My roommates are superheroes, and I'm the Narcoleptic Ostrich

The Beatles should write a song about me.
Oh wait. They're mostly dead.

Yes. I have awesome roommates. In fact, I'm pretty sure one of them is superwoman. Instead of an invisible jet, she wears a headlamp when biking at night. Moreover, I'm pretty sure that after working ridiculous hours and reading way too many scientific papers, she fights crime on the streets of Berkeley.

Another roommate manages to do well and know what the hell is going on, while still watching remarkable amounts of television. Not to mention his research rather freaks me out. Weird Neuroscientists. The third roomate, other than being generally awesome, can make tasty sweet-potato burritos. Finally, my incredible ex-roommate from ASU is Queen of the Universe, and doesn't even have to wait for more than an hour at the DMV.

I'm pretty sure they'll go out and save the world one day. I'll watch and make popcorn.

Ah yes, the narcoleptic ostrich. That would be me. As it should be, because blogs are essentially narcissitic writing exercises in cyber-space. right?

One great travesty of my life is a complete resistance to caffeine. Alas, coffee, energy drinks, amphetamine precursors--I am impervious to all. Not only that, but when tired, my body shuts down immediately, giving rise to plenty f interesting scenarios where I'm found sleeping on the dining room table, the floor, under my lab bench, etc. I have fallen asleep in the middle of scale practice (Jesus must've kept me from dropping my violin), during experiments (failed ones, mind you) and in piano bars on busy Friday nights.

So you can imagine my struggle to stay awake in class. So far I have been woken up by a professor snidely commenting, "...well, it's better than nodding off in a warm classroom" and a fellow student poking me in the arm and asking if I was ok. Either I definitely belong in grad school, or they should kick me out tomorrow. I'm not sure which.

My other skill apparently involves hiding my face. Actually, I don't really understand how this evolved, but I think my penchant for folding myself into weird contortions morphed into me always hiding my face. Actually, I have no clue. Self analysis fails here. I'm well aware of the cowardly implications of my new title, but I wouldn't consider myself one to run from danger... I live in Oakland. (And I've paid for it--if you ever read the first post.)

This falls in line with most of the past week. It has neither been the best of times nor the worst of times, but just one of those stretches where you just can't seem to excel at anything. You are good at falling behind or just scraping by, but actually being on top seems unreachable. It's an optimization of mediocrity, if you will.

Even when cooking I have missed the mark. I have yet to get a proper rising out of a loaf of bread, even when the proofed yeast is so raring to go the bowl of milk and honey looks like a cheap sci-fi movie. I guess my yeasty friends can sense the aura of inadequacy radiating from my bewildered hands.

Similarly, I have dreamed of making baked mac and cheese for my dish to bring for lunch for the week. I prefer to add chicken to increase protein and use roasted butternut squash in place of a fatty traditional roux (roo: the thickener of butter and flour). I had seen similar versions online, and even made mine before at home. This time I had optimized the strategy and was ready to go.

Alas! 'twasn't meant to be. I stupidly kept the heat on after adding the cheese to the mixture, breaking the emulsion. Instead of a thick, creamy cheese sauce with roasted squash undertones, I got cheesy blobs in milk. Yum. Nonetheless it came out ok, just lacking a textural homogeneity key to the comfort-food character of the dish.

Surprisingly, the pasta was amazing as leftovers. I don't know why, or if I was just starving after moderately sucking at science, but reheated it was tasty and satisfying.

Here's the recipe- with the proper directions I failed to follow. As always, adjust to your taste, because it's adjusted to mine. I swear, it should come out right if you aren't... me. :)

Baked Mac 'n cheese

1/2 lb chicken, marinated. (I used a little Dijon mustard, olive oil, garlic, onion, marjoram, and salt/pepper)
1/2 lb pasta (or more, if you want it to last. Doesn't have to be macaroni)
Half onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t paprika
1 t cayenne pepper
2 t ground mustard
~1.5 c of 2 cheeses, preferably semi-soft ones that melt well. (I used extra-sharp cheddar and monterey jack.)
1 c roasted butternut squash (skin squash, cube half of it into 1 in pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Roast at 400 F until fork tender. You can roast the whole squash one night and toss half with blue cheese crumbles and pecans as a side dish, then use the rest for this.)
1 c lowfat milk
few handfulls Panko (japanese breadcrumbs. or rice krispies, if you can't find those)
olive oil or butter
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

Roast squash (see above.) When done, mash up and set aside. Marinate chicken, turn oven temp down to 350 when squash is done.

Boil pasta, set aside.

Pan to med-high, add olive oil. Saute small part of onions, garlic, and all of chicken. Set aside.

Turn heat down to med. Add onions and garlic, stir until onions are translucent. Add spices. Add squash, make sure it is very puree-like (I use an immersion blender beforehand if I'm not feeling lazy.) Add milk, bring to simmer.

Turn off heat, stir in cheese. Dump chicken, pasta, and sauce in a casserole dish, toss together.

Mix breadcrumbs with a couple tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter. Mix in parmesan cheese. Sprinkle mixture over pasta. Bake about 25 min, or until top is golden brown and sauce bubbling.

Don't forget-- even if you screw it up, it still tastes good. My kind of cooking.