Favorite Fast Food Restaurants

I'm hoping to flip the switch on more blogging here within the next few weeks. It's been a pretty hectic summer and I haven't really had the opportunity to do much writing. With summer winding down and cooler weather on the horizon, it'll give me more motivation to start writing again. But hopefully the cooler weather doesn't move in on us too fast! Because we've hardly had much of a summer as it is. It's finally gotten more summer-like and I'm hoping our fall ends up unseasonably warm. Only time will tell. I can promise that you'll see the return of "The Songs I Dig," which unfortunately has been placed on the back-burner in the meantime. I have so many songs to write about it's not funny! Rest assured, it hasn't permanently gone away. You'll see it pop back up here in a short amount of time.

I recently returned from a road trip to Central Wisconsin to visit with my sister. Overall the trip was nice, but I had hoped no problems would pop up. Unfortunately problems did occur - leaving me with a bit of a headache. I may address this at another time or not. But the main focus of this particular blog is to discuss and rank my favorite fast food restaurants. It's been awhile since I've done a blog like this, but I thought it would be something fun to do again. While sight seeing through many of the larger and smaller towns of Central and Northeast Wisconsin, you can't help but notice many of the restaurants that exist in each of those towns. It's quite expected to see a McDonald's or a Burger King in just about every town with a large enough population to sustain it. Yet others might not be as frequent. With that said, here is my ranking of favorite fast food restaurants. As always, this ranking is unofficial and very biased. Don't take my word for it.

#1 - Culver's : This fast food restaurant is most famous through most of the Midwest, although it is gradually growing and expanding its boundaries through other areas of the U.S. Culver's is famous for its butter butters and frozen custard. Not only are its hamburgers delicious, its fries cooked perfectly and always warm, and it's frozen custard to die for, but they also have numerous others items to choose from the menu. This fast food restaurant won me over as being a favorite of mine because of the wide variety of custard choices, from sundaes, to concrete mixers, slushies and so on. If you've never been to one and happy to drive upon one someday, be sure to check it out!

#2 - Wendy's : The restaurant made famous by Dave Thomas comes in a close second as favorite for me. If Culver's never expanded and entered the area, Wendy's probably would've made it as a number one choice. Nevertheless, it's still a very tasty fast food joint. Just as with Culver's, Wendy's hamburgers are very delicious, juicy, and cooked in that familiar square shaped. The fries from Wendy's are about as good as they get, cooked perfectly with the right amount of salt. It's not only about the burgers and fries, however. Their chicken and fish sandwiches are just as tasty. And how can you not include the always popular chili and frosty's!

#3 - Dairy Queen : I had considered not even including DQ on the list because where I live, it's basically just an ice cream stand and they don't even sell hamburgers or hotdogs. It's even opened just in the summer months. However, I know it's not like this everywhere. Just south of the Michigan border into Wisconsin, the DQ's there are open year-round and are enclosed buildings. They offer more than just ice cream on the menu, too. I think at one time in my life, I had a DQ hamburger and it was pretty good. However, I cannot give an honest opinion of their warm food since it's been so long. All we ever get from DQ is ice cream and it is always delicious! From their blizzards, sundaes, and ice cream cones and so much more. You cannot go wrong by making a quick stop at your local Dairy Queen.

#4 - Burger King : So next up is Burger King. Selections number four and five are going to be a bit more difficult because these are restaurants I basically go to in a pinch and are not frequented by me all that often. BK is a good selection for number four because their hamburgers are very good, being that they're flame-broiled. No other restaurant does it quite like BK. They have become famous for their whoppers and the fun-loving king they've developed as their mascot - attempting to act cool in many of their TV ads. One of their most-recent commercials had these people dressed up in hamburger costumes, playing roles as "Whopper" and "Whopper Jr." A few of those ads ended up being pretty hilarious. Another one I got a kick out of was where these two college-aged guys are eating these BK burger shots (mini burgers) and suddenly become surrounded by a group of very attractive-looking girls. One exclaims "I just want to squeeze them!" (referring to the burgers). The one guy says, "squeeze away." Gets me every time...

#5 - Hardee's : Rounding out the top five is Hardee's, which seems to be within a period of tough times, judging by the amount of closed restaurants I've been seeing within my travels. They are also known as Carl's Jr. in the western United States. As a kid, Hardee's was one of those restaurants we visited quite often. But then their quality of food diminished and eventually, it became a restaurant we rarely entered. To this day, I just cannot get myself to go to a Hardee's, even when I suddenly come to crave a Hardee's burger (and no, NEVER a thickburger - unless I want to gain a tremendous amount of weight). And their switch to Angus burgers did them no favors for me, in my opinion. They ended up giving me heart burn, unlike any other fast food burger I've ever had! But the Hardee's franchise still holds a special place in my heart, which is why sentimentally, I gave it #5 in my rankings.

