GO TO MARKET — The popular weekly open-air farmers' market that graced Southfield last summer is back, with more vendors under canopies outside the Millennium Centre Theatre. The market will be open every 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays, outside the theater, 15600 J.L. Hudson Drive, Southfield. For more information, call 248-796-5196.
PUBLIC SERVICE — Downtown Detroit's Hard Rock Café will be offering "public servants" — including police, firefighters and medics — the eatery's "legendary burgers" for just 71 cents, honoring the chain's founding in 1971. The "Burger Badge Bash" promotion takes place Saturday, June 14, 45 Monroe St., Detroit; 313-964-7625.
FLOOR SHOW — Ferndale's Affirmations community center will welcome the food and flair of a rhythm and blues supper club, a collaboration between "Chef Stef," who'll prepare a three-course tapas meal, and Detroit's Sky Covington, who'll perform live jazz and blues for the dinner crowd. Saturday, June 14, 8-10 p.m.; $20; tickets available in advance; at 290 W. Nine Mile Rd., Ferndale; 248-398-7105.
EAT THE PAGE
We're suckers for a good book that has anything to do with cooking outdoors. Bobby Flay's Grill It! (Clarkson Potter, $35), his fourth tome on the subject, is one of his best, partly due to the enticing full-color illustrations. Flay is a sauce master, relying frequently on spicy Southwestern ingredients to set his creations apart. His cooking shows on the Food Network will give you even more incentive to buy his book. He makes it look so easy. Try grilled vegetables and desserts, like the grilled nectarines with maple crème fraîche.
A TASTY BEVERAGE
Sweaty summer looms, and the Vermont-based Magic Hat Brewing Company is stocking local shelves with "Summer Variety Show." It's their warm-weather variety 12-pak, replete with low-alcohol quaffers like the seasonal "Hocus Pocus," a cool and dry American-style wheat ale that finishes with a mild citrus pucker. Or try the latest "Odd Notion" one-off, a dark, British-style mild ale with the alcohol percentage of "light" beer yet crowded with nutty aromas. Don't let the deep mahogany color fool you, this beer drinks like a porch breeze.
IT WORKS
Any sharp cook knows that using a dull knife is an easy way to cut yourself, because it requires more pressure and is more likely to slip. Kyocera's new steel knife sharpener, an odd looking tool, sports an advanced ceramic sharpening wheel, a material close in hardness to diamond, said to provide a razor-like edge on all steel knives with little effort. Cut through ribs with ease and carve up a chicken like a pro. The ergonomic handle prevents slipping. At $17.95, this is a steel, er, a steal.
