tammylc

I haven't bought any food from TJ Maxx, but I've been very pleased with the steak knives I picked up there. Some appliance brand - Kitchen Aid? Cuisinart? Anyway, they're non-serrated and thus suitable for sharpening with a knife sharpener. Much, much better than any serrated steak knife I have ever used, and at $20 (or was it $30) per set of 4, much cheaper than similar style knives from Henkel or Wusthof.

We're totally wired for on the fly updating - there's a computer right in the room we'll be in, multiple people bringing laptops and an open wireless network. You'll have no problems getting online, assuming you can drag yourself away from the festivities!

I was worried when I saw your menu and your shopping list that you might not be downscaling portion sizes enough to make 21 possible. Let's just say I've learned that lesson the hard way! Congrats on making it through!

BTW - Sunday brunch will be a Zingerman's Roadhouse at 10 am, not 10:30 as previously indicated. I wanted to make sure we'd have time to have brunch and still get to the Coffee Company tour.

Destroit is supposed to be posting a menu for us, but I know he's been very busy. Here's what I have from the last email exchange we had: The menu will most likley consist of a caprese- ish amuse, Giant prawn with arugula, Choice of dry-aged beef or vegetarian option. Fish options will be dependent on what I can get that is fresh and available. My fish purveyor has a way just coming up with things out of the blue. What he and had been talking about was something like 5 courses, for between $40-$50 (not including wine) per person. Bella Ciao has a separate room that we will be using, but I don't know what the capacity is. Hope that helps until we hear something firm.

Well, I went to the Farmer's Market this morning, and the offerings are looking pretty good. Lots of potatoes, corn, green beans. Tons of squash, in a million different shapes and colors and sizes. Great looking fruit - cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches. Although they keep saying "last week for cherries" so they may not be around by next week. Arugula is in, and kale. Tomatoes are coming in - not seeing the heirloom varieties yet, though. Hopefully by next week, as I think moonsqrl is plotting something for heirloom tomatoes. Big bunches and bags of basil and other herbs. Onions. I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. Destroit is supposed to be posting a menu for Friday's dinner for us, but I know he's been swamped. Hopefully we'll hear from him soon! I'm cooking a special meal for my community tomorrow night - we usually post our menus in advance, but for this one I posted it as my "market basket meal" and 40 people were willing to sign up sight unseen. Here's what I'm planning to make: Vietnamese Grilled Beef and Basil rolls OR Grilled haloumi and basil rolls (vegetarian) Chile-mustard rubbed roast pork loin with sweet and tart cherry sauce OR Caprese-stuffed flying saucer squash (vegetarian) Dilled red potatoes Red, White, and Blue Salad - mixed greens with roasted beets, blueberries, and goat cheese Peach cobbler (probably with ice cream) The butcher gave me a great price on a whole pork loing - $20 for 8.5 lbs. So even though I just made pork for common meal on Thursday I'm going to do it again. So that's where we're at one week out.

Market Basket Menu Vietnamese Grilled Beef and Basil rolls OR Grilled haloumi and basil rolls (vegetarian) Chile-mustard rubbed roast pork loin with sweet and tart cherry sauce OR Caprese-stuffed flying saucer squash (vegetarian) Dilled red potatoes Red, White, and Blue Salad - mixed greens with roasted beets, blueberries, and goat cheese Peach cobbler (probably with ice cream) As you can tell from the menu, the fruit was looking really good today, so we've got cherries and blueberries and peaches. The flying saucer squash are very cool looking - that'll be a nice thing for the vegetarians. I'm planning to dice up tomatoes and mix with olive oil and basil and salt and pepper, maybe a touch of balsalmic. That will go into the hollowed out cooked squash. I'll top it with a slice of fresh mozarella and run the whole thing under the broiler. I just made pork on Thursday, but the butcher made me an offer I couldn't refuse, selling me an entire 8.5 lb loin for $20. I feel like I probably should have another vegetable in addition to the salad, but green beans were the only thing I was interested in, and those add a lot of prep time. I'll have a little bit of sauteed beet greens for anyone who wants them. Any thoughts? Anyone have ideas for cherry sauce, or a favorite recipe for peach cobbler?

I read your post really quick and thought: what a great idea, to put a chorizo butter on roast squash slices. Then I read again and saw this is not what you wrote. I still think it's a great idea though ← I agree. That is a very intriguing idea. I'm doing a squash trio amuse bouche for the Heartland gathering next week. If one of my planned items doesn't work out for one reason or another, this could be a good substitute.

