Midnight Oil

Vernon Hills has a hockey team

2009-02-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

Who knew! The Vernon Hills Capitals are a semi-pro hockey team that has its home games in the Glacier Ice Arena off of Lakeview Ave.

Molly and I discovered this previously unknown fact looking for an alternative to wasting money on a bad movie on Valentine's Day. We got a respite worker for Christina and actually were able to escape for a nice dinner at Green Basil, a great Thai Restaurant in Vernon Hills. By the time dinner was over, our only practical movie opportunity was Mall Cop, and it had received bad reviews. But Molly had heard something of a semi-pro hockey team and a kissing contest it was having. Thinking the hockey might be fun, we adventured over to the Glacier Ice Arena, and found that it was true, there is a league that plays there, the Great Lakes Hockey League.

They were also having the kissing contest, but we weren't up for it. The way the promotion guy explained it, we would have to lock lips for the entire game, from the time the puck dropped till the time the buzzer sounded. Last couple kissing won a prize package which included some neat things. But we came to watch hockey. And the idea of the two dozen or so fans watching us kiss standing near one of the goals behind the plexiglass didn't do it for us. Nor any of the other fans apparently, as noone took them up on the contest.

The Capitals, the only Illinois team in the league that includes mostly Wisconsin and Michigan teams, are dead last in the league, and were losing 4-7 when we left at the end of the second period. But for $5, it wasn't bad entertainment. It's definitely not pro hockey, but it's a cut above college of high school, I suppose. It made for a nice post dinner date, and definitely beat wasting more money on a movie I probably would have regretted. Here's a link to find out more about the team: http://www.vernonhillscapitals.com/

Brush with fame, of sorts

2009-02-13T16:47:00.000-08:00

I walked by Jerry Springer today in Evanston on the way to do some errands at lunch. Noone threw a chair at me or did anything freakish.

Apparently, he lives in Evanston, some of my co-workers who have also seen him from time to time said. It must be kind of hard to have a recognizable face, people always doing a doubletake when you walk by. I am glad I didn't do anything more than take a couple extra glances as I walked by. He must get that a lot. The other people around me were twittering about it.

It reminds me of when I ran into Scottie Pippen at a gas station in Bannockburn a couple years ago. I got him to sign a sales receipt for Peter. I felt really silly afterwords.

Still waiting for my stimulus

2009-02-12T17:54:00.001-08:00

So, are we getting checks, or just tax breaks? I admit, I'm too busy blogging, facebooking, working, sleeping, snoring, and just geniunely wasting time to keep up with the stimulus plan. Although I don't like the idea of bailing out a bunch of corporate execs who made bad decisions with other people's money while living high on the hog. Anyway, I've got plenty of things I could do with stimulus money, not the least of which is a used van we could wheelchair equip for Christina. She is getting far too heavy to lift in and out of the car all the time. Any of you want to nominate us for an Extreme Home Makeover feel free.

No wait, I'm just kidding. I would be totally mortified if Ty showed up in my front yard, not too mention we don't have the property and our village would freak out. They kept nixing our church's plans to build a new church, I can't see them cooperating even with Ty and gang. I did have fun one day talking with Peter about what he'd like his room to look like. It would be full of sports stuff. And planning Christina's would be very interesting. It would have to be all sensory -- lights, sounds, touchy stuff. She'd go khhkhhhkhhh, her sound for happiness.

Welcome home Grahl family, Welcome home.

I like my small home. Home sweet home. It's easy to keep clean, and easy to keep track of. And it's almost spring, which will mean the peach tree buds again. Aaaah Spring.

Molly's got her own facebook page

2009-02-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Aaaah. Finally, a break from facebook. This stuff IS time consuming. And way weird. I'm finding it strange viewing other people's conversation threads on their wall. It's like e-mail right out in the open. Not sure I like it. Blogging is one thing. It's a one way conversation, but back and forth dialogue?

I set my wife up on her own facebook page. All her friends were getting confused when I set up a facebook page, because we share a common email, and they were thinking it was her. But she's got her own page now, using a email subaccount. Took a little bit of reading to figure out how, but wasn't too tough, even for someone with no appetite at delving into that stuff.

