Alex

I'm here in spirit, if not in words.

I've found that to be the case. I usually wait until they've cooled enough to handle without burning my fingers to badly, then remove them from the foil. Rubbing the skins off with a few paper towels works pretty well for me. It also keeps my fingers from turning red.

Tim is a dead ringer for Mark McGwire, post-steroids. Seriously, though, I'm enjoying your blog a lot. Thanks, too, for the web site link -- I learned that a cohousing community is in the works here in Grand Rapids! It'll be more urban-style than yours, though -- 15 units + common house on about one acre, with a city park across the street.

Save 'em for a vegetable stock?

Roasting beets is the only way to go. Ms. Alex, a lifelong beet-hater, now loves them. Wash & dry. Trim off all but ~2cm of the top. Rub with olive (or other) oil, enclose in a foil packet, and roast at ~180°C for ~1 hour (for 5cm-diameter beets -- increase the time for larger ones). Open packet, let cool, then rub off skin with paper towels. There are all sorts of recipes at epicurious.com. I'll usually slice them into large julienne (I forget the exact term) after roasting. At the Heartland Gathering a couple of years ago, guajolote turned them into a salad with blue cheese and red onion. Alfred Portale does them up with feta, orange, and mint with a balsamic dressing. There's a Larousse recipe (Forestierre?) that combines them with bacon and sauteed mushrooms.

Zingerman's, which is mentioned several times throughout the Heartland forum. Just Google or site search...

I also use proscuitto end + p-r rinds when cooking cannellini beans.

Here, here!! If not drinking Diet Vernor's, we opt for Faygo sparkling fruit-flavored water. No sugar, no fake sugar, no fake flavor. Delicious.

In my book, anything longer than walking distance qualifies as a road trip.

The site's up today -- looks great!

Zingerman's Roadhouse is on the way to the Inn...

I'm guessing it's about a ¾-mile walk to Zingerman's, open 'til 10. It'll probably be snowing, but what the heck.

U of M's press release from last November "Jan (Janice Bluestein) Longone is Curator of American Culinary History at the William Clements Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is the proprietor of the Wine and Food Library, the oldest culinary antiquarian bookshop in America ...." The collection's web site (not operative as of today)

Linguine with olive oil, garlic (lots), red pepper flakes, parsley, and grated Vella Dry Jack. Life is good.

Yes, I think you're referring to the Berghoff Cafe, an offshoot of the original Berghoff.

1) Thank him/her profusely. 2) Lock the door. 3) Rinse them, then dry thoroughly. 4) Slice the long way into manageable pieces. 5) Saute in butter along with a couple of diced shallots until softened 6) Add a little dry sherry, if you have, and reduce til the sherry is gone. 6) Use as an omelette filling

I haven't tried either, but I'm always tempted by Musashi. Unfortunately, when I'm there this Wednesday morning, it will be 8am. Do they have any breakfast options, you think? My best airport meal ever was a noodle breakfast at Narita. If nothing else, I'll end up at Starbuck's - I like to bring their sandwiches on the plane for a mid-flight snack. Not as good as Zingerman's, but it's better than anything NW can offer me. ← Here's the airport's web site. Click on the terminal you'll be at. It doesn't look like there's much in the way of interesting breakfasts, but you never know. At least there's a Starbuck's and an Einstein Bagels, or maybe the "gourmet" PB&J place will be open.

I try to leave as little time as possible between flights, so I'm not a great source of information for this thread. I do agree with a couple of last year's posters: Wolfgang Puck's at O'Hare is decent but not as good as one might expect; the Sam Adams at Bradley is a pleasant place to kill some time. It looks like some good choices are available at the post-renovation Detroit - Wayne County airport, including branches of two well-established local restaurants, PizzaPapalis and Musashi Japanese Cuisine. Has anyone tried these? I was sorely disappointed that Zingerman's backed off their original plan of opening a place there.

Great find! Any idea how much it costs (a lot, is my guess) and how one might buy it?

What specifically made The Church such a good experience for you? Have you ever eaten at The Belfry? We did get to Woolfy's last May and enjoyed a very pleasant meal. As mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the food wasn't "overly fancy" but was of high quality and thoughtfully prepared. It's about 20 min. from Stratford.

An Asheville thread Edited to add: I love Asheville! If time and weather allow, have a drink on the terrace of The Grove Park Inn.

Yes! In the midst of all those other complicated flavors I forgot about their plain and simple Coffee. Great stuff, especially when topped with some really good bittersweet chocolate sauce. A few months ago, Walgreens, for some reason, was running an outrageous sale on HD. By the time I was able to get there, midway through the week, all that remained was Coffee. Lucky me.

No contest -- Chocolate Peanut Butter. Runner-up = Dulce de Leche. During my year in Japan, the Haagen-Dazs store in the basement of the department store over the Hamamastu train station (Yaohan? It's been a while.) was my main psychological link to home.

This particular combo is referred to more commonly as the 'Elvis Sandwich'...you had a few tweaks though, the standard has no red pepper flakes and is grilled whole - as in the entire sandwich, not just the bread. ← Hmm, if it's good enough for the King, I'll have to try it that way -- a hunka hunka burnin' sandwich.

This study weighs in on the no-pain side.