Day in the Life of an Idiot

 Quick administrative note before I get into the rest of it: I've changed my policy about who I'm granting access to my locked posts to. I didn't have any problem that precipitated this. So, if you are finding yourself suddenly dropped, please don't imagine it's because you did anything wrong!  I've decided for simplicity's sake that I'm only granting access to folks who subscribe to me. I'm doing this in part because I discovered that I was following a bunch of dead accounts, all of whom still had access. I just figured that while I was there, I might as well make everything consistent. The chance that I will let you back in if you ask is incredibly high. In fact, if you'd rather not subscribe but still want see my locked posts, just drop me a request. I apologize for any disruption in your service, as it were!

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Okay, so.  I can't believe it's already noon and I've accomplished next to nothing.

It's kind of been like this since last Tuesday, however?  

The specifics of this morning go like this. Shawn and I got up and were doing our usual things when we realized that we needed to get our car off the street by 7 am for the street sweeper. So, I threw some lunch together for her (I have been making bento for Shawn since we bought a fancy, double-decker bento box several years ago), and we rushed out the door without breakfast. We decided to stop at Brugger's and although we're enough of regulars there that the guys behind the counter start making my sandwiches before I order, I really need to change that order because my GERDS can no longer handle the Swiss and sausage egg sandwich. But, as I'm sure some of you can relate, 1) it feels too hard right now to ask them to change the order, and 2) honestly, the kindness of the gesture is worth the stomach upset. Like, I need small kindesses so much right now, you know? 

I got home and did some of my usual morning internetting, which no longer involves checking social media. I have largely given up being on Facebook, outside of using it as a place to post cute pictures or pictures of food I am making or have made. If you want to follow me on a social, I am at Bluesky: @lydamorehouse.bsky.social


Image: half-eaten tray of fresh, homemade hot cross buns

Then, my alarm went off reminding me to get ready to record my podcast with Ka1lban. I was also working on a new review for MangaKast, which I have not updated in well over a month, and so I didn't really notice the time go by... until it was almost a half hour past when he usualy shows up. I dropped a note to him in Discord, wondering what was up--but apparently he doesn't get notifications from that... and anyway, he hadn't been planning on recording today, anyway, unbeknowst to me. 

This is where things start to feel very abortive, you know? Like, I'm all prepped for something that just isn't happening. 

I'm a little worried that something similar is going to happen tonight as well. I'm supposed to be running a Thirsty Sword Lesbians game at 7pm for a new group that I've assembled. I am embarrassingly prepared.  Like, it's a cyberpunk setting and I made two little mini movies of "found footage" for this group (if they follow the right clues!!) This is part of what I did to occupy my time while we were waiting for the news last Tuesday night, so I mean... it wasn't like I could concentrate on anything else. 

But this morning one of my players, haddayr , emailed to say that she's feeling too sick to fully participate. She's going to try to listen in, but no garuntees. This is our very first session? Players (at least the first one to respond, anyway,) made it clear that they are willing to go ahead without her, but... given how today is going so far, I'm sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

To be perfectly clear, it would be okay if it did. I have learned from my other online groups is that it's always best to have at least two dates arranged ahead of time. So, if we have to cancel this time, we KNOW when the next session is supposed to be. It's already on the calendar. 

It's more that this has just felt very typical of almost all my days since last Tuesday. I feel very much like I can't get my feet under or, when I do, it's for something that is no longer happening or gets postponed or just doesn't work out for whatever reason. 

How are the rest of you doing?

 I'm sitting on my front porch trying to be very quiet so as to not scare away the very light rain that seems to actually be falling from the sky. 

While I'm trying not to make any sudden moves, I thought I should catch you up on my life. First of all, there is a new interview with me up on Salon Futura. https://www.salonfutura.net/2024/09/lyda-morehouse-interview/ which you should feel free to listen to if you are curious about the upcoming re-release of Resurrection Code. There are no spoilers, even though the book is over 20 years old, but we do talk some of what it is about, my influences, and all the standard sorts of things one does in interviews like this. I am inordinately fond of Cheryl Morgan, so I think you should just listen to everything she has up on Salon Futura. 

I also posted another unboxing video on all the various socials. I'm pretty sure unboxing videos are passe, which is why I've done so many of them this year. 

