Gifts from above: The Lake Elmo Inn's tradition of exchanging a drink for an ornamentThe Lake Elmo Inn's Christmas trees begin every year naked. The lonely twinkle lights that adorn their bare branches do little to help them stand out against the holiday decorations that will embellish the remainder of the restaurant once the season begins.

New Miyako inn gets green building ratingTorrance's newest inn, the Miyako Hybrid Hotel, has received a silver rating for its environmentally friendly design.

'Irish' food in Chicago isn't quite so in IrelandWhat, you may well ask, is Irish food? \"The Irish used to have a very rich, complex food culture, but that was hundreds of years ago,\" says writer Coleman Andrews. In The Country Cooking of Ireland (Chronicle Books, $50), he'scollected and refined more than 225 recipes, documenting both a historicand an emerging Irish cuisine. Both are pretty far from Chicago Irish fare.