Mired by Dishes

Some kitchen time.  Made a specialty, Macaroni & Cheese in the style of Horn & Hardart, recreated by Uncle Phaedrus, modified in a minimal way by me, mostly to scale up the 12oz pasta in the recipe to the entire 16oz box.  I will vary the cheeses.  This time cheddar only, a mixture of sharp and extra sharp.  I have an entire pound of mozzarella but will save that for lasagna later this month.  Everything else as usual, though this time I put the tomatoes into the bechamel before adding the shredded cheese.  And I waited a little longer for the bechamel to become unequivocally thick by turning up the heat at the end.  It was good.  It will provide three more meals, one this week, two next.

Downside, the cleanup.  A lot of dishes.  Pasta pot and strainer, easy.  Bechamel pot, bulky and coated, a project in its own right.  Glassware:  the 2 cup measuring cup, beer glass from the dinner table.  And throw in the coffee carafe as long as I am using the glass brush.  Food processor with grating disc used to shred the cheddar.  Only four parts, the bowl, top, pressing piece, and disc, none of them difficult other than avoiding a nick from the sharp parts of the disc.  I ladled the bechamel into the baking pan this time.  Minor cleanup, but I often splash myself trying to rinse off the detergent.  And the spatula to serve needs some serious soaking.  And then for the actual eating.  Have to recycle the can of Molson, reserving the tab top for donation.  Used two small plates, one to cut the cheese into bricks and portion the amount of butter needed for my roux.  The other small plate allowed me to slice and present tomatoes and cucumbers.  Then I have recycling.  The tomatoes come in a can, so that and its top get washed and recycled.  The recipe needs nearly two quarts of milk, so invariably the already open quart gets used up first, rinsed and recycled.  Some utensils, a coffee measure of two tablespoons to scoop 7 tbsp flour, and a 1 tsp spoon for the 2 tsp each of salt and sugar.  Two dinner plates, each needing the bechamel soaked.  Two more cups, one where I put the measured flour so that I could add it to the melted butter for the roux, the other for my wife's dinner beverage.  And the forks, two for eating, two for stirring.

The dishwasher does not do especially well with food processors or really big pots, and not that great with strainers.  Better to pace myself at the sink.  Stay organized so that I can put things away when I am done.  All the food processor parts.  The coffee machine parts.  All the things that get hung on the pan grid once dry.  All the plates that go in the cupboard.  All the cups that go in the cup closet.  Stay methodical and organized. It eventually all gets done, including the lasagna pan later this week when the rest of the macaroni is portioned for the freezer.