Rhubarb Butter Crunch recipe

This recipe comes from Lovina Eicher who maintains a homestead in rural Michigan with her husband, Joe, and together they are raising their eight children. Lovina contributes snippets of her traditional Old Order Amish life in a weekly column, Amish Cook, that appears in various newspapers across the country. Rhubarb Butter Crunch Ingredients:

• 3 cups fresh, finely chopped rhubarb
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups raw rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine

Mix rhubarb, sugar and flour well and place in a greased baking dish. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over rhubarb mixture. Bake at 370 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve warm with milk or cream (or ice cream - yum!).

Watch a video tour of the Eicher house when it was under construction -

Detroit restoration projects polish up the city's gems

The restoration and cleanup that began in anticipation of Super Bowl XL coming to Detroit in 2006 has continued. This is what was hoped for by bringing an event such as the Super Bowl to town. Billions of dollars are currently being spent to restore the numerous architectural and artistic gems around the city. Businesses are popping up that specialize in restoration and jobs have been created as a result of the restoration boom.

The Detroit News reports -

In fact, the surge of renovations of historic structures in Detroit and across the state has created more than 26,000 jobs from 2000 through 2006, according to the State Historic Preservation Office. The 211 projects involving historic preservations generated $2.2 billion in economic impact, according to the state agency.

It's great to see old forgotten buildings and Detroit receive new life.

For more information, pictures, and virtual tours of the ruins of Detroit visit www.DetroitYES.com home of "The Fabulous Ruins of Detroit."

Neat video showcases travel spots in Detroit

Included in this travel video: The Henry Ford, Greenfield Village, City Theatre, Fox Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Motown Historical Museum.

If the player does not work, you can view the video here.

Celebrate National Bike Month on Michigan's numerous bike trails

The majority of Michigan State Parks have short 3-5 mile biking trails, but there are a couple nice long trails scattered across the state. The 34.5-mile Kal-Haven Trail State Park is enjoyed by almost 100,000 visitors each year. The trail is built upon the abandoned railroad bed of the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad. Limestone and crushed slag were used to make the roadbed of the trail.

For more information visit www.kalhaventrail.org.

The 22 mile long Betsie Valley Trail runs from Frankfort to Thompsonville and passes through Beulah and Elberta. It is paved with asphalt from Frankfort to Mollineaux Rd. and from Beulah to Thompsonville it is a gravel-based trail.

For more information visit www.betsievalleytrail.org.

Feel free to share any other biking trails in Michigan that you enjoy by posting them in the 'comments' section for this article.

Hot topics in the news today in Michigan

Here are some of the hot topics in headlines across Michigan today, April 24, 2007. Will a decline in the honeybee population affect Michigan's fruit production?

Great Lakes invasive species reducing food for native fish population

Conservation group looks to ban ocean vessels on the Great Lakes

Michigan Senate finds another $300 million to cut from the budget

Hey, Michigan lawmakers are searching for other areas to cut

State lawmakers are looking to cut $500,000 from the budget by cutting back on car washes. The current amount is $700,000 and lawmakers are looking to reduce that to a mere $200,000 for car washes. Hmm, if they can find a half million here and another million there - maybe they can cut their way to a balanced budget instead of hitting us up for another tax increase. And it seems like only a few weeks ago that we were being told that they had explored all avenues for cutting spending.

Read all about it in the Detroit Free Press.