Comfort Food

I'm not feeling well. Just a cold, nothing serious, but enough to make me feel a little out of commission. We're also coming into our first fall weather here in Boston, and it's just, well, cold. That said, I needed to make myself dinner, and was craving mac and cheese. I went into the pantry and pulled out that classic blue box, Kraft Mac and Cheese. Yes, the neon orange powder kind, not even the Annie's Organics variety that at least tries to appear natural. For whatever reason, after a fabulous meal at Ten Tables last night which included octopus, skate wing, and basil ice cream of all things, I wanted what is probably one of the most processed, marketed, and generally non-nutritionally redeeming meals on the planet (if you can even call it that).

Approximately ten minutes later, my box of dry pasta and powdered "cheese" had transformed itself into soft noodles covered in a still unnaturally orange sauce. I took a bite, anticipating the comforting associations of childhood sick days... and was disappointed. It just wasn't good. How this has failed to occur to me all through college and in the years since is beyond me. Granted, it's not a food I make with any regularity, but I've definitely been lazy/sick/bored enough to reach for the blue box a few times over the years. It was just incredibly disappointing. The noodles were too mushy (potentially my fault but we're not exactly dealing with a high quality pasta here) and the cheese sauce was flavorless. In fact, its only real redeeming quality was that it was warm.

Of course, this didn't prevent me from eating the whole bowl I had served myself. But, disappointed and dissatisfied, I opened the freezer to help myself to Sweet Scoops ginger frozen yogurt (possibly the best ever), straight from the pint. I'll rationalize it; I'm sick.