How 'bout that freakish Chicago weather today? Warm. Deceptively warm. Like ole man winter's trying to catch us off guard, and lull us into spring dreaming, only to sock us with frigid temperatures again. I was joking at work that I dragged the San Diego weather back with me, just a little delayed.

Speaking of spring fever, Peter has little league tryouts this weekend for minors. I've been trying to get him ready. We got one of those SKLZ poles that has a ball on the end of a flexible pole for swing practice. Swing at the pole, pop, swing at the pole, pop. Works pretty good. Should have got one awhile ago. I've seen other coaches use it with their kids before games. I definitely noticed improvement from his first practice to the third. We also have a Zip n Hit, which take a bit more setup, but simulates actual pitches. Now it's a battle to get home early enough to have a bit of daylight to practice with him. Thank God for weekends.

Yipee! I joined facebook.

2009-02-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

You can see my reaction to this momentus occasion on my facebook page. Gosh, it seems pretentious even writing that, my facebook page. I guess I'm joining the 21st century after all.

I've been fighting it for awhile. Blogging has been hard enough, as anyone reviewing these entries can tell. Go more than a few entries deep and you'll notice a nice little hiatus there. The key, I think, is not to feel I have to write those long wonderful posts every time. Short is sweet.

Anyway, now I'm on facebook, who knows what'll happen. Maybe the Cubs will actually win a....nah. I won't go that far.

International Assembly recap

2009-02-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

Picture riding down an elevator with ten people from a multitude of countries. The elevator stops on the 18th floor, a few more get in. It stops on the 15th floor, another gets in. By the time you reach the bottom, 17 people have somehow squeezed into the elevator. Somewhere in this process, I nervously peeked at the capacity written above the buttons, eyeing the posted maximum of 21 persons with keen interest.

This was one of the more unusual memories from my first experience covering Rotary's annual International Assembly in San Diego. Going from ten below zero a few days earlier in Chicago to 80 degrees and sunny the first day off the plane was a blast. But that's cliche for a trip to San Diego in January.

Over all, the experience was good. I loved seeing real aircraft carriers docked across the bay from my hotel window (see previous post). My brother and I even toured the decommissioned carrier Midway that is docked just a long block north of the hotel on my free day. A night ride over the bridge was fun, even if it is insanely high over the bay and a bit intimidating for someone who used to have frequent nightmares about driving off tall bridges into nothingness. At least my brother was driving.

The assembly itself had high points and low points for me. The first full day I had a light load, and roamed about San Diego, seeing Petco Park, the Gas Lamp district, and other nearby sites. The first day of the assembly itself was thrilling, as the 2009-10 RI theme was rolled out, and the incoming District Governors really seemed excited about it. All the maneuvering before and after Bill Gates' big announcement on Wednesday was fun, and you could feel the surprise and excitement when he took the stage.

Getting sick later that day was a downer, a combination of strange food, long days, running on adrenalin, and foreign bugs no doubt. But the rest of the week went smoothly enough, and it was great to have prewritten some things ahead of time, while making a concerted effort to stay ahead.

Watching the DGEs interact with each other, and talking with many during lunch and dinner buffets proved educational. The whole excercise does do a great job of getting them all pumped up for their upcoming year of leadership.

And like I said, you can't beat the climate that time of year.

San Diego, what a climate!

2009-02-02T17:03:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from my business trip to San Diego to cover the International Assembly for Rotary International.

Why don't I live here?

View from my hotel room. That's the Ronald Reagan carrier.

Play ball! Petco Park

The Manchester Grand Hyatt at night

Gee whiz it's late

2009-02-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

It's past midnight (hence the title of this reworked blog.) I can't sleep. So I'm writing.

A little wine, a little words, the soft klink klink klink of the keyboard. That will be my Mr. Sandman.

I watched the superbowl today, another exciting one, but a bit disappointing. I wanted the Arizona Cardinals to win. I'm a sucker for the underdog, plus I like Kurt Warner. He's a man of faith, and he got a raw deal years ago when St. Louis decided to dump him for no good reason but to go with somebody younger. It was nice to see him revive his career after a bunch of two bit backup roles.

When I got home from the super bowl party I attended , I was a bit too wound up to sleep. I lie there in bed, my head sunk into the new down-alternative pillow I bought a week ago, head swimming with thoughts. A grand reflection on life, the universe, and the state of me.
It was a dark reflection. I had come to realize that my life of late is filled with many foibles. My shmuck factor runneth over. Too much me, not enough Holy Spirit. I need to pray more.

