My Baby's One

I've had a fantasy about August's first birthday since maybe even before he was born. A giddy baby smashing into his birthday cake, crumbs flying everywhere. Well, it turns out my boy is too demure for that. He delicately picked up his cake and took a bite out of it, then picked pieces off of it and put them in his mouth. Fortunately he smeared chocolate frosting all over his face in the process, so my fantasy was somewhat fulfilled.

What he really dug into with gusto was the baked mac and cheese I made for lunch that day. A pretty simple recipe, made with a pound of rotini and a basic bechamel with Cheddar, Monterey Jack (I wanted to make it mild-flavored for August) and locatelli. I tore up the breadcrumbs by hand because I didn't want to get out the food processor.

The chocolate frosting was actually pretty good, just a recipe off the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder container. 1/2 cup melted butter mixed with 2/3 cup cocoa powder, then 1/3 cup of milk alternately with 3 cups powdered sugar. Add powdered sugar or milk to get desired consistency, then add 1 teaspoon vanilla.