10:55: The Descendants!  Looks like we need to watch that.

10:54: Harrison Ford! What’s going to win best drama?

10:49: Penis joke!

10:48: George Clooney! So charming.

10:47: Natalie Portman looks blooming. But what’s with the wing on her skirt?

10:41: Three cheers for The Artist!

10:40: Meryl is not great at ad libbing.  Or she’s amazing at it.

10:35: Meryl Streep! Need a full length shot of her dress.  Love that she just threw her hair up in a ponytail.

10:34: Tough tough category: Best Actress – Drama.

10:33: Ricky Gervais is looking very thin indeed. And introducing Colin Firth!

10:32: Queen Latifah looks great!

10:27: That was an excellent ad break intro: Colin Firth, Meryl Streep, Tilda Swinton, and Jean DuJardin tap dancing.

10:26: Jean DuJardin is AMAZING. Hooray for an excellent choice.

10:25: Marky Mark! Also, I do NOT like Jessica Biel’s dress. Miss Havisham much?

10:24: Michelle Pfeiffer isn’t that charismatic, really.

10:19: My husband’s cousins with Marky Mark!

10:18: Modern Family seems delightful. I should maybe watch it?

10:16: God bless Antonio Banderas.

10:16: Beer in a wine glass. Classy.

10:14: It’s eyebrow time!

10:13: I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but The Artist is the best movie I’ve seen in YEARS. You should all go RIGHT NOW and see it.

10:11: Robert Downey Junior. Yummm.

10:05: “Hi Elton.”

10:04: Many class acts present tonight.

10:03: Helen Mirren stole Kate Middleton’s ring for earrings.

10:02: Morgan Freeman loves to take a bath in a casket.

9:58: Helen Mirren is a little tipsy. It’s awesome.

9:56: Morgan Freeman deserves a lifetime achievement award.

9:55: Losing interest. But Sidney Poitier is amazing.

9:47: So was The Help good?

9:46: Matt LeBlanc is still around?

9:43: Tina Fey and Jane Lynch! So awesome!

9:42: Emily Blunt is fantastic. And wearing yellow!

9:37: Is Claire Danes’s dress asymmetrical or is it her boobs throwing everything off?

9:35: I vote Mireille Enos. Even if her hair is weird.

9:32: Poor Angie.

9:30: Madonna time! I feel like she’s kind of channeling Michelle Pfeiffer.

9:23: Felicity Huffman and William H. steal my heart. And she’s so shiny!

9:22: Woody. Fine. But The Artist should have won.

9:14: But I thought Tintin wasn’t supposed to be good? Spielberg is so smug.

9:13: That’s a LOT of bronzer and/or shimmery lotion on Jessica Alba. So shiny.

9:11: I love that George Clooney is making fun of Brad Pitt. Slash stole his cane.

9:09: Peter Dinklage is kind of awesome. Yay for him.

9:01: Michelle Williams. Add “anything to do with Marilyn Monroe” to the list of ways to get awards. Right next to Holocaust movies.

9:00: Kate Beckinsale is very pretty. She’s on Dan’s List.

8:59: So much power just in the words “Hi guys.” DAMN.

8:58: Can I be one of his most loyal fans? He’s tasty.

8:57: LUTHER. IDRIS ELBA. If he doesn’t win, I quit.

8:52: A dedicated Darby O’Shea fan comments: “Golden Globe for Best Drama to effing Homeland? Over AHS AND Game of Thrones? #protest” Thoughts?  I don’t have those channels and thus can’t comment.  (But I will say that a fantasy-ish show probably won’t win a Golden Globe. Not until something like Bridesmaids wins an Oscar. Stupid genre-prejudice.”

8:51: Elton does not look happy.

8:50: There are the arms! And she’s wearing one glove! And she’s really really squeezed into that dress. My boobs hurt looking at her.

8:48: Has anyone else even heard of Machine Gun Preacher.

8:47: “I’m sorry I am French….”

8:46: As long as it’s not John Williams… HOORAY!  It’s the guy from the Artist!

8:39: I like Claire Danes’s dress, but really wish she weren’t droopy. She’s giving Dr. Sunkentits competition.

8:37: I’m always disappointed that Kelsey Grammer is not, in fact, Frasier.

