78 Responses

1. I love this post! Isn’t it fabulous to discover that you can manage in what seemed like miserable circumstances? My daughter started using a wheelchair in college. (Of course, no diagnosis came for a decade.) She upbraided me for calling her “wheelchair bound,” stating instead that a wheelchair is liberating. It’s a tool that makes you mobile when your body can’t move. I have learned a lot from her. So glad that I can suggest Velveeta mac & cheese to her. Thank you!

2. I like you have a comfort food – ice cream, but to do it properly I have to use 4 different ice creams. Unfortunately, Haagendazs has stopped selling one of them, but I finally found a perfect replacement in Hackney Cherry Gelato. And of my word is it yum. So finding that made for a very happy Lisa indeed.

   You know I’ve never tried Mac & Cheese, perhaps I ought to…..

   1. Lisa the Rehab where I was staying had spumoni. It was wonderful!

      1. Oh, spumoni! Such joy! The rehab must have been a superior sort.

3. We call that “Emergency Mac n Cheese” in our house – our now 4 yo granddaughter eats these on the regular when she cant wait for the regular box mac n cheese to be cooked! Hope that pelvis is improving quickly Jenny!

   1. I love the term “Emergency Mac n Cheese”!!

4. Oh, yes–mac and cheese, as well as mashed potatoes, were my comfort food during chemo.
   I made comfort in the form of pumpkin bars last night and will frost them today for a special church service tonight–well, for the meal after that.

5. Glad you are discovering some Mac-n-cheese joy. The kiddo eats them for lunch at school (since they have a microwave). He also likes the Minute Maid rice cups and certain ramen bowls. When I don’t cook dinner on Saturday night, he likes any of the DEEP frozen Indian dinners, and frozen pizzas.

   This week, I am celebrating the A on got in my master’s class. It just finished, so I had a week free from classes. I start the next one tomorrow, but this week I enjoyed one long conversation with a friend, got lots of boxes unpacked, and rewatched Ever After. Heaven!

   1. Congratulations, Mermaid, on your A!!

      1. Thanks!

   2. Congrats!

      I really like the DEEP wrap/pouch things, especially the spinach and cheese and keep some in the freezer at work for the days that I don’t plan well.

      1. Yes! Yum ☺️

6. I love those microwave mac n cheese cups for a quick lunch. I’ve been using Kraft but will definitely try Velveeta!

   Chatting with writer friends on Zoom made me happy this week. I love how even casual comments can trigger ideas or help me when I get stuck in the story.

7. Cracker Barrel and Panera both make good Mac and cheese.

   Similarly, my sister never liked lasagna until she got braces. She ate a lot of Mac and cheese then too.

8. I’ve been a member of Off Campus Writers’ Workshop since at least 2010, probably longer. In spring 2020, they moved to Zoom, saving me hours of driving. When the pandemic receded, they were an international organization, so they learned to do hybrid workshops.

   This past week, I attended in-person for the first time since lockdown. I hugged old friends, and attended a luncheon with writing teacher who impacted me the most. It was worth the drive.

   1. For a variety of reasons, I lost touch with the two local-ish writers’ groups (30-45 minute drive) a few years before the pandemic, and recently thought about dropping by to reconnect with some friends, and was startled to see that both are still meeting virtually. It makes sense, but everything else in my life seems to have moved past pandemic issues (not necessarily a good thing) that it didn’t occur to me that the groups might continue to meet virtually.

      1. I hope I never have to work 5 full days a week in an office again. I love working from home!

9. I’m glad you’ve found a comfort food that’s easy to make. You’ve been through a lot recently.

   DH and I saw Sarah Millican last night. I found out about her from someone in the Argh community – thank you! She was absolutely hilarious! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. She’s very good with the audience – involving 7000 people in your show is a talent.

