Trip highlight (1 of 2): Taco bar.

During my one weekend trip to Michigan see my 2 friends and their family, I tagged along to a high school graduation event of an old neighbor of theirs.

It was in a rural township hall, and they had some coffee and pop set up, and a taco bar with big tin trays of ground beef and chicken, a selection of hard or soft shells, and toppings like giant bowls of chopped iceberg lettuce and pre-shredded cheese and sour cream, not to mention a fruit tray, too.

I talked with one (middle-aged) (mommish) (white) woman, who said she had stayed up the previous day doing all the cooking.

"It's all homemade, including both salsas, too," she was like.

"It's great," I was like, and I went on to have 4 tacos, all ground beef, and 3 hard shell.

In my city I can get a lot of great Mexican food, but the shitty Americanized version rules, too.