Baked Macaroni and Cheese (Perfection in Progress)

Got a rare opportunity with my insanely busy schedule to experiment with food a bit. I had a few odds and ends around the house that I had bought and for some reason have been wildly craving baked macaroni and cheese.

So, I decided to experiment entirely at random on my own. The only caveat to my venture was the fact that I was feeling a bit lazy and was quite hungry meaning that I wanted the food to be done 10 mins. ago. As a result, it did not turn out as good as it should have, but the good news is, I'm inspired to make it better, which benefits everyone who finds this recipe interesting.

Recipe:
3 tbls. butter
3 tbls. flour
3 cups milk
12 oz. grated cheese (use stuff that is strong, like sharp cheddar, trust me on this one)
1 tbsp. ground mustard
1 egg
pasta (I used stuff from Trader Joe's. It was a veggie pasta trio, kind of gave an odd flavor to the bake)
salt
pepper
My additions:
1/2 an avocado
chunks of tofu (i used unbaked, but next time will pre-bake and season my tofu since it tates better this way).
garlic salt
fresh cut up mushrooms

What you do:
-Boil pasta
-In a pot melt butter and stir in flour keeping it moving  for 3-5 mins. Make sure not to burn.
-Stir in ground mustard, do not wait until after you add the milk or the mustard will clump and not be even.
-stir in milk and heat for a bit
-scramble egg in a dish and then pour in and stir
-add cheese, quite a lot of cheese because this really gives the flavor
-mix in small chunks of avocado, mushroom, and small chunks of baked tofu
-add fresh garlic if you want it to taste garlicky, but on second thought, skip the garlic and put in some onion. The flavor fits better with the baked macaroni.

If using these measurements for everything, make sure to use a 13"x9" pan. Make sure the pasta is well drained and pour into the pan. Cover in cheese sauce and make sure all noodles are thoroughly coated. Sprinkle some shredded to the top and bake covered for 25 mins.

Optional Addition: Buttered Breadcrumbs for a crumbly topping!

Here's mine:

Food

Two posts in one day! No way (I'm on a roll. Also, I've written about 4 different one-three page little essays of my thoughts and opinions outside of writing stuff in my blog. So I'm on a writing roll tonight).

Anyways,
I have an interesting viewpoint on my ideal picture of food. It's a bit off the rocker, but I figured I'd write about it and share for the world that chooses to see what my random unknown self has to say about food.

First off, I tend to be green in view and thought. I hope to help build a sustainable world in someway and find taking care of our planet to be important. I also feel like what we eat really contributes to this.

Also, I find that while it may be green and sustainable to be a vegetarian, that is not feasible for the world or myself.

So, I propose we get rid of beef. While I love a good steak, I heard somewhere that without government subsidies, beef would be pretty much unaffordable and it's terribly unsustainable.

Beef need certain grasses, lots of food, they release a lot of methane gas, you have to destroy native habitats to raise them, and then there's all of the ethical issues, which leads me to wonder if something that is more widely available and entirely native to America would be better.

Deer.

We have lots of deer. We have habitat for deer. Deer are also rather tasty and not full of fat and bad things like beef. So why don't we eat more deer? Why don't we raise deer for our meat. We can restore native habitats, we can eat healthier, and our meat would be much much cheaper I think. Granted, you cannot really domesticate deer and they are difficult to keep, but maybe thinking of a new way of farming them in a more natural setting might be wise.

Also, having to work for our food rather than raise it right where we are to be as fat as possible might be a good lesson for the human race too. Things are becoming too convenient for us and too accessible. Not all that long ago, soup did not come from a can or a box, but instead had to be made by hand.

Another idea I have is, why are we not encouraged to have our own gardens? More people ought to grow their vegetables or have access to a place to grow their foods.

Why don't we require people to bring their own cups and plates, etc. to places that use disposeable? Why are we such a society based on convenience?

I may never know the answers...but I can make some of my own up I suppose.

Play II

The topic of play was really provoking to me, so I decided that I needed to follow up with more thoughts that I have worked out over the last week.

First off, I was inspired to do a basic web search for the idea of play in the workplace. I came up with a few different things. Some of these are basic websites that give steps towards making the workplace more playful. Most of them are similar and some of them lame. Go for it, search fun workplace or play in the workplace and you'll generate those basic searches.

