While of course it seems obvious, I had hoped my rice and cheese would manage to hit that same spot as homemade mac and cheese. When I took it from the oven, I knew already I had lost. Though it smelled cheesy and good, rice just smells different than noodles. There, I said it! It was, of course, delicious. It just wasn't a good substitute. I don't believe there is one. Ah well! We still ate the whole thing, so nothing was wasted. I didn't tell the family it was my attempt at a replacement. I served it with chicken breasts marinated in a little Italian dressing because that was something I remembered having with my mac and cheese as a child. Actually, chicken marinated in a good Italian dressing is still pretty tasty. I also found a wonderful way to mix up a casserole in a hurry with no mess. I wanted the cheese mixed evenly through the dish, so I chilled the rice after cooking in a large storage bag while I grated the cheese. When I took the rice out, I realized why dirty a bowl? With the bag already used, why not dump the eggs, milk, cheese, pepper, dash salt, paprika in the bag, mix and dump in the buttered dish? Worked wonderfully and no dish to wash.

Today was chilly and damp, with many schools in the area closed due to dangerously icy roads. We somehow didn't get much rain so schools were open, but I thought something warming and tasty might be well received in the afternoon. With all the sweets we had over the holiday, I wanted something savory, and happened to spy the last of the anchovies I bought after last spring's trip to London where we had tea with little savory tarts with a creamy cheese topped by a bit of anchovy.

Felt like something different, or at least just not going out to the store for shortening to make the crusts, so I google'd up "Tea Recipes Anchovy" and came up with anchovy paste on toast. After peering at a few versions, I popped the tiny can, dropped the anchovies in a rather flat wide stoneware dish, all the while boiling up a few eggs. I used a wooden spoon as directed to work the anchovies into a paste, much to the excitement of my kitties. I suspect wood is suggested to avoid flavoring the result by use of something metallic but did not research this as I wanted to get the paste in the fridge to rest and set up before tea time. Instead, I peeled the eggs, extracted two just-barely-cooked-to-set egg yokes which I also mashed to a paste, adding them in along with about two tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, a quick grate of the red pepper flake (love those jars with built in grater for this), a quick squeeze of lemon juice (guessing 1/2 teaspoon, a good grate of black pepper. Truthfully, it tasted a mite strong and didn't look all that promising when I sampled then slipped in the fridge.

Finally school out, I pulled my anchovy paste out, along with some cream cheese and a bag of garden veggie Triscuit crackers. I spread some cream cheese and then a generous dollop of the anchovy paste on each cracker. The paste had firmed up nicely and spread like butter, the firm crackers thankfully held up well to this process. Daughter was a tad suspicious but after a taste ate several along with the lightly minty chamomile tea I was trying out. Truthfully, I was a little unsure what tea to serve to hold up to the savory creaminess, but it did very well. Warm and refreshing, I'll grab some more next time I make it back to the tea shop. I've listed this post under appetizers as a few of the savories would be a wonderful enticement to an excellent meal.

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