A

I named this "A" because I don't have a good name for it. I just thought I'd let you know why I did that. And oh my goodness, I love Nickel Creek. Especially Chris Thile.

I'm home again. We got back Tuesday night at 12:30 or something. I slept until 1:30 Wednesday, and I got up at 2:00. Then I ate breakfast then I did some dishes then I did something else but I don't remember what it was then I made chicken and dumplings! It made me so happy to cook something yummy and warm and savory. Ha, that's what they call a real food recipe on VeryBestBaker.com. It's a savory food recipe. Everything else is a dessert or a coffeecake or muffins or something. Anyway, I made chicken and dumplings. They were pretty much the best I've ever had. All homemade. Well, I used Bisquick for the dumplings, and I didn't have chicken stock, so I used vegetable buillion. However you spell that. And it's okay to say this stuff was pretty much the best I've ever had because my mom thinks so too. She liked it better than hers. I was really proud. I am really proud. Still. Mom is probably the best cook I know, so when something of mine is better than something of hers, which doesn't happen that often, I get really excited. Not because I've surpassed her, but because that means it really is good. Hooray!

I baked a cake today, too. It was good. It was just a normal yellow cake with chocolate icing, though, so it wasn't that special. I kind of wish I'd baked something with a cool name or cool ingredients or that was hard to do or something. I get dissatisfied with myself and my cooking/baking when it's not really special. I should probably fix that before I get married, or I'll be unhappy with every other meal. Plus, who cares if it's not special as long as it's good? And almost everything I make is palateable, so it shouldn't matter if it's special or not. And by the way, if Andrew's told you that I can only make desserts, don't believe him. I can make anything with a recipe, and without a recipe I can make quite a bit of stuff, too. So don't believe it if he says I can't cook real food.

Speaking of cooking real food and cooking without recipes, I made a super-awesome alfredo sauce the other day. I've never made an alfredo sauce before. In fact, I've never watched anyone make the stuff, either. Mom says she's never been able to make a good one, and I think that discouraged her from trying more. Now that I kind of know what to do, though, we can work on it together and make it killer good. So let me tell you how I did it (I'm pretty excited about this deal, too, since I didn't know how to make it and then it was good)--

Okay, so I melted probably 3 or 4 tablespoons butter (sorry, I didn't really measure anything) in a saucepan, then added 3 chopped cloves of garlic and cooked them until I could smell them for a while. Then I put in a handful of flour and stirred that around until it was all mixed in with the butter. I put in enough flour to soak up all the butter, if that helps. I then added a lot of milk, a few cups probably. I heated that for a while, on maybe medium-high heat, and mushed the lumps of flour and butter as I stirred. I mushed up some of the garlic while I was at it, I think. I just took the rest of the garlic pieces out when I'd finished smushing the flour. When that was pretty hot, but not boiling, I added some raw mild cheddar cheese. I guess you could use parmesan or something, but the raw mild cheddar actually worked pretty well. I added a lot, too. I think that's one reason it worked so well--it was kind of like melted cheese sauce. It wasn't, though. It was definitely alfredo. It was way creamier than just plain old cheese sauce. And the cheddar was white, by the way, so it looked like normal alfredo. It wasn't orange or anything. So after I added the cheese, I stirred and mushed it until it was totally smooth, not at all lumpy. I actually had to add more milk after that, for it was too thick. It might not be necessary, though, if you just get the right amount in the first place. Oh, and I added some salt. Just however much I felt like. It wasn't quite salty enough, so I added more when I had it on my spaghetti. It was good, though. I was really excited. I've never made alfredo sauce before.

I'm cold and sleepy and it's late. I want to eat a hot dot. A good hot dog, the really fatty and tasty kind. Goodnight.