Saturday, April 19, 2008

Mac&Cheese with a Twist

As some of y'all may know, I am under the weather. Well, really under the bus. I have bronchitis exacerbating my asthma. My breathing sounds a little like my Daddy Jake's old tractor all rattling and back firing. When I answer the phone the person on the other end automatically says "your sound terrible." Thanks y'all. I am so obviously sick that I am being tag team checked on by several of the sisters, Meme, and Mamala.

To help me out, or maybe because the just wanted to, Manly Man and Middle Monkey took over dinner last night. Manly Man commandeered the grill and made blackened chicken. Middle Monkey made mac & cheese and corn. He was the cutest thing ever standing on a step stool belly up to the stove. My contribution was wandering out into the garden and picking a bowl of mescalin mix lettuce.

There is nothing much nicer that having my man cook for me. There is absolutely nothing sweeter than watching him teach his ten-year-old son how to cook. I tried to help, but was banished from the kitchen. Apparently, they did not want me to contaminate the area.

The food was good. Middle Monkey put butter in the mac & cheese and corn. He has already figured out that butter is the way to a southerner's heart. My man's blackened chicken is absolutely the best. It was the very first thing he cooked for me when we were dating. This pretty much sealed the deal for me. One winter evening, he tried making it on the stove top in the house. Very, very bad idea. The smoke detector went off and we had to open the doors and windows in thirty degree weather to air out the place. Dixie and Allie, our cats at that time, were miffed for days.

Early this morning, I woke up from my codeine cough syrup induced sleep very hungry. Blackened chicken makes a wonderful sandwich with mayo and garden fresh lettuce. I added a little basil to the mac and cheese and reheated it - heaven in a bowl.

I hope nobody else wanted left overs. I think this is a sign of recovery and the reason I will never be skinny.