Well, crap. I think I scared the rain away.  It looked possible there for a hot minute. Ah, well. I will keep my sprinkler on, in hopes that I can fool the sky into giving the whole thing a try.  It's been too long. Shawn sent me a whole article about how this is stressing out the trees, that threw me into an existential funk this afternoon. 

The countdown to surgery continues. We are at T-8 days. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with some last minute things Shawn could consider preparing, especially j00j and abracanabra for the clothing-related thoughts. Shawn had been thinking of relying on me for all her dressing needs, but she might be happier with some tools to help her do some for herself. The things you suggested are in the Amazon chart!

I'm also about four days out from running my first stab at "Solidarity: Drunk Girls* in the Bathroom." Earlier today, I was complaining to fellow GM tallgeese about the so-called "module" for this game. BACK IN MY DAY, a Dungeons & Dragons module contained more than vibes. It provided a game runner with literally everything they would need to run the campaign, outside of actual dice (although I'm sure some of them somewhere did come with a baggie of dice!) As enamored as I am of the concept of this game, it will be interesting to see how it functions in practice. The good news is that I have assembled a crack team of players who are ready to focus on roleplay over combat, so maybe none of it will matter as much as I worry it might. Regardless, I have spent a shocking amount of time preparing for any number of possibilities.  Some of you experienced game runners out there might be arching an eyebrow a the amount of time I have devoted to fleshing out a world around the scenario that The Drunk Girl* (lcohen ) and I are creating. Let me tell you a little story about the first time I thought I might try GMing a game....

Cast your mind back to the early 1990s. Cyberpunk was the hot thing and a bunch of different gaming companies were capitalizing on that fact. I somehow missed the popular cyberpunk game, but instead had a copy of GURPS Cyberpunk. GURPS is notorious for a number of reasons, but I wasn't actually all that fussed about the rules. Like, I figured that if I had a basic grasp of how the game went an an active imagination, I should be FINE. Except.... turns out, I, personally, need some processing time. I used to do improv theater, but GMing is actually slightly different. People expect a GM to have a generally cohesive sense of the world. They expect a semblance of a storyline. They llke.... maps. Mostly, I discovered, what players do not want is for their GM to freeze up in abject terror and not have a single thought come into their heads. I ended up doing that last bit more than once. It was BAD. A disaster, even.

Luckily, I was 21 and as I told my friend, entirely made out of ego (which was obviously a large part of the problem, but also what saved me from dying on the spot and then spending the rest of my life hiding in shame.) 

Let's see... other things I've been up to. I finished listening to Someone You Can Build a Nest In (I keep getting the title of this wrong, but this is the correct one.) I have Frankenstein cued up because I think we are doing it as a deep-dive on our cyberpunk podcast. How is Frankenstein cyberpunk? HOW IS IT NOT? Artificial life! Questions of what it means to be human! SCIENCE!

Did I ever tell you all that I actually met a Dr. Frankenstein? She was a dentist. I happened to be standing in line at the vet back in the day (so long ago back in the day that I was still seeing Dr. Holly out in St. Louis Park because we were living in Uptown.) The woman in front of me said, "I'm here for [Fluffy.] It's under Frankenstein," and I laughed and said, "Well, you should really get a PhD so you can be a doctor with a name like that!" and that's when she told me she was, in fact, a doctor--a dentist. We had a very short conversation about her name and what a hassle she must find it, the details of which I no longer remember. I was trying to be polite, but I really wanted to know what it was like to walk around with such a famous name. But I was also aware that her name probably meant she must spend 80% of her time having conversations just like the one she was having with me. 

Like Shawn being 6'1"--it used to be that not a day would go by without someone asking her if she played basketball. Or ask what "the weather was like up there."

It's still looking dark. Should I dare hope?

Eh, I just looked at the extended weather forecast. The short answer is: there is no hope for rain this entire week. In fact the humidity is supposed to drop really low for some reason... 

JFC.

So, do you remember that I told you all that I've been feeling a weird nostalgia for crunchy granola food from the 1970s. Well, Shawn ended up having a huge lunch via a food truck at work today so we agreed we were "yoyo"-ing (you're on your own). So, I decided to make myself the most amazing tempeh parmesan. It's supposed to be like chicken parmesan, only with tempeh. And some of you are screwing up your faces right now in disgust, but you are WRONG. This was delicious! And I am inordinately excited that there are three servings leftover so that I can have this for lunch for the next several days.

hmmm, there are probably far more interesting things to catch you all up on, but that's all that's crossing my mind at the moment. 

