Macaroni and Cheese

My favorite food in the whole world (as stated also in the post below) is Macaroni and Cheese. It is my favorite comfort food, and you just can't beat a nice steaming bowl of pasta and cheese on a cold winters day. It's just....fabulous.

In fact, from the time I was 2 until about age 4 I would eat nothing else. Well, except hot dogs (which at that age I called hotgogs) and cereal. Once, in an effort to get me to eat something, really anything other than macaroni and cheese, my mom made a wonderful pot roast with potatoes and carrots and all the fixings and set a plate of carefully cooled and cut up meat and vegetables in front of me on my high chair. I reportedly looked up at her and said "Macaroni and cheese. Hot gog."

Worried about my insistence on only eating these 3 things, my mother asked my doctor if it was okay. He said it was, and so I joyfully ate macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for most of my childhood. I was, until I met my husband, a very picky eater. Now you can put almost anything in front of me and I'll eat it.

Escargot? Tried it. Caviar? Love it. Mushrooms? Bring them on. Fish and other assorted seafood? Can't get enough. These are all things that I never would have gone near before Aaron's insistence that I tried them.

But this weekend, I'm making my old stand-by: a big dish full of creamy, delicious, macaroni and cheese. The recipe is a new one though, and it better be delicious because it has special meaning.

How can a recipe have a special meaning before I've even tried it, you ask? Well easily. My dad gave it to me.

You see, growing up my dad and I didn't get along very well. In fact, when I was about 4 I told him "I love you, but I sure don't like you". I know for a fact that he didn't really like me back. He's technically my step-dad and I made sure he knew that for the longest time. I made his life miserable whenever I got a chance, just to let him know who was really in charge. He deserved so much better than that and I'm glad I've come to realize that.

He didn't have to be my dad. He chose to be my dad. And he really isn't my "step-dad". He raised me well, taught me right from wrong, and shaped my ideas on many things. He's a really good guy, and I'm glad he chose me.

I've explained how and why he became my dad over in my "About Me" post listed in my side bar. We didn't really become close, or even like each other, until I left for college. When I brought Aaron into our lives we began to get along even better. Now I even get excited to see my dad, and he gets excited when we come to visit. When my mom came to visit last weekend, she kept saying, "remember to have me give you the magazine your dad insisted you have". She couldn't remember why he wanted me to have it, but she made sure to give it to me. I flipped through and immediately noticed what he wanted me to see.

He saw the macaroni and cheese recipes and thought of me.