Birthday Mac and Cheese

(My combination of several different recipes. Serves 6 adults, one child, and three servings of left overs)

Cook 12 pieces of bacon.

Chop an onion and a few cloves of garlic, over medium heat in a little olive oil soften the onion and garlic. Add salt and pepper and a dash of chili pepper. Let soften and do that aromatic thing while you make the:

Béchamel Sauce (white sauce for you non-food-network watchers)

In a sauce pan over medium heat melt:

About a half a stick of butter

Whisk in:

About a 3/4 cup flour

Stir constantly while the flour taste gets cooked out.

Gradually add 2 Cups of milk (because it was birthday food we did one cup of milk, and one cup cream.)

Stir constantly until thickened. Turn off the heat.

Add one pound of grated wisconsin sharp cheddar,

the softened onion and garlic, and a squirt of mustard.

Taste it to see if you need to add anything. (I needed more pepper.)

Follow boiling directions on box of elbow macaroni (one pound). It should be al dente. Drain it very well. (It will probably be: bring salt water to full boil, add macaroni, boil 6 minutes.) Alton Brown said to add a bay leaf to this boil, which I did.

Mix the macaroni and the cheese sauce, crumble half of the bacon into the mix. Put into cake pan. Top with the rest of the crumbled bacon.

Mix two cups of bread crumbs, 1/4 cup Parmesan with two tablespoons melted butter (My melted butter was infused with parsley, thyme, and garlic, and I had Italian style bread crumbs.) Then put that on top of the Mac and Cheese. Bake 375 for 40 minutes.

Now, I am not a Mac and Cheese connisseur, but everyone said it was good. It could just be they were being polite. I will say that it was the best mac and cheese I have ever had, and I had it for dinner last night, and lunch today. It did make for a very happy birthday boy, so all the work was worth it.