8:35: The other one made her mark in comedy by defecating in a sink. And somehow that’s still less demeaning that what you’ve all done to make it in Hollywood.  Or something like that.  Awesome.

8:30: SWINTON. Nutsy-cookoo.

8:28: I haven’t seen Mildred whatever, but I’m pleased for Kate Winslet. Also, she’s a normal shape and I like that.

8:23: Says Dan of Rob Lowe “He’s been drinking too much Sunny D.”

8:22: Julianne and I are going to have to have a talk about her earrings and how I want to rip them off her head and keep them forever.

8:21: DOWNTON EFFING ABBEY.

8:20: ROB LOWE NEEDS TO CUT IT OUT with the tanning. I love Julianne Moore, though. She can do no wrong. I love the zipper/buttons/studs on the back of her dress.

8:13: Tina Fey sneaking in the shot! I love it!

8:13: Best actress in a comedy! I want them all to win! But really, Tina Fey. Or Amy Poehler.

8:13: Ashton Kutcher should be ashamed to be introduced as “from Two and a Half Men”

8:11: “That scene-stealing swine from the outer Hebrides.” Youngsters, take a note: this is HOW to accept an award.

8:10: Yay Christopher Plummer! I love it when the oldies win. Also, he’s SO classy.

8:08: I still love Scorsese’s eyebrows. Always the best part of an awards show. So, supporting actor in a drama… guesses?

8:07: Johnny Depp!! So pretty. Even with his silly floppy hair. Um. Also, I’d like him to please read to me. Even just the phonebook.

8:06: DRESSES HERE.

8:04: Elton John looking unimpressed, Leonardo DiCaprio looking too earnest, Helen Mirren eating a roll. Love it.

8:03: Amy Poehler looks lovely.

8:01: I just saw Meryl Streep. Um.

8:00: There was Helen Mirren! I do like Ricky Gervais with a beard.

7:58: Did Meryl Streep and Swinton just SKIP the E! people?!

7:53: What do we think of Salma Hayek’s dress? I think I love it. Very Metropolis-chic.

7:52: Two things: Jodie foster looks amazing. and Claire Danes REALLY needs a bra.

7:48: Evan Rachel Wood for the WIN.

7:46: Jessica Alba looking lovely. But SHINY. Is that canola oil?

7:45: Where the EFF is Meryl Streep? SERIOUSLY!  Also, we are NOT served by  closeups on the red carpet!

7:44: Jessica Biel SANS engagement ring. And I LOVE Maya Rudolph! Great dress!

7:41: Madonna … I don’t know. It’s like a little rock and roll, but not quite. I wish she had her hair up.  Who’s the woman with her!? Because she’s wearing Vivienne Westwood and I want to make out with her dress.

7:39: Lea Michele. She’s lovely, but her dress is NOT.

7:38: Diana Agron looks AMAZING! Did anyone catch who designed it?! It looks like Tord Boontje’s stuff!

7:32: Reese Witherspoon is presenting her BOOBS tonight! 10:1 nip slip territory.

7:32: Tina Fey looks great, but her hair needs to deflate. Nicole Kidman looking WACKADOO. Kind of awesome. Need to process that one.

7:30: Heidi. Boring and DROOPY! Nice ass, though. Lea Michele: not great.

7:29: Kate Winslet… Not sure.

7:28: Mila Kunis looks lovely.

7:25: Reese Witherspoon looking exactly the same as she always does. Michelle Williams in cut/burned velvet – she’s adorbs, but shouldn’t be wearing a couch.

7:20: Angelina’s talking about war and genocide, Brad’s talking about baseball. I really like the top of Angie’s dress, but the rest of it is meh.

7:18: Let’s all pause for Brangelina.

7:12: I want Kate Beckinsale’s earrings.

7:11: Charlize Theron looks gorgeous, but I’m not totally on board with the pouf. I wish Charlize would say something off-color.

7:09: Jonah Hill is channeling the young Republicans.

7:08: Jezebel liveblogging now!

7:05: Kristin Wiig: Not loving the nude. Evan Rachael Wood: LOVE HOLY SHIT FEATHERS WOW.

7:04: Berenice Bejo! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

7:02: Brad and Angelina looking pretty great. Brad greasy and bebearded, but Angelina looks stunning.

