One thing that you might be intrested in too is a handheld water UV purifier to make sure that the water you are drinking is safe. Just a suggestion Here is a link that might be useful: SteriPEN

I looked into the pro series when it first came out, but the price put me off. Interesting that it has a spiral bound sidekick a la the early Time-Life Foods of the World series--probably my all time favorite.

I have cooked on standard and pro-style gas, electric coil, electric smooth top and now induction. This, over a 50-plus year span as an adult, and I'm a good cook. I personally feel that when cooking, one should generally pick up a pan, and not schlep it around on the range. To move food around in the pan, use a utensil, not scraping and shaking the pan on the cooking surface (TV cooks looking cool doing such, plus flipping food, etc. notwithstanding). With minimal care, your induction cooking surface will remain looking good! I clean up with Dawn on a cloth or sponge, rinse using same, and dry with a microfiber cloth. This takes care of food spills, water marks and grease splatters. Special cleaners not required... my experience.

OK, here's the tentative plan I'm working on and I would love some critiques from any west Michiganders out there. We are staying in a small town in northern Michigan and plan on spending our time between beaches in and around Pentwater and Whitehall. We'll pass through Grand Rapids on the way up and back. I've decided tonight to stop for pizza on the way up, and try and figure out if our conclusion that Michigan pizza is mediocre at best is just because that's the way it is in my small hometown. I'm torn between going old-school and stopping at Fricanos in Grand Haven, or trying some online recommended pizzas from the west side of Grand Rapid around Lake and Leonard. I used to work near there and plan on stopping and hiking around my old work place anyway. I'm also going to make some oatmeal raisin cookies. Not particularly healthy but no worse than the trail mix we might munch on and they are SO's favorite so going to surprise him. Will put nuts in there and make them with whole wheat. Going to pack some zucchini bread I already made, some cheese, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt for breakfasts. Heading to Michigan's fruit belt so will hopefully pick up some good fruit there. I have peaches and apples otherwise. We like to go out for breakfast but if we can't find something that looks like it is worth doing, I'll throw in some pancake mix and fake sausage and maybe we can find some blueberries for Sunday. For lunches I am going to let my garden and fridge dictate. I have some "low carb" wraps that need to get eaten up, and I'll pack some hummus, feta, avocados and turkey for fillings. I'm going to also make "Bulgarian salad" from Enchanted Broccoli forest cookbook. It's basically a riff on chopped salad with lots of cukes and fresh herbs, which I have on hand. Can be thrown in the wraps too. Will also make some crudites with the carrots, broccoli and celery I have in the fridge. Hope to find some cherry toms at a farm stand. I'd love to make some pasta with the fresh ingredients I might find up north, but I'm too lazy for that so I'm going to pack some burgers and some baked beans since I have some organic hamburger that never made its way into chili and will please SO. I'll do a veggie burger. I seem to have more baked beans than I need in the pantry to that will help pare that down. I have some green beans that need to get used up so I'll probably make three bean salad and maybe buy a bag of coleslaw. We might find some good corn on the road. If I can also find good Lake fish, I'll skip the burgers for Sunday night at home and do the fish instead on Sat.