They all seem to say that it is important to take some time out of the day and allow employees to take a break to play. There is one that refers to having play zones that help employees associate their spaces more so with productive work and to have zones that do not disturb other employees for play. I think that is novel.

These articles are lacking. They lack credibility, they are just sort of out there on random sites that look like they're trying to generate traffic, they lack the substance I am most interested in, which is figuring out activities, work day structures, and mental approaches to work that foster fun and creative ways that are basically accomplishing work, but mentally you are playing and putting out what it is you need to to work.

I also found examples of some cool offices. I think the work space definitely creates an atmosphere as well. There are places that are like forts, there are cooperative work spaces, there are feng shui spaces, some are painted by the employees, some have couches, some have desks, etc. They are all different than the drab cubicle. I think the space makes a difference. Having an individual design what is comfortable and what is likely to encourage productivity is also important.

Another big thing, that was addressed in the TED Talk I watched by Tom Brown was the mediums you use. Many of the things available at his company were objects you find in an art class. Things like glue, crayons, play doh, whatever. Employees were encourage to make models of what they had in their head and show what they wanted their designs to do. I can only imagine what would happen if my office had a work environment like that. Granted, our work is a bit different and would have to be thought about, but if we had medium readily available and were encouraged to use it and come up with creative solutions, I feel like we would be a bit more productive in getting across our ideas. Everyone would be able to see what it is that we are talking about in the same way that we see it.

I also feel like having those allotted times during the day in which a person can take time out and be encouraged to play and have fun is important to. Also, if there is a way to maintain professional demeanor yet break out and be fun and silly in ways that are also productive would be fantastic. To have an open, fun, creative, and playfully encouraging environment would be wonderful. I think it would help to curb some of the issues my workplace has and would also foster a general more positive attitude amongst employees.

On a personal level, this is my ideal dream. To have play doh and the encouragement to construct models of what I see in my head. To be advised to think outside the box and have innovative suggestions accepted would be wonderful, because that is how I think. I recently proposed to fellow staff to turn in ideas for exhibits to me that focused on creative ways of expressing to those who will view the exhibits what the messages of our workplace are. I got some interest and response, but it was all the same. Throw in a few photos, an explanation, and that is it. There was little creativity, very few different ideas of expressing lots of information without words, and just in general what seemed like a lack of interest. This sort of disappointed me and made me wonder if there was a way to engage the creative sides of my co-workers. Surely not everyone has linguistic intelligence. Maybe if we were encouraged as an organization to  cut, paste, construct, and fly paper airplanes around, we would come up with more ways to entertain exhibit visitors.

I don't necessarily want to go back to childhood fun and games, but I feel like some of their materials are things that should transcend time and be incorporated back into adult society.

I also think we need slides down instead of stairs, to have silly coverings of my workplace in random pink flamingos, and other silly things like that.

I also want to raise a thought and propose for myself the idea of using academic databases to look into this topic further.

And then I'm left to ponder, why don't we encourage play in the workplace?

Why are we so serious? Why do we work so hard all the time or keep saying that we have so much work to do? Why can't we get it done? Why can't our jobs be to play? Why can't we figure out how to do our work through play?  I ask because I am finding work, while exciting and challenging half the time, to be boring and monotonous and just not creative/playful enough for me.

Also, with that, how do I look into myself and figure out how to make my work play?

That's all. Not a very thorough play analysis like I was hoping for. I'll post my ideas and thoughts more as time goes on. I'll have to look at entry one and see if this was just a summary of it or not. Anyways, go play! Advocate for workplace play! If things were fun all the time, we'd be happier and less negative, which is always a plus in my book!

Play, we need it

I watched a video the other day. ( http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html )  It was a guy named Tom Brown. The video talks about the link between creativity and play. This one really interested me because it linked together two concepts that I have spent a lot of the last year delving into and trying to understand.

I’ve worked with children for pretty much the entire duration of time that I have been working, so it’s no surprise that the concept of play crosses my thought every so often.

The thing that I have been interested is how as adults we lose what we once had as children. I tend to reminisce quite a bit about the fun I used to have doing specific tasks like flying kites or pretending I was in another world or the joy of swinging and I still find some of these tasks wonderfully fun, but also find many of my friends repulsed by the idea of doing things once enjoyed as kids. So I ask, where does this divide come from and as adults, do we lose the ability to play?