And here are some honorable mentions:

-McDonald's : You might be shocked as to why McDonald's doesn't make my top five. Well, I've never been a big fan of their food overall and it was a restaurant we rarely stopped at when I was a kid and even now. However, don't be surprised if at some point, when and if I re-do this ranking, it manages to sneak into the top five. They are building a new McDonald's restaurant just two miles down the road from my new house. That easily beats out the seven or eight miles I need to travel to get to Wendy's or Culver's! I just might have to try McDonald's food a bit more often now.

-A&W : Another restaurant that seems to be having its struggles, at least locally, anyways. Within the past year, the last two A&W restaurants in the central U.P. have closed. One restaurant just a short drive from my new house closed a few years ago and was recently purchased. I was hoping someone would re-open it as an A&W but sadly, it's being converted into a different commercial business. The building is being transformed into something completely different and I find that disappointing! When they closed that A&W, they opened another one in the city of Marquette. But the location was very poor and within a few months, it was closed. I was looking forward to trying that one out, too, but it didn't stay open long enough. Now there are no more A&W's left within a short driving distance for me but it gets an honorable mention for me, basically for nostalgic reasons. Their root beer is what made them a household name and that rings true today.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my ranking of the favorite fast food restaurants. Like I said, this is only my opinion and I'm sure many of you may disagree with which restaurants belong where. And, if we had even more varieties of restaurants, I'm sure you'd see others included. There's no IHop or Sonics in Upper Michigan, that's for sure. Well, maybe eventually. And just in case you haven't heard or one or two of the restaurants featured here, maybe you learned something about them, too.

American Idol 7 - Random Thoughts

So last night's results show presented the first real shocking elimination of season seven when Michael Johns departed the American Idol set for good. Although I really did not expect Michael to win the show, I had him lasting at least until the top four or three. So, along with the majority of Americans that watch American Idol, I was shocked at the results of last night. Michael has always been one of my favorites since the very start of this season. I was amazed with his "Bohemian Rhapsody" performance during Hollywood week and enjoyed the demeanor of this contestant. He's got great vocals, he's charming, and seemed like a really nice guy. It always appeared like he got along with each and every one of the contestants and had a lot of fun being a part of the American Idol experience. He was genuienly there to win it all, which was really refreshing. He wasn't like Amanda Overmyer who knew she wouldn't make it to the finale and really only used the show as a launching pad to get noticed, much like the rest of those eliminated. Yet, I expect great things out of Michael and the American Idol experience will be a launching pad for his future musical career. I don't have any doubts that he will make it in this business and I am looking forward to hearing his music in the years to come.

Now with Michael out of contention, seven contestants remain on the show. I have compiled a couple of lists for the general American Idol readers out there. The first list I will present is the order in which I think the contestants will be eliminated the rest of the way until we reach the finale. Here is that list:

7th contestant to be eliminated: Syesha Mercado
6th contestant to be eliminated: Kristy Lee Cook
5th contestant to be eliminated: Jason Castro
4th contestant to be eliminated: Carly Smithson
3rd contestant to be eliminated: Brooke White
2nd contestant to be eliminated: David Cook
2008 American Idol winner: David Archuleta

Definitely nothing scientific about this list - and as we saw this week, there could definitely be surprises the rest of the way. I really believe Carly will rise to the occasion after a horrible week and be quite strong until the top four. Syesha, Kristy Lee, and Jason are the three weakest performers left in the competition, in my opinion. Brooke White has struggled a bit as of late, but she has a pretty large fan base and I have a reason to believe she will continue to be consistent in her abilities week after week and receive favorable responses from the judges. Hopefully we will see the "new" Carly Simon in future episodes. That leaves the final show-down between the two David's, David Cook vs. David Archuleta. Both contestants have strong fan bases. But nothing can topple the tween and teenage girl's that swoon over David A. week in and week out and vote countless of times after each performance. Let me say this, however; not all of David A.'s fans are young girls. If you check out the American Idol message boards, there are prime examples of older women in their 40's, grandmothers, even adult men that are straight all fans of his music and who cannot get enough of his singing. You cannot discount these groups of people in the Archie fan base. They are just as strong as the teeny bopper girls and will follow David A. where ever American Idol will take him. David Archuleta has the looks, the likability factor, his great voice, and his inspiring song choices to take him a long way. At this point in the competition, I see nothing stopping him.

Now the second one is a personal list of American Idol contestant favorites for season seven. Of course, this will go for the final seven contestants that remain. So from number seven on down to number one, this is my ranking of season seven favorites on American Idol:

#7: Syesha Mercado: Don't get me wrong, I think Syesha has a great voice. But I've just never felt a connection with her since the very beginning. I think she showed personality in Hollywood week when she lost her voice and saved in until her last performance that week, which got her into the final 24 contestants. Ever since then, however, she has failed to wow me. There's just something about her; maybe she seems stuck-up in some way and she doesn't appear genuine to me. That's my opinion on Syesha, anyways.

