Improvised yumminess, tulips and reminiscing.

The Kitchen Sink Casserole 
Thrown together when I had no ideas and a spare Pantry

A package of Apple Chicken sausage
2 1/2 cups of Gruyere cheese (grated)
One of those kid-lunch sized thing of whipping cream
Milk (I just eyeballed the amount)
Some rigatoni-like pasta (I used the short, squanty ones)
Head of cauliflower
Nutmeg
Salt
Pepper
A tablespoon of flour
A tablespoon of butter
A sprinkle of panko

First: Broil the sausages until they're done.
Then: Steam the cauliflower until it's tender
Then: Boil the pasta until it's al dente.

Sauce:
Melt butter in saucepan.
Whisk in the flour to make a roux
Whisk in the whipping cream in dollops to avoid making
unwanted dumplings.

Add salt, pepper and grate up some nutmeg to taste.

Add milk until you have a creamy, only slightly
saucy consistency (it'll thicken more when baking).

Add 2 cups of cheese. I threw in a little leftover block of
sharp cheddar too, and some medium cheddar just
for fun.  I left 1/2 cup of the grated cheese aside.

Whisk the sauce until the cheese is completely melted into it.
(lift up the whisk and there should be no cheesy strings)

Meanwhile, cut your sausage into wheels, put into casserole dish.
Cut your cauliflower into little florets and add to dish.
Add drained pasta.  Mix it up.

Sprinkle with more salt and pepper and nutmeg.

Pour sauce over the food in the casserole dish.
Top with last 1/2 cup grated cheese and panko.

Bake at 450 for 25 minutes.

Enjoy. :)

On Sunday, hubby and I packed the baby into the car, slid by the assisted living facility and picked up grandma Peteranecz (aka Satan) and headed to Woodburn, where there is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival.  I expected it to be ... bigger, I guess. I'm used to the fields in Holland, where there are tulips as far as they eye can see... and god it was crowded.  But we still had a lovely time.

Alex was bundled up. It was cool out there.

My baby boy in the flowers.

It was nice. We didn't stay too long, there were a lot of people, and we didn't have money to go and spend in the gift shop or whatever. There was a group of Harley Davidson riders there. I will be honest, I just don't get them. Is there some kind of hidden agreement when they buy the bike that they should look as douchebaggy and dirtbaggy as possible when riding it.  Even the women look that way. They look like skanky men.  They were amongst hordes of families enjoying the tulips, talking at the top of their lungs about crass subjects.  This guy with grizzled hair in a ponytail, decked out in chaps and studs and skulls shouted: Tit inspector! Take 'em out! HAHAHAHA. ::eyeroll:: They were a blot of darkness obstructing a river of families and children flowing around them. They took twenty minutes to leave, finding it necessary to start up their bikes and to rev them repeatedly to make as much as spectacle of themselves as possible.  I don't get the harley types.

Anyway... on the 17th, my little pumpkin completed his fifth month in this world.  I was sifting through my husband's photos, and found these from the morning of November 17th, 2012. Nine-ish. :)  Never mind how crappy I look... I was in labour for over 36 hours by the time he came 'round.

I was tired. So was my baby.