That bleu cheese sauce sounds wonderful!

Small anecdote: one of my first jobs was for a very blustery politician who had an older, nice but rather blowsy mistress. This was a time when women rarely ran for office, but did all of the scut work, and a few women from my office were invited to get together for a casual dinner at a very proper lady's home. I was chosen as one of the few.

It was a small group, and the first few of us showed up in casual skirts & sweaters, and made small talk. Last ones to arrive were the drunk mistress & sidekick - both in jeans. She offered a bottle of fine wine to the hostess, saying, "I always like a snort before dinner." From the smell of her, she had snorted quite a few!

We retired to the dining room, oohing and aahing over the china and Duncan Phyfe decor. After we were seated, our hostess brought out the most delicious macaroni and cheese casserole (remember, this was casual) and said, "Oops, forgot the spoon!" While she was in the kitchen, the mistress declared, "I would have thought a clasy broad like that would have served something better than macaroni & cheese!" of course, near the top of her lungs. It was all downhill from there.

The next day at work, I was called into the front office, and the mistress said to the politician boss, "Yeah, that broad thought she was all prim & proper, but we had our secret weapon - Honey!"

Why did I tell this story (and trust me, this is just part of that story!)? Because really good macaroni and cheese doesn't come out of a box, but is a delicious, occasionally dressed up casserole. It can be a meal in itself or a side dish, but it's one of the world's best comfort foods, even when you're discussing some incredibly stressful tactics!

Ok...I have to know...how were you the secret weapon?

On my very first day, I was told that I had to buy one of their flimsy white [politician's name] t-shirt. I just smiled and said that I'd buy the t-shirt, but could never possibly wear it in public (I'm top heavy). So, they called me "the classy broad", and I campaigned at teas and other places where flimsy white t-shirts weren't appropriate. Beat the heck out of slinging spaghetti!

My thoughts on bread bowls:

1) They remind me of high school. Our cafeteria food was delicious, so naturally the bread bowls were great as well. Anyways, everyone went CRAZY on bread bowl day. Seriously. People would be sprint to the cafeteria on bread bowl day. I remembered one day they were short on bread bowls so they had to ration them out between the lunch periods. Everyone was panicked! Girls would cut in line, get in fights, etc. It got ugly. Moral of the story: Don't ever stand between a hungry, PMSing, teenage Catholic school girl and her bread bowl.

2) My coworkers introduced me to the BEST soup place in the city (agzg, other Chicagoans and any visitors, I highly recommend you check them out). It's called Soupbox, (there's a few locations I think). Anyways, the soup is phenomenal! I haven't had a bread bowl yet, as they give bread on the size, but I'm gonna cave one day...soon.

3) Most everyone has judged me for saying this but the Domino's Pasta Bread Bowls look amazing. Yes, it's probably extremely high in calories...but I think they look delicious. Anyone ever have one?

So you made the mac and cheese?

What she said! I missed you KR! :D

I now live less than 10 minutes from a Panera. The alumnae chapter has their monthly lunches there.
That place is HELLA crowded during lunch! :eek:

This thread just made my dinner decision. Panera bread bowl here I come!

This made me lol literally.
We sprinted to lunch EVERY day. People would be lined up by the door trying to sneak down the hallway to lunch. We lucked out one year and had physics (right by the lunch lines!) one day and gym the next (which was next to the other line!)
Running to lunch was a truly memorable part of my high school experience.
No bread bowls unfortunately :(
But we did have some kick ass italian dunkers!

Breadbowls in the cafeteria? Damn.

I was happy to get my square pizza and chef salads.

No, the woman who made it was a good 35-40 years older than I. I do, however, know how to make good macaroni & cheese, sans box.

I had pretty good French onion soup at Panera on Saturday, but I didn't go for the breadbowl. I figured two in one week would be ridiculous.

Since I'm sick, my husband promised he'd pick one up for me on his way home from work :)

I know! They weren't even invented yet when I was a cafeteria customer. [/old]

Ahhh - I was so confused. So very, very confused.

I hope you use truffle oil!

ugh truffle oil bothers me. theoretically it is something I should really enjoy and it falls in line with my cooking styles and everything, but I HATE the smell of it.
I think because in my cooking lab one semester I spilled some on my sleeve and reeked of it all day. Just can't stand it.