NancyH

Shel - have you got eggs? And a food processor? That's all you need! Make a cup of matzoh meal by processing the matzoh until it looks like fine bread crumbs. Mix with 6 eggs (you can separate the eggs and beat the whites to a gentle stiff peak, then recombine with beaten yolks)and a little salt and pepper. Let the batter rest in the fridge for at least an hour. Form into balls and drop into salted boiling water and cook for an hour - and you'll have matzoh balls! Some folks add a tablespoon of schmaltz to the batter - we never did so I don't - but that's all there is to it!

Hi Mike/UHockey! Welcome to EGullet. It is fun to see you here. Pleased to see your Columbus recommendations. Nancy

I like it. Packets are messy, and you can never get all the ketchup out. The new package allows the user to decant as well as dip; that's the aspect I like.

Sonny definitely said that there was tripe in the pork wrap dish. I thought he said liver also. I think you can see a bit of the tripe in this shot: He also indicated that even after eating with us at Wonton, he was a little nervous about going too heavy on the spice. I expect we'll need to do this again! I'll be blogging about it shortly. Here's a wing close-up: None of our photos seem to really show it - but there was a red glaze over the wings; not sure what it was, but that was a special aspect of it.

Can you narrow down the types of cuisine/restaurants you are looking for? Cleveland has a huge amount to offer; I'd like to narrow it down a bit since your stay will be so short.

DJYee - the blog post you linked to is tooo funny!

How about asking the diner for some suggestions - dishes she's really enjoyed in the past - that you can then "kick up" within her restrictions?

Go to your local restaurant supply store. You will get good quality at a fair price, and when it goes, you replace it.

Our Bourbon Red heritage turkey was (and still is!) simply amazing. The fat layer under the skin kept the proportionately sized breast meat moist and delicious!

Ok - lawyer hat going on for the briefest moment. As Moopheus said, copyright protection is weak and often inapplicable to recipes. As a rule, recipes are treated as trade secrets, rather than copyrighted, trademarked or patented intellectual property. Since you and your employer didn't allocate ownership of these trade secrets by means of a non-compete or other agreement, you certainly can make the argument that your recipes belong exclusively to you. But it is probably not worth the time, effort or money that would be involved in fighting over it. And the flipside of this is that your current employer can't stop you from making your recipes elsewhere. All of this should be "food for thought" for the future - if you believe that you are creating original and valuable recipes, best to have an agreement in place that allocates the rights to them when you start employment. Unless, of course, that creates more "real world" problems than it solves.

Did you make gravy? Our secret to re-heating any meat - beef, turkey, chicken - is to make gravy. When it's time to reheat, slice the meat (or cut into serving pieces) and simmer gently in the gravy. Works every time!

Hi BruceFan! My top choices downtown are Greenhouse Tavern, Lola and Crop. Call them to see how late they are open on Weds.

If we're thinking Detroit - perhaps a dinner at Michael Symon's Roast?

Bravo and thank you for this fantastic report and photographs!

A friend of mine, who makes wonderful jams, among other things, is considering eliminating pectin from her recipes after reading this: "Most pectins have preservatives, including sodium or potassium benzoate. Preservatives are what are known as biocides. As an organic farmer and consumer, I don't want biocides in my food. According to Wikipedia ( http://www.facebook.com/l/;en.wikipedia.or...odium_benzoate) "in combination with ascorbic acid (vitamin C, E300), sodium benzoate and potassium benzoate may form benzene, a known carcinogen. Heat, light and shelf life can affect the rate at which benzene is formed." Seems like pectin is the last place you'd want to put any benzoates. No thanks!"" Does anyone know if this is true? Don't organic jams have pectins in them? Someone who knows, please educate us!

My husband has been happy with the seed he ordered from the Seeds of Change catalog.

That's how we did it in Cleveland - Church kitchen for donation! Yay!!! If I were in MSP, I'd help for sure! Is there anything I would be able to do from a distance? I could think of things to do and places to see (that isn't really much help, though, is it?). ← Actually, Rona, there is probably some stuff that could be done long distance, especially if we could talk. One of the reasons I mention MSP is that I can come up with a good kitchen (think commercial grade, if not as large as some of them have been) at my church if we are willing to make a donation. ←

I would so love to meet you in person!!

That's ok Tom - I volunteered you and Edsel to make a meat course, remember?? I actually did offer, on the "2009 planning" thread. And the offer stands - I'll organize CLE if that is where we want to be. Otherwise, I totally agree with Tino that local organization is necessary to pull this off. Still, I'm willing to travel, though I'd rather not fly.

And Cleveland has (or will have) some amazing new places, and places that didn't fit in last time - Michael Symon's Lolita and Bar Symon, Greenhouse Tavern, Restaurant Dante, Lucky's Cafe, L'Albatros.

As many of you know, our friend Kris is in town from Japan, and we trying to show her some of Cleveland's best eats! As luck would have it, Chef Jeff Jarrett (sous chef to Matthew Mathlage at The Leopard and Light Bistro, and sous to Dante Boccuzzi at Dante) has recently been appointed Executive Chef at North End in Hudson. So - we are planning to dine at North End this Thursday, August 6th, and we'd love some EGullet Company! Please PM me if you are interested in joining us - we haven't picked a time yet (probably 7-ish). North End always was a cool place for wine and beer selections (and any wine in their wine shop can be purchased for drinking with dinner or at the wine bar for the retail price plus a $10.00 corkage fee). Now, the food should be amazing as well! Jeff has posted on Facebook that he's re-networked himself to local and artisanal suppliers, so I can't wait to try his stuff!

Here's a photo of the inside of the baguette, with some of that marvelous butter spread on it: And, while I'm at it, I'm pretty sure it was the same bread that is served grilled with the charcuterie: . That grilled bread was amazing - smokey, spicy, crunchy - it picked up an incredible flavor from the wood chips it was grilled over. And the rest of my photos are of course on my blog: here!

Thanks for the first glimpses. Those of us who had to miss the weekend are waiting with baited breath! BTW - I'd be glad to help return the gathering to Cleveland next year, or to visit a new city.

I so wish I could be there - looking forward to savoring vicariously!

Hubby changed the channel last night about half way through - to a rerun of the old movie Stir Crazy. I thought this show kinda jumped the shark a couple of seasons ago - it is no longer about being a traveler rather than a tourist, which was the original premise.