Dear New San Franciscans, No, It's Not Cold

It's not cold.  It really isn't.  Stop whining loud enough that people from the East Coast can hear you.  It's 60 degrees and there is no wind or fog.  Put on your grown up undies and learn to carry a hoodie or cardigan with you at all times.  You're just revealing how much of a newbie to the city you really are.
Now, if you're walking across the Golden Gate Bridge in June and there's wind/fog/blowing mist, you are allow to complain.  That summer cold is annoying.

Dear Old Men Who I Have to be Polite to, Please STFU...

Twice in the last week, I've been congratulated by an old guy on my pregnancy.  I think it's time I retired this particular shirt until I lose 20 lbs.
All joking aside, no I'm not pleased.  It was a long winter and I did gain 5 lbs and get out of shape, and then I ate gluten and made my stomach distend out even more.  However, all of this is incidental to the primary message of this blog post, which is
NEVER EVER ASSUME A WOMAN IS PREGNANT, YOU FUCKING MORONS.  ESPECIALLY NOT IF SHE IS 46, DRINKING A BEER AND EATING SUSHI RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.  DUMBASSES....THIS IS JUST MY FOOD AND GLUTEN BABY.  I'M NOT CONGRATULATING YOU ON YOUR BEER BELLIES SO PLEASE JUST STFU ABOUT MINE.

Sincerely yours,
Old Biddy.

Going to California

I’m in California now, visiting my parents and friends and attending a conference. I’m not going to lie – I do miss it, although I do also really like Ithaca.   On some visits, the crowding and traffic get to me a lot, but that hasn’t happened yet.  Things seem sort of calm and peaceful, more like I remember it.  It does help that I am visiting during the nicest part of the year.

Deciblogging

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t been posting very much lately.  I have a lot of half-written posts but have been finding it hard to find the bandwidth to finish them while they are still timely.  Part of this is due to me and Joe living together – I get less quiet time than I used to, simply because there is another, extremely extroverted person in the house.  It’s working out very well, but is not condusive to really long, well-written blog posts.

I still like the blog format as sort of a public diary/soapbox, though.  For the time being, I’m going to experiment with using a microblogging format.  I’m not going to use twitter or even stick to 140 characters, but will start posting shorter blogs/commentaries.  Perhaps I should call this semi-microblogging, or milliblogging.  Deciblogging is probably the most accurate description.  As always, I will link to some of them on Facebook.

Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese (or Regular Mac and Cheese)

It's been a long winter.  Sub-zero days have given way to cold rainy days.  Sometimes it's hard to resist the siren's call of comfort food.  Such was the case tonight - after a week of healthy turkey leftovers from Easter it was time for something different.  I made a batch of gluten-free macaroni and cheese.  It turns out that this is one recipe that adapts very easily.    I just took a standard recipe for a bechamel-based mac and cheese and used gluten free flour and pasta.  Much to my surprise, the bechamel cooked up fine with the gluten-free flour.  It comes out tasting as good as the standard kind.  If you aren't avoiding gluten, just use wheat flour and macaroni.

Macaroni and Cheese

Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease a 9 x 13" casserole dish.   Start a pot of water boiling.

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour (regular or gluten free)
2 cups milk
10-12 oz grated cheese (I've used cheddar or smoked gouda)
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz macaroni (regular or gluten free)
optional - seasonings (paprika, dried mustard, hot sauce, chipotle powder, or whatever sounds good)


Make the bechamel base.  Heat butter in pan until it just starts to brown.  Add flour and whisk it in.  Continue stirring and cook until it is starts to smell slightly toasty. Add milk gradually and whisk it in.  It will become clumpy initially and then smooth out.  Stirring it frequently, bring it to a boil and cook for 4 minutes.  It will thicken up.  Add most of the cheese and stir it in until melted, and season to taste.  Reserve a bit of the cheese to put on top. 

While you are cooking the sauce, boil the macaroni until it is al dente.  Drain and add it to the sauce.  Transfer mixture to the casserole dish and cook for 20 minutes and then put it under the broiler for a few minutes if you want it browned.