6:58: FUCKING SPOILERS. Pardon my French, but that’s BAD red carpet etiquette.

6:55: Charlize Theron looking BEAUTIFUL. Love the headband, love the assymetrical hair.

6:54: BONES! And Zooey! Both looking lovely!

6:50: Rooney Mara is pretty badass.  Nina Ricci! Interesting.  It’s very Morticia Addams.

6:48: Julie Bowen’s dress is pretty. Like the sleeves.

6:46: Sofia Vergara STUNNING in Vera Wang. That’s my new favorite color.

6:45: Frieda Pinto: beautiful Prada and Chopard necklace.  What’s that fabric? is it quilted?

6:37:  Diane Lane. Pretty dress. I’d hit that.

6:35: Rooney Mara! But I couldn’t see her dress! Oooh. It’s something tulle and low cut. GREAT eye makeup.

6:33: Who’s the girl from The Descendants? Her dress is pretty!

6:32: I do like Nicole Richie’s dress though.

6:30: Let me Reiterate: Ariel Winter rocks. Also, is that Nicole Richie in the silver dress? Her hair is INSANE. Dan says: “looks like a 60s sci-fi vixen”

6:29: I don’t know who Paula Patton is, but she looks GREAT in yellow.

6:27: You guys! A complaint: My Esteemed German Colleague in GERMANY has already seen Meryl Streep. WHY HAVEN’T I!

6:25: I LOVE Sarah Michelle Gellar’s dress.  I don’t love her roots.

6:24: I love Melissa McCarthy. I like – but do not love – her dress.

6:23: Amanda Peet … Christine put it best “she’s wearing lampshade from the 80s… maybe the 70s.”

6:21: Who was that in the blue and white dress?!

6:18: GoFugYourself! They’re liveblogging! Here.

6:16: THE DOG FROM THE ARTIST!

6:15: Piper Perabo: awkward dress. That Ariel girl from Modern Family: adorable “I want either a puppy or a cell phone.” Also, Dan just pointed out if she’s 13, she’s probably named after The Little Mermaid.

6:08: Kelly Osbourne, we need to talk (no, not about your hair). If you’re going to be on national TV and comment on people’s fashion you NEED to be able to pronounce the designers’ names.

6:06: Who’s this Ross character?

6:05: “Yessss! That wall art was from me!” Ugh.

6:03: George Clooney. Gorge.

6:02: Ricky Gervais looking swank in a red suit and Ray Bans. I like the beard.

6:00: It’s Ryan Seacrest time! So much plastic!

5:53: Lea Michele has NINE tattoos? So not white bread!

5:52: I don’t care about Charlize Theron’s tattoo, but I hope she curses on the Red Carpet.

5:40: Everytime I hear the phrase “Colin Firth’s wife” a little bit of me dies. *sob*

5:38: Giuliana is trying to be Ricky Gervaisy with her Lindsay Lohan’s publicist joke. Not the same.

5:37: While we’re waiting for real celebrities to show up, look at this.

5:33: Everybody must be kind of relieved that Mad Men didn’t run this year. I mean, those nominated. Obviously not us.

5:32: People I’m looking forward to seeing on the red carpet:

• Alec Baldwin – for the snark
• Rooney Mara – for the fashion
• Brad Pitt – for the dimples, provided he’s shaved his beard
• SWINTON – for general badassery and lack of eyeliner
• Any and everyone from THE ARTIST, which is the best movie I’ve seen in YEARS.
• Kenneth Branagh – for Gilderoy Lockheart fabulosity
• Tina Fey and Amy Poehler – because I want to be friends with both of them

5:26: Oh GOD. They’re going to be advertising the Kardashians on every single ad break, aren’t they?

5:21: Scary arms alert! Madonna’s going to be at the Globes this year! Will Ricky Gervais make a joke about them?

5:20: And Giuliana has already mentioned pilates and Master cleanses. Ugh.

5:19: Here are the nominations: GG Nominations

5:15: Kelly Osbourne needs to stop saying “obsessed.” Also, I hate (vehemently) that hair color. Except on Tavi Gevinson.  Furthermore: I’m about to add Joan Rivers to the Dick Clark club. It might be just about time to retire, dear.