 
Image: A selection of freshly fried potato donuts on a dish.

We still have a house guest--possibly for another couple of days. This is Mason's best friend Grey, who is here in the Twin Cities as part of what the two of them jokingly call their "summer exchange program." On Sunday, Shawn and I decided it would be fun to make potato donuts. Luckily, we wanted to make these for ourselves, but I think we did assume that "the kids" (both of whom are actually full adults now. Mason will be turning 21 in a matter of days,) would have a couple? Maybe more than a few?

Nope. I think Mason ate exactly one? And they were really delicious. Shawn and I did our best, but I ended up making two dozen.

We could not GIVE them away, which was weird. Our normal neighborhood go-to for extra baked goods was our across the street neighbor, whom we sometimes refer to as the Hot Swede. Unfortunately, the neighborhood metrosexual hottie will be returning to Sweden, as he got a dream job in the home country. So, he and his wife sold their house and have been slowly selling off all of their furniture. So, that was a bust.  We then tried our next door neighbors, but they apparently have sworn off anything sweet.

Luckily, the internet tells me that I can freeze donuts. I have no idea how one unthaws one to eat, but I suspect it's like cake. 

Yeah, that's all I have right now? There's actually a lot going on in the world right now and I basically can't cope with any of that, so I am having donuts. 
 

How's you?

Image: Shawn (the birthday girl) at High Tea

I'm planning on writing up a Minicon con report later, but I wanted to show off the BEST birthday present I have ever given. 

Shawn's birthday is actually today (this is no April Fools), but several months ago, we were talking about shops that we might like to put on Grand Avenue here in St. Paul, and she floated this idea of a tea shop that served High Tea. That got me thinking, "I wonder if there is high tea being served anywhere in the metro area." I'd forgotten that right in our very own downtown Saint Paul, there is a very, very fancy historic hotel called The Saint Paul Hotel that serves a very reasonably priced high tea every Saturday.  So, I went online, discovered how far in advance a person needs to book these things (months!) and, thus, hit on the idea that it might be quite lovely to take Shawn to high tea on her birthday weekend.


Image: the entryway to the St. Paul Hotel

Originally, I had planned this to be entirely a surprise, all I would tell Shawn that she just needed to be dressed up and ready to go somewhere on Saturday before 1 pm. This was working for awhile, but as the day approached, I realized that, while Shawn LIKES surprises, generally, I tend to forget that having to be at a place at a time makes her generally anxious. Add to it, not knowing what she's doing at that place at that time is actually A Bit Stressful. So, I told her that I would wake her up on Friday morning with a kiss and then spoil the surprise. Once Shawn found out that we were going to tea and she could look at the menu, she got very excited. 

We are not fancy people? Luckily, the St. Paul Hotel doesn't actually enforce any kind of dress code, so when I discovered that I no longer fit into my black trousers, I was able to go in jeans. Shawn's knee has been very arthritic and swollen, so she opted into a longish skirt, half-nylons, and sneakers. But, we were generally feeling spiffy and cute.

There was some other (sporting?) event happening in downtown, and, of course, this was Easter weekend, so we also opted to have a valet park the car. It was only at the end when we were waiting for the valet to return with our car did it occur to me that, uh, sometimes our car won't start? There's some kind of loose wire that connects to the battery that I've been meaning to get fixed, but since I can often just open the hood and jiggle the wire, I haven't gotten around to it. But, as it happened, as I was embarrassedly explaining this to the head valet, his colleague was pulling our car around. But, that's skipping to the end, let's continue from the start.

We arrived very early, which was better for Shawn's nerves. After getting our coats checked, we were directed to wander around the downstairs area, which included a little display case showcasing some of the St. Paul Hotel's history--famous people (including Gene Autry AND HIS HORSE)--who have stayed there.  Then, we were seated in the lobby.


Image: The lobby of the St. Paul Hotel

You will note that where we were, it was very lobby-like. It wasn't set up like a restaurant per se. Though, we had a table, people were sat in comfy chairs, couches, and the like. At first we thought, "Is this going to be comfortable?" Especially for me, with my very stubby legs, but after a while we decided that we actually had the best seats in the house. The couch looked a bit awkward, and some of the other chairs were those sort of high-off-the ground ones (the other queer couple in the room seemed to be given those.) There is also a kind of backroom that had seats that looked more like restaurant fare and we were very glad we weren't sent there. The seating was preassigned, so I have no idea what you have to do to garner the worst seats in the house.


