This Stop Willoughby

I was browsing the Yahoo home page when I came across an article about macaroni and cheese .  Maybe you saw it, too?  It gave a link to the recipe for what is considered to be the World's Best Mac and Cheese and listed tips for perfecting it in your own kitchen.  I had hoped to find a few reviews of the recipe, but the comments following the article were full of personal mac and cheese recipes and a lot of opinions on what makes the perfect macaroni and cheese. I find this all very interesting because macaroni and cheese is one of my favorite comfort foods.  The best I've ever had (sorry, Mom) is the macaroni and cheese served at the Frankenmuth Brewery in Frankenmuth, Michigan.  From their menu: " Our house recipe four-cheese blend atop bowtie noodles sprinkled with bread crumbs, butter, parmesan and parsley."   It's truly cheesy heaven on a plate, with just the right amount of crispiness on top. When I was a kid, my mom made really great macaroni...

I don't know about you, but I find September to be one of the most difficult months of the year.  Most of it has to do with getting in the groove of a new school schedule after three months of summer slacking, but it has a lot to do with the changing weather, too.  It's a month of many transitions. Last year, our school district decided to push the start time of the elementary school and middle school up by an hour.  I really hated it because school also got out an hour later.  Too late, in my opinion.  On a more positive note, my daughter had an extra hour to get ready in the morning and there was less traffic for our drive to school.  This year, we're back to the original start time.  I prefer it, but mornings are rushed and the traffic is so much worse. I'm also making a transition with a new SUV.  It's used, actually, but it's new to me and I'm still figuring out where everything is and how it all works.  One day last week, on the way...

Our little town had its annual festival this weekend.  As I've mentioned before, we're not huge fans of the festivities.  Blame it on the number of times we've had to clean our yard of beer cans, plastic cups, liquor bottles and other assorted garbage.  We won't even discuss the year a bus load of partiers decided to relieve themselves in our shrubs.  Instead of hanging around the house and watching people scramble for parking spots along the street, we decided to bring back an old favorite (which you may remember from a previous post ), the Cheap Thrills Road Trip. For this trip, we wanted to revisit a place we've enjoyed in the past, Harbor Beach, Michigan.  The drive to Harbor Beach takes you through beautiful little beach towns and along the Lake Huron shoreline. As we passed through Forester, we stopped, once again, to pay our respects to the grave of Minnie Quay ( more info. on the legend of Minnie Quay can be found here ).  We brought along a...

Every year, over Labor Day weekend, a big festival takes place not far from here.  It's a huge event, spread out over more than 15 city blocks.  It's based on art, music and food so there is plenty of each to enjoy.  We've been to this festival in the past, before it was relocated to a different city. In the old location, there was no admission fee and no specified entrances.  You would pay five bucks to park in a local church lot, walk a few blocks and enter the festival from any point in the city.  You could bring your own refreshments or buy them at one of nearly a hundred booths.  The main stage, where all the well known bands played, was in a state of the art arena with seating for 3000. Now, in the new location, parking is fifteen dollars, there is a three dollar per person admission fee (it goes to charity, I don't have an issue with the cost) and you have to enter at one of several gated entrances.  You stand in line, pay and then submit to...