Alex

Alas, I've never been to the Twin Cities, but Ms. Alex, on her last visit, very much liked Babani's Kurdish Restaurant in St. Paul.

Here's a Meyer lemon cocktail thread. I've also made Meyer lemon sorbet, which was liked by all.

Although Kenmore used to be mostly Whirlpool stuff, that's changed over the years, so you might want to investigate this further. Here's a guide to determining who made your Kenmore. For what it's worth, we've been happy with our KitchenAid (seven years, light use, one repair for a leaking hose), as have our friends with their high-end Whirlpool Gold (six years, light use, no repairs).

I'm up for #1 in the a.m., then some other stuff in the afternoon, including maybe a visit to Zingerman's Bakery and Creamery (and to Motawi Tileworks to peruse the seconds bin). Re Grange, I'll go as high as need be, but $75-80, including tax and tip, seems appropriate for a six-course tasting menu, as does $40-45 for 2½-3-oz. mid-level wine pairings. I won't be there Thursday, but if I were, I'd prefer something local (and specially prepared) like the Szechuan meal over the schlep to Detroit, as good as Roast may be.

I see that you're in DC, so I'm surprised that you said you "can't seem to find a reliable retailer." There are several very good ones in the area, for example, MacArthur Beverages. (I don't live in DC, but my wine-savvy cousins do, so when I visit we sometimes go on a wine hunt.) BTW, I recently picked up a case of the 2007 Fabre Montmayou Malbec Gran Reserva (92 points from Wine Advocate), a bargain at $180 on a direct import sale.

Health food stores usually carry cold-pressed oils, but I don't know about roasted vs. unroasted.

Slumming it for lunch, eh? How about an authentic Mexican restaurant in Pilsen, like Birriería Reyes de Ocotlan, then mosey over to Kristoffer's Cafe for outstanding tres leches cake, chocoflan, and coffee.

Enjoyable article, Margaret. And a very clever reference to "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

The USDA says, "If a food has been left in the 'Danger Zone' – between 40 and 140°F – for more than 2 hours, discard it, even though it may look and smell good." They tend to be ultra-cautious with this type of recommendation, so if your chicken was roasted to the proper temperature, I suspect you'd have a little more leeway. Re refrigeration, I concur with BadRabbit: four days should be fine, assuming your fridge is between 32° and 40°F. If you're not going to eat it before then, remove the meat and freeze it, preferably vacuum-packed, then use the carcass to make stock.

Or, if you have some saffron around the house, maybe a quick paella-ish thing.

In an earlier post from Tammy in reply to your Friday bread workshop proposal, she said the common house was reserved for Saturday but didn't mention anything about Friday, so I recommend checking back with her about that.

I just got a priceline offer of some bonus cash so I started bidding. I went up to 50( 40 with 10 bonus cash) for Ann Arbor and was denied. I said " screw it" and went to the airport zone. I paid 30( plus 10 bonus cash) for the Crowne Plaza( 3 star). I'm ok with the 30 min drive to Ann Arbor since I'm saving so much money on the hotel!! CaliPoutine -- Is there a link you can provide for the "airport zone"? Thanks!! I think Randi meant that she added the airport area to her bid on Priceline. (If you get turned down for a bid, you can rebid the amount right away if you add an area.) There's a whole bidding strategy for Priceline. A good resource for both Priceline and Hotwire is betterbidding.com. If you decide to use Priceline or Hotwire, click through from the betterbidding web site; it gets them a little remuneration if you book a room. BTW, that's a great price. Tammy's place is an easy drive from the airport -- pretty much all expressway and four-lane divided highway. (Edited to add: What Randi said...)

That's OK. I used to like the place but it's been quite a while since I've been there. Sorry to hear that. What's lousy about it nowadays?