Image:  Shawn contemplating the menu

The tables were set out with tea cups, silverware, and a menu. The menu is seasonal and it's not like you actually choose anything from it. It's just there to let you know what's coming. Food is just brought. Although, in case you are worried, you can tell the chef ahead of time if you have dietary restrictions. This is included as part of ticketing. I presume, in fact, that this is why seating is pre-arranged--so that the servers know which tables are keeping kosher or vegetarian and people will get the food that's right for them. 

Our menu:


So, this actually came out on a tiered dessert plate....


Image: The tiered dessert tray (and me, eating the pineapple mousse.)

Anyway, we had an incredibly lovely time. There is a pianist who plays music throughout the event. Tea is constantly being refilled. When we weren't chatting about life, Shawn and I just sat and stared into a HAPPY middle distance, just smiling to ourselves. 

It was amazing. We immediately started planning when we might want to do this again: Mason's birthday? Mine?  Anyway, if you are local to me, I recommend giving it a try once. It's very fancy and fun and, as Shawn said at one point, "it feels like you're in a Miss Marple novel, without the murder."

 
Image: My amazingly accurate-looking potato candy.

No, those are not tiny potatoes. That's candy. THAT I MADE TO LOOK LIKE POTATOES*. I mean, the candy itself does have potatoes in it, but it's really mostly powdered sugar (rolled in cinnamon). 

*all caps because I need y'all to appreciate that I actually spent an inordinate amount of time (with a toothpick and a chopstick) making these appear potato-like.

I made this candy because, so long as the blizzard continues to hold off, I am planning on heading over to a friend's house to finish up a one-shot of the Old Gods of Appalachia RPG. I've been a fan of the podcast for awhile, which I hesitate to recommend if only because it's a horror podcast. But I will say that I think one of the reasons it makes a good RPG is that, unlike a lot of horror stories, there are magics and talents people can have in the podcast that will keep the wolf from the door. That feels somewhat atypical of these kinds of heavy-on-the-body-horror kinds of show to me, and I really like it.

At any rate, the potatoes came about in part because I'm playing a kind of bard character (speaker, but this basically is a bard, but without music). He's a recent Irish immigrant, having fled the partition of Ireland (May 1921). So, this fits the character very nicely AND it's gluten-free, which is a requirement for one of the players. 

If you want the recipe, it's here: https://www.bakespace.com/recipes/detail/Mom%27s-Irish-Potato-Candy/46624/


Image: a pile of very potato-looking CANDY

 
Image: Chocolate bunny in a fancy bowl

Mason's longtime bestie, a lovely nonbinary person named Grey, happened to be in town for a mock trail competition at the same time as Mason's Spring Break. The two of them concocted a plan wherein Grey would stay with us until they needed to head back to their school (in Iowa.) So, we have had a houseguest for a week. It's been nice and so we wanted to send them off in a grand style. Ostara, Spring Equinox, is not for several days yet, officially, but we always retain the right as Wiccans to call on Pagan Standard Time (which is normally a joke about tardiness to rituals, but which we use to say that we can celebrate our holidays anywhere in the vicinity of their actual day.) So, we treated Grey to an early Ostara High Tea.


Image: Shawn's amazing jelly roll.

We pulled out all the stops. Shawn made an incredible (perfect!) jelly roll (sometimes called a Swiss roll), I made pierogi, Ukrainian potato balls (pampushki), scones, little egg tarts, and we had fruit and faux mimosas... and, OF COURSE, tea.  The jelly roll was a huge hit. Shawn used strawberry jam and orange marmalade for the filling. I think Grey was impressed. To be fair, we love setting the table to impress.


Image: Early Ostara table setting (2024)

Mason, like me, always enjoys playing host. He took Grey book shopping and they both came home with arms full. We also had the entire Mock Trial team in our basement playing video games at one point. Mason and Grey went off to the Mall of America to meet up with more friends at some point, too. It's been such a socially busy week for us, I find it deeply amusing to report that, after waving goodbye to Grey, the three of us immediately collapsed into bed and took a long afternoon nap. 

