The Friday Buffet

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Aug 31, 2007 4:00PM

• We intended to write a post this week on making our own tomato sauce as something to do with all the tomatoes in our garden, but we never got around to it. As you can see, it's pretty easy to do, and if you click here you'll see the recipe we used. We ran the sauce through a food mill to give it a coarse texture and remove excess water with the intent of using it for pizza. 'Course, when we bake (or grill) one, we'll let you know.


• Thanks to Ann Flaharty (who gave us one of the June Reader's Choice "BotW" selections) for hipping us to this event to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation next Thursday. The CFF will be making their "Festive-Ale: A Celebration of Beer" an annual event. Although the list of beers is fairly cookie cutter, the proceeds are going toward a worthy cause.


• Odyssey and Mystic Blue Cruise Lines are offering a full slate of brunch, lunch, dinner, and moonlight cruises on Lake Michigan this weekend. The cruises leave from Navy Pier; check out the times and prices here. For more information, call Odyssey at 888-957-2322 and Mystic Blue at 877-299-7854.


• Violet Hour jefe Toby Maloney is getting reams of press these days, but he's neither the first nor last person in town to infuse spirits, rectify his own cordials and bitters, and create well-thought out, impeccably crafted cocktails. Adam Seger of Nacional 27 and Osteria via Stato fame sent us this recipe for baconcello, just in time for the harvest season. Bacon and vodka: enough said.