WIP

Monday Returning Random

*looks sheepish*

I technically didn't forget about the blog. Just been extremely busy!

And also - the times I told myself, "You MUST do a post or die!" - I just died. And calmly went off and did other things. Even better! Those things had nothing to do with browsing the Internet or watching TV (although, I'm admittedly addicted to Lost, Ghost Hunters, Destination Truth, and Bones-reruns-which-I-don't-recall-seeing). :)

A little bit was spent pounding buttons on my PS2 controller, however! That was purely for research (I'm gathering ideas for fearful things), and I stalwartly only did so on the last two weekends. The rest of the time, I wrote.

Or worked in the garden.

Or lounged on my cabana in the middle of the garden and stared up at the brilliant blue sky overhead and listened to all the songbirds passing through on their northerly spring migration.

Here is the list -

BSW - I planned on doing 2 chapters this month. So far, with twelve days left, I am working on the fourth chapter for the month and I've gracefully gone over the 50,000 mark for the novel. <- I don't know whether I should celebrate or cry about the 50,000 words, as I consider how much novel is left. I'm haunted by scissors in my dreams - which apparently means that my unconscious self is into symbolism. Otherwise, I would be dreaming about two buttons on my keyboard. Those buttons (delete and backspace) don't feel my pounding fingertips too much.

Yes, I glanced down and absently wondered where the delete button was on the current keyboard. Have been using this keyboard for the past eleven years and only just discovered that the delete button is on the far right instead of the far left. Huh.

Books - I notched ten books for the month. And! I might make that thirteen if I read the three books I impulsively snagged on a recent visit to the grocery store (of all places!). Either that, or I might finish reading the one I'm on right now and save the other two for next month's ten books.

Randomness galore -

I just wanted to share the following recipe, just because it was so darn good!

Friday is my mac and cheese day - only, I had no mac and cheese left except for the old kind where the cheese sauce comes in a powder and you have to stir milk in and - yucky. I don't know why I bought ten boxes of those even if they are extremely cheap.

So I made do with what I had -


Ingredients:

'About a half cup of mostacholi pasta (that was all that was left in the box for me)
'About a half cup of egg noodles
'A handful of wheat spaghetti broken in threes
'Roughly two or three tablespoons of butter (use a stick, cut into little squares)
'Roughly a couple heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise
'As much rough chopped (think chunks) mozzarella cheese as you want on a serving
'A whole can of diced tomatoes (mine were basil/garlic flavored)
'1/4 cup of shredded cheese, doesn't matter what kind (I only had cheddar)
'Two or three slices of white onion, diced as small as possible.

- Toss pasta, noodles, and spaghetti into a large sauce pot (you could use a big pasta pot if you wanted, but it's not really necessary and the pasta etc will soften faster in the smaller pot). Set on high until it starts boiling then turn down to medium heat.

- While the pasta etc boils, get everything else lined up and ready. I put a drainer in the sink, tossed the can of diced tomatoes in and made sure they drained well. Then I tossed the chopped butter, shredded cheese, and onions in and stirred them around in the diced tomatoes.

- As soon as the pasta etc is soft (takes about ten minutes or so), remove from heat, grit your teeth, and dump into the drainer. The boiling hot water will melt the butter, and warm/soften up the cheese, tomatoes, and onions in passing.

- Quickly scoop everything back into the pot and put back on the heat. You are just mixing in all of the ingredients, warming them up, and melting all of the cheese. I shook in a little garlic salt here, but just for taste.

- As soon as everything else was blended, that's when I stirred a couple scoops of mayonnaise in. It was a choice between ranch dressing and mayonnaise. The mayonnaise won.

- I scooped a serving on a plate and tossed the rest into a plastic container for lunch on Saturday. I tossed a few big cubes of mozzarella cheese on top and put the plate into the microwave until the cheese was partially melted. I like my mozzarella schplotted. :)

Seriously.... it could be my taste buds are out of whack, but this tasted like lasagna to me. Minus the meat and this-will-make-me-fat guilt. :)


More posts coming up later this week.