Last night's rerun of the Korean-style pork or tofu worked out well. I'm happy that it's such as easy meal, since I had 66 people. It was especially big because my husband and I were hosting 10 friends for a sort of reunion of his high school buddies. For dessert I made the Lemon-Blueberry Cornmeal Cake from the most recent issue of Fine Cooking. I took a chance making it for common meal without trying it at home first, but the recipe looked good, and it turned out quite well. Had a couple of people ask for the recipe. Sunday is my Market Basket meal! I'll be hitting the Farmer's Market tomorrow to figure out what to make. I've got 40 people signed up - 21 meat eaters, 9 vegetarians, and 10 kids. I've got some ideas about things to make - I've got a little appetizer recipe for ground seasoned beef wrapped in basil leaves and grilled, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to try that. I'll do some with halloumi for the vegetarians. I'm pondering some kind of fish with a peach salsa - we'll see what's cheap at the seafood counter (if I don't do it tomorrow, I'll do it for my next meal). Or maybe the butcher will have something appealing and inexpensive. Fine cooking has a recipe for a chorizo compound butter that's got me intrigued - I can't afford to put it on steak, though, as they do. Stuffed summer squash would certainly be seasonal - anybody have a favorite filling?. I've been making dilled new potatoes a lot at home - that would be easy enough to do for a common meal side. For dessert, something with nice fresh fruit - blueberries and peaches are big right now, so maybe a cobbler or a crisp. Have to see how the tomatoes are looking - could do something nice with those. Anybody have any ideas? I'd like to have some things in mind when I hit the market so it's not too overwhelming.

Not only did he join us for the gathering, he even cooked for us! Green and yellow beans with bacon - yum.

So, Sunday brunch-ers - where shall we brunch? There are many options: Zingerman's Roadhouse - quite good, but like all things Zing, can be spendy, and we're already doing a couple Zing related things. Cafe Zola - great, but usually crowded and noisy. Vinology - haven't been for brunch, but the dinners I've had have been stellar. Downside - they can't serve wine until noon. Cafe Marie - good, but not especially interesting Angelo's - an Ann Arbor institution, but usually very busy. Parking can be a huge challenge (or a long walk). Not sure if they take reservations, which would at least help us with the first issue. I'm sure there are other places I'm not thinking of - any locals have a favorite place for brunch? Anybody have opinions on the ones I'm suggesting?

Links to maps to the various places on our itinerary: Friday events: Clements Library, home of the Longone Culinary Archive 4 pm This is right on campus, so parking is likely to be tricky. Look for parking on side streets, or feed a meter if you can find street parking. There is a pay lot at the corner of S. Forest and S. University. It's right across the street from Village Corner, the best wine store in town. Worth a stop if you get there early, or in our window of time after the tour and before dinner. Yes, it looks like a dirty college party store, but it's actually got a really excellent (and huge) wine selection. Bella Ciao Trattoria 6 pm There are lots of paid parking lots in the area, and street parking is free after 6, if you can find a spot. Zingerman's Deli 9 pm Lots of parking in the neighborhood, all free after 6. Saturday Events For the Farmer's Market, you can follow the link to Zingerman's, above - it's right around the corner. Parking can definitely be a challenge on market days. If you get really stuck, there's a free lot at Ann and Ashley (thanks annarborfoodie for the heads up). Cooks (and anyone else who wants to connect up rather than explore on your own) - lets plan to meet at 10 at the entrance to Kerrytown - look for a big glass wall through which you can see a staircase and a market. If you'll be joining us for the first time Saturday morning, please check in there as well. The wine tasting and Heartland Feast will be held at my cohousing community, Great Oak Cohousing. We'll be in the one story red building in the middle of the community. If you have limited mobility, please feel free to park in the parking lot. Otherwise, please park out along Little Lake Dr - you'll see other cars parked there. Our parking lot is pretty small, so we need to not take so many spots there are none left for the people who live here. Wine tasting: 1:30 pm, Feast: 7:00 pm (but the actual festivities will be going on all day, so show up anytime after 1:30) Sunday Events I'll start another post to discuss where we should go for Sunday brunch, so no directions to that yet. It will be somewhere at 10:30 am. Zingerman's Coffee Company 12 noon-ish (depends when we get done brunch)

I tried everything except the corn on the cob and the key lime pie. The kalua pig was my favorite of the meats. The lemon meringa pie was my favorite dessert.

Attended a Zingerman's Roadhouse dinner tonight, so I got to check in with Ric about plans for the wine tasting - he's got lots of cool stuff in the works for us, so it should be really fun!

