We Already Paid!

So I knew my attempts to play nice, stay calm, and advocate for a new, third, better, way wouldn't last. Still I had high hopes that I'd last longer than my fourth post, nope. State of the Union is always an entertainment fave, You have the Pubs, from their orange skinned corporate stooge leader to lobbying hating tea-party newbies, the dems, mostly in search of their spines, and the President, center left or center right?, all getting together to tell us it's going to take hard work to rebuild America, but we can get there if we sacrifice. Cut grandma's medicaid, push the retirement age to 67... you know the drill.

Well we already paid. I've never worked lest than a 50 hour a week in my life. Everyone I know works a 50 hour week. Everyone is afraid the axe is going to fall. Well guess what? Grandma needs medicine? We already paid! Johnny can't work anymore and needs help? We already paid! Need to retire because you're getting old? We already paid! Don't come to the State of the Union speech crying that you lost the money at the track and could we just suck it up and do a little more for a little less. I got news for you, we already paid!



Put the Pitchforks away. When your drunk uncle W tells you he bet your retirement money on democracy in the middle east that money is still gone. When that same uncle is down on Wall street a few years later giving the mortgage money to some hookers, that money is gone. When you get so fed up with your uncle that you get cousin O to buy the groceries and he still gives the money to the hookers on Wall Street, that money is gone. I just don't want to hear either of them tell me that I'm the one that has to buck up. Hell no, we already paid!

Somebody's going to have to think a little harder, work a little harder, give up the hookers and the unprovoked wars, and come up with plan C. I'm expecting better in 2012; and screw you Mayans, we're in this for the long hall.

When you get really worked up you need a little comfort food. Nothing says comfort food like Mac+Cheese

• 1 lb. elbow macaroni
• Butter
• Flour
• Liquid
• Cheese(jack, swiss, cheddar, gorgonzola, parmesan... pick 1,2, or 3, 4's too many)
• Modifiers(shallots, onion, garlic, mustard powder, ham, red pepper...)
• Crumbs

1. Use a high sided saute pan. Melt the butter.
2. Sweat any of your modifiers that need cooking (onions, shallots)
3. Add flour in a amount equal to the original amount of butter.
4. Stir until a roux forms, there shouldn't be any grease in the pan
5. Stir for a few minutes(literally)to cook the rawness out of the flour
6. Add the liquid (milk is best, cream's too much, stock or broth might be weird).
7. After it thickens add the spice, then the cheese.
8. Not as a block stupid, shred it first!
9. Did you cook the macaroni? Get going and leave it a little stiff.
10. Add any meaty bits.
11. Mix it all together then spread it in a 9 by 13 baking pan.
12. Shred more cheese on top. Sprinkle on the crumbs.
13. Bake in a 375 degree oven until crumbs are brown.

Playing with the amount of any ingredient will change the outcome. So start conservatively and get wilder as you go. Adding more liquid gets soupier results. Corn bread crumbs? add chorizo and corn. Rye crumbs? add dry mustard, ham and swiss. You have like 500 different dishes here. It's like a years worth of meals for Rachel Ray's show. Just add different kinds of salad and pretend it's a brand new meal every day! 30 minutes my ass.