5:12: Hi all!  Sorry to be a stranger. No promises that I’m going to keep it up and post all the time, but I’ve returned for the traditional Golden Globes liveblog.  Things I’m thinking about this time:

• I haven’t seen almost any of the movies nominated. So my predictions and/or preferences will simply be based on how much I like and/or hate particular people.  So there.  Grain of salt, people.
• I’m going to say up front that I feel terrible for Guiliana Rancic with the breast cancer and surgery and everything.  That being said, I still think she’s terrible at red carpet interviews. So I’ll probably still complain about her.
• I hope Ryan Seacrest continues to make an a$$ of himself as usual.
• I think that’s all.

I may have to amend that.  Now – don’t worry mom – I’m not swilling beer after beer in an attempt to calm down.  But I do occasionally enjoy a tipple after accomplishing a task or two or to relax the old noggin after thinking too hard or worrying too much.

And today we made something that will help a lot, I think.  Homemade Irish Cream.  Well, sort of Irish.  Instead of using up the rest of our precious Irish whiskey hoard, we opted to make a version that we’ll call Kentucky Cream.  You got it.  We made it with Bourbon.  Later we’ll be enjoying it with coffee and pie during our pre-Thanksgiving pie-baking, card-playing, relaxing time with our friends Seth and Christine.  You’ll be hearing more about that later.  I promise.

Right now, though, run to your kitchen and make this!

Kentucky Cream

Adapted from Serious Eats, who tells us that this concoction should keep in the fridge for about two months. I trust them. Except that ours won’t be around that long.

• 1 1/4 c Bourbon (we used cheapie Old Granddad)
• 1/2 c heavy cream
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened, condensed milk (bless you, Eagle Brand)
• 1 T vanilla extract (we went with homemade bourbon vanilla)
• 1 t almond extract
• 1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 T espresso (we used mocha pot coffee in lieu of real espresso)
• 1 T honey

1. This part’s easy: put it all in a blender and blend it up.
2. This part’s hard: refrigerate it for two hours. Shake before enjoying.

More of this please.

Or this.

It’s not that I love Summer so much. In fact, Fall really is my favorite season, but I’m just daunted by the oncoming Winter this year. I’ll just lay on more blubber (in the form of spicy, gooey, delicious fall-flavored treats) and hope for the best.

Anyway. Now that that’s out of the way.

It’s a crazy season for me for other reasons. You see, there comes a time in every girl’s graduate school career when she finds herself juggling applying for jobs, finishing a dissertation, and attempting to continue having a life. There’s this misconception that you’re supposed to run toward the finishing year with arms thrown wide, gleeful (like in a tampon commercial). My experience has been one of plodding, teeth gritted, with grim determination and decidedly little glee. It’s going fine, but it’s a lot of work.

Which is to say that this season is no fun. It all makes me feel like this:

The good news is that it’s not so bad that I’m losing sleep. I’m not making myself sick from stress. I’m still seeing friends and hanging out with my husband and our dogs. And I’m actually still getting work done! And all of that hasn’t yet driven me to drink.

It has, however, driven me to Pumpkin Bread.

Let me just say that this pumpkin bread looks healthier than it is, was easier to make than you’d think, and does more to soothe stress than you would expect.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to eat another slice, then go back to editing.

Brown Butter Spiced Pumpkin Bread

• 2 c flour
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1  1/2 t gingerbread spice (or a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger)
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
• 1/2 c dark brown sugar
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 t vanilla extract
• Optional: stir in 1/4 c chopped crystallized ginger

Look at these fabulous little dudes I found in the woods of New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend?  For the record: Velvia 50 slide film.

Last night, pretty late at night, Dan and I went to work blanching, peeling, quartering, and stuffing tomatoes into jars, attempting to save up their juicy freshness for the long dark months of winter coming soon to a sad little New England apartment near you.  (You can tell how excited I am for winter this year.)

But, come to think of it, I’ve been storing up a lot lately – it’s been a while since I’ve shown my face around here and it’s due not to lack of desire, but instead to a groundswell of deadlines and the growing dread of impending change.  I’m not one of these people who can’t handle change – in fact I crave it from time to time.  But this time seems like it’s going to be bigger changes than before – or none at all.  It’s hard to say which way the wind will blow.

