OK, so I missed Solstice by a day, but I've been busy.

Pictured is Berghoff's Solstice Wit, a good beer to celebrate it. The description says "lightly touched with subtle hints of coriander and Curacao orange" which is pretty accurate. I personally hate fruit in my beer, but an orange seems to work with this one. My other favorite summer beer is Bell's Oberon, wheaty and fruity, but it's like milk, it must be fresh, and on tap.

A couple of weeks ago I ran into a friend at a bar and the conversation turned to BBQ. Pretty soon we both had convinved ourselves that we wouldn't make it through the night without getting some Hecky's. At one point I had to persuade him against ordering another round - doing so would put us in peril of missing Hecky's 9pm closing time. Not many things cause me to stop people from ordering another round, but Hecky's is one of them.

I haven't had Hecky's in quite some time (perhaps a couple of years) but luckily somethings don't change. I ordered the large rib tips for 14 bucks and salivated the whole way home.

The tips are the same as they've always been, some pieces are meaty, some are fatty, all are coated with that damn-near intoxicating sauce. Slightly spicy, sweet and smoky, you could put that stuff on a dish sponge and I'd still eat it. Everyone says the same about the rib tips - you'll get a few pieces of pure fatty gristle, but when you bite into one of the meaty ones, you forget all about them. There will always be disagreement among the Chicago foodies about the best local ribs, or even if Chicago has any decent ribs, but I'm glad I have, in my mind, the undisputed "best ribs on the north shore" close by. Ok, maybe just the best rib sauce on the north shore. I'm only talking about the original Evanston location, the Division and Halsted location is apparently a completely different story.

The large rib tips are served with crinkle cut fries and one slice of white bread and is enough to feed a serious eater for a dinner and the next days lunch.

More food blogs for the list.

Babe in the City - KL Kuala Lumpur

Bunnyfoot "swegan(swee-guhn): vegan in most things except sweets, and the occasional pizza too" San Francisco

Bunny Pie Chicago

Cake Fun "A collection of fun facts, projects, trivia, recipes and humor all cake and cookie related."

A Cooking Site

The Cooks Cottage Food in India

Cornichon "Tasting notes & culinary dispatches from Belltown and beyond"

Daily Gluttony Los Angeles

eatzybitzy Singapore

Ideas in Food "Improvisation and experimentation in the kitchen by Chefs Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot." Colorado. This is one of those blogs sure to inspire you, not just with its beautiful photography of beautiful plating, but also from the discussion of how these two chefs explore the melding of food inspiration.

Peasprout Spouts

A Perfect Pear A gastroenterologist in St. Paul, MN

The Pragmatic Chef

Seriously Good

Something's Cooking "The Kitchen Queens beat, eat, shake 'n bake their way through the culinternet."

Stephen Cooks

Writing On A Paper Napkin Sydney.

Two Down under wine blogs:
Appellation Australia "An exploration of Australian wine"

Pinot Island "The Tasmanian Wine Resource"

And a pile of food blogs:

alt.gourmet

The Burrito Blog

Cosmic Menu of Happiness U.K.

David Lebovitz Pastry Chef, food writer and European chocolate/bakery tour guide. Paris. This is a particular tasty blog.

The Kitchen Review "Cooking and eating in New York City since 8:30am this morning."

Lex Culinaria I'm not sure how this well-established, delicious looking blog keeps slipping by me. I could have sworn I listed it before.

Gothamist/food Normally I don't include just the food category section of a larger blog, but since Gothamist talks about food so much (and how can you not in NY?) I'll put 'em in.

mmm-yoso!!! "As in, yoso-silly, yoso-hungry, yoso-full, or best of all; mmm-delici-yoso!!!!! An Ex-Pat Kama'aina explores San Diego and points beyond."

Never trust a skinny chef "A once obese foodie takes on the culinary world." Atlanta.

Toast "To the attainable ideal of deciding what we will eat before we eat it."

We Like it Raw "The Raw Food Weblog"