Update on the Mac & Cheese Recipe

... because I know that everyone was holding their breath.

After blithely writing this post, I have to unfortunately continue my search for the perfect Macaroni and Cheese recipe. Sigh.

Darnit, and I loved the thought of this one too. It was so simple. Nah, I'm not lazy, I'm uh, efficient. Yeah, that's it.

After a couple of attempts, different techniques, and different cheeses, I have to call this recipe a failure. Although it could just be me...

No matter what I do, the texture is grainy. Ughh, it's terrible! I mean the flavor is fantastic, but unless you enjoy a little sand with your mac and cheese, this recipe just doesn't cut it for me.

Damn.

Movies in the park

I absolutely love North Carolina. You know why? Because what we did last night would have been crowded, expensive, and a total hassle if we had done it in California.

Our local parks and recreation department is hosting a summer "Movies in the Park Series." How cool is that? Last night, the movie pick was Pink Panther 2, admittedly not something that I was dying to see, but Alex loved the first Pink Panter movie so I packed up Sarah, invited Grandma and Grandpa, and off to the park we went.

What was even neater, more cool, cooler? (Sorry, I'm not very grammatically correct late at night...) was that you could boat-in to the movie too. The park that is on the edge of the lake, and you just moor up in the cove in front of this gigantic inflatable movie screen.

Cool huh? I thought so too.

I was all excited about this part, thinking we could go with my parents in their boat... until my mom judiciously pointed out that containing Sarah (a very restless 2-year-old), on a boat, for several hours, in the dark, would probably not be the best idea. Good thinking mom!


Usually Sometimes, I forget myself and my romantic, idealistic side shouts down my logical side...

So anyways, we parked on the grass with our blankets, snacks, drinks, and ten-gallon tubs of bug repellant and proceeded to have an absolutely wonderful evening. I think that last night is going to be one of my favorite memories of this summer. Cheesy movie notwithstanding. Maybe.

Typical

Alex's idea of hanging up the towels...

Ya gotta love it.

Neat Mac & Cheese Recipe

So I was reveling in my new found internet freedom and decided to check out my neighbors in bloggityville. I had read about this blog in Family Circle or Good Housekeeping and it sounded right up my alley. It's a really neat blog called Simple Mom. Go ahead, check it out, I'll wait...

Okay, you back? Isn't it cool? I loved it too. Aaaanyways Tsh has several great posts about menu planning and in those posts she talks about using delicious, a social bookmarking site (which is really, really cool. I immediately signed up.) to organize all of the great recipes that you find on the internet. She included a link to her bookmarks, and it had this recipe listed. You cook the pasta in milk which reduces down to a sauce and then add cheese. How cool and easy is that? Well I've been looking for a good, easy, mac & cheese recipe forever and this one looked absolutely scrumptious. So of course I had to make it right away.

We had it for dinner last night.

It was very simple to make, and the flavor was terrific. The only giddyup that I had was the texture, it came out a bit grainy. I think that next time I need to use a bit more milk, and I'm going to try a different kind of cheese, maybe Colby Jack. Mmmmm.

Anyway two thumbs up, and I'll let you know how it turns out once I've tweaked it a bit.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Guess what? I just made homemade laundry detergent!
And here it is at home between the toolbox and the toilet paper:

Now this could either work out really well, or it could be a total fiasco, dunno, haven't washed any clothes with it yet, but I will let you know what happens when I do. It's a very simple recipe that uses Borax, Arm & Hammer washing soda, and one bar of soap.

I first came across the basic recipe/idea when I was researching cloth diapers for Sarah and was trying to decide what detergent to wash them in. I've always wanted to try making it, but I couldn't find washing soda anywhere in California, and I wasn't about to buy it online figuring that that would kind of put the kabosh on the money saving aspect of it. Luckily, we're able to get it here in North Carolina, woo hoo!

So anywho, I ran out of detergent today and remembered that old recipe. I actually found another recipe here that I went ahead and tried. I liked this one because it used up the whole box of the ingredients instead of mixing up a bit at a time. For my soap I used lavendar scented Dr. Bronner's castille soap and my detergent smells scrumptious, I can't wait to use it!

*Update* Well, I threw our kitchen towels in the wash to try out the new detergent (they were dirty, c'mon, I'm not that bad) and nothing's blown up yet. They're in the dryer right now and I'll update the update when they're done.

*Update on the Update* The towels came out beautiful! Well, as beautiful as beat-up kitchen towels can be anyways. The detergent worked great, the towels we so soft and clean smelling. I love it!