I also need to write more. As I lie there, sleep eluding me, asking God to refine and purify me, I kept thinking, by golly, I'm a writer. I love to write, to feel that fine catharsis that comes from putting one's thoughts down, draining them from the mind and letting them spill out onto paper, or an electronic substitute.

Avoiding blogging merely deprives me of a natural outlet to exercise one of the traits God has instilled within me.

So, for better or worse, write I will.

The stuff of Legends

2007-12-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Rating: 6

The Skinny (brief description): I Am Legend, Warner Brothers, 2007. 114 minutes. PG-13. Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan

The Rub (25 words or less): Post apocalyptic vision of New York City after a virus has wiped out most of humanity, and left a remnant of blood-thirst vampire-like mutants. Will Smith plays the lone normal person trying to survive and develop an antidote. Based on the novel by Richard Matheson, which has inspired two previous movies.

The Rave (full review): I went to see this movie because I am a big Will Smith fan. I love his charisma and sense of humor, especially in I Robot and Men in Black. I was a little disappointed, though I guess not hugely surprised, that much of that was lacking in this movie. Smith's character, scientist Robert Neville, is set in a much darker setting than some of those others. Also, for most of the movie, Smith plays opposite a dog, or a video recording taping his experiments, so the opportunity for witty banter is definitely diminished.

I also wanted to see this movie because I am oddly drawn to end of the world stories. Like Man vs. sentient machines (ala Terminator, I Robot), Man vs. Aliens (Independence Day, Alien, etc.) or Man vs. man-made disaster (Sudden Impact, Andromeda Strain, countless others). The threat of extinction refines perspective, and separates out the non-important from the truly important. These movies also explore the nature of man, our frailty and fallibility. And there's also usually a heroic element, individuals rising up to save humanity in the face of catastrophic odds and overwhelming adversity.

For the most part, this movie delivers. The opening special effects scenes are marvelous, as they depict Neville in an overgrown New York City that has gone to seed since the fall of civilization. The movie drops you right into the middle of post apocalyptic reality, while giving you periodic glimpses back at how it all got there. The mood is sufficiently somber and haunting. There are slow scenes, but there's generally enough action to move the story forward. And the suspenseful/creepy sequences are creepy enough without being horror filmesque, if you know what I mean. This is definitely still more a sci-fi flick than a horror one.

Some reviews have knocked off points because it is not horrific enough. They have noted the mutants, once drawn out of the dark onto the screen, loose their shock and scare effect. They tend to be less frightening, one wrote, after they bounce off buildings and cars. I don't necessarily disagree. I just don't mind. I went less for the creep show thing than the futuristic post apocalyptic vision. And the later is mostly what you get.

There are logic problems in the plot. My problems differ from other reviewers I have read. One, for instance, bemoaned the logic of Neville seeking an antidote when he's the only human left. I think the movie did an adequate job explaining his rugged determination "not to let this happen" and his dogged effort to still fix it. "I can fix this" Neville says at several spots. Others have challenged why all the mutants would end up looking alike, despite the different shapes and sizes of pre-mutant humanity. I can overlook that. No, what I find more problematic is things like, how did Neville build up his shuttered fortress of a home all by himself, set up a sophisticated laboratory in his basement, and develop his survival routine all in three short years by himself. Why do the blood thirsty mutants and their dogs only attack Neville and his dog, and not each other? Why do they act in harmony at all if, as Neville remarks earlier in the movie, all traces of society and humanity have vanished. If rats can get the virus, as his experiments suggest, why is his home not infested with vicious, blood thirsty small rodents who have made their way through cracks and crevices?

By and large, these are overlookable. If you don't like occasionally violent, sort of creepy, monsters going to jump out and attack from time to time movies, don't go to this. There are also dark elements. So if you are spiritually sensitive, this might not be a good bet.
But on the other hand, there are mentions of God and his purposes, and a strong hint at his hand moving behind some of the circumstances. There is little offensive language and no sex.
If you are intrigued by what it might be like to be the last survivor of a man-made catastrophe, in this case viral, and you like Will Smith, you have a good chance of liking the movie.