   1. It might have been me. I love her.

      1. Yes, Deb, I think it was you. DH already knew of her. She’s so fabulous.

   2. She is hysterical! I’ll have to see if she’s coming my way.

      1. She’s on tour right now. Last night was her final Canadian show.

   3. Love Sarah stand up. I think she’s going to Columbus OH 🤞🏼

      1. Ooh! I’ll have to look! I love her too and that might be driveable.

10. I am happy because my cat is sitting in the cat enclosure I recently had built for him. He won’t go out the catdoor to gets into it, and if I take him out there he usually only stays 5-10 minutes, but this morning (after his weekly catnip) he is sitting outside washing. The other cat will have nothing to do with it, but ANY use makes me happy.

    You remind me that I made welsh rabbit last week and it was great. I ate it twice and have another serving in the freezer awaiting my future desire. There is just something about melted cheese.

11. Rain made me happy this week. Usually we have too much of it, but after a cold and rainy spring, our summer was unusually hot and very dry, to the point of drought. The creek across from my house has just a trickle in some places. This last week we had rain all day three days in a row, and the creek is much higher, my garden is happy, and the fire danger is much lower. Mind you, it’s nice to have the sun back again, but still, yay for rain.

    I’m cautiously happy that I’m be flying out to San Diego next week to visit my parents and my youngest sister Becky, and seeing my stepdaughter and her fiance and my niece and nephew too. My sister Sarah, who lives near Albany, will be flying out with me for a briefer than usual trip. We’d already planned to go celebrate my mom’s 88th birthday (partially because my dad had a big fuss made over him last year when he turned 90, and in May when I was there for my usual yearly visit, and partially because we decided that now that they’re getting older, once a year just wasn’t enough, no matter how much I hate to fly). Then my mom got diagnosed with breast cancer in July, and had a double mastectomy a week and a half ago, so we really wanted to go see her.

    The cautiously happy is because while I’m glad to be seeing lots of people I love, and hopefully spending some time at the ocean, I really don’t like flying (the lack of control makes me crazy, there are too many people and I’m usually the only one masking, and it makes my body very unhappy), traveling kicks my butt for weeks afterwards, and my family can be…challenging. Still, it will be worth it. Plus very happy that my friend will be moving into my house for the five and a half days I’m gone, so the cats will have an on-site servant.

    1. Enjoy it, Deborah. I’m having to cancel my flight to Phoenix in a week, because I’m in no condition to run through airports, now. It will be put off till February, the 6 month mark, when I am assured that I will be “Fine!, Everything’s fine. I’m fine.”Already, my balance is much better. I am usually the only one wearing a mank, too. Just do what you have to do to stay healthy.

       1. Hope your mom gets a great happy birthday with you and your family!
          A double mastectomy at 87 is unfair.
          I also am masking and do feel tired after hours on a plane with it. I usually have a great audiobook to save my mind during trips. Happy trails!

          1. It really is. She was diagnosed with triple negative, which is a “young woman’s cancer” (usually hits women 20-50). But the women in my family are serious over-achievers. My aunt (her sister) was diagnosed with an extremely rare and unusual cancer, followed not to long after by my sister Sarah, who had a completely different and unrelated extremely rare cancer. So we almost weren’t surprised. My mom’s surgeon is advising me and my and my sisters to get genetic testing, because apparently being an Ashkenazi Jew means you can have a gene that gives you double the chance of getting breast cancer. Who knew? Also, OY, like we don’t have enough problems?

             Thankfully, my mom’s prognosis is pretty good, although she is fragile enough that no one is sure she will be able to tolerate the chemo they’re planning next.

             Always bring a book on the plane!

       2. I’m in no condition to run through airports either. I’m just hoping things go smoothly. Nothing but good times ahead…

          I’m sorry you’re having to cancel your flight. Hugs.

          1. Good luck, Deb. Thanks!

          2. Deborah, for many many reasons use a wheelchair in the airport. The big one is you’re in no condition to run. The second one is it’s a really easy way to get through screening. I do it because of my shattered hip. I can walk now but airports kill me so I use a wheelchair and feel no shame. I know your mother is going to be happy to have you there and I also know what fear of flying is like so hooray for you that you’re doing it!

