulled the car back into the garage, my husband noticed a flat tire.

So today I headed out to get the flat fixed. Hubby used the bike pump to get me out the door. Easy fix. $8 and a smile. Sweet! Next, I headed to Valvoline for an oil change and to get the A/C done. 45 minutes later the nice man explained it's not the coolant, but the compressor. They can't do it, but they know someone who can...for $500. Um...no thanks. I called my mechanic and headed over. Okay, he can do it for $400. Crap.

Really? Really??? This is just great. My beautifully running, favorite car that was a dream at 140,000 miles has quickly turned into a piece of crap right under my nose. It seems to have happened all a once. I had always planned on running this car into the ground, but I thought it would be different. I take good care of it and maintain it well. I thought if things went wrong, it would be one or two things a year, not ALL AT ONCE while I'm unemployed. 

They say timing is everything right? We'll see.

Mac and Cheese (revised)

My husband and I are huge, HUGE mac and cheese fans. We eat it any way we can get it: from a box, gourmet offerings, frozen meals, deli case... it's our go to comfort food as vegetarians. We add stuff to it: broccoli, onions, spinach, black beans, peppers, jalapeños, spicy cheeses, salsa, and more. But when it comes down to it, we really love his mom's tried and true creamy baked mac and cheese recipe. 

This is a recipe that gets handed down for generations. It likely was originally taken off the side of an elbow macaroni box, but hey, if it's that good, it should be published. So, I am deeply committed to this recipe. My mother-in-law passed away before our wedding. At one of our last Christmas' together, I asked for her family recipes and, thankfully, her "Baked Macaroni and Cheese" recipe was included. 

I typically make this with very few changes. Every time I try to mess with it, well, let's just say the results are disappointing. Lately, I even tried trading out classic elbow pasta for cavatappi. Now that's a winner. I have also tried whole wheat pasta. But in the end, the delicate béchamel needs a white pasta. 

So, at a recent visit with friends, I was intrigued when they urged me to try brown rice pasta as a substitute for regular durum wheat pasta. It has similar nutritional value to traditional white pasta but it is safe for gluten allergic friends. He sent us home with a bag to try. So here is our experiment with the recipe:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

2 TB butter
2 TB flour
1 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups milk
8 oz. cheese (cheddar, or american)
8 oz. elbow macaroni
buttered bread crumbs

First note: I doubled the recipe. I always double the recipe.

Thickened milk mixture
before adding cheese.

Over medium heat, melt butter, add flour, and remove from heat. Stir until well incorporated. Do not brown the flour. It's okay if you get distracted, and it cools off. You can add it back to the heat later. Add mustard, salt. This is also sometimes where I add other ingredients like garlic black pepper or cayenne, depending on how I'm doctoring it up. Place pot back on heat, add the milk, then stir until mixture starts to thicken and clings to spoon (roughly 10 min).

Add 6 oz. of cheese, a little at a time, stirring constantly over low heat until a smooth, creamy sauce is created. Reserve the remaining cheese for the topping.

Note: You do not want the sauce done before the pasta. It can get a film on the top if you stop stirring. If this happens, stir it again until smooth.

Cook pasta according to package directions (minus 2-5 minutes). This is what got me in trouble. I did not look closely at the package which says to cook over medium heat and to rinse the pasta after cooking. The instructions said to cook 15-16 minutes, and I cooked it for 10, knowing the pasta would finish cooking in the oven. I did not rinse it.

Add pasta to baking pan. (This is also where I added some broccoli this time) Pour sauce over the pasta and gently stir until noodles are mostly covered. Sprinkle remaining cheese followed by the buttered breadcrumbs. I use panko bread crumbs which get super crunchy.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until the top is nice and brown.

The results: Well, let me just say that brown rice pasta is YUMMY. It tastes similar to white pasta, but a little sweeter, which in this case was a bonus. It holds up well to the cheesy  béchamel sauce and the crunchy breadcrumb topping, by is not overpowering. My big disappointment was in the texture: the noodles seemed overcooked and mushy, almost gelatinous. I'm not sure if they did not hold up to baking in a casserole, if they needed to be rinsed, or what. Disappointingly, the noodles fell apart.

Next time, I will follow the rice pasta’s cooking instructions more carefully, cooking the pasta over a lower heat and rinsing in cold water after cooking. Then, I will report back. As for now, I will consider this rice pasta as a viable option for our mac and cheese.

When Cats Attack

Ok. According to my Facebook and Twitter feeds, it's Shark Week. And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to watch anything related to sharks, this week, or any time in the future. I have noticed that of late posts about sharks, Shark Week, Sharknado and the like have crept into my news feeds. It is clearly amusing my friends near and far, so why should I care?

Today's post is more about what else is creeping into my news feed. And I did it to myself. All these pictures of cats started popping up. First, it was a little random. Some friends posted pictures, cute and strange, of their own kitties. And I clicked the like button. Hey, I'm a cat person. I have two kitties of my own. I don't judge.

Then I decided I wanted more. I liked whole pages of cats like Catbook and And My Cat. Both have provided regular posts with cute pictures of kittens and cats or memes that make me laugh. Take these for example.

Just when I thought I couldn't squeeze anymore cats into my facebook news feed, I found something truly amazing. It's called Unadvertize.me. It's an app for Chrome that will take those stupid promoted posts in your news feed and replace them with an instagram feed of your choosing. It's amazing. Now my feed is full of #cats, #catsofinstagram, and #caturday pictures instead of sales from stores I don't care about. It is pure kitty bliss.

Talk about convenient! Fewer ads and more cats! Of course, you could use other streams, but why?

Gender Bending Monday

What's a good way to spend a Monday? Breaking gender stereotypes will always put a smile on my face. How about you? Check out these great smiling gender benders:

I saw this great video posted on Facebook and just had to share it.

If you're not bopping around in your chair from that one, don't worry, there is more to make you smile. There is also a really interesting tumblr feed with things like this and this.

But not everyone is as into this theme as I am. In May, a Milwaukee school district caused some controversy by planning a gender bender theme day during spirit week. The optional day would allow girls to dress like boys and boys to dress like girls. Some parents raised concerns that this was somehow promoting homosexuality. Who knew something so fun could be so thought provoking? But yes, controversial too.

What makes your Monday?