Out of lockdown for 4 weeks now. Life is relatively normal so far but there are a number of shops in town that have simply closed/emptied which is sad to see. I certainly don't miss lining up for groceries, even though that was always an impressively civil encounter for all involved. With some new cases being announced this week after 28 days of no new ones, the political posturing has begun again and fuck me I'm sick of it. I designed our undergrad exams to be taken online and they all went smoothly thank goodness, only 3 of a few hundred didn't take the exam, about what we'd expect in normal exam settings with the odd student deciding not to attend at all. Now.. Until this week I had never had Mac and Cheese. I don't particularly enjoy cheesy things, and it's never made it's way into my cooking repertoire. Normally I do the cooking in our household, my partner isn't a huge fan of cooking and I really like it - but this week she wanted to make Mac and Cheese so she set to it. Lawd. It was amazing. I had three servings that first night. Goddamn it was just lovely, and she had leeks, spinach and leftover bacon fried up as a laughably makeshift but delicious salad. I am converted. Oh I also found this delicious spiced rum called Moko, I'm not a rum guy but holy shit this stuff tastes like a vanilla liquer and it's delightful. I feel like a new man.
your laughably makeshift salad There are a lot of liquors that get a bad rap because the basic bitch exemplars are terrible. Gin and Rum are probably their most prominent members. Technically, "rum" is fermented and distilled cane sugar. That covers a lot of ground. I couldn't figure out why everyone gave so much of a shit about Bacardi until I had Cuban rum and went "...oh yeah Bacardi used to be Cuban and is now Puerto Rican and they've had to cope since Castro came to power."
Hah it exists! I did think it was suspicious how readily she put it all into the pan.. It was excellent. Yep Rum for me just reminds me of my 18th, where my brother poured 2 beers down a funnel for me, and poured straight Bacardi in as a chaser. I don't remember the rest of the night but I've steered clear of Rum for all my years since. Since learned in different ways that Rum does not start and end at Bacardi, and that Bacardi was also not really the culprit of that night.