Sunday Story: Mac and Cheese

As some of you may know, my family moved to the U.S. when i was in kindergarten.  Being a decently non-picky eater as a child, growing accustomed to American foods was not a tough transition.  I quickly learned to love American bread, almost every lunch meat (except bologna, which i still cannot eat), anything with a tomato sauce, and chocolate milk shakes. 

What i just could not do was Mac and Cheese.

And you are thinking, how could this be?  Mac and Cheese from the blue box is a staple in American culture.  How could you not like it?

Sorry, but I thought it was just horrible.  I thought that the cheese tasted nothing like cheese, and it was just a bizarre color and bizarre flavor that i just could not down.  If you have not grown up with processed cheese (or much of any cheese at all, as Korean food doesn't use cheese), the powdery kind diluted with milk and butter just didn't make sense to my taste buds.

One day, i was over at my sorta-kinda-boy-crush's house.  I was in 4th grade, and he was in 3th grade (robbing the cradle, what), and i was over at his house to play Sonic the Hedgehog on his Sega Genesis.  His mom invited me to stay over for dinner, and she said they were having Macaroni and Cheese.  I said in my politest voice:

"Oh, i'm sorry Mrs. Blahblah, i don't really like Mac and Cheese."

She seemed utterly confused.  But she was intent on having me over for dinner, and she said she makes really good Mac and Cheese, and that i should try it with a sprinkle of pepper on top.

If i were a puppy, this is where my ears would've perk up.  "Pepper?" I asked.  "Pepper," she replied.

So when she gave me my bowl of Mac and Cheese (which she made out of the box...i don't know how you make boxed Mac and Cheese "really good" exactly), and I took the pepper shaker and went to town with it.  I covered the entire top of the bowl with so much pepper you could no longer see the fluorescent yellow-orange anymore. 

I took a bite. 

So spicy, so delicious. 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I came to eat Mac and Cheese.  I have cut down on the pepper sprinkling a bit, but to this day, i still remember Mrs. Blahblah and her pepper suggestion and how it brought me and the Mac together. 

The End.  Have a great day.