Qdoba dabba doo

2007-12-13T19:41:00.000-08:00

Rating (1-10): 9

The Skinny (brief description): Qdoba Mexican Grill. 2427 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago. Also 1408 East Golf Road, Schaumburg. Or 6430 Green Bay Road, Suite 100 Kenosha, Wisc.

The Rub(25 words or less): The first Qdoba opened in Denver in 1995 with its signature burritos, and has now expanded to 400 locations coast to coast. In 2003, it was acquired by Jack in the Box. Great stuffed burritos. Good chips and salsa. Affordable and fresh.

The Rave (full review): Shortly after its opening, the Denver Post and Westword named Qdoba "Best Burrito." I'd have a hard time arguing with that even here in Chicago, where there are many many tex-mex joints, and authentic mex joints. Qdoba is cleaner than El Famous, another popular giant burrito joint, the food is assembled behind a plexi-glass assembly line, with fresh ingredients and a pleasanter all around experience.

Qdoba burritos come with their signature cilantro lime rice and a choice of black bean or pinto bean, topped with your choice of salsa and cheese or sour cream. There are five salsas to choice from, from mild Pico De Gallo, to "don't even think about putting that on my burrito" fiery habanero salsa. As one with a bad digestive tract, I can't sample anything but their pico de gallo, but I have every reason to believe, based on the other stuff I've had, they're all good.

We stumbled on this place down in Lincoln Park on one of my daughter's frequent appointments at Children's Memorial Hospital. The downer is that, as of now, there's not a really close Qdoba to Lake County, but we can all hope that's coming soon. If you find yourself near one, by all means, check it out. We think you will be glad you did.

Their burritos range from $5 to $6. I've enjoyed the Shredded Beef Burrito ($5.89), the Vegeterian Burrito ($5.19), the Chicken Burrito ($5.69) and the Grilled Vegetable Burrito ($5.89). The shredded beef is probably my favorite, but I've yet to try the Steak Burrito. The three tacos, in your choice of soft or crispy corn tortilla, was also a pleasant experience, and gives you more options for sampling, though perhaps slightly less filling.

We found the burritos perfectly sized. Any larger, and you'd be stuffed. Don't even think about comparing it to Taco Bell. It's probably comparable quantity wise to Chipotle, but we like Qdoba better. The ingredients are fresh, they have more of a variety of salsas, the stores are clean and bright, and they keep the line moving.

Just Cosi enough

2007-10-13T06:29:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 6

The Skinny (brief description): Cosi. 910 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Lincolnshire, in the north end of the Lincolnshire Commons. (847) 415-2674. Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Free Wireless Internet Available. Other Lake County locations at 1825 Second St. Highland Park, and 21720 West Long Grove Road, Deer Park, in the Town Center.

The Rub(25 words or less): Gourmet sandwiches and salads. The original Cosi opened in Paris, France in 1996, as a small Parisian cafe and has expanded to include 100 restaurants in 16 states. A stone hearth oven features prominently in their stores, as well as funky but comfortable custom chairs, tables and couches..

The Rant (full review): Cosi is like its name sounds, cozy and comfortable. The custom made furniture, smartly painted walls, and large scenic picture windows create an inviting and welcoming atmosphere.

It also has some very good sandwiches, although if there's a speciality you like that isn't on the main menu, you better call ahead and make sure they still have it. We observed one patron leave disappointed because her favorite sandwich had rolled off the menu. The Tomato Basil soup is too die for, really. It's that good. It reminds me of the Tomato Basil soup I used to get at La Madeline, another French Bistro style joint, before it closed several years ago.

On our recent visit, I had a speciality sandwich, the pork tenderloin and portabella mushroom on their signature flatbread, which was plenty long and tasty, and a perfect quantity with a side of crispy kettle chips and the side of soup. The Greek Salad was also satisfying, with whole grain flatbread on the side. My son had the (7½ inch) flatbread pepperoni pizza at $7, which gave him plenty to share. He especially liked his Shirley Temple (grenadine in SevenUp).