#6: Kristy Lee Cook: My goodness. Kristy Lee has been growing on me these past few weeks. I remember during the top 12, 11, and 10, I wanted her to leave. Actually, I think much of America did. But she is beginning to shake out of her robotic mold that she's been criticized with for awhile. She seems fun loving and appears to be having a good time. But I think she needs to do a lot more in order for her to move up this list; like continue to improve on her singing. Even her last performance which was praised had a few shaky moments.

#5: Jason Castro: I've never been a huge Jason Castro fan; mainly because he does the same things week in and week out and he's gotten to be quite boring. I did love his performance during Dolly Parton week with "Travelin' Thru" because I thought he showed a different side to him and it was a different kind of song that he tackled. However, I don't really enjoy his look, particulary the dreads and think he has gotten quite stale like moldy bread.

#4: Carly Smithson: In the very beginning, I was kind of outraged because Carly was even allowed in this competition. As many people know, Carly previously had a record deal; she even had a record released! Check out her song "Blow Your Mind" on YouTube. Honestly, though, that doesn't even sound like her anymore and she looked so young! Carly has definitely grown on me for awhile and even though she seems down on her luck at times and over-tries on some of her songs, she still has an amazing voice and can perform like a true professional. I have a feeling she'll get a new record deal after her American Idol experience has ended.

#3: David Cook: It's true; sometimes David Cooks seems smug, cocky, arrogant, and cops an attitude during some of his performances. However, I don't think he intends to come over that way. He's a true rocker and one of Idol's greatest performers. He has sung some amazing arrangements of songs that many have never heard and really knows how the play the guitar. Heck, he can even re-arrange songs and make them sound current like Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow." If he gets voted off any sooner that top three, that will truly be a rotten shame.

#2: Brooke White: I've been a fan of Brooke White's since the very beginning when I saw her audition for the show. She seems very sweet and like I said in my last performance review, she seems like a big sister (even though she's a year younger than me). She's a true performer, playing on the piano and the guitar and doesn't go over-the-top with her singing. She's been described as the "new" Carly Simon and she's not afraid to take a few risks every now and again.

#1: David Archuleta: David A. is another one I've been a fan of since the very beginning. In fact, I think he has captivated me more than any other contestant during the seven-season history of the show. He is such a likable guy; how can anyone dislike him? Yes, he does have detractors, particularly those who think his modesty is all an act. I can honestly relate to the kid because I have a similar personality to him. I can tell it's not an act. I can't stop listening to his music, I keep reading articles that pop up about him, and I try to stay informed on the very latest that David Archuleta is involved in. No, I don't have a crush on the guy because I do not sway that way. Heck, he's like a kid brother for me! He's an amazing talent and whatever happens to him in American Idol and everything beyond, I'll definitely be following along to whatever happens with him.

By the way, if you didn't watch the "Idol Gives Back" special that aired on Wednesday, you missed out on some excellent performances by the Idols. The show started off with the season seven Idol's singing Rhianna's hit "Please Don't Stop the Music." I think this may be the first time all season (except for the auditions) where the contestants were able sing a current hit song. It was so incredibly different from what we've heard and it was actually a great performance by all seven contestants. I didn't really care for the "So You Think You Can Dance" performers dancing with the Idols; but you take some and lose some. Still, it was a very fun performance and it's still great to listen to. The last two performances involving the Idols' took place within the last hour of the show. Around 9:30 PM (EDT), the Idols' performed a song from the broadway play "Rent" live called "Seasons of Love." This was an amazing group performance, but I was kind of bugged in the beginning where Kristy Lee stuck out like a sore thumb for awhile. But other than that, it was great. I really love how this group is able to harmonize together. David Archuleta did spectacularly with his solo and how could you not laugh at all the screams he received when he started singing. No other contestant gets a reaction like that. Last but not least, the "Idols Give Back" special closed the night with the Idols' singing a religious/inspirational song called "Shout to the Lord." Now I've heard this song previously on commericials advertising Christian music CD's and I was never truly inspired by the short snippet I heard. I know, I probably didn't give it a proper chance, but Christian music isn't really my thing, to be honest. However, when the Idol's tackled this song during "Idol's Give Back," it gave me chills. Especially at the end when the group was harmonizing so beautifully and the confetti started pouring down. It was truly inspiring for me and I still get goose bumps listening to it on YouTube. What an amazing way to close the show. And no, the religious overtones of song did not bother me one bit like it might have for some.

You can check out each of these three songs on YouTube with the links I provided. However, for those of you who have accounts with iTunes, you also can buy many of the songs performed on "Idols Give Back" from the music site. I encourage everyone to check it out on iTunes because any of the songs from "Idols Give Back" that you purchase goes to the many charities that IGB supports. It's a worthwhile cause and you can't go wrong supporting something so important.

That about sums it up for this week on American Idol. Don't forget, next week the Idol's perform songs from Mariah Carey; and she'll also be this week's mentor! This will either make or break many of the contestants this week, so be sure to tune in this coming Tuesday and Wednesday.