Both the talk and thinking have sparked an answer to this question. I believe that we don’t necessarily lose the ability to play and as adults we definitely still need play, but some of us lose the ability to engage in a form of play because we let our societal rules get in the way.

I admire two things about children. The first is that kids appear to have full confidence in themselves. Most probably have no idea they have self confidence, most do not have to try to be confident, it is just how they are. Working with kids and their self confidence drives me, as an adult, insane because they will say anything; they will jump right in and interrupt with no humility or knowledge that there is a right time. But, if you think about it, what drives me insane about kids is what I admire most. Most days I struggle to start conversation and get to know friends and then look at a kid who has no fear and will go right up and say what’s on their mind. It blows my mind to see them produce a piece of art or a creation and be proud of it no matter what it looks. Granted, there are always exceptions and children who do not fit this description at all. I’ll go with the general stereotype to follow.

The second thing I love about kids is that they adapt so many situations into play. Research that I have done shows that kids use play to deal with problems they face. They work through problems and also use play simply for fun. If you think about it, most of a kids day, even if they are using play to deal with situations, is spent having fun in some way.

Every once in awhile, I tend to look back and wonder what happened to the good old days of playing this or doing that when I was a kid. Then, I think about what I can do to reinstate fun and play into what I do in life. A kid’s job is to play for the most part.  I think an adult’s job should also be about play. Think about the results. If working and doing our jobs involved play in a way that was productive, we would probably be more productive.

So, how do we put play back into our jobs? It’s difficult. I realize that we are all so busy all the time. There’s little time to take away a bit of the day for fun. I love talking with my co-workers, but realize that I cannot be productive in current standards without a quiet low-distraction environment. Maybe work needs to be a little different. How? How do we put play back into the job? I’ve tried different aspects, but many I work(ed) with had no time or interest in the things that kids do. I am starting to feel the same way. I want to appear mature and adult, so throwing childish play into my day definitely doesn’t look good when trying to build a resume and that is what is most wrong.  The social standards we live by as adults.

Many of us try to fit a standard and be acceptable. I tend to question and have to jump over hurdles in my head before I can exhibit some playful action. Playing like a child is also not as fulfilling as it used to be. I think we need to figure out how to play like adults and what ways are best.

In the work place, I see this as being especially important because we spend a huge majority of time at work. Tom Brown tells how the CEO want to work with many of his friends. I’ve made friends with some of my co-workers, but find that socialization in the professional environment is given the backseat. There’s no time or the topics stick to work. I try to sensor myself and make sure my conversations stick to work topics. Maybe that’s not the right way. Maybe being professional in this aspect isn’t right.

I think it would be amazing to be friends with all those I work with and for us to have the community that allows confidence in all ideas and projects proposed as Tom Brown mentions. I also think it would be wonderful if we could rethink the workday. To have a work day that allows for fun to be integrated, encourages friendship development, and yet is productive is my idealistic dream. But how? How do think through and take our work tasks and goals and approach accomplishing them in a way that is like play. How do we make our work the same as play? What is play for an adult…it’s not the same as play for children? Is it possible? How do we convince people that it’s ok to play?

I really see society as shaking their heads at this. The stereotypical adult society is so anti-play and fun. I have a hard time getting my friends and co-workers to engage in something fun because they have no time for it or just because of the feeling of  being grown, above kiddy games, or just unable to enjoy play.

Creativity…I don’t have a lot to say about creativity except that being creative and play are similar to the same things in my world. When I’m creating things, doing crafts, depending on the medium, it feels a bit like play for me. I try to incorporate the different and uncommon into what I produce, but I also have a hard time following through because I want it to be perfect right from the start. I get stuck. I also feel like I’m barely working and wasting time when I do this. I can see greater satisfaction in my job and a greater willingness to fully engage and complete all tasks if there was more play involved.

I wish it was our job to play once again. I wish there were new social rules written and we just naturally knew how to play in a way that is professional. I also really wish we took this great talk and concept to heart.

I should also mention, that while I don’t want to go back to being a child, that maybe we ought to take a couple of leaves out of their books as we grow into adulthood. I think maybe the world would be a bit happier of a place.

Now excuse me while I go shoot rubber band launching airplanes at people and build a model of my building out of play-doh.