Given those parameters, I'd still avoid Royal Oak proper, except perhaps for the vegetarian Inn Season Cafe. The best places, in my opinion, are just a few miles away. For example, down Woodward, in Ferndale, I've already mentioned Angel's Cafe. Then there's the Mediterranean-oriented Assaggi Bistro, on 9 Mile just off Woodward. Going east on 13 Mile to John R brings you to the excellent Vietnamese Thuy Trang Restaurant, in Madison Heights. Going west on 12 Mile to Greenfield gets you to the eclectic (and busy) Sweet Lorraine's.

But it'd be worth it for the rest of us...

As of today, I'm still in for Friday mid-morning onward (I'd volunteer for SELMA, but I'll be driving in from GR that day and 6 a.m., or even 8, would be pushing it) and Saturday. Having lived in Detroit for many years, I probably wouldn't be interested in a Friday driving tour, but if there's something interesting in A2 or a workshop, I'd be up for that. Grange is a great idea for Friday dinner (and I'm sure some of us would hit the place beforehand for happy hour). I certainly can do a cooking thing again for Saturday's Feast -- possibly my take on gazpacho, given that we'll be in prime tomato season.

I assume it's Royal Oak. Can you provide any parameters? For example, will they have a car? (It's metro Detroit, so that's probably a silly question.) How far, time-wise, are they willing to drive? Do they have any preferred cuisine(s) or price range? In my experience, you can get passable food in Royal Oak proper, but the cool or go-to places are in the surrounding communities, many of which aren't too long a drive away. For example, just a few miles down the road in Ferndale is Angel's Cafe and Gallery. A little further away, in West Bloomfield, are a couple of excellent Japanese restaurants, Sharashu Sushidokoro and Kitchen Hanzo, and the multi-award-winning, very expensive The Lark, with chef de cuisine and upcoming Top Chef contestant John Somerville.

For several nights next month we'll be staying in that area for the first time and would appreciate dinner recommendations within a safe walking distance. Any food type is fine, with an a price range no higher than $75 pp for app, entree, dessert and two glasses of wine. Also, do you know of any specific LA food-related web site, one on the order of Chicago's LTH Forum? Thanks.

Any news? Tammy...?

I guess I keep bringing the bad news about Detroit's restaurant scene.

Szechuan peppercorns usually are pan-toasted before being ground. Could that be it?

This isn't quite analogous to your situation, but our best friends unexpectedly split up last year after 25 years of marriage, 20 years of friendship with us, and at least 200 terrific dinners at one house or the other. I was terribly saddened by it for months and still haven't quite gotten over it, for several reasons. Ms. Alex and I are doing our best to maintain both friendships, but a dinner for three just isn't quite the same; the spirit of the absent partner still hovers, so to speak. The silver lining, such as it is, is that we now can add seafood and ocean fish to our ingredient list; one menber of the severed couple is severely allergic to them. We also get to drink more wine now that the bottles are split among three diners instead of four.

Edmund, which city is "here"?

Yes, of course. Thanks for the reminder, Josh. I took a look at the place during my last visit but we already had eaten lunch by then and all the rest of the meals were spoken for. Next time...

I've stayed at that Hyatt several times, including, most recently, for the eG 2008 Heartland Gathering. It sounds like you're already at the conference, so I'll offer a few suggestions to start. There are so many good choices within a 15-minute walk, though, that it still would help if you could define "reasonably priced" and "walking distance," as well as what type(s) of cuisine you'd prefer (or not prefer), if any. River North: Quartino, Brasserie Jo, A Mano, Kiki's Bistro, Naha (a little more expensive) Gold Coast: Le Colonial, Cafe Spiaggia, Topolobampo, Café des Architectes (a little more expensive) Your side of the river: The Gage, Rhapsody (a little more expensive) As a side note, if you don't like the conference lunch food, ask the hotel for directions to the underground passageway to the Aon Center, then go get a sandwich at Hannah's Bretzel (Mon-Fri only). It's easy to find once you're there. They can be crowded during peak lunch time, but their sandwiches are worth it, imho.