Anyway, I’ve been saving up a lot of content to share with you – a mountain of cookies and a big bowl of punch I made for a Party in August, Plum Cake, Zucchini Cake from July when we were up to our ears in Zucchini, Mediterranean goodies from earlier this Spring, and so forth.  And I’ll hopefully get to all of it at some point or another.  But for now, we’ll have to just settle for Tomatoes.

In honor of the impending season change and season of change, I decided to can tomatoes the normal way, but in addition I decided to make a sweeter (more optimistic, if you will) version and put up some tomato jam.  (Maybe I’ll make a sour tomato chutney to cover all my bases, in case nothing works out well.)

Lest we degenerate into navel-gazery, let’s talk tomatoes.

My friend Kerstin got me a great deal on some tomatoes and we went to town.

I grew up with my mom and grandma canning for most of the second half of the Summer, trying to avoid the clouds of tomatoey steam that billowed from the downstairs kitchen next door and taking great, great pleasure in peeling the wax pencil that they used to mark the still-hot jars with the date.  My grandpa would then enter into his journal how many quarts of this and that we had put up.  (His journal, it turns out, was more a list of dates and statistics than it is any linear account of what happened.  Kind of a numerical shorthand for family history.)

I feel like I should have an in-born or at least long-learned knowledge of how to can things like fresh tomatoes, but I don’t. (Shame on me!  Shame!)  So I turned to Jessie Knadler and Kelly Geary’s book Tart and Sweet.  The instructions in that book were really great – very thorough and super-well indexed, but not at all overwhelming.  Here’s the gist:

1. Blanch your tomatoes (dip them in boiling water for 10-15 seconds) and peel them.
2. Cut them up however you like. (I quartered mine.)
3. Put 1/4 t citric acid (check the canning aisle of your supermarket) and 1/2 t salt in each pint jar.
4. Shove the tomatoes into the jars, leaving 3/4 inch of headspace.
5. Bring a bunch of water to a boil, then ladle it into the jars to fill in all the crannies between the tomatoes and then top them.  Leave a total of about 1/2 inch of headspace. (i.e. cover the tomatoes by about 1/4 inch)
6. Process for 40 minutes in a hot water bath.  If you don’t already know how this works, I insist you either look at a canning book or consult this website for your own safety.

The tomato jam was a slightly more creative (and, I’d say, delicious) process.  Here’s what I did, drawing heavily on Mark Bittman’s recipe (as posted by The Wednesday Chef).

Optimistic Tomato Jam

• 3 lb ripe tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
• 1 c dark brown sugar
• 1 c granulated sugar
• 2 T freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 t citric acid
• 2 T fresh grated ginger
• 2 t ground cumin
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t whole cloves (I was out of ground – if using ground, use 1/4 t)
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper

1. Combine all in a pot. Bring to boil
2. Lower heat and simmer until thickened to jam-like consistency. (You can check the thickness by putting a spoonful onto a plate and sticking it in the freezer for a couple minutes to cool it down.)
3. Fill into half-pint jars, seal and process in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.  For me, this yielded three half-pints, but if you don’t mind it being a little runnier, you could probably get four by not reducing it as much.

**Serving suggestion: Add to crusty bread and homemade ricotta.  Enjoy with coffee for breakfast.

This weekend was a truly spectacular almost-end to the Summer – I cannot accept that it’s almost Fall, with its moldering leaves and misty cool weather, and Winter biting at its heels.  But before I devolve into bemoaning the end of warm weather and sun, I should say what I came here to say.

This weekend we were lucky enough to head to New Hampshire for my dear friend (and occasional Darby O’Shea contributor) Liz’s wedding.  I’ve got much much more to say about that (stay tuned), but right now I need to tell you that Liz is so unbelievably, ridiculously, implausibly, and gloriously awesome.

And I don’t only say that because she was beautiful at her wedding, nor because she planned a gorgeous party, nor because she’s always unfailingly a good friend.  No, I say it because on the day after her wedding, when she was certainly exhausted, when she was overrun with well-wishers paying respects to her and her parents at their gorgeous house, she ran off into the woods as we were about to hit the road back to Boston without announcing her reason (we did consider the possibility that she was running for the outhouse) and returned with two hands full of fresh-foraged mushrooms.  To be more specific, she came bearing Black Trumpets (a.k.a. Trompettes de la mort, black chanterelles, craterellus cornucopioides), bless her heart.

