Sadly, the long days of summer and barbecue season are waning. But the colorful days of autumn are almost here: People are returning from summer holidays, football season is upon us, and the opportunity for tailgating and finding excuses to have fun with friends will soon be in full swing.

But I have a confession. I feel I need to come clean about my sentimental favorite, the place I habitually return to despite all of Lansing’s wonderful choices, my sinful lover bacon-wrapped in guilt. But fortunately the kind of guilt that can be easily dissipated by an omelette as big as my head.

While spicy food is a characteristic of many Thai dishes, Hicks says customers can control heat in most dishes. Authentic recipes are a source of pride for Thailand. Consistency can be expected, too, as the place runs five days a week with exactly one cook: Ann Vimolsathit.

Born and raised in Hawaii, Piilani moved to the Lansing area over 30 years ago and began an ongoing catering business. Her new venture features a daily lunch buffet and, if all goes according to plan, may soon feature a nightly dinner buffet ($8.99)..

I was curious to see if there would be many wines from the challenging 2009 vintage, and how they would show, but most of the wines continued to be 2007 and 2008 juice.

Ramon’s, a family-run restaurant owned by Margarita and Ramon Fuentes that once had two locations in Lansing, opened in 1976 before shuttering in 2002.

On any given day, Bella Harvest offers 20 to 25 varieties of produce. In the winter, very little is organic, and that disappoints customers. As the growing season matures, though, organic options proliferate until they peak in late July and early August, when nearly 100 percent of his produce is organic.

Patrons recently celebrated the grand opening of Eden’s Juice in downtown Lansing. The juice bar, in business since March, welcomed friends ' both old and new, celebrities and average Joes ' to select from an expanded menu of healthy juices and more..

In 1975, Sutter Home’s White Zinfandel experienced a "stuck fermentation," a problem that occurs when the yeast dies out before consuming all of the sugar. This problem juice was set aside. Some weeks later, the winemaker tasted it and preferred this accidental result, which was a sweet pink wine.

“Our major excitement with the whole thing is the addition of the bar,” Bates said. “Because everyone who has been in and seen it ' especially regulars who come in all the time ' has been asking us to build one for a while now, so they’re pretty excited.