             1. I can walk perfectly well, Susan. I’m just very tired. No need for a wheelchair for that.

    2. Rain made me unhappy because my basement sump overflowed. I caught it soon enough to keep the basement from flooding, but floors (and feet) got wet.

12. Happiness for me was the discovery of a bar that does the best margarita pizza I’ve had in years, over a decade. Pizza and negronis by the river with a friend – perfect.

13. My cold is starting to get better and a friend that I haven’t seen since before 2020 is coming to visit!

    Jenny, I hope you heal soon and I’m so glad you are able to manage the mac and cheese!

14. Being at home is making me happy. My cats have not left my side. My eldest son is revamping things so it will be safe for me, here. He put in a heavy wooden rail for the back stoop, so I can go out with Kali, and also feed the birds. I have Home Health visiting, and my son is taking me to Trader Joe’s today to shop all things apple and pumpkin. I have a four-wheel walker so I can begin working up to the mile a day I was walking before the heart catheterization and stroke.

    I feel for you, Jenny. I used to walk down to the dining area in Rehab, and most of the residents there were in wheelchairs. At least, they were allowed to wheel them- selves back and forth to their rooms. At first, I had to wait for someone to come put a gait belt on me and walk with me to my room. I hope you heal quickly. The only thing I miss from there is the wonderful cook who made me things to order. She is a gem.

    Please forgive any mistakes and typos. Seeing double is no fun.

    1. Hugs! I’m glad you’re home and getting help with things. Heal quickly!

    2. Sympathies on the double vision. As far as I can see, despite that, your post came out typo free except for an added space resulting in a preserved hyphen. A lot better than I often manage.

    3. Oh yeah, and congrats on arrival home as scheduled. I hope the TJ visit went smoothly.

15. Mac & cheese was one of my Mom’s best dishes as well as mashed potatoes. My daughter adores it. I haven’t tried the cups but they do sound excellent for a difficult moment. It’s the cheese! My sister gifted me a Murray’s cheese box for my birthday. It had an English cheddar that I would eat pounds of. Sigh. My DH ate the brie and now I’m working on the young Manchego. Yummm.

16. Mac & cheese was one of my Mom’s best dishes as well as mashed potatoes. My daughter adores it. I haven’t tried the cups but they do sound excellent for a difficult moment. It’s the cheese! My sister gifted me a Murray’s cheese box for my birthday. It had an English cheddar that I would eat pounds of. Sigh. My DH ate the brie and now I’m working on the young Manchego. Yummm.

17. I usually buy the frozen variety of mac and cheese when I don’t make it myself. Haven’t made boxed mac and cheese since my guys were little although there are couple boxes of dry in the cabinet. I was thinking recently of making them up and putting the mixture into hollowed out tomatoes and bake in the oven. Got to use up the last of the garden tomatoes. Yesterday I stuffed them with crushed croutons, broccoli and cheese with herbs for a dinner side.

    When my kids were little, I always bought Velveeta from the dairy case to use on vegetables, and I was surprised to see it in the pasta aisle a couple of weeks ago. Maybe I’ll look into that for a different lunch.

    It’s been three months since my bunionectomy and broken toe surgery, when I went to see the podiatrist this week, he told me I can expect at least a year till it’s better. My age being the reason, when I had the first one done 15 years ago, I was back to work after a month. It’s a good thing I’m retired.

    Every day you will expect improvement, Jenny, over the previous day or week. That’s the way I feel about my experience.

    1. Ouch, Mary! I had a double bunionectomy years ago, because someone told me I’d never get the second one done, if I didn’t do both at once. I remember likening the pain to a grand piano leg standing on my foot. I hope it feels much better, soon.

18. I have to ration myself on anything containing cheese.  (Oddly enough,  my father hated cheese.)  Most boxed mac and cheese brands now offer “deluxe” options with sauce in foil packs rather than powder.  I find the Kraft version still pretty taste-free, and Cracker Barrel the best (although they may have had some intermittent quality control problems, unless it was just me).  Some house brands aren’t too bad.  I picked up some Lidl house brand for the first time on my most recent grocery run, but haven’t tried it yet.

