Plan: 2010 Heartland Gathering

[Darienne]

We can do the later weekend. Not as well, but it's doable.

We wouldn't be staying in a hotel as we have to bring our two dogs. Don't worry, they won't interfere at all. We'll have to find a dog-friendly motel. And we can stay further afield if necessary.

ps. If things are going to change, they should be settled ASAP so that we can book our accommodation. Thanks.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

OK. Made the reservations for the weekend of the 6-7-8 at the Red Roof which takes dogs. Gasped at the rates. We usually travel west and south where the rates are MUCH, MUCH lower. Oh, the joys of living in the east???

You are correct about making reservations now. They had only one room available with what we needed. Plumbers and platers the receptionist said.

[tammylc]

Darienne - Wouldn't surprise me if the rates are up a bit because of the convention being in town.

[CaliPoutine]

I know the airport is 20-30 min away, but there are tons of rooms there( also thru priceline). I got the Crown Plaza for 30$ on Priceline for various nights this year. Not sure if its availble for August, but if you dont mind driving a bit, it might be worth it.

I LOVE the Hampton Inn across from the Briarwood Mall( In Ann Arbor) too. Thats a great hotel.

[tammylc]

I agree, Randi, the Hampton is a a good hotel, but it was showing no room availability on Expedia for our dates. Full of plumbers, no doubt!

If we need to look outside Ann Arbor, Chelsea is a town just west of Ann Arbor and might be a bit closer to me because I'm on the west side of town.

Comfort Inn: http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-chelsea-michigan-MI164?promo=gglocal

Holiday Inn Express: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/csemi?&stopredirect=true

It's about a 20 minute drive from the venue to those hotels, and since they're in a sleepy rural town and probably not impacted by the Plumbers convention, might have good rates. (The airport hotels are probably about a 30 minute drive from me, for comparison purposes.)

Plus, Chelsea is home to Jiffy Mix, and a Jiffy Mix factory tour was one thing I was thinking about coordinating for the Gathering...

[Darienne]

Two days ago the Red Roof still had a few rooms available as far as I could figure out. They just had only one room available for dogs on the ground floor. (I have basically no idea at present how far it is from anything. Just grab what you can when you have dogs.)

[CaliPoutine]

I agree, Randi, the Hampton is a a good hotel, but it was showing no room availability on Expedia for our dates. Full of plumbers, no doubt!

If we need to look outside Ann Arbor, Chelsea is a town just west of Ann Arbor and might be a bit closer to me because I'm on the west side of town.

Comfort Inn: http://www.comfortinn.com/hotel-chelsea-michigan-MI164?promo=gglocal

Holiday Inn Express: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ex/1/en/hotel/csemi?&stopredirect=true

It's about a 20 minute drive from the venue to those hotels, and since they're in a sleepy rural town and probably not impacted by the Plumbers convention, might have good rates. (The airport hotels are probably about a 30 minute drive from me, for comparison purposes.)

Plus, Chelsea is home to Jiffy Mix, and a Jiffy Mix factory tour was one thing I was thinking about coordinating for the Gathering...

I love Chelsea( my friends that helped with dishes on year, live there). I know Chelsea very well. It would be great to have one of the dinners at The Common Grill too.

I only mentioned the airport area because of the very cheap rates availble on Priceline.

[Sam Iam]

Dundee, Mi, is about 15 - 20 miles directly south of AA on US 23. There are several motels at that exit due to the huge Cabelas store.

Worth checking out, perhaps.

We drive past that exiton our way to AA and could perhaps run a free taxi up to AA on a limited basis.

[tammylc]

I love Chelsea( my friends that helped with dishes on year, live there). I know Chelsea very well. It would be great to have one of the dinners at The Common Grill too.

I only mentioned the airport area because of the very cheap rates availble on Priceline.

Thanks for the heads up re. Priceline. Definitely good to know. Re. dinner - so many good choices, but Common Grill is definitely worth considering.