We went to Cosi on the recommendation of a co-worker, who raved about it, and said how much better she liked it than Sweet Tomatoes (see previous review) because it was cheaper, you got generous portions, and you didn't have to serve yourself. I suppose the serving yourself or having food brought to you is a matter of preference. For me, Cosi was anything but cheap. The entire bill for two adults and a child ended up at over $30, while, when we go to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch(with a coupon from the Sunday paper), it costs us about $27 (and that's for all you can eat multiple trips to the buffet line.)

Having said that, Cosi is definitely a different experience, one with its own merit. Once you've figured out the slightly confusing menu, you can order off of it, or pull a custom menu card and create your own combinations. Like I said, it ain't cheap, but it's worth a visit now and then. The Tomato Basil soup will probably have us going back.

Checkers with a twist

2007-09-09T08:15:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 8

The Skinny (brief description): NFL Checkers. Big League Promotions Corp. 1974 N.W. 82 Avenue. MIami, Fl 33126. 1993. Cost $23.95

The Rub (in 25 words of less): Basic checkers, with cool football helmets of your favorite team. Game board includes an AFC side and NFC side printed with helmets of all the teams.

The Rave (full review): If you're looking for a way to spice up a simple family game like checkers, and are an NFL fan, this game is perfect. Little football helmets with facemasks that are added on to denote being kinged take the place of flat checkers. The game board has an AFC and NFC side, printed with helmets of each teams in each division.

The game plays just like checkers. But young football fans will love the team helmets. You can order the game in 32 varieties, with different matchups of home team and opposing team. You get 12 helmets and facemasks of the home team, and 12 of the opponent. Several classic rivalries: Bears vs. Packers, Cowboys vs. Redskins, Dolphins vs. Bills, have been preserved.

Every NFL team has a home team set, and appears on the fairly simply box cover. But opponents are frequently duplicated. For example, the San Fransico 49ers appear as opposing helmets in five different sets. Unfortunately, you are stuck with the 32 matchups, and can't custom order matchups. It would also have been nice to be able to order helmet sets without having to buy a whole new game, if you wanted to have, say, multiple possible matchups: Bears vs Packers, Bears vs Lions, Bears vs Vikings.

Other variations include MLB checkers, NCAA checkers, and a slightly cheaper NFL tic tac toe which features a nine square board and sets of five helmets.

Sweet! indeed

2007-09-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 7

The Skinny (brief description): Sweet Tomatoes, soups, salads and bakery. Fountain Square Shopping Center, South of 120, 850 S. Waukegan Rd., Waukegan. (847) 578-0474 Hours Monday - Thursday: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m./Friday & Saturday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m./Sunday: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Rub(25 words or less): A rare oasis of healthy soup and salad grazing options, amid a sea of fast food and unhealthy fare. But at $8.39 for adults lunch, and an extra $2 for drinks, you'll want to make your visits sparingly, and count on it being your main meal for the day.

The Rave (full review):A 50-foot-long buffet line of salad greens, pre-made salads, and vegetables stretch out before you as you enter the front doors of the barn-like structure. (A useful hint: the front is across from Waukegan Road. The building's shape does absolutely nothing to assist you in finding the main entrance.)

Once inside, it's grazers heaven. Yards of fresh salad ingredients beckon you to add them to your plate. The center buffet can be accessed from either side, to speed things up. And in addition to enough fixings for any one's taste, there are Sweet Tomatoes famous prepared salads which rotate in and out every couple weeks (so if you have a favorite, check their menu ahead of time.

After you've made your way through the salad line, three other culinary temptations challenge you. Eight home-made soups, which also change periodically, line a mini version of the salad buffet. A pasta/bread bar offers up pastas, pizza breads, focaccia, muffins and other bakery treats. And to top it off, a desert bar lets you build your own sundae from three flavors of soft serve (vanilla, chocolate, and swirl) or load up on cake or brownies.

There's plenty to like about Sweet Tomatoes. Except for the price and the tendency to overeat. At $8.39 an adult for lunch, the dining experience is a bit expensive to make it a regular haunt. The price is only slightly reduced for kids, at $6. Drinks will add $2 to your bill.

And like most buffets, the temptation to nibble and sample will make most feel rather full by the end of things. If you reckon on this going in, the sensation doesn't have to be too unpleasant. Just plan on this being your primary meal for the day, unless you've got enormous self-control. And then you are doing yourself no favors in terms of value for your dollar.

