tammylc

Desserts: Palladion made some really amazing plum dumplings, topped with fried bread crumbs and sugar. Outstanding. Lisa made her decadent English trifle, and her husband jmsaul whipped up a bunch of peanut butter ice cream. Which we served with CaliPoutine's chocolate cookies. Now the dishes are being washed. It's a lot of dishes. We served about half of the courses as individually plated items and the rest family style. moosnsqrl's heirloom tomato soup was the most impressive looking of the plates - she did a double soup, with red tomato on one side and yellow tomato on the other, with a dollop of avocado sorbet in the middle. It tasted at least as good as it looked, which was fabulous. Pictures... well, it's like this, see. We have a lot of people taking a lot of pictures, but the photographers are all post-processing and color correction types, not post the quick and dirty types. So they'll be coming, just not as "live" as we'd hoped.

Im still at the gathering. The last course being served is beef and I wont be partaking. Lisa and I stood at the hot stover for an hour making the pasta primavera. I cant post any pics until I get back tomorrow. Today has been non-stop food all day long. Truly amazing. edited to say. whoops, I totally forgot Tammy was signed in. Randi

We're having a middle of the meal break as there's a lot of a la minute cooking that needs to be done to get the fish and pasta ready. But that's okay, because we've been eating for the last 3 hours at this point, and everyone seems ready. The avocado sorbet for moonsqrl's soup so churning now. The charcuterie was provided by Ronnie and Edsel.

This is Joyce, wife of SamIam, logging in for Tammy. We just had a terrific wine tasting with 20 scheduled wines and one surprise. The whites were generally tart, as befitting a summer meal, as well as the preference of our wine guide, Ric, from Zingerman's. Some very interesting reds with a couple of personal favorites of Sam and I, as they will both compliment duck with current/plum/other fruit sauce. The first, domaine Charles Joguet, Cuvee Terrior, Chinon Ac, Loire FR 2003. "All strawberry and raspberry jam, with real strength and power". The second, that everyone (at least the vocal ones) raved about was Scala Dei, Cartoixa Reserva, Priorat SP, 2000. Bear in mind that this was the 19th of 20, so judgment may have been slightly impaired. Nonetheless, we're definitely planning on buying this one! The surprise wine was a white, Les Rouesses, 2004, Reuilly. A pinot grigio type that was very nice. Right now our cooks, plus enlisted sous chefs, are slicing, dicing and sauteeing their hearts out. Being a devoted gardener (and Michigan Master Gardener) I just returned from an herb foray in the gardens for chives, French tarragon (don't ever buy and plant regular tarragon, which has no flavor), parsley and mint. Stay tuned.

Members of the foie gras conspiracy will be pleased to know that I succeeded in calling the butcher and having him set aside all of his foie for us. (About 1.5 lbs of 2 oz center cuts, if that's meaningful to anyone.) Quoth the butcher "Man, you don't mess around."

Oh, and another thing you all should know - moonsqrl brings her own salt and sea salt grinders to restaurants. She carries them with her at all times. Now that's foodie dedication! We were all suitably impressed.

Oh, you should all be warned - we spent much time at dinner talking about how to hold next year's Gathering in Cleveland. Lucas (Ronnie's son) was saying "see you in Cleveland" by the end of the night, so I guess they're stuck with it now. (Seriously, while I'd be happy to host again, I keep reading all these great threads about Cleveland and would love an excuse to visit! And with a Cleveland contingent 7 people strong here for this weekend, they've clearly got the critical mass.)

Actually, Zingerman's treats everybody like that! Ronnie didn't talk about all the free stuff we got at Zingerman's - baguettes, bagels, pretzels - we were there just before they closed up so they were passing out all the things that would be thrown out or donated. Of course, all those free bagels got several people buying cream cheese for hotel room breakfasts tomorrow, so maybe there was a method to their madness...

Peanut butter is fine. It's only shellfish that needs special dishes.

Folks, I've created the event report thread. Any last minute planning discussion can stay here, but once we get a chance to start posting about the event as it happens, let's do it over there! See you in a couple of hours!

In just a couple hours the 2006 Heartland Gathering will be underway. So that future people interested in reading about member organized events don't need to page through hundreds of planning related posts, I'm creating this new thread to use just for reports and commentary during the event. The planning thread is here. Here's what's ahead: This afternoon we'll be visiting the Longone Culinary Archive. We'll be having dinner at Bella Ciao, where eGullet member destroit is the chef. He's put together a special menu for us. After dinner we'll head over to Zingerman's Deli for some late night shopping and browsing. Tomorrow morning we'll head down to our local farmer's market to seek ingredients and inspiration for our Heartland Feast. Saturday afternoon sommelier Ric Jewell (currently FoH manager at Zingerman's Roadhouse, and formerly of Tribute) will be running a wine tasting for us, featuring "the best wines you've (probably) never heard of." Then there will be much cooking and noshing and hanging out, and at 7 pm we'll start serving up our multi-course extravaganza. Sunday morning we'll start with brunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse, and follow that up with a tour of Zingerman's Coffee Company. I know lots of people are planning to bring computers and cameras, so expect lots of real time reporting! This event has been organized through the eG Forums by members but is not sponsored by the Society or its eG Forums. The event is open to all participating eGullet Society members, contributors and their guests. By participating in this event, you confirm your understanding and acceptance of the eGullet Events Policy, to which all eGullet Society members have already agreed.

They're dropping like flies, I tell you, flies! I'm sad to report that HeatherM, LainierX and Alex have all emailed or PM'd me to report that - for one reason or another - they won't be able to make it. While I'm sorry to lose anyone, I'm particularly sad about Alex. He was involved in the first Heartland Gathering in Grand Rapids, and then remembered my casual comment that "I'd be willing to host one in Ann Arbor" and made the second one (last year) happen. He's been a tireless behind the scenes planner and organizer and listkeeper, and he will definitely be missed!

Oh, and more cooktop space is never a *bad* thing, so if you want to bring your induction burner and it's not too inconvenient to do so, please feel free!

Thanks for the check in Edsel. We cooks had a little chatter over email, and think we've got our kitchen needs squared away. I live in cohousing - what we don't have can generally be borrowed pretty readily. The biggest need seemed to be several people wanting to grill, so I'm working on acquiring enough grills that we won't have to fight over them. personally, I'd love to check out the Vita-Mix - I've heard good things about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if at least one or two people end up wanting to make some sort of puree for their dishes...

If last year was any indication, there will certainly be lots of posting going on all day. I'll do what I can to help people get up photos in real time, if anyone feels compelled to do so. This is a good opportunity for me to let people know that we'll be creating a new thread to report about the event, so people don't have to page through this long, long planning thread to get to the good stuff. So sometime tomorrow we'll create a new thread, add a pointer post here, and close this planning thread to further comments. So keep your eyes open for the new thread!

I've just made a batch of fleur de sel caramels to share with you all on the weekend, assuming my hubby doesn't eat them all first. Looking forward to meeting (and re-meeting) all of you. Luckily I have the day off tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to take care of all the little administrative details I've been putting off!

Oh no! Sorry to hear that. I can take the lead on the culinary archive trip. As for bringing the kids Saturday, I'm sure we can make it work. How old are they? I'm hiring one of the neighbor kids to act as mother's helper and play with Liam Saturday afternoon, and am working on lining up a sitter for Saturday night as well. PM me with info about your kids - I think we should be able to coordinate child care.

Tammy - what type of attire is appropriate for Bella Ciao for Friday dinner and for Zingerman's Roadhouse for Sunday brunch? Thank you! ← There's no restaurant in Ann Arbor that has a dress code. That said, I expect that you'd fit in best with the crowd at Bella Ciao wearing business casual or better. We've gone to Zingerman's Roadhouse in shorts and t-shirt, but you wouldn't be out of place dressed a little more smartly either.

That's our planning thread. Once the festivities get underway, we'll be starting an event reporting thread, so people don't have to page through a million pages of logistics to get to the good stuff. So look for that in the Heartland forum if you want to follow along!

I'll just be collecting money from people as they arrive. If people can have their $20 or $25 in cash (as appropriate to the events you are signed up for) that would be most helpful. I'll be the one checking people off with a clipboard. If you are not arriving until after the Farmer's Market on Saturday AND you have access to PayPal, then sending me some money in advance would be great, but I didn't find time to get organized to contact people in advance about it. I think there is only a small number of people who we will not be seeing prior to shopping. Wine for the wine tasting will be provided by Ric, with the $5 fee for that event going to him to cover expenses. People are encouraged to bring wine or other beverage contributions for general consumption, although if there's money left after we've done our grocery shopping, we can spend the extra on beverages.

I had also been thinking about name tags, but wasn't sure if people would find them too dorky or something. I'll make some up, and people can wear or not as they are comfortable. Randi - can you send me your guest's name?

Hey everybody! Hard to believe the Heartland Gathering is just two days away! If you said "maybe" to something when you filled out the RSVP survey, now would be the time to make a decision and fill out the survey again. Or if you're just can't remember what you said the first time, and want to make sure we have all your information. Unfortunately I don't have any more details from Destroit on Friday's dinner, so hopefully the sketchy info I provided above will be enough to help you make a decision. I know he was committed to being flexible in meeting people's dietary needs. Right now, we have 18 people for the culinary archive, 24 for the dinner, 19 for shopping at Zing, 24 for the Farmer's Market, 34 for the wine tasting, 37 for the dinner, 21 for brunch, and 14 for the coffee tour. Wondering who's coming? eGulleteers tammylc and Eric daniellewiley Fat Guy torakris Alex sweintraub and Deborah NancyH & Bob aznsailorboi Shannon_Elise destroit LainerX Ruthie Jewell VickiA2 ronnie_suburban (and family for Friday dinner) Calipoutine and guest Sam Iam and Joyce annarborfoodie Palladion HeatherM moosnsqrl jmsaul and kitchen chick edsel tino27 Non eGulleteers I've got 11 assorted neighbors and friends coming for portions of the weekend. A bunch of people from my wine club will be coming just for the wine tasting portion of the event, while others will be around more of the weekend. Anybody have any questions? I've posted the directions, so you all should know how to get here. The heatwave we've been suffering under is scheduled to break tonight, just in time! I think we're good to go!

I was visiting my parents a couple of weeks ago in Ontario. They summer in an RV park outside Ailsa Craig, which is between Sarnia and London. We went the grocery store to pick up dinner ingredients and I was really surprised to see beer and wine (maybe spirits too?) available for sale in a special section of the grocery store. Apparently the LCBO allows alcohol sales in grocery stores in really small towns - Exeter isn't quite "country" enough to qualify, I guess.

I used to live in London, and my American boyfriend (now husband) was always astounded by the number of donut shops. Someone should write an article about Canadian donut shop culture. It's very odd.

Did anyone else watch this episode? SPOILERS BELOW I thought Rick and Gale represented well, but wasn't surprised that Batali won - the judges seemed to prefer his big flavors to the more subtle ones they presented. But 7 dishes was pretty impressive, and Gale's caramel spring was oh-so-cool. One of the only things I like about Iron Chef America vs Iron Chef Japan is that I can or have actually eaten at the challengers restaurants. So it was cool to see them serving risotto in a little copper pot, cause I've eaten risotto out of a little copper pot at Tru. And the betta fish bowl - isn't that a Tru classic as well?