Happy early Ostara to those who celebrate it!

 My computer claims it's ONLY 98 F / 36 C out there, but there's this whole "heat index" thing and so I'm just hiding indoors in our two room "cool room." 

I felt really smart this morning because, when it was only in the 70s F/20s C this morning, I pre-made dinner. I knew that my choice was going to be somewhat unpopular tonight since it's a bit on the "heavy" side for such a warm day. My thought (and hope) was that my family would just be glad to have something that they could just pop in the microwave, maybe throw together a salad with, and have done. Alas. No one in my family likes Shepherd's Pie as much as I do. My sense is that Mason will still eat it, but Shawn is grumbling about mashed potatoes.(She eats hardly any veggies and now she's off certain kinds of potatoes.)

There is other food in the house. My family will not starve, I just need to roll my eyes at these two. 

What a bunch of goofs.

 
Image: Mason reading his way into 2023.

I know I'm supposed to make excuses for our messy house, but I see a house that's lived in and cozy.

Shawn obviously took this picture over her footstool which is, as always, covered in books and lists. (She's currently re-reading, as you might be able to parse, Stephen King's The Shining.) You can see edges of my current quilting project, Mason's Switch, a D&D manual, all the holiday cards we have put up on the piano window, and more piles of books. The red thing on the floor on the right is Buttercup's sparkly binket that comes out for Christmas and stays near the fake fire place until Mason heads back to university. (The binkie is a tree skirt that we successfully put out ONE year before Buttercup claimed it as "the thing I love the most in All The World" and will drag it away from the tree to "gut" it and sleep on it. So, now it just comes out of the Christmas decoration box for him to have.)

Our New Years was lovely. On New Year's Eve, I made surf and turf. I happened to see lobster tails on sale at Kowalski's (a locally owned grocery chain) and managed to find decently priced steak, as well. I have only ever made lobster tails at home once before. When I made them before I baked them.  This time, I decided to try a boil? I had been unaware the extent they would curl up. So, they were a bit unexpected looking, but they were still very delicious. With steak and lobster, I made twice baked potatoes, green beans, and a salad. We popped the top on some sparking apple juice and toasted the end of 2022 and welcomed 2023.  

And, then we all settled into our corners and read, sewed, etc. 

Seeing The Shining there reminds me of the best Christmas stocking gifts that I gave Shawn this year. We do stockings mostly for the candy. But, Shawn had made a silly comment several weeks before Christmas about how one of the stripes on her heavy winter socks looked a bit like the carpeting from the Overlook Hotel from the movie. That got me wondering if there was any swag out there for the Overlook Hotel and there absolutely is!  So, I bought her a keychain for room # 237 (yes, rachelmanija I know it should be #217, but there's more swag for the movie than the book, alas,) and a coffee mug from the hotel "gift shop." I also made strips of confetti to stuff the stocking with that said, "All work and no play makes Shawn a dull girl." 

BY chance, she also decided to start a re-read and so the presents had PERFECT timing. 

At any rate, Happy New Year to you all. Any resolutions out there this year? I've decided not to be resolved about anything in particular, though the usual "I should probably do more of"s still apply.

 
New, as of yet unnamed kitteh, a stray who looks IDENTICAL to Willow, aka The Void.

This weekend we heard a lot of howling and yowling in our yard. Upon investigation, we found this young lady (guessing no more than 6 months old) entertaining a bevvy of gentlemen callers in our backyard. We were able to coax her onto our porch for safe keeping as we hit the usual Facebook groups for an owner. No hits so far, though there is at least one person who is interested if she will otherwise be homeless. We have a vet appointment scheduled for her to get her emergency tests: feline leukemia and intestinal parasites, etc. If she gets along with our other two, we will get her on the docket for a spay. 

Otherwise, perhaps, some lucky neighborhood Facebooker will get a new cat.

We are trying to resist naming her, but the vet needed something so she is currently, Clover, as in we found you rollin' in the...  Mason pointed out that if we keep that name, all of our current crop of cats have botanical names: Willow, Buttercup and now.... clover? We shall see. We are trying to be responsible here, since our current couple get along famously and we have been loathe to break up their perfect union. 