Compared to Sweet Tomatoes' Glenview location (the only other one I have been too) Waukegan has some advantages and disadvantages. The inside seems a bit less crowded, and the soup bar is on its own island, which avoids backups. Staff was extremely helpful, and came by frequently, almost too frequently, to clear plates or offer assistance. Yet the overall feel is more stark. The tall, barn-like walls are void of much decoration, and rafters, pipes, and ventilation shafts hang overhead. The windows are high up in the wall, which combine with a few skylights to let in indirect light and minimize any view outside. This was undoubtedly intentional, as all you would see is traffic on Waukegan, or the Super Wal-mart parking lot anyway.

Sweet Tomatoes is a great lazy Sunday brunch option (when they are busiest) or a special occasion place. It's a rare oasis of healthy soup and salad grazing options, amid a trend of restaurants away from such things. A good salad bar is hard to find. Just make it your primary meal for the day, and look for Sunday coupons that will knock a few bucks off your visit.

Catch that train

2007-09-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 9

The Skinny (brief description): Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder. Cross country train adventure game. For 2-5 players, ages 8 and above. Created by Alan R. Moon. Cost $40.

The Rub (in 25 words of less): Fun family game that combines strategies of rummy with train empire building. Has enough decisions to make it fun for adults, yet simple enough to be enjoyed by children.

The Rave (full review): Ticket to ride is basically a train building game with Rummy like attributes. Players collect sets of colored train cards to build routes between cities, with the goal of linking up destinations. The person that gets the most points by completing destinations or buidling the longest continuous train at the end of the game wins. (For a full description of game play and rules try the following review at RPGnet.)

It is far simpler than other hobby train games, like Mayfair's Empire Builder or Avalon Hills' Rail Baron, and so much easier to play. Hence, it is a better candidate as a general purpose family game, and perhaps less suitable for game hobbyists with hours and hours to kill that enjoy the complexity and strategies of the more involved games.

Our family has enjoyed it immensely. The instruction booklet is only four pages long and can be learned in less than 30 minutes. The game plays in 30 to 60 minutes. It has pieces, which is always a plus with children; little plastic box cars that come in five colors. The game board is of thick cardboard stock, nicely illustrated with a map of the United States with major cities connected by colored rail routes (not to be confused with player colors. While this seems confusing at first, it quickly resolves itself in play) The map is not always 100 percent geographically accurate, but close enough. The box is also colorful and well illustrated. The cards are a bit small, but functional(see below).

The game moves along at a good pace, and changes enough with different destination draws to keep it fun over multiple plays. Special rules keep it competitive for two to three players, for instance certain parallel sections of track can only be claimed by one player instead of two. Most games we have played stay close and competitive to the end.

I highly recommend laying out the extra cash, about $12, for the 1910 expansion, which upgrades the game with larger, more attractive playing cards, 39 new destination cards, and three variations of game play that significantly alter strategy and keep the game fresh. After that, there are also two related complete games Ticket to Ride Europe and Ticket to Ride Marklin which we have yet to explore that add new wrinkles to the theme. In October, a Swiss map expansion is due out that can be used in conjunction with Ticket to Ride, or Ticket to Ride Europe.

An all around fun family game that is perfect for your family game nights.

Express Lane closed

2007-09-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 5

The Skinny (brief description): Express Lane Meals, Rachael Ray, © 2006. Clarkson Potter/Publishers New York. A 30 minute meal cookbook. http://www.rachaelray.com/

The Rub (25 words or less): The concept is interesting at first, but unless you like a lot of her recipes, and not much else, the premise doesn't work out too well, and you've spent a ton of money on stock ups.

The Rant (the full review): I purchased this cookbook up in Door County last fall, after seeing Rachael Ray on one of the morning talk shows plugging it. The concept seemed intriguing. Buy a bunch of stock up items, and then be able to whip up a variety of meals in under 30 minutes with only short visits through the express lane for a few fresh items.

Overall, there are some good recipes in this book. More than I found in another of her books, 30-minute Get Real meals. The portions of meat in that low-carb book were way too much, and the recipes pricey. Express Lane nicely separates recipes into three levels of involvement, Meals for the Exhausted (easy), Meals for the Not Too Tired (moderate), and Bring it On! (most involved.)

