He wiped his hands on his apron and looked at the ingredients arranged in front of him. "Okay. Carrots, heavy cream, milk, two kinds of cheese, butter, flour and spices, looks like everything is here and ready to go."<\/p>\n
The timer went off and he turned to drain the elbow macaroni. Then he set the macaroni aside and set about boiling the carrots until they were softened while he readied the personal blender. It didn’t have a large capacity, but it was all he had.<\/p>\n
When the carrots were done, he drained them and put them in a bowl to cool before they went in the blender with the cream, milk, and Worcestershire sauce. It was then that he realized everything wasn’t going to fit in the blender all at once, so he decided to blend the carrot mixture in batches.<\/p>\n
Only when he pushed the start button, nothing happened. A red light flashed on the front of the personal blender.<\/p>\n
"What?" He shook the blender, thinking maybe some of the carrots were blocking the blades, and pushed the button again. Nothing happened. "Dammit!"<\/p>\n
He had a pound of cooked elbow macaroni. He’d shredded a bunch of cheese. He’d mixed the flour with all the spices. There was no way he was stopping now just because his blender wasn’t working.<\/p>\n
He grabbed a potato masher and a large mixing bowl. He dumped the carrots and cream out of the blender into the bowl and wished that he’d known the blender wasn’t going to work before he added the liquid. Then he could have cleanly mashed the carrots and whisked the dairy in. As it was, he had to try his best to crush the carrots that kept floating out of the way of the masher.<\/p>\n
When he was done, there were still some small chunks floating around in the orangish mixture of carrot, milk, and cream, but it was the best that he could do.<\/p>\n
"Oh well. Nothing is perfect," he muttered, adding butter to a large saucepan over medium-high heat. He stirred it around with a wooden spoon to help it mix. "As long as it tastes good… Looks don’t matter."<\/p>\n
And he was right.<\/p>\n
The macaroni and cheese wasn’t beautiful, but it tasted like macaroni and cheese. Somehow there was no carrot flavor, though the small chunks were obvious. He guessed the carrots would have given the finished result the yellow-orange color of boxed macaroni and cheese and nobody would have even noticed they were in there.<\/p>\n
"Next time, I’ll do better," he told himself. Then he forced a smile and carried the large covered bowl out of kitchen to the dining room table. He put it down next to the bowl of salad and platter of chicken wings. "It’s dinner time!"<\/p>\n
There were cheers and the slap of bare feet on the hardwood floor.<\/p>\n
Watching them eat, he felt a sense of contentment. Sure, the macaroni and cheese hadn’t come out as perfect as the picture alongside the recipe, but it tasted good and that was what was important.<\/p>\n
Perfect looking but inedible compared to less than perfect looking but delicious, and delicious would always win out.<\/p>\n
Because cream always rose to the top, unless it was blended with carrots. And then it mixed deliciously with the cheddar and gruyere to cling to every bit of the macaroni pasta.<\/p>\n
"Anybody want seconds?"<\/p>\n
"Me!" "Me!" "I want some!"<\/p>\n
"Alright. Have some more salad too. It’s good for you."<\/p>\n
=END=<\/p>\n
~Harper Kingsley<\/p>\n
https:\/\/paypal.me\/harperkingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n https:\/\/patreon.com\/harperkingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/harperwck<\/a>.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/HarperKingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n https:\/\/amazon.com\/shop\/harperkingsley0<\/a>. https:\/\/harperkingsley.bsky.social<\/a>.
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\nhttps:\/\/kimichee.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nhttps:\/\/www.smashwords.com\/profile\/view\/HarperKingsley<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"