Food Journal Entry 1 - Fettuccine Alfredo

So... here's the sitch. Two days ago was in fact my day to cook dinner, but coincidentally it was also the day of the State BPA conference. Good news, I did not make nationals and therefore do not need to go to Nashville and I never have to worry about BPA ever again! Bad news, the conference lasted until 5:00 and I was not home in time to make my beloved Alfredo... I had no idea that the conference would be this long and Bella so patiently waited in my car for 3 hours while I was over at the casino doing nothing and hurting my feet with my heels from prom. Thankfully, however, my dad was kind enough to make the alfredo for me in light of my prolonged absence. It was alright... these are some notes I have about alfredo after making it dozens of times with different recipes:

1. ) Thickness: Personally, I like my alfredo to err on the thicker side, because that's the way my mom always made it in her iconic chicken spinach alfredo. To make it thicker, definitely use cream cheese; it contributes to the overall consistency (which can be a big thing if you're autistic like me) and brings out more flavor in the other ingredients because of the additional cheese. However, if you like it runnier/thinner, use heavy whipping cream. Perhaps, if you like it to be somewhere in the middle, consider using some cream cheese and some whipping cream. This is a process of trial and error, surprise surprise.
2. ) Garlic: Do not, I REPEAT, do NOT use garlic SALT. Always opt for real garlic (or jarlic) if you can, or otherwise the texture of the sauce will be extremely gritty and unpleasant. I made the fatal mistake of using garlic salt because I wanted parsley in my pasta and the only parsley we had in any form was with garlic salt. Using garlic powder may also make the texture weird so I do not reccomend.
3. ) Just go with the flow. As an amateur cook I have the tendency to look back at the recipe thousands of times to make sure that every measurment is super precise, but I've begun to realize that as long as it tastes good, it doesn't really make a difference. As long as it's not outrageously too much or too little, you should be fine and your food should be delicious.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the pasta my dad made because it was a very very exhausted evening. I DO have, however, a picture of the delicious lunch catering at the casino. I swear there was something in the caesar salad that was addictive. They also had chicken parm, but my plate was only so big.

Thanks for reading! This is the actual recipe that we referred to to make our alfredo. Hopefully two Thursdays from now I will actually be the one to cook dinner so I can give my experience about it.