The goal of this site is to find as many kinds of mac n' cheese as possible and try them so you don't have to! Stove-top, frozen, quick prepare (just add water), home made and anything served in a restaurant are all fair game! If it's name has macaroni n' cheese in it, I'm trying it.

My hope is that this blog will help you discover new varieties to try (and to avoid) or that killer home made recipe that is worth the work to make yourself.

When I'm not collecting video games, I'm eatin' mac n' cheese. Thanks for following me on this journey as I see what it takes to make me bleed cheese.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Happiest Mac On Earth

Every family has a place that they go a bit more often than others for escapes and vacations. My family's escape place is without question is "The happiest place on Earth" Disneyland.  I've been to the park probably 50 times (if not more) in my relatively short time on Earth.  While I know the park like the back of my hand, the many twist and turns of the rides, the best places to get a snack and the quietest parts of the park it doesn't change my ability to enjoy each and every trip I've made there and still want to return for more.

Having already hit Knott's Berry Farm, I continued on with my short notice vacation by spending the final day and half at the Disneyland Resort parks before the car ride back up to the Bay Area.  The plan was for a full day at Disneyland and the half day at California Adventure and after a successful find of mac n' cheese at Knott's, my eyes were peeled for what I could only hope to be mickey mouse shaped mac.

Disneyland opened to the public on July 18th, 1955 but like any good story, there was plenty of drama and intrigue related to it's opening.

Walt Disney had already made a name for himself and his studio had cranked out a huge number of animated shorts, films and other works by the time Disneyland was being thought up.  It's inception came about while Walt took his own family to different amusement parks in the 30's and 40's and hoped to (like Knott's Berry Farm), have it act as a sort of tourist attraction for those who came to visit the Burbank studios where his artists worked to put together classic cartoon shorts and feature films (both live action and animated) that were being made there.

What initially started out as an idea for a small park on a few acres with a boat ride and other themed areas and attractions ran into a rather large problem.  Those on Walt's design team had created too much stuff for the small 8 acre parcel of land purchased.  With some help from the Stanford Research Institute a new larger space was searched out, with the purchase of 160 acres of orange and walnut groves hoping to fit the designs created and support the projected growth of Orange County, where the land was bought.

Funding was difficult to come by and some shrewd business relationships were made, principally with the new television network ABC to net the money needed to turn the dream into reality. Disneyland (the series) was born and Walt introduced cartoons both new and old and live action properties like Davy Crockett to America.  This partnership created a new corporation, made up of Disney himself, ABC, Western Publishing (best known for their little golden books) and Walt Disney Productions who then managed the development and operations of the park.  The park eventually bought out the shares from Disney, Western and ABC by 1960 to take control back "in house" as it were.

The construction started on Disneyland (originally planned to be named Disneylandia, bleck!) on July 16th, 1954 and opened to the media and special guests just one year (and a day) later on July 17th, 1955. Anything that could go wrong at the 'International Press Preview' opening seemingly did.

First off, there were somewhere in the range of 28,000 people at the opening, with almost half of those people there having purchased counterfeit tickets.  Traffic around the park was horrible, and celebrities who were supposed to arrive through out the day, all arrived at the same time. It was a balmy 101 °F that Sunday and because of a local plumbers strike during construction, Disney had to chose between having operational toilets or drinking fountains for the opening day guests.  While he smartly chose to have the toilets work, backlash was experienced because many felt that it was just a cheap tactic to sell more Pepsi (then a park sponsor) to thirsty guests who had no other options.

Vendors ran our of food (at the time, many of the restaurants and shops were not controlled by Disney, but were sponsored by companies like Carnation and Dole).  Construction continued almost up to the opening of the park, with asphalt laid just before the opening of the park, still not set before visitors were walking over it, leaving impressions with their shoes on it.  A gas leak sprung up in Fantasyland that afternoon that was serious enough that it forced the closure of Adventureland, Frontierland and Fantasyland for the remainder of the day.

Disneyland's opening was aired as a special on ABC and while things didn't go as planned on the opening and with much negative press to show for the many problems, 50,000 guests still arrived the next day for it's public opening.

The park has had numerous ups and downs over the years and while many parts of the park have been changed (for both good and bad reasons depending on who you may talk to) it's more popular than ever, with admission totals of almost 16 million guests in 2012.

Disney knows it's clientele and with as many children at the park, if I didn't find a mac being served at one of the many restaurants I'd have been sorely disappointed.  I can gladly say that Disney didn't disappoint my desire for mac n' cheese.

One of the most photographed locations in the world and the first thing that every guest sees when entering the park.

The Review

Brand:
Tomorrowland Terrace's Toddler Meal Yummy Cheesy Macaroni
 
*Mac and cheese isn't available at all restaurants in Disneyland, but the following do serve it/have it on their kids menu.
Cafe Orleans - New Orleans Square
Carnation Cafe - Main Street
French Market (Toddler meal) - New Orleans Square

*In addition some California Adventure restaurants also serve mac on their kids menus.
Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta - Paradise Pier
Taste Pilot's Grill - Condor Flats
Pacific Wharf Cafe - Pacific Wharf

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Mac-ination

I have stumbled onto quite a few different mac n' cheese related items that aren't actually real mac n' cheese.  Mac themed bandages and realistic doll house food have gotten the review treatment and a few others are waiting in the wings.  What this has taught me is that the power of the dish of cheesy golden noodles has found its way into practically every aspect of our lives (at least here in America) and I'm O.K. with that.

Back during the summer (I know, I know, I'm just a smidgen behind in my posts) I saw that the retailers had swung into full gear for back to school and with sales abound the supplies flowed through the aisles.  Having heard from a few different people who thanks to having little ones, being teachers or are just artistic that Crayola has a crayon that I would be interested in.

Crayola started by two cousins, Edwin Binney and C. Harris Smith of New York in 1885.  Originally known as Binney & Smith, the company produced pigments and colorants for industrial use.  Their products made tires black (and last longer) and gave paint it's color and they invented dustless chalk just after the turn of the century.  Separate from the success of B&S, Edwin Binney and his wife Alice Stead Binney, developed a wax crayon product line that she named Crayola.  The name came from a mashup of 'craie', French for chalk and 'ola' for oily/oleaginous.  Within two years there were 5 crayon sizes and 18 different packaging and crayon counts by 1905. Numerous sets were aimed at both artists and children and over the course of the next thirty years acquisitions allowed for a vastly expanded selection of crayons.  In 1958, the classic 64 crayon box with sharpener was introduced (and is still available today).  Over the years, the crayon selections have expanded and changed, growing to practically any color one can think of.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do to properly show off the macaroni and cheese crayon, since attempting to draw on my own is just a internet meme waiting to happen.  I do however have a cute mini coloring/activity book that a close friend created to promote his web series and numerous ebooks (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 and Book 4 available on the iTunes book store for the iPad) The Boy With The Dreaming Key.  It's the perfect thing to color!

The Review

Brand:
Crayola's Macaroni and Cheese Crayon
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