    I’m still dragging a bit from that run, but am hoping to be up for a library trip tomorrow.

19. Jenny, last post I should have added my renewed wishes for a quick and smooth recovery.

20. I’ve been making jars and jars and jars of applesauce with a little bit of cinnamon and cloves — my comfort food. Like apple pie without the crust. Sometimes add a bag of cranberries to the slow-cooker with the apples, and then it’s a little less sweet and turns the prettiest pink color.

    I’d make even more, except I’ve reached my freezer’s capacity between the applesauce and tomato sauce and puree from the insanely productive garden this year. Need to make more tomato puree today and then figure out how to make it fit in the freezer. And it looks like we’ve got another month or so before the first frost. You can see some of yesterday’s harvest here: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPH3j5DElcL/

    1. Yummm!

    2. If only my comfort foods were anything so healthy as applesauce! I mean, I like it okay, but no great comfort for me, alas.

21. I always read the posts and comments, but hardly (if ever) post. However, with the discussion regarding mac and cheese, I have opinions. If you have a Trader Joe’s anywhere near you, their frozen 4-cheese mac n cheese (in the red box) is easy and delicious. Poke the covering with a fork, throw it in the microwave for 6 minutes. That’s it and it is delicious. If I stir in just a bit of mustard, it tastes like my Mom’s homemade when I was a kid.

22. I find when you’re broken that the joy is in the little things. And you have just converted me to the Kraft cups of macaroni and cheese. I’ve been buying the others for my grandchildren. It is also our emergency supply. We we have a restaurant here called Granville that makes great mac & cheese. The best one I ever ate was called smack and cheese and that restaurant doesn’t exist anymore, but she’s too bad.
    My aunt Phyllis is going to be 95 this year. And my sister and I are planning a trip to Wilmington New York to see her. Wilmington is very hard to get to. It’s amazing that they held two winter Olympics in Lake Placid, which is next-door to Wilmington. We’re flying into Burlington, Vermont and rent a car. After that, we will drive to Buffalo to see more relatives. Then she will go home to Seattle and I will go to New York City because I need to see a musical and maybe meet my agents who I’ve never met. This is a very big adventure kudos to my sister Who is terrified of flying and has decided to come anyway.
    I had dinner last night with one of my old critique partners. I watched her children grow up. I think we started critiquing together in 2009 together with two other people. We ran a Blog for several years. And we are all still in touch and I am so blessed by their friendship.
    I know a lot of us have friends like this. Isn’t it wonderful wishing everyone health and healing

    1. I remember with pleasure my one stay in Burlington. It was mostly business so I didn’t have a lot of time and never got elsewhere in the vicinity. (I imagine they are now suffering from lack of Canadian visitors on shopping trips.)

       I hope your sister manages the flying well.

23. On the food front, I was delighted to discover the jam I made from the first harvest from my Merryweather damson tree is actually delicious, even though they’re not proper damsons: it tastes rather of cherries. Otherwise, my happiest times this week were my two outings with my camera – I must do that more. The second one was to a plant nursery and walled garden that was about to close for the season: https://www.instagram.com/p/DPHRkwcDCOW/?img_index=1

    1. lovely pics Jane

    2. I always enjoy seeing your photos Jane. You have such a good eye.

24. I actually love Kraft but consider it a different animal from the Velveeta version. And I must admit, I add a slice of cheddar and nuke it till it melts. yummm.

    Another super easy comport food for me is toast with hummus and fresh mozzarella.

    I hope you find lots of comfort this week!

25. Mmmmm….mac ‘n’ cheese….mmmmm.

    What’s making me happy is being at the Ontario Uni Fair with my stepdaughter and she’s actually starting to make a medium list of choices. Phew.

    1. Oh that’s wonderful! Let’s hope she finds a few she is really excited about.

26. Emergency Mac ‘n’ Cheese sounds like a must-have.

    My happy is that our movers left around 4:00 yesterday afternoon, all my STUFF is here (and presumably all of DH’s stuff, he has *so much* I don’t think even he knows what it is, but at least he accounted for all of his boxes), and I’ve already unpacked more than half of the kitchen stuff so we can, you know, exist. And return the coffee mugs we borrowed from my parents downstairs.