From the first, Canadian Benny's is a nice takeoff on the Eggs Benedict. And Pasta in a Creamy Artichoke and Saffron Sauce is truly wonderful. My family liked the Steaks with Tangy Corn Relish and Super Cheese and Scallion Smashed Spuds from the moderate. But I challenge anyone to try and do that in 30 minutes! Plus your kitchen will be a mess afterward. I've done the two side dishes on their own with good results. From the most involved category, the Not-sagna is a creative stove top twist to lasagna.

But where the book breaks down, and becomes less useful to us, is in its basic premise of creating recipes based on staples from a strategically stocked cupboard. We never did seem to realize the fruition of less frequent trips to the grocery store. Shopping for our special needs, and other recipes we like from other books, kept us in the store and out of the express lanes (which are sometimes not that express anyway.) We simply didn't like enough of the recipes to use up her stockpile fast enough to avoid spoilage. And the approach will create problems for people (like us) with limited shelf space. Be prepared for a shock after the first grocery bill if you do take this book, like I did, and immediately try to create her horde of staples.

For some people, no doubt, this book works. And there are a smattering of good recipes in it. But other of her recipes have strange tastes, not enough taste, or when it's all said and done, was too much work for too little payout.

I would have liked more of the recipes to have been less costly, and to have truly lived up to the 30-minute claim. I find the recipes in one of my all-time favorite cookbooks, The Frugal Gourmet, to be much more practical, affordable, and dependable.

Hoodwinked

2007-09-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 9.5

The Skinny (brief description): Hoodwinked. 2005 The Weinstein Company. Animated family comedy. Rated PG.

The Rub(25 words or less): Hilarious animated cartoon spoof of Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale.

The Rave (full review): Hoodwinked is the invention of brothers Todd and Cory Edwards, who take the familiar classic fairy tale and turn it on its head.

The film unfolds as a crime investigation, with Detective Flippers arriving to help Chief Grizzly get to the bottom of the happenings at Granny's cottage. Four versions of events follow, from the viewpoint of Red (voice of Anne Hathaway), the Wolf (Patrick Warburton), the Woodsman (Jim Belushi) and Granny (Glenn Close). Along the way, you'll meet Japeth the singing goat, Twitchy the wolf's hysterical side kick, and many other zany characters.

The film has enough humor to keep both child and adult laughing. But unlike many other animated films seeking a combined audience lately (like Shrek, Happy Feet), the Edwards have not sacrificed the child for the adult. There is no foul language, mature content, or adult situations that would make parents second guess letting their children watch it. The PG rating is mostly for occasional cartoon violence (and there really isn't that much of that).

Be forewarned, this is one funny, addictive movie. It has fast become a favorite in our household, and we have watched it probably a dozen times. The concept is fresh, animation crisp, plot clever, and dialogue witty. The music is catchy too. It is suitable for any DVD collection, and a good thing to have for that proverbial rainy day.

Coffee Bliss

2007-09-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Rating (1-10): 8.5

The skinny(brief description): Chocolate Chicken. Speciality shop. Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. 1-800-231-4958.

The Rub (in 25 words or less): Quaint gourmet coffee shop nestled in scenic Door County. Many flavors to choose from. Hazelnut creme decaf is my favorite.

The Rave (full review): Chocolate Chicken is a wonderful little shop nestled near the bay in Egg Harbor, just across the street from the Shipwreck Inn. Walking into the store is a delight to the senses, as rows of flavored coffees stretch out along the wall, and a counter full of chocolate treats tempts the taste buds. We like to make this a regular stop on our way home from Door County.

I have tried several of their coffees, all in decaf, as it is easier on my stomach. Their hazelnut creme decaf is by far my favorite. The aroma fills your kitchen, and the taste is much milder and less bitter than other hazelnut cremes I have had, including the Papa Nicholas brand available at Dominicks and Jewel. The chocolate hazelnut is a fun alternative, and smells wonderful. But it is a bit stronger and more bitter.

I highly recommend a stop in the Chocolate Chicken for any regular Door County traveler. Take a bag home, whole bean or ground. Ordering their coffee online is a bit more expensive than other means of satisfying the morning java fix, at $13.50 a pound decaf, plus $3 postage. But it's worth it as an occasional splurge, or as a creative gift for a coffee lover.