Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!

Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific
five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!


But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new
Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!

We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.


SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Macaroni and Cheese

What makes macaroni and cheese good?

Recently, the Foodie Family was out for a  meal and I ordered mac and cheese. Paul, aka Mr. Foodie, asked how it was. My response... "Bland. Creamy, but bland". That got me thinking about macaroni and cheese and what the expectations are for good mac and cheese.

Texture is important. A successful mac and cheese, in my mind, is gooey and oozy. Crunch on the top is an added bonus. But, a dry or chunky mac and cheese doesn't knock my socks off like a creamy one does.

Flavor is uber important in my  book. I want complexity. I want to taste the cheese and for there to be more than one cheese flavor profile. I like a little heat. Maybe some mustard or Worcestershire sauce or both. There should be layers to the flavor, not just one note. The one I had the other day didn't even seem to have salt and pepper in it... not enough to taste anyway! Those are certainly musts!

But, what else? Is it down to those two things? Does type of pasta matter? Macaroni versus shells versus cavatappi versus rigatoni? Do we even care? 

And, do you have a go-to recipe that you use? The Foodie Family would love to try it out!

 Tell us what you think about this very important topic! 


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have had people swoon at the table when I've made Patti LaBelle's "Over the Rainbow Mac and Cheese." It's not an everyday food, and is sure to harden the arteries a little, but it sure is tasty.

http://pattilabelle.com/forum/index.php?threads/pattis-over-the-rainbow-mac-cheese-recipe.15/

Hillary said...

I find mine often turns out dry because I try to skimp on the milk and cheese in order to be more "healthy." I recently made one with a bunch of roasted veggies and with a good amount of spicy paprika. It was on the dry side, but it was huge on flavor. I think I found it on pinterest...

Kate Y said...

Ooh! Both sound yummy. And, looks like we can take a pick whether we want to go healthy or indulgent! :)