    Also happy because I had edits to do for the next release (single title release of short story THE GETAWAY), and got those in. Then cleaned up my favorites in Etsy, where I’m happily adding new things to considering buying for our new life in the big house. (Not a metaphor. This house is easily 3x the size of the house we lived in, in LA.)

    Happy to have this group to touch base with a few times a week!

    1. Congratulations on arriving in your new home!

    2. Congratulations on completing the move! And good luck with the unpacking. I hope the bedroom is also functional—once you have a functional bedroom and kitchen you can take your time and have relaxing breaks.

27. I think my comfort food today is going to be a thick chicken rice soup. I call it good chicken soup for a reason. I hope the mac and cheese helps you heal.

    I’m happy because Paul put a little bio/blurb up announcing he was running for town council and it got a lot of likes and positive comments and that made him happy. I think so far he’s the only one to have done that. I’m so proud of him for doing this. It takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there like that. I was going to say ‘even in a small town’ but maybe more in a small town. If you run and don’t succeed in a larger area, you aren’t likely to be constantly running into the people who beat you. People who run for office on a national level must have skin made of elephant hide and plated mail.

    I had my second shockwave treatment on my shoulder. There’s been more pain than last time but I’ve also been less careful with it. This is why I don’t like painkillers: no pain means dumb behaviour because my brain forgets what caused the pain in the first place. I’m going back in early October for another treatment and one on my knee. Fingers crossed.

    1. We just had a preliminary election (like a primary, but for an office that doesn’t use party affiliation — city councilor — to reduce the number of candidates to a reasonable number for the ballot), and I knew that NONE of the incumbents were people I wanted to vote for, but I didn’t know much about the newbies. I googled them, and was pretty appalled to find that only two (of a dozen or so non-incumbents) bothered to make a campaign website (as opposed to a Facebook page, and not everyone had even that), and of those two, only one had anything more than a basic template, and included an actual platform.

       I’m not on FB any longer, so I didn’t see the candidates’ pages there to look for a platform, but I was able to confirm that they were all retirement age (or older!). I’m in that demographic myself, but I’m done with old geezers ruling the world without bothering to stay current, and the fact that they limited their publicity to FB convinced me that these candidates were NOT staying current. I am so tired of the gerontocracy’s grip on power and unwillingness to mentor their successors or even consider that younger folks might have good ideas.

       So I bet you can guess which one candidate I voted for. And I was pleased to see that while he was not a top vote-getter, he survived the cut of bottom candidates, and made a decent showing for a non-incumbent. Fingers crossed he rises a couple places to qualify for the council.

    2. Tell Paul thanks for running. Here’s hoping he wins. 😊

28. Emergency Mac & Cheese is a Gary J Staple.

    I do not currently have any Kraft or Velveeta. I’m down to my last Annie’s with aged cheddar, my last Pasta-Roni with Parmesan and Romano, but I have 3 Great Value Original Mac & Cheese cups and 7 Great Value Premium Shells & Cheese cups (they have pouches of squeeze cheese).

    Inspired by your post, I nuked and ate a shells & cheese cup with half a can of chili, one of the Campbells varieties. I am much comforted.

    I have also eaten at one time or another Hormel Completes M&C, the shelf-stable unrefrigerated types, either straight or their “beefy” variety, which is more like Chili Mac with Cheese.

    Then there are the multitude of refrigerated heat & serve M&Cs, my favorite being Bob Evans or the store brand or Cracker Barrel or just about any. Bob Evans at least has individual servings. I was also fond of the Ukrops M&C, which they carry at Publix.

    I’m getting hungry again. Maybe a Cheesy Rice-a-Roni cup? Broccoli and cheddar?

    1. 14 Frozen Mac And Cheese Brands, Ranked
       https://www.thedailymeal.com/1364183/frozen-mac-and-cheese-brands-ranked/

       I’ve eaten six of the 14.

