In Search of the Best Mac & Cheese in the South Bay/Contest!

My daughter is obsessed with Mac & Cheese. If Ry ruled our household, we’d all eat mac & cheese 24/7. She likes it all, mostly from the box. I make my own; but somehow Kraft Mac and Cheese has recently won over her taste buds. (Probably because Kraft isn’t made from whole grain pasta using REAL cheese and baked to perfection, like mine!) She wants mac & cheese for breakfast, too. As a compromise, I came up with a recipe for Mac & Cheese eggs which was recently published in MyGloss.com. We must make this for her 3-4 times a week!

Not surprisingly, when we go out to eat, she frequently chooses Mac & Cheese. At two of our local restauarants, OB’s & Four Daughters, they both serve Kraft Mac & Cheese. This works well for us. And, I imagine that it works for a lot of other families, too. At least with Kraft Mac & Cheese, you all know what you are getting. And for our family, that means one out of two happy kids and a lovely dining experience.  Of course, I’d rather that she eats M&C made from scratch. Do you have a place here in the South Bay that is family friendly and serves an amazing M&C made from scratch? If so, let us know where to find it. We’ll torture ourselves and suffer through all the taste tests :) and report back when we’re finished. If you submit a suggestion, you’ll be entered into a contest to win one of three gift certificates for a Fresh Brothers Family Meal #2 – XL thin crust pizza w/2 toppings, 10 Buffalo Wings & The Fresh Salad. The winners will be chosen by www.Random.org.

And, finally, I’d love to find a winning Mac & Cheese recipe. I have a few great ones on hand from Joan’s on 3rd, Panera, and a 3 Cheese Mac & Cheese. Submit one of your family classics for our family to cook and taste test and you will also be eligible for one of three gift certificates for a Fresh Brothers Family Meal #2 – XL thin crust pizza w/2 toppings, 10 Buffalo Wings & The Fresh Salad. Winners for this contest will also be chosen by www.random.org.

Thank you notes are the bane of my existence.

I love to throw parties for my kids.  We have six year-old twins, so whenever we have a birthday party, it’s quite a large gathering.  And that means that there are a lot of gifts to be opened and a lot of thank you notes to be written.

This year, we held their party at Fresh Brothers, Redondo Beach. (Of course!)

Sadly, I was unable to attend the party because I was in the hospital.  (That’s a whole blog post in itself.) My friend, Rose Pierce, an incredible photographer and blogger, kindly documented the party.

I got a hall pass this year on writing thank you notes because I wasn’t at the party.  The kids opened their gifts and of course there were no notes kept on who sent what.

I have a confession to make:  last year, I was at their party.  I helped the kids open their gifts, and still didn’t write thank you notes.  I suck.

Yesterday, two social media mavens, Ciaran Blumenfeld and Ana Roco Castro launched a new Iphone & Ipad app called IGiftThanks.  This app allows you to create digital thank you notes and share them with the recipient via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Initially, I thought it was a cool idea, but thought that digital thank you notes might seem really impersonal.  Or tacky.  But the idea of easily sending 50 or so thank you notes easily was really appealing to me.    I downloaded the app onto our Ipad.  (It’s $1.99, less than the cost of a single greeting card, as the IGiftThanks press release points out.)

To test it out, I used the “Quick Thanks” option.   It allows you to choose a themed frame for your note.

I chose the snowflakes and added a picture that my daughter created on the Ipad of a dreidel.  This image then goes into an email that can be sent to the recipient along with a quick note of thanks.  Hit the send button and it’s off into digital cyberspace.  No stamps needed.  No worrying about your terrible handwriting.

I really like IGiftThanks. It’s easy to use.  It’s very affordable.  And best of all, it’s fun.

I will start using IGiftThanks.  Will you think less of me for sending a digital thank you note?

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