Dundee, Mi, is about 15 - 20 miles directly south of AA on US 23. There are several motels at that exit due to the huge Cabelas store.

Worth checking out, perhaps.

We drive past that exiton our way to AA and could perhaps run a free taxi up to AA on a limited basis.

Thanks, Sam. Just as an FYI for folks - Dundee is also on the east side of Ann Arbor (well, east and south), so that adds a few miles in terms of getting to the venue.

And all this said - there are 1000s of hotel rooms in Ann Arbor. Chances are you can find one right here and won't need to worry about any of this!

[Sam Iam]

My only reason for mentioning the Cabelas area is rates. It is 20 miles south of AA on a fast four lane highway. There is a huge Splash waterpark there if anyone is bringing kids.

The motels start at around $35 per person at this point. However, I didn't get a chance to check on our weekend.

[chris a2]

I'm a long-time lurker, recently delurking.

I'm in Ann Arbor, and hoping very much to be able to come to the 2010 gathering. I found out about the previous one about a week after it happened--it sounds like it was a wonderful experience.

[CaliPoutine]

So we're set on the dates right? I'm going to do my priceline deal in the next few weeks.

[Alex]

Any news? Tammy...?

[Sam Iam]

We're locked in for the Marriott Boardwalk on the 5,6,7. See you there!

[Darienne]

Read through the entire thread again and discovered that Tino27 has offered to do a bread workshop. Count me in for that one, please.

Also, being a Canadian plus living in the middle of nowhere and near a very small city, I am unable to find those specialty items that I would like to buy. For instance, I have a 9" one piece silicone Trudeau spatula that someone bought for me in the States and would love to buy two more for me and one for my friend. Small kitchen appliances, tools, gadgets...that kind of stuff.

I phoned the local Ann Arbor Area Convention Center and they gave me names and phone numbers: Williams-Sonoma, Beehive Kitchenware, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Now I can call ahead and suss them out. Any other names in Ann Arbor or nearby? (I'd rather not go for Detroit, is that's all the same.)

[tammylc]

Hey all, sorry for going MIA! Let's start planning this thing!

Dates are August 5-8. Location, Ann Arbor, MI.

Who's in?

People I know or think are coming (please confirm your intentions)

tammylc

Sam Iam and Joyce (bringing a Vita-Mix)

tino27 (doing a bread workshop)

Kerry Beal (happy to do a workshop on something)

Torakris

Alex

White Lotus & Dance

Chris Hennes +1 (bringing charcuterie)

Darienne +1

CaliPoutine

Edsel

ronnie_suburban +2

Maybe

Lior

Fat Guy

Chris a2

jmsaul & kitchenchick

Thursday night, dinner TBD. We could head into Detroit for Michael Symon's Roast, reserve the upstairs at Grange (new farm-to-table restaurant in the same space as the Friday night dinner of our last A2 gathering), get jmsaul and kitchenchick to organize a Chinese feast at one of the local restaurants they are regulars at, or something else entirely. Any preferences here?

Friday, Tino's offering to do a bread workshop, and we have space to accommodate other workshop type activity at the same time. Is anyone interested in a Jiffy Mix factory tour - that would need to be a Friday morning thing. There had been a proposal to put together a few driving tours for people to enjoy on Friday in small groups - possible destinations are Mexicantown in Detroit, Dearborn for Middle Eastern shops and restaurants, Hamtramck for Polish, and I bet we could do something interesting with one of the local farms that afternoon too. Dinner TBD - maybe one of the things we didn't do the night before.

Saturday, we'll shop at the even bigger and better Farmer's Market and cook our fool heads off. Given people's preferences for having some down time/ time to explore the place they're visiting, I'm inclined to leave Saturday largely unscheduled in terms of pre-Feast activities. Agree, disagree?

Sunday, really haven't thought that far yet.