Today I spent much of the day thinking about what to do with the tender little lovelies.  I thought back to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, which I recently finished reading, and recalled that Pollan made a very simple pasta to celebrate his own foraging efforts and I decided to follow suit (despite Liz’s family’s suggestion of Omelette de la mort).

Speaking of Pollan, I remember him writing about the fierceness with which mushroomers protect their favorite hunting spots, the casualness with which they tried to brush him off when he asked about foraging spots.  Reading that, I thought to myself, that’s surely against the whole point of the locavore community.  Aren’t we supposed to be working together and sharing the spoils of our efforts with each other?

And the answer, I now know, is a resounding “NO.”

Because once you taste these mushrooms, you want them all (and I do mean all) to yourself.  They smell faintly like truffles, with a whiff of the pine needles you have to carefully brush from the inside and out, with a whiff of mud.  Not muddy, dirty, mucky mud, but spa-grade, youth-restoring, all-natural, healthy mud.  The kind of mud you want to wallow in.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won’t.  I’ll leave you to scamper off in the direction of the woods to find some of these for yourselves.  Lest you live your whole life without tasting these spectacular fungi.

Pasta Top of the World

(so named by the owner of the estate from which these little beauties sprang)

• about 1 c of Black Trumpet mushrooms (carefully brushed clean of grit and pine needles, then torn or cut into small pieces)
• about 1/2 c of heavy cream
• 1 T butter
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 lb fresh pasta (I recommend fettucine)

I’m also re-posting this to enter in the America’s Test Kitchen “Dish it Your Way” challenge.  (You should enter too!)

*****

Sometimes something terrible happens and, even when everything resolves itself miraculously well, you can see cracks forming in an edifice you had previously held to be unshakable, unchangeable, permanent. Whether you have any warning or not, this kind of occurrence has the power to shake even the most staunchly positive Pollyanna of us all to the core.

When these things happen, as they have of late, what do I do? First, I keep a stiff upper lip. Second, I have a private and generally very dramatic meltdown. Third, I pull it together and cleave to something comfortable, reliable, something that is always the same as it always was and something that will, for all eternity, remain comforting, reliable, warm.

Obviously, I’m a stress eater. After all, what besides food (provided you have a reliable ingredients and a good relationship with the particular stove and oven at your disposal) is so reliable and comforting? When under normal stress, things like cake, Cheez-its, chocolate, and cream cheese do me just fine. On the other hand, when things get really out of hand, I need something a little more serious to prop me up. Most recently I turned to Mac and Cheese.

If you’re running off to the cupboard to zap some Easy Mac, HALT. Go no further! A far superior Mac and Cheese awaits you. And if, like me, you find yourself soothed by procedure, routine, and production, then this, friends, is the Mac and Cheese for you. There is no microwave involved. No vaguely-cheesy orange powder. No tablespoon of butter and half cup of milk. This is a much more involved Mac and Cheese but let me assure you: as with so many things, what you get out of this Mac and Cheese is directly proportional to what you put into it. If you’re lucky, it may even give you back morethan you bargained for.

Luckily, my recipe-source (and inadvertent source of this month’s stress) had recovered fully enough to dictate this recipe and help cook it by the time I was up to needing some emotional sustenance. I can’t take credit for this recipe. As ever, all credit to my mom.

Reliable Comfort Food

Ingredients

• 1 box macaroni noodles (I used Barilla Elbows)
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 t dry mustard
• nutmeg to taste (ca. 1/2 t)
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 quart milk
• 1/2 lb White American Cheese
• 1/2 lb Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1/2 lb Cheddar Cheese (medium sharp)

Assembly

1. Pre-heat oven to about 400.
2. Cook pasta in generously salted water for approximately 3/4 of the suggested time. Drain and set aside.
3. Shred American, Monterey Jack, and Cheddar Cheeses on the largest holes on a box grater. Set aside
4. Make a roux: Melt the stick of butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Add milk and cook over medium-low heat until sauce bubbles, thickens, and just begins to brown. Add dry mustard and nutmeg.
5. Add cheese and stir until melted and smooth.
6. Add pasta to cheese sauce and stir until well coated.
7. Pour pasta and sauce into a (large) oven-safe dish- in my case this was a 9″x13″ stoneware baking dish AND a 9″x9″ brownie dish.
8. Bake at 400 until it begins to brown on top. If you’re lucky, your oven will brown it more or less evenly. If you’re me, your oven will beautifully brown one side and leave the other more or less raw. It tastes fine either way.

We all ate this as a “side dish” to accompany a sesame-ginger marinated pork tenderloin, alongside some delicious lima beans, (see image above) but we all knew that the Mac was the main attraction. It’s okay to exercise a little denial when it comes to this dish. We all know that you just want to eat carbs saturated with cheesy fat. And sometimes there’s just nothing at all wrong with that.

In other news, look what my orchid has been doing! He’s (I’m firmly of the opinion that anything named after testicles should be called he, though perhaps orchids could be the drag queens of the plant world – hence my deep and abiding love of them) certainly been up to the task of brightening up the house the last couple weeks! I like how that last little bloom is cocking its head at the camera and being so coy to open up. What a tight little ball of joy.

Well, I think that is hogwash.  Here are my unashamed flower photos from Ireland.  I don’t really think they’re banal at all.

Today, friends, Dan and I have been married (civilly) for three years. This comes as a surprise to both of us.  Seems like longer and shorter at the same time.  Since this happy day falls on a Monday this year, we decided to celebrate early with a trip to Maine on Saturday and a decadent dinner last night at Hungry Mother.

Maine is nothing new for us – we go there on day trips a couple of times a year and it’s always lovely.  In fact, I’ve never seen the Nubble Lighthouse when it wasn’t sunny and beautiful – you can chalk it up to luck or the fact that we’re unlikely to take a road trip when the weather is crap, but I think it’s because it’s a magical place.  We went to the lighthouse, to Perkins Cove, and drove around Ogunquit a bit.  On the way home we stopped off in Portsmouth, NH, which turns out to be an awesome little town!

But really, guys, you don’t need to hear about that portion of our celebration.  We need to talk about Hungry Mother.  We need to talk about Hungry Mother and how I don’t ever want to eat anywhere else ever again.  It was so – so – good.

We decided to go a little early and have a tipple at the bar.  Dan got a No. 43 (rye, port, maple syrup, bitters) and I got a No. 64 (Mezcal, green Chartreuse, carpano antica – whatever that is).  Seriously delicious drinks, very friendly service, tastes of a phosphate (soda mixed with acid phosphate).  My drink packed a wallop, so I was thrilled when we were ushered to our table and promptly presented with some bread and butter.  We then proceeded to wine (Dan a glass of Riesling and me a glass of Syrah Rose) and food.  And let me tell you – the food at Hungry Mother hits all the notes that I think are most important – old school simplicity and charm, a little inventiveness, nice-but-unfussy presentation, good value, unexpected touches, the kind of unpretentiousness that comes from confidence that the food is amazing.

Here’s what we ate: (And I’ll warn you – the photos are crap because I still haven’t figured out how to photograph food by the light of a Cambridge candle – read: a fake plastic candle because Cambridge doesn’t think we can handle some hot wax and a little flame.)

To Start, Dan had a Pork Plate (the menu just said “pork deliciously prepared,” which it was – I think it was braised belly with crisp, sweet salty skin, served over a corn and grain deliciousness.)

I had the Bourbon Braised Rabbit (with grilled plums, cipollini onions, and grits), which was maybe the best thing I’ve ever tasted.

For main courses, Dan had the French style gnocchi, which was beautifully complex and rich for a vegetarian dish.

I had Catfish Pecan Meuniere, which was divine.  The catfish was, as all catfish should be, coated in cornmeal and fried up crisp and brown and served with slightly sweet pecans and a savory white wine brown butter sauce over rice pilau.  To. Die. For.

For dessert, Dan had the special brown butter honey cake with raspberries and buttermilk ice cream (the better of the two desserts) and I had a Peach Brown Betty.  This was the only course that I didn’t swoon over, but I blame that on the season and being too far north to get real peaches.  The Brown Betty part was sensational.

All in all, a stupendous meal and one I’d happily repeat today.  And tomorrow.  And the next day.

Hungry Mother: 233 Cardinal Madeiros Avenue, Cambridge, MA