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All Things Michigan

Michigan travels, events, photos, and more

Andrew's Easy Iced Coffee Recipe

Andrew Norton

When I was a kid, nothing could quench my thirst on a hot summer day like a drink from the hose or an ice cold glass of lemonade. As an adult and parent of two busy kids - nothing quenches my thirst and gives me some much needed energy like a high octane iced coffee. As a parent of two kids, I also don't have a lot of time so in order to enjoy an iced coffee I improvise a bit from what some might consider the proper way to fix iced coffee.

What You Need:

  • Brew up a strong batch of coffee. I have a coffee scoop that I use where normally I put one scoop in for each cup of water. When I brew coffee to have as iced coffee I make it strong by adding an extra scoop or two.
  • Coffee syrup (Torani is my favorite brand) or good old chocolate syrup if that's what you have handy. Yesterday I made a caramel chocolate iced coffee that was out of this world. Just add the amount of syrup that suits your taste buds.
  • Milk - the amount is up to you. It also depends on the size of your glass. I tend to make a giant quart-sized iced coffee so that requires a bit more milk than a regular glass.
  • Ice, of course. I don't have the time to crush and blend my ice/drink in the blender so I just drop in a bunch of ice cubes. Not using the blender also saves on cleanup time, too ;) .

All you need to do is brew up the coffee (let it cool for a bit), grab a glass, add the ingredients, stir and enjoy!

Bonus Tip - if you think of it, the next time you have some coffee leftover in the carafe fill up an empty ice cube tray and make coffee ice cubes. Then, the next time you make an easy iced coffee you don't dilute your wonderful drink with regular ice cubes. I'd like to thank my wife for that idea. :)

Perfect attendance for 13 years gets Constantine grad a new car

Andrew Norton

Andria Baker made a deal with her dad when she was in the 4th grade. She saw in the paper that an area senior with perfect attendance got a new car when he graduated because he had perfect attendance all through school. She had perfect attendance up to that point and made the deal with her dad, Tim. Tim Baker made good on the deal and Andria received the new car at her graduation party. Factoring in snow days, she went to school for 2,516 days during her 13 year stint at Constantine Public Schools.

Just for some perspective on the numbers - Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken made headlines when he broke Lou Gehrig's record and played in 2,632 straight games over sixteen seasons.

From someone who did not have perfect attendance throughout their entire public school career this just boggles my mind. It's an incredible feat and it's pretty cool that she got a car out of the deal.

Kudos, Andria! :D

Read the article at the Sturgis Journal

The Things They Carried

Andrew Norton


The Things They Carried, originally uploaded by All Things Michigan.

This photo is from last year's 4th of July Parade in Constantine, Michigan. With yesterday being Memorial Day and thinking of parades and our soldiers both past and present I thought I would share this photo.

This photo (and blog post) is titled 'The Things They Carried' as that is what popped in my head when I saw this mother/soldier marching in the parade. I have read Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried" which deals with the mental and emotional aspects of war and immediately thought that this photo illustrates just that both metaphorically and physically.

She is surrounded by the things she carried.

God Bless our Veterans and current service men and women. Thank you for all that you do.

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Reason #1232 why I don't buy the newspaper

Andrew Norton

We stopped and bought a paper today because we wanted to know what time the local Memorial Day parade was going to be. The front page of the Kalamazoo Gazette said in regards to Memorial Day Parades, "A Complete List is on B-2." Cool, I thought. When I looked at B-2 only Kalamazoo areas had their parade times listed. What kind of a complete list is that?

So, I turned to the internet and searched - White Pigeon Memorial Day parade. The first result was ironically enough for the Kalamazoo Gazette blog at mlive.com.

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