Sam Iam

Joyce and I are planning on making Thomas Keller's Carrot Stew on Saturday afternoon, And Steven, rooms are still available as of noon today.

It's a little late to start from seeds. You'll get an earlier harvest with seedlings. Make sure nothing dries out.

We are visiting Portland from Michigan, and our son and daughter-in-Law took us to Clay's. Everything was great, including a plate of house smoked oysters!

i reread your post, and it sounds like you are setting up the block. 2 people, three nights. Thanks!

We'll be at the Mariott for Thursday, Friday, Saturday nights. Woot!! We're in Portland, Or for a few days, but I'll contact them from here.

Well, we're back from two wonderful weeks in France. Our friend that organized the trip (Three couples from Toledo) is gaga over Allard, so we did go there. The food was as described. Jack refuses to eat beef less than well done, so he was a happy camper. Most of the menu selections require that two people order the same item. We had two other people that joined us, and Allard only let us have 5 orders of veal stew for our table, even though other tables were ordering it. BTW, the room was 100% Americans. We figured we'd go there to make Jack happy, and he was.

We really need to book a motel, since we're travelling for three weeks with limited computer access. Please.

We are going to Paris later this month, on our way to B&B in southern France, and then on a wonderful Viking cruise up the Rhone. The problem is a couple (out of four couples) is insisting that Allard is the end all-be all in Paris for dinner. It's our sixth trip to France, and it is at the very bottom of our list. Does anyone have any recent stories, either good or bad to share? Good stories are fine. We just hate to waste a night with average food, cooked and served to Americans. Thanks!!

It's SOOOO nice not having crap all over the doors.

I'd hate to think of our 4' wide Sub Zero in anything but stainless. Avocado?? Also, a double door stainless oven, stainless dishwasher, and a double stainless and single stainless Kohler sinks.

NancyH, On March 7, I believe I asked you to add Joyce and myself in for all events. Please add us in now, if not sooner. (g)

Hi - Anything new on a room block anywhere?

Please add Sam Iam and Joyce to all events, including Thursday dinner. We're really looking forward to another gathering!

We've been pretty happy with the Kitchen Aid "Pro Line" 4 slot toaster. It was around $99 when Williams Sonoma discontinued handling it a few years ago. Also, you might want to check out the www.toastercollectors.org web site. They had a national convention in Toledo several years ago. These dudes are serious! I picked up a Sunbeam No. 4.

You'll need to get an estimate from an electrician. It will depend on several factors, and there is no way to tell without specific knowledge of everything about your installation and proposed changes. We had a major kitchen remodeling project planned at the time that we installed our induction cooktop, and the builder hired the electrician to run new wiring and add an additional breaker. We also added an island with outlets for the cooktop, added cabinets with outlets, added twice as many cabinets up to an 11' ceiling,moved the oven location and went to a double convection Electrolux, moved the ref and went to a four-foot Sub Zero, (I saved $4,000 on Craigs list for an as-new unit from a model home that was being forclosed!) It seems the electrician's bill was $350, and my recollection is that this was one of the smaller bills we received. Your mileage WILL vary. Our home is a mid century home built in the mid '60s FWIW.

I just tried removing a pot on an induction burner on our cooktop, and the cooktop stayed on for over 20 seconds. Dave, I don't know why yours would have turned off in one second! Can anyone else with an induction top try this and report back? Is there anyone else that has changed from an electric glass cooktop to an induction cooktop? Would any of you even consider returning to the old top? We sure wouldn't, and I just sold our old Dacor on Craigs list.

I'm almost 70, and to coax "chubby" to get back up to a vertical position, even if my wife was in town, would have taken help from the 911 squad. . Her seeing me there, face down on the floor with a straw, would've been the last straw. If you get my gist. She doesn't appreciate nice cognac, which is both bad and good.

I've been nursing the last few jiggers left in a bottle of ERTE, which I probably posted about my fantastic estate sale find a year or two ago. My wife is out of town on business for several days, so I pulled all of my good stuff out to enjoy a few small sips of each this week while watching Artsy Blu Rays that she can't stand. ONE bottle fell out of my hands, and started spinning wildly on the floor. Yes, it was the $1,000 Erte. Yes the chrystal stopper spun out, Yes, I lost probably 2 ounces. I'm off to finish the Johnny Walker Blue left over from a cruise. Poop!

Chris, I typed a long-winded note on our mid century kitchen project about midnight last night, and when I hit enter around 1 AM, it went "P00F"! I'll learn to cut and paste next time! I'll respond again when I get some time.

Chris, Can I lend you a copy of Atomic Ranch - design Ideas? PM your address, I'd love to lend it to you at no charge. By snail mail, of course.

Toledo's Fresh Market had two in their freezer yesterday.

Every, everybody did a great job on pulling this weekend together. BTW, A very special thank you to Malawry for the rabbit confit and homemade noodles. Highlight of the Saturday feast, IMHO. Superb weekend, one and all! See you in Cleveland, 2011, I hope.

Give 'em hell, and please let us know the results! Often, we are left not knowing nothing.. Good luck on a refund.

Anybody know what dime dinner is Thursday (today) night??

We're in for the coffee event also. 1 & 2, if we have a choice.