Mac & Cheese

This weekend, we participated in a Mac-&-Cheese-Off! What is a Mac-&-Cheese-Off, you ask? Why, it's a fierce and deadly competition to find out who can make the best mac & cheese, of course!

Okay, it's an event that we made up on a whim with our friend Hannah. We each had to find and make a mac & cheese recipe we had never tried before. Then we got together to compare the three different mac & cheeses, and crown the winner. (Well, actually the winner gets an apron, not a crown, but you get the drift.)

Sarah: I made a crock pot recipe from this blog. The recipe was very simple and easy, which is a plus, but it did not yield as good of results as stovetop or baked.

Katie: I made a recipe from this cookbook that I got from Sarah for Christmas. It used sharp white cheddar, bow tie pasta, and it had a jalapeno cream sauce, so it was kind of spicy.

Our friend's recipe used several different kinds of cheese. Katie's recipe won, but none of the three recipes were the delicious, classic recipe we hope to find someday. This is clearly an indicator that the #mac&cheeseoff needs to be an annual event!

Yes, we're aware that we're weird... but we have fun with our weirdness, so who cares? ;)

What did you guys do this weekend?

Random Recommendations

Hello there! It has been a busy week, so we are posting on Saturday. Still, please note that we are in fact posting. :)

Today we will both be sharing lists of recommendations to you, our readers, but also to each other. We have made a point of choosing books, videos, etc. with which the other person is not very familiar. 

Sarah's Recommendations:

• Gaslight - There are two versions of this movie, but the one I have seen was released in 1944. Ingrid Bergman plays the starring role, with Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten playing the male leads. As an added bonus, Angela Lansbury makes her film debut as a housemaid.
• The Financial Diet - This is a YouTube channel that I discovered recently. It has a lot of videos with helpful advice for young people on how to manage money. Here's their channel introduction:

• Nomadic Matt - Nomadic Matt is a blogger who gives tips for how to travel on the cheap. He has been to many countries all across the globe, and the focus of his website is helping people discover the possibilities for travel, even if they are short on resources. 
• The Kitchn - No, I did not make a typographical error. There is no e in the web address of this cooking site. I recommend it because it is comprehensive with all the instructions it provides, and it is easy to understand - especially since there are several photos included in each post to show what everything should look like. I also appreciate the fact that there are plenty of tutorials on method, as opposed to being solely recipe-focused.
• Countdown - I thoroughly enjoyed this children's book by author Deborah Wiles. Although the story is rife with heavy topics, the ultimate message is one of hope. In addition to the plot, Wiles' writing style is very appealing to me. She incorporates so much of the Southern vernacular, which adds depth to the characters and the setting. If you like historical fiction and children's literature, this is a great book to check out.

Katie's Recommendations:

• Shipwrecked. - Yes, I'm starting out with a YouTube channel. I'm a fan of basically everything that's been done by the Shipwrecked Comedy team (including various things that the individual members have done outside of Shipwrecked Comedy... but I won't go into that now). I would particularly like to recommend their "Edgar Allen Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party" series. See the trailer below:

• Orange - This slice-of-life manga by Ichigo Takano is only 5 volumes long, so it's a quick read. There's a science fiction element to the story: the inciting incident occurs when main character Naho receives a letter from her future self, telling her what she needs to do in order to prevent what will someday be her biggest regrets. This manga does fall into the romance genre, but I would say that it's chiefly about friendship.
• The Arcadian Wild - I discovered this folk band through a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing indie music (that channel can be found here). The Arcadian Wild's music features lots of acoustic instruments and beautiful vocal harmonies. Here is Rain Clouds, the first song off the band's self-titled album:

• Code Name Verity - I know I've mentioned it before, but it's worth mentioning again. This novel by Elizabeth Wein is historical fiction, set during WWII. It revolves around two female protagonists, a spy and a pilot. The YA genre is very hit-or-miss for me; this novel happens to be one of the best YA books I've ever read.
• Pushing Daisies - This show is whimsical and sweet, and also quite weird. Main character Ned discovers as a young child that his touch can bring dead things back to life, but there are some important caveats to his abilities (which I won't name here, because I think it's more interesting to find out what they are while watching the first episode). The main story takes place during Ned's adulthood, when he starts using his magic touch to solve crimes, but flashbacks to his childhood are frequent. The show was cancelled after only two seasons, but the creators had enough warning that they were able to bring their story to a fitting conclusion.

We hope something listed here catches your fancy. If you in turn have any random recommendations for us, leave them in the comments below. Thanks!