Alternately to the Thursday/Friday plans mentioned above, I had posted earlier about Friday Mornings at SELMA, which is an amazing local breakfast salon which raises funds for microloans to farmers building hoophouses (and helps to construct them too). It's been an incredible force behind the growing locavore and slow food community in Ann Arbor. Each Friday morning they serve breakfast to between 80 and 150 folks. I've been head chef there once, and think it would be really neat to field an eGullet team to cook and serve. But this would mean having at least a couple people who wanted to run the prep for that on Thursday night (there's a regular stable of volunteers who shows up to help with that), and then a group of us (5-6 people, ideally) who are willing to head over there at 6 am Friday morning and cook and serve until 10. Does this sound fun to anyone, or is it just too much work?

Any other ideas, requests, suggestions? My ears are open.

[tammylc]

I phoned the local Ann Arbor Area Convention Center and they gave me names and phone numbers: Williams-Sonoma, Beehive Kitchenware, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Now I can call ahead and suss them out. Any other names in Ann Arbor or nearby? (I'd rather not go for Detroit, is that's all the same.)

There's a good locally owned kitchen store in the Kerrytown Shops, which is where we'll be shopping for the Saturday feast. Bed, Bath and Beyond and Williams-Sonoma are big chains, and have a good selection of items. I'm not familiar with Beehive. There's a decent restaurant supply shop between Ann Arbor and Detroit - if any of the proposed Friday "tours" happen, it might be a good stop along the way.

[tino27]

tammylc --

I'm definitely in for the weekend and definitely willing to do a bread workshop on Friday. My only other question is will it be possible to use the common area kitchen and stove on Saturday morning to bake off the bread for the dinner on Saturday night? I normally skip the Market shopping on Saturday morning anyway, so it isn't a problem for me. And, in fact, any other eG'er or member of your community who wants to help is certainly welcome to join me. If I remember correctly, the stove had a double oven, right?

Tom

[tammylc]

tammylc --

I'm definitely in for the weekend and definitely willing to do a bread workshop on Friday. My only other question is will it be possible to use the common area kitchen and stove on Saturday morning to bake off the bread for the dinner on Saturday night? I normally skip the Market shopping on Saturday morning anyway, so it isn't a problem for me. And, in fact, any other eG'er or member of your community who wants to help is certainly welcome to join me. If I remember correctly, the stove had a double oven, right?

Tom

We have the common house reserved for the entire day on Saturday, so you can definitely use that time/space to bake off bread. The kitchen has one 6 burner stovetop and 2 ovens.

[Chris Hennes]

I can confirm that my wife and I will be there. We are going to try to arrive Thursday evening, but the flight sequence may or may not actually get us there in time... If possible, I'd like to ship the charcuterie ahead of me. Tammy, can I send it to you a week ahead of the gathering? (I'm traveling the whole previous week and coming direct to AA from my other travels: I don't want to drag it around with me.)

ETA: Also, sign us up for dishwashing duty again.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Chris Hennes (log)

[CaliPoutine]

Read through the entire thread again and discovered that Tino27 has offered to do a bread workshop. Count me in for that one, please.

Also, being a Canadian plus living in the middle of nowhere and near a very small city, I am unable to find those specialty items that I would like to buy. For instance, I have a 9" one piece silicone Trudeau spatula that someone bought for me in the States and would love to buy two more for me and one for my friend. Small kitchen appliances, tools, gadgets...that kind of stuff.

I phoned the local Ann Arbor Area Convention Center and they gave me names and phone numbers: Williams-Sonoma, Beehive Kitchenware, and Bed, Bath & Beyond. Now I can call ahead and suss them out. Any other names in Ann Arbor or nearby? (I'd rather not go for Detroit, is that's all the same.)

Hi,

I'd be more than happy to let you use my UPS store mail box in Port Huron if you want to order from Amazon. I can pick up the stuff and bring it down on my way. There is no tax or shipping charges( if the order is over 25 bucks) in Michigan if you order from Amazon.

