Update schmupdate.

It's Friday night and I'm home sick, missing the Planned Parenthood event I was supposed to volunteer at. So naturally, it seemed like a good time for a few random updates.

Remember that pimento cheese I made the other night for Supper Club? I knew I'd want to do more with it, so I made enough to keep some leftovers at home for me (sneaky sneaky!). I've talked a few times about the pimento mac and cheese at the Roadhouse. I think about it often. So I decided to try my hand at making some at home. I looked around a little and, for the most part, recipes for it call for kind of making a pimento cheese sauce and then mixing with pasta, rather than mixing pre-made pimento cheese with pasta (makes sense; who really needs mayo in their pasta?!). But pre-made is what I had, so that is what I used.

It was a quick meal. Just some rigatoni, the pimento cheese, and a 1/4 to 1/2 cup whole milk. Cooked the pasta, drained it, then mixed everything in (I used a few spoonfuls of the cheese, not all of what you see in the pic). Then I threw the pasta in a couple of our Ted Bundy bowls, and it was time to eat!

Did this taste like Zingerman's pimento mac? Not at all. Was it tasty? Hecks yes! Very cheesy, with a burny bite. So mostly noodley and cheesy. Not creamy like Z's. And I really think that's in the process. If I have leftover pimento cheese, I would definitely make it this way. But I'd also like to try a recipe where you put the elements of pimento cheese in the dish as independent ingredients. I added pimentos to this week's grocery list, just so I can have them on hand when the mood strikes again.

While we're on the subject of food, this week was restaurant week in Ann Arbor again. Neither of the weeks have been well timed for me, and I totally forgot about this one (who planned it for the winter? Ugh!). But I did manage to make it out for one of the week's specials, meeting Lisa at Miki for a sushi lunch. You won't believe this -- the RW special was two for one, $12 (so essentially $6/person), including miso soup, salad, California roll, and five pieces of negiri. That's just crazy talk!

I'm not entirely sure what the gnarly looking brown thing is, and I definitely wasn't eating it to find out. But everything else was delicious, and what a deal! The negiri was even all my favorite fishes. Mmm. Thanks to Lisa for the lovely lunch date!

And finally, a knitting update... I finished up two projects this week that I've been working on for a while. A fake cable mini-slouch hat out of beautiful Michigan-made yarn and my delicious alpaca scarf I started just after Christmas. I loved the hat pattern -- it was just involved enough to keep me interested, but still simple enough to not confuse me. Highly recommended if you're looking for a fun, quick hat knit (and it used less than a skein!). The scarf isn't anything too exciting, a simple diagonal rib. And in hindsight, I wish I would have made it wider, but I didn't know how far the yarn would take me (and it's not cheap, so I wasn't about to buy more). But it's super fuzzy and I can't wait to wear it with my new white coat.

Speaking of knitting, I picked up a new carry-on/knitting travel bag for our anniversary trip this fall. I simply could not resist this adorable bag at, of all places, the Forever 21 accessories-only store. Adorable, sizable, and cheap!

Happy weekend, everyone. Thanks for Friday updating with me!