Problem restoring from Time Machine in Snow Leopard software

I'm traveling abroad (in China), and when my MacBook Pro seemed very slow (but was still working), I ran Disc Utility and found HD was corrupt. Since I don't travel with installation discs, I took computer to an Apple Genius in Shanghai, who did a HD erase, and complete reinstallation of Snow Leopard with some recent updates. The computer works fine, and Disc Utility no longer reports corruption, but now (in a different city) I am trying to restore my system from a Time Machine backup. While I can see all the past files, when I click on the most recent update (or on any, for that matter), the Restore button continues to be grayed out so a restore cannot be done.

Also tried to do a Restore from Disc Utility, but can' drag anything into the Destination box, even though the Backup drive can be dragged to the Source box.

Anyone have suggestions with this so I can get back to my previous system status?

Try running Migration Assistant. The problem is that as far as Time Machine is concerned, you have a new machine.

Doing a "restore" (migration from your TM backup) should fix that, though be aware it might put everything in a separate account. If this happens, just moved the stuff you want to transfer into the "Shared" folder under Users, boot into the "new" (old) account and take from the shared folder and place as desired. Eventually you can kill the "old" (new) account and just use your restored previous account exclusively.

Excellent!!! It did the job without a hitch. Thanks.