Randi

[CaliPoutine]

Hey all, sorry for going MIA! Let's start planning this thing!

Dates are August 5-8. Location, Ann Arbor, MI.

Who's in?

People I know or think are coming (please confirm your intentions)

tammylc

Sam Iam and Joyce (bringing a Vita-Mix)

tino27 (doing a bread workshop)

Kerry Beal (happy to do a workshop on something)

Torakris

Alex

White Lotus & Dance

Chris Hennes +1 (bringing charcuterie)

Darienne +1

CaliPoutine

Edsel

ronnie_suburban +2

Maybe

Lior

Fat Guy

Chris a2

jmsaul & kitchenchick

Thursday night, dinner TBD. We could head into Detroit for Michael Symon's Roast, reserve the upstairs at Grange (new farm-to-table restaurant in the same space as the Friday night dinner of our last A2 gathering), get jmsaul and kitchenchick to organize a Chinese feast at one of the local restaurants they are regulars at, or something else entirely. Any preferences here?

Friday, Tino's offering to do a bread workshop, and we have space to accommodate other workshop type activity at the same time. Is anyone interested in a Jiffy Mix factory tour - that would need to be a Friday morning thing. There had been a proposal to put together a few driving tours for people to enjoy on Friday in small groups - possible destinations are Mexicantown in Detroit, Dearborn for Middle Eastern shops and restaurants, Hamtramck for Polish, and I bet we could do something interesting with one of the local farms that afternoon too. Dinner TBD - maybe one of the things we didn't do the night before.

Saturday, we'll shop at the even bigger and better Farmer's Market and cook our fool heads off. Given people's preferences for having some down time/ time to explore the place they're visiting, I'm inclined to leave Saturday largely unscheduled in terms of pre-Feast activities. Agree, disagree?

Sunday, really haven't thought that far yet.

Alternately to the Thursday/Friday plans mentioned above, I had posted earlier about Friday Mornings at SELMA, which is an amazing local breakfast salon which raises funds for microloans to farmers building hoophouses (and helps to construct them too). It's been an incredible force behind the growing locavore and slow food community in Ann Arbor. Each Friday morning they serve breakfast to between 80 and 150 folks. I've been head chef there once, and think it would be really neat to field an eGullet team to cook and serve. But this would mean having at least a couple people who wanted to run the prep for that on Thursday night (there's a regular stable of volunteers who shows up to help with that), and then a group of us (5-6 people, ideally) who are willing to head over there at 6 am Friday morning and cook and serve until 10. Does this sound fun to anyone, or is it just too much work?

Any other ideas, requests, suggestions? My ears are open.

I'm still coming, along with a +1

[tammylc]

I can confirm that my wife and I will be there. We are going to try to arrive Thursday evening, but the flight sequence may or may not actually get us there in time... If possible, I'd like to ship the charcuterie ahead of me. Tammy, can I send it to you a week ahead of the gathering? (I'm traveling the whole previous week and coming direct to AA from my other travels: I don't want to drag it around with me.)

ETA: Also, sign us up for dishwashing duty again.

Yes, no problem sending stuff to me in advance. I'll even promise not to eat anything!

[Darienne]

Thanks Tammy for such a wonderful post. You have been busy!

Quick responses:

- don't think I would be interested in Jiffy Mix.

- Middle Eastern is one of my favorites. Mexican also.

- have no response on the scheduled time off part.

- Sunday - brunch? I'd help on that for sure.

- restaurant supply shop sounds good to me. Plus any of the other ones you mentioned.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[Darienne]

Hi,

I'd be more than happy to let you use my UPS store mail box in Port Huron if you want to order from Amazon. I can pick up the stuff and bring it down on my way. There is no tax or shipping charges( if the order is over 25 bucks) in Michigan if you order from Amazon.

Randi

Randi, that is incredibly generous of you to offer your box for use. I could easily order the Trudeau spatulas plus a thousand other things with one hand tied behind my back. Thanks.