29. Chocolate and cheese (not together) are my comfort foods. I am going to need them because it looks like I need a hip replacement but for the same reason I need to be restrained in my consumption.

    1. Debbie, My husband has had both hips replaced and is a very happy camper as a result.

       1. Good to know! But until I get a second opinion and line up the doc and have the surgery I’m gonna be hurting …

30. Love Mac and Cheese… was one of my favourite go to’s for work lunch. Happiness is actually managing to make food. I tend to get excited about a recipe, buy all the ingredients and then procrastinate. I made easy bake ziti today… for an easy bought jarred sauce version it took a long time… though that may have been the washing up time. Putting sour cream on slices of cheese in the middle was nice, though the UK supermarkets doesn’t seem to have easy access to provolone so mature cheddar cheese seemed to work just as well

31. Mac n cheese sounds like wonderful comfort food! A great thing to eat while recovering 🙂

    My comfort food this week was celebratory beef stroganoff. I poached mushrooms in olive oil, bought high quality ground beef, and then…. used a hamburger helper deluxe beef stroganoff pack and lots of sour cream lmao. The hamburger helper was my favorite as a kid. And you know what? It was absolutely amazing! It was my treat to myself to celebrate paying off my student loans on Friday :]

    My mother is messaging me how much she’s enjoying her read of Don’t Look Down! I’m planning to give her my copies of other Jennifer Crusie books. A huge thank you, Jenny- every moment she spends reading your books is a moment she’s off the conservative side of Tiktok

    1. I had fun telling her the story of Bob and Jenny’s collaboration as you guys have presented it on the blog- I told her about some of the State of the Collaborations and she got a good laugh out of it!

32. My recent happy was reaching the end of my case of Covid on Friday. Being sick is no fun, especially with eyes that are too tired to read.

    Popped over to Michael’s for something I needed for a craft project today and there was a cupcake truck parked in front of the store. My small purchase in the store got me a ticket for a free cupcake, so that was an unexpected happy. Not Mac & cheese level comfort, but still tasty.

33. Unfortunately, my anxious eating food is potato chips. As for comfort food it’s anything with cheese and marinara sauce and a carb.

    I also like saving recipes. I will never make them all.

    Happy is the rain which came and at times not to interfere with any outdoor plans-Pixie got her walks.

    I hope everyone here heals quickly and all travel plans go smoothly.

34. Autumn is making me happy, my favorite time of year. Most tourists are gone, kids are in school, light is golden and sunlight sparkles on the waves. The side yard is a tangle of orange-flower vines and purple salvia spikes, plus, of course, roses. We are eating Texas pecans, the best, with goat cheese. Plus three books bought online–thanks, Thursday reviewers!–and a haul from the library.

35. I’m reading this at work. Break time arrived & I was trying to decide on something to eat. I opened the pantry & there were Annie’s Mac & Cheese cups. It really hit the spot!

    Lately I can not get enough celery of all things. I am on my 3rd double pack of celery hearts – cleaned, cut into sticks & put in the fridge in water so they don’t get limp. I also can’t get enough toasted bread with EVOO.

    Other happies – the blind I ordered fit perfectly & looks good.

    Concerning wheel chairs – I do them at the airport. I also ride the electric carts at shopping centers. I can walk but those concrete floors are murder on my feet, ankles, knees. If I walk instead that’s it for a day – maybe 2 – cause I am in pain.

    Michael Moore & Maryanne Williamson both released their thoughts that the firing of Jimmy Kimmel, etc would wake some people up. I’d like to hope but…

    Comfort food reminds me of banana bread which reminds me of Maybe This Time. It may be time for a reread. Halloween is coming up.

    1. Jennie I’m so impressed you can reach your microwave from your wheelchair. Mine would be too high for me. Does this mean you are home now?

36. Glad you’re navigating. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Yes, Kraft is powder. If boxed mac is required, always go Velveeta. Though regular Velveeta is orange, jiggly salt. There are recipes that call for it, but I find I can’t anymore without cutting saltiness someplace else. Sidebar: try ordering a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with no salt added. Yes, you can do this. It tastes like a homemade burger.