Asian Mac

So for the first variation on classic Mac-N-Cheese: Asian Mac.

I did this mostly because I finally bought a bottle of Sriracha Rooster Hot Sauce and wanted a chance to use it. I had put it on the Mac-N-Cheese at Noodles & Company and liked it, so I came up with Asian Mac.

During the beginning of school, I started having serious Chinese food cravings. Now, of course there is a Panda Express on the corner of Bulldog and University, but I am trying to save money this semester, so that is only an option when my roomies and I feel TRULY lazy. I came up with a pretty good imitation of Utah Noodle Parlor's Pork Noodle Soup, which was my favorite thing EVER until they stopped making their own noodles. {Uncle Leo, they did it RIGHT when you were alive, sir!!}

Then I thought "What if I did an Asian Mac-N-Cheese?"

Asian Mac:

You will need the following ingredients:

{Minus the I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, I really don't know why that was out, plus milk, margarine, and fresh cilantro}

Prepare Mac-N-Cheese as per package directions

{Frothy Bubbles!!}

{Whilst cooking}

{Drain it, and may I say I LOVE my IKEA colander?}

{In the end, it should look like this}

So, once you get to this point, add 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and enough Sriracha Hot Sauce (The one with the green lid and the rooster on the bottle) to look like this:

{That should about do it}

And, no, it cant't be Tabasco and I'll tell you why. Tabasco has no flavor for me, just pain. 

The first time I tried Tabasco, I was at Village Inn for a Drama Club presidency meeting. I gave my hash browns to Jeremy Illum, watched him douse them in Tabasco, and then was stupid enough to say "Oh, I've never had that stuff before. He proceeded to take a forkful and then, with the support of everyone in the presidency, forced me to try Tabasco. It was like searing hot fire with absolutely no pleasure of hot FLAVOR.

Sriracha actually has flavor attached to the spice. So I use that.

But anyway, you mix it up together, put it into a bowl, top with fresh cilantro and sprinkle with more Sriracha  sauce.

{All done!}

Mind you, you will want to have copious amounts of milk nearby. Even though Sriracha is not painful like Tabasco, this stuff is HOT!! It is tasty, but spicy. The cilantro adds to the spice, but in a fresh, green way.

Next time: Gouda Salsa Mac!!

How To get Spray-Paint off your hands without killing the Skin

I joined the Resident Housing Association council for the housing complex where I live. As a hall rep, I represent the interests and concerns of my buildings on my council. I also work on/walk by the RHA float in BYU's homecoming parade. today, in order to get my three required hours of out-of-class float work in for the grade.

It was snowing, blowing, and cold as blue blazes for those of you reading from outside of the Provo area. But I worked on--I want our float to look nice as much as anyone else!

However, while spray-painting the letters "R H A" to go on the float, I drenched my hands in blue {I believe latex} spray paint.

{Um...yeah, about like that. I'd have actual pictures of my own hands, but didn't wish to ruin my camera}

So, after a vigorous hand-washing in the bathroom of the building near the pavilion where we have the float stored, about half the paint was gone. Yes, I did use my fingernails.

All I could think was "Oh gosh how am I going to get this stuff OFF??"

I called my immediate family and other relatives. All of the removal methods seemed pretty caustic and hard on the skin.

• My Father suggested I buy paint thinner and pour some on a rag, wipe the paint off, and then wash my hands thoroughly. Yeah, we aren't even allowed to OWN paint thinner here {apparently it is highly flammable}, plus NO WAY am I putting that on my hands.
• I thought of nail polish remover, but I'm pretty low on that, and even it isn't wonderful on skin.
• My uncle suggested dousing my hands in gasoline or turpentine.

So I figured I was on my own.

However, Brittany, my friend and student coordinator, dropped me off at my apartment before we took a housing car to get more staples for the staple-guns. 

"Ok, I have, say, five minutes."

Not enough time to google, so I did the first thing I thought of.

I got the big bottle of dish soap from our kitchen, doused my hands in it, and began to scratch away under warm water.

{Basically, the Great Value brand of this stuff with a handle}

It still wasn't working, and I began to despair, when I realized: this paint is like a sticky, blue layer of extra skin. An d how do you get rid of extra skin, i.e. calluses?

You use an emery board.

So I grabbed the emery board I keep on top of my dresser {soapy hands and all} and rubbed away at the paint.

It was a miracle.

Yeah, there is still a little stuck in my cuticles and other places it was hard to reach, but I no longer look like I'm turning into Katy Perry as Smurfette.

{Both are lovely ladies, and blue is my color, but spray paint feels so gross on the skin!}

 

The Great Mac-N-Cheese Challenge

Hello All!!

So, when I visited my mom and dad over labor day, they informed me that a large portion of our food storage was about to expire. They proceeded to remind me that there was no way they could eat it by themselves before it would all go bad.

 {No spit, Sherlock! My parents eat like birds!}

"But you can," my mother said.

I chose to take that as a compliment to my cooking ingenuity rather than a "you should go to the gym and practice portion control more often" comment.

{I do need to go to the gym more, but that is beside the point}

So my car was packed with various food items, all of which I intend to transform into masterpieces. Among other things, I got five cans of stewed tomatoes, a case of oriental ramen noodles, a large can of gatorade mix, and eleven boxes of mac-n-cheese.

I really don't see what we saw, as little kids, in this stuff. Yes, it is simple and easy to prepare, but I somehow remember it cheesier than what it is now. Kraft, go back to your cheesy powder recipe from the 90's; it was SO much better!

In the meantime, I was stuck with eleven blue boxes in my pantry. I thought "What on earth am I going to do with all this mac-n-cheese?"

And then it hit me: I can blog about it.

The challenge: to turn eleven boxes of mac-n-cheese into eleven different dishes and make mac-n-cheese exciting again!

I will not, barring any nightmarish brain freezes, be doing this the way my friend Ryan does it. No. Chicken. {Frakking.} Nuggets. Or. Spam. 

To start off, Mac-N-Cheese classico. Just the way the package says it. My friend and roomie Hailey thinks I'm a food nut {Ok, she thinks I'm an all-around nut} and that mac-n-cheese should be enjoyed purely as is. So that's how she prepped it one night when she was hungry and we didn't feel like driving to Wal-mart for a rotisserie chicken {but that's another story for another day}.

So, that leaves me with ten blue boxes to transform! 

Stay tuned...