In other news, there's been a flurry of activity around my place. Monday and Tuesday, naomikritzer and I played tour guide (not to be mistaken for The Tour Guide) for two out-of-town guests, rachelmanija and her friend Lauren, who were here for Bouchercon, the world mystery convention. I started them off at Axman, a local "surplus" store that is far, far more than your average surplus. We're talking about surplus iron lungs, buckets of dolls heads, and so much weird stuff... along with lots of dead-useful electronics, etc. It's kind of a place that needs to be seen to be believed. 

Then we had lunch at Se Salt, with the intention that maybe we might take a look at Minnehaha Falls. Normally, you can hear it roaring from the restaurant. I didn't hear it, but also didn't think of it... until we looked over the edge. There was barely a trickle. I'd forgotten about the summer long drought, despite my constant struggle to keep my garden alive. It didn't seem worth doing a nature hike, so we ended up on Summit Avenue. I gave everybody a walking tour, which was a great deal of fun. We walked a LOT, but it was a lovely day and the buildings are so fascinating. 

Rachel was around a second day so we did some books shopping and hanging out. 

And then on Thursday offcntr and Denise came to town as well. We went out to lunch at Bole, an Ethiopian restaurant. They have an amazing outdoor patio because Bole was one of the places that burned to the ground here in Midway during the George Floyd riots and, thus, they relocated during the pandemic. We had a lovely time just chatting and catching up and eating amazing food.

The rest of the week and weekend were spent finishing painting our bedroom. We'd painted one wall Baskerville Blue, if you recall from an earlier post, and we hadn't gotten around to doing much else even though we wanted to make the other three (we have five walls in that room) a lighter, yet rich yellow. We finally finished that project this weekend, though it took me both days thanks to the kitten dropping herself into our lives.  I would post pictures of the bedroom, but it is actually so dark in that room, I'm not sure if a photo will do it justice. 

Hope you all had a good week. Sorry I was completely absent.

Today's vintage cookbook is Betty Crocker's Good and Easy Cook Book (sixth edition,) 1954. 


Image: 1954 edition of Betty's GOOD and EASY.

There were a lot of fascinating lunch choices in this particular volume, including a "quick potato soup" recipe that called for 1/2 cup packaged instant mashed potatoes and no other potatoes. Like, I could understand the instant mashed potatoes as thickener, but apparently that's all the potato you get in this soup. I may have to try it sometime, just for the WTF lolz. We actually have instant potato flakes around because we mistakenly thought we might need them for something other than lefse during the pandemic.

Likewise, there was an interesting opening to the lunch section in which the terms "lunch," "dinner," and "supper" were discussed. 


Image: opening discussion about what the hell the midday meal is called. 

This fascinated me because in my family, specifically whenever I ate my noontime meal at my Grandma Morehouse's house, it was often referred to as dinner. I have strong memories of a fairly big meal and that sometimes, if he could, my grandpa would walk home from his job at Trane Company and the whole family (such as it was, with a grand daughter instead of the now-grown-up kids) would eat while listening to Paul Harvey on the radio. But, most people called that meal lunch and then ate dinner at night. I was always confused about why some people said it "Breakfast, dinner, supper," or "Breakfast, lunch, and dinner." 

The internet is uncertain if this is a regional divide or if it was a thing said on farms versus cities or if it's a relic of the 1800s, early 1900s.  I don't care quite enough to dig deeper into this matter, but I'd love to know what was/is said around your house. 

At any rate, Shawn and I decided to try Betty's Mac 'n Cheese because it was deeply innocuous. Plus, it is yet-another rainy day here in St. Paul, and so a baked noodle thing sounded pretty darned delicious. 

The recipe, as written, goes like this:

OLD-FASHIONED MACARONI AND CHEESE

4 cups cooked macaroni
2 tablespoons of butter, cut in pieces
1 1/4 cups, cubed sharp cheese
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3 cups of milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine macaroni, butter, cheese, and seasonings. Place in greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Combine eggs and milk; pour over macaroni. Sprinkle with paprika or buttered crumbs. Bake 40 to 50 minutes. Six servings.

Obviously, Shawn and I weren't going to need this much for just the two of us, so I cut everything in half. Otherwise, I decided to follow the recipe without embellishment. 


Image: macaroni and cheese, which is clearly just a cheese soufflé with noodles...

Once again, this was not actually very spicy, but it was, in point of fact, oddly comforting on a gray, rainy day.