Between my two-week vacation and my early January move, I was not prepared for the first Chicago Food Swap event of 2016. In fact, I had been quite lax about promoting the swap and, as a result, it looked like we were going to have quite a low turnout. But then, a whole bunch of last-minute registrations came in, and a few people even showed ...
December Chicago Food Swap
The Chicago Food Swap celebrated its fourth anniversary on December 6 with an outstanding swap. There were new faces, old friends, delicious food and prizes. Yes, prizes! To mark the occasion, we had two culinary-themed door prizes at the December swap: the new KitchenAid Precision Press French press, which I gather is the gift for the at-home ...
Holiday Recipes with Stephanie Izard and Nancy Silverton
I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. In the pantheon of Chicago celebrity chefs, Stephanie Izard ranks among my favorites. Not only was Stephanie the first woman to win on “Top Chef,” my favorite television show, she is ...
October Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met this past weekend on a beautiful fall Sunday at the Peterson Garden Project's Community Cooking School. The group was made up almost entirely of veteran swappers, with only one or two new faces in the crowd. Having almost all experienced swappers in attendance certainly makes my job easier! The offerings were especially ...
A Trip to the Orchard and an Apple Recipe Round-Up
On the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, my family and some friends drove out to the country to go apple-picking. Apples, of course, are a traditional Rosh Hashanah food and there was something that just seemed right about spending the holiday together as a family outside on a beautiful fall day. My favorite spot to go apple-picking near Chicago is ...
Scenes from the Chicago Food + Wine Festival
The inaugural Chicago Food + Wine Festival took over Lincoln Park this weekend and judging by the enthusiasm of the crowd, Chicago was clearly hungry - pun very much intended - for an event of this kind. Perhaps because this was the first year, the crowds were not overwhelming. There were very few lines, except for highly-sought-after events like ...
August 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its August event on a perfect summer Saturday. A large group of returning swappers and some new faces joined together to trade and swap a diverse array of homemade and homegrown treats from backyard herbs and vegetables to South Asian curry and rice dishes to New York’s iconic black-and-white cookies. The offerings were so ...
July 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap met on July 18 for a warm midsummer swap that ended with a bang. Naturally, I am referring to the thunderstorm that hit just as everyone was leaving the swap. I don't know about everyone else, but I got drenched on the short walk to my car. Luckily, my swap items were all protected. Another reason to package your items ...
How to Shop at a Farmers Market
With May right around the corner, farmers' markets are starting to open up all around the country. Sadly, I still have a few more weeks until my beloved Oak Park Farmers' Market, home of delicious, freshly made doughnuts, begins. I can hardly contain my excitement. For those of you in warmer climes, the wait may be much shorter. As a home ...
April 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap's April event had a very special guest: food preservation expert Cathy Barrow of the blog Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen. Cathy is touring the country promoting her new, award-winning cookbook Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Practical Pantry and stopped by the Chicago Food Swap to sign some books and, yