Partying Down!

I sprang out of bed at 5:15 AM. I shut the alarm off, made a cup of coffee and got the big oval slow cooker out. I took the macaroni and cheese out of the fridge and got to work.

Now, if you remember, the last time I took this to work, I still liked the taste, but not the texture. Well, that’s because I just spooned it into the slow cooker, thereby wrecking the golden, crunchy top. So, this time, I used my fish spatula (which is very thin and flexible) and took just the top layer off! I couldn’t get it off whole, of course, but I got as big of pieces as I could and put them on a clean, half sheet pan.

I added about a cup of milk to the bottom of the slow cooker (so the mac & cheese wouldn’t stick or dry out while warming back up) and then spooned the bottom mac & cheese from the baking pan  into it up to about two inches from the top. Then I fitted as much of the top back on as I could.

I still ended up with a good sized container left of both the soft stuff and the crunchy topping, BTW.

That left a few lines showing where I fitted the top back together. So, I covered them with shredded sharp cheddar. I got my propane torch (that I only use for cooking – its cheaper than buying a real brulee torch) and carefully melted that cheese. I say carefully, because I found out that it tended to set the parsley I used on top (mixed with butter and Panko bread crumbs) on fire if I got too close. Looked good!

So, I turned the slow cooker on “warm” (to heat it up for the ride into work) and got ready to go.

When I got there, the top of the mac & cheese was still cold, so, I plugged it in and turned it on “low.”

When you could smell it (about 10:00 AM), I turned it back to “warm.”

About 11:00, I took it down to the museum, (where they were all set up for our pot luck) and plugged it in again. I also took down Vicky’s Puerto Rican Rice and bean dish. Then I left to go pick up 100 Buffalo Wild Wings boneless wings of five varieties, since I had to pay for them with the company credit card. They don’t deliver.

There was a sign up sheet of thing people were going to bring, of course. It amused me to no end that our Director signed up to “bring” lasagna, since we ordered it from Luigi’s, had it delivered and I paid for it with the credit card, too.

Meanwhile, Michelle was getting everything set up.

Finally, everyone was there that was coming, so I grabbed a plate and said, “Let’s eat!” since everyone was just standing around talking.

I deliberately did NOT eat any macaroni and cheese (I had it last night and knew it was good). I had one Jalapeno boneless wing, and a small helping each of the following: some meatballs, some green bean casserole, some rice and beans, some pasta salad and a piece of lasagna. Oh, a a small bowl of chili that was excellent.

We all enjoyed a rare bit of camaraderie (since we are spread out in several buildings). They had set up round tables for a change and I sat with Fred, Michelle, Vicky, James A., Ken, Lafel and James H. Andy, our CFO, came over and regaled the table with the story of how he and I first met almost 20 years ago in negotiations when this company bought the old company I worked at.

When I was done eating, both Michelle and I noticed that the three ladies from Building 73 were sitting by themselves at one table. So, I pitched my trash and went over and sat with Laurie, Taj and Ying for a while.

There was brief speeches by the Director and the managers on how well both the company and the IT department did this year.

There were a LOT of leftovers (as there always are) but there was just maybe four or five big spoonfuls of my mac & cheese left. Fortunately, I had come prepared, so I went out to my car and got a plastic container. I filled it up and put the lid on, then presented it to Don C. who is the guy who is always bugging me to make it. He eagerly took it with him.

I cut a piece of the Tres Leche cake that Vicky had also brought to eat later (I was too full then). And Michelle and I cleaned up the mess after people started leaving. We took all the leftovers back to our building. We saved some of the snacks for tomorrow’s staff meeting and put most of the rest out on a table for the mechanics in back to enjoy.

I ate my dessert just before my afternoon walk.

I personally took home the rest of Taj’s pasta salad for my own dinner, plus a big container of Vicky’s rice and beans (I really like Puerto Rican food, I’ve discovered).

Before we left, for the day, Michelle and I cleaned up the table and put it away. All that was left was one last piece of lasagna. The leftover boneless wings, bread, cheesecake and the rest of the Tres Leche cake was GONE!!

When I got home, I started the Wednesday night wash and then washed the inside of the slow cooker. I watched the news until I had to put the clothes in the dryer. I took care of that and went back to the news.

Finally I hung up the clothes and then went to eat dinner (the pasta salad). I turned on the 12-12-12 concert but muted it when my daughter Melissa called. At one point I asked her if they were watching it and she said they didn’t get a lot of the programming down there that I do up here. I told her it was on almost every other channel on my basic cable. But, she said she was content to be sitting outside, listening to the radio.

I was watching (but not listened to) Eric Clapton when her phone started to die. So we hung up and I turned the sound back on, just in time to see Jimmy Fallon introduce the Rolling Stones. Mick Jagger was funny, as after the first song, he said that this was the largest gathering of old English rockers ever! He was right, as there was not only Clapton and the Stones, but the Who and Paul McCartney. Then he said they were happy to help, providing if this ever happened in London, we all would go help them out.

Thee were a lot of inspirational stories, with people and groups being spotlighted. I did watch the Who and then, even though it wasn’t over, I finally gave up, turned it off and went to bed.