Tonight's California BBQ and Beer dinner was fun. Served buffet style, so more informal than the last bunch I'd been to. It was just my husband and I tonight, and we were seated at a four top with a nice couple (hi Ginny and John, if you find this!). I'm not a beer fan, so I had a glass of Syrah with my dinner. Eric took the beer tasting. Servings were small (standard beer flight glasses), but then they came around and gave you bigger pours of whatever you liked best. Which is only fair given the $19 they were charging for the beer pairings. The beers were all from Anderson Valley Brewsing company in California, and owner Ken Allen was the special guest. the beers were Poleeko Gold Pale Ale, Boont Amber Ale, Hop Ottin' IPA, Boont ESB, and Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. I tasted a couple, and well, they tasted like beer. But Eric especially liked the Poleeko, the Amber Ale and the Oatmeal Stout. Here's the menu, with notes. Jillian of the digital camera wasn't with me tonight, so I have no photos. Sides Grilled tomato salad - tasty Alabama hot slaw - a little bit spicy, but pretty basic New potato salad - nice, with a litle crunch from mustard seeds. The potatoes were freshly harvested from Chef Alex's garden. Roasted radishes - surprisingly tasty. Like with many other foods, roasting brings out the sweet and tames the heat. Also from Chef Alex's garden. Grilled artichoke salad - the artichoke I had was a little woody Grilled corn-on-the-cob - I didn't bother - it's just corn and I wanted to save room for the... Meat Smoked Ernst Farm beef - an entire quarter of a cow, specially procured from a local farmer. Served with a nice BBQ sauce. Jerk Chicken - fine Dry rub ribs - also good Lamb steaks - not particularly memorable, but there was a lot of meat on my plate Whole wild king salmon - one of my table mates loved this, but I didn't think it was all that BBQ Bologna - nice thick slices cooked on the grill. Brought back my childhood memories of fried bologna sandwiches, which I believe was the point. Coffee-spice Rubbed Turkey - the spices and pepper in the rub managed to (surprsingly) mostly obliterate the coffee flavor. Which, since I don't like coffee, was a win for me! Kalua Pig - Hawaiian style preparation, and served with diced fruit (pineapple and papaya, I think) on the side. Lovely, moist, and tender - my favorite. Dessert Lemon Merenga Pie - one of the finest lemon meringues I've had in some time Blueberry Shortcake - sweet cream biscuits from the Bakehouse with whipped cream and fresh local blueberries Sunshine Cake - I don't know if that's the real name, but it's something like that - a nice light cake filled with various curds. Very nice. Key Lime Pie - I didn't get any - no room left on my dessert plate. It was a lot of food. And there was a lot leftover when we were done. As I said above, the buffet format makes it feel a lot more informal. And kind of like a wedding, what with the waiting on your turn through the buffet line. So it didn't feel as much like a special occasion outing. But on the bright side, we were home by 9. Next month they'll be serving up a dinner of heirloom tomatoes. Chef Alex is apparently growing more than 40 different varieties! Should be interesting.

Too late, moonsqrl, your name is already on the list! Besides, the cast of a thousand sous chefs really helps.

I will be sending people directions, etc for all the events soon-ish. I've just started pulling all the supporting materials together - look for a post or PM soon. In terms of numbers, we've currently got 19 for the culinary archive, 23 for the Bella Ciao dinner, 19 for shopping at Zing, 22 for the farmer's market, 30 for the wine tasting, 34 for the feast, 19 for brunch, and 14 for the coffee roaster visit. And I've got a couple of neighbors who are still deciding.

YES!! Look what I just found: Absinthe Cake ← Yikes! Pls save a thimble-ful unadulterated (at risk of sounding hard-core ) ← Yeah, I'm with moonsqrl. My guess is that people who are interested in absinthe would be happy to have just a taste in the interests of making sure there's enough to go around...

I have some baskets, and the common house has lots of serving bowls, etc, but if you'd like to bring baskets, please feel free.

As Destroit indicated, he and I are working on finalizing details for Friday's dinner, and one of us will post details once they are confirmed. Question for people planning to attend the dinner - would a 6 pm start work okay for you? I'm worried that we wouldn't be done by 9 if we started at 7, and if we want to hit Zingerman's Deli for shopping on Friday night, we really need to be done by 9. I was worried about starting too early because of people who might be arriving later, but from a quick look at the survey results, it appears that nearly everyone who has RSVPd for the dinner is also attending the culinary archive tour. Thoughts from the peanut gallery?

I want to make a tiny little stuffed patty pan squash for an amuse bouche trio. Anybody have suggestions on fillings? (The other two items in the trio are a squash blossom stuffed with a white bean puree with anchovy and garlic, and a grilled zucchini "roll up" sort of thing with a filling of goat cheese, sundried tomato and thyme.) My thoughts so far include something to do with chorizo, some combination of bacon and blue cheese, and/or something to do with red peppers, but I'm open to completely out of the box thinking. Thanks!

Interesting. The "about us" page mentions lunch, and there's a lunch menu given, but the hours page only lists dinner and brunch. Oh - and thanks for the link - I figured there must be webpage, but I wasn't having any luck finding it!

I used a nice sharp pizza cutter, and it worked really well.

Here's a link to another eGullet thread on cherry pie. http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...69720&hl=cherry I've made cherry pies the last two weekends in a row. I'm lazy and have a toddler, so I just used those unroll and go Pillsbury crusts. For the filling, I pitted 1 quart of cherries, and combined it with 3/4-1 cup of sugar, 4 tbsp quick-cooking tapioca, 1 tsp of almond extract and a pinch of salt. Combine and let stand for 15 minutes before putting into the pie crust, dotting with butter and topping with the top crust. (I just used a vented top crust instead of a lattice - again, see lazy & toddler, plus some sources say that if you use tapioca with an open crust it will get hard). Bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes to an hour, until it's bubbly all the way to the center. Cool completely before cutting for best results.