As this quarantine marches on, I’ve been greeted with an event that I didn’t think I’d be celebrating at home: my 19th birthday! To be honest, I’ve got mixed feelings about it all; on one hand, celebrating a birthday is a lot more fun with your family, especially when two of your siblings share the same birthday. On the other hand, I’m rather disappointed in the birthday gift sent straight from dear old State, which was two midterm exams in the same week.

While that can’t be helped, it was offset by the fact that I got to choose our birthday dinner this year; the three of us have passed this baton off to each other for the last decade. This was a treat, especially since I didn’t think I’d be home to celebrate it this year, so I chose a meal that I knew I could only get at home: cubed steak, green beans, and my grandma’s mac and cheese. My mom’s mother, who we call Meme, has the same birthday as the triplets, so normally, we try to spend our spring break down in South Carolina to see her. With everything that’s going on, that obviously isn’t possible, so I hoped that a call and a casserole dish full of her mac and cheese would make it feel a bit more like a regular birthday.

It also helps that this year is the first year that I helped to make it while my mom gave me the directions, so I can share this birthday dinner with all of you and see what you think of it. Keep in mind that this recipe is meant to feed a family of six, so I’d recommend using less if you don’t want leftovers.

You’ll start by boiling about 3/4 of a pound of elbow macaroni. Now would also be a good time to preheat your oven to 350. While the pasta is boiling, crack 4 or 5 eggs and beat them, adding half a 12-oz can of evaporated milk. Once the pasta is cooked and drained, put it into a casserole dish and let it cool; if you don’t do this, you’ll probably scramble your eggs. You’ll also probably want to coat your casserole dish with butter or non-stick cooking spray. When the pasta cools, pour your egg-milk mixture into the dish and stir it in. Once that’s incorporated, you can take the rest of your can of evaporated milk, along with a heaping handful of grated cheddar cheese, and mix that in as well. Put your macaroni and cheese into the oven for 15 minutes, then take it out and add more cheese; how much you add is up to you. My mom will sometimes sprinkle panko bread crumbs on top, but my grandmother always made it without the bread crumbs, and so did I. Stir it again, and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes. Let it cool, but not too much.

As I’m typing this, we haven’t had dinner yet or opened any presents, but I just finished calling my grandparents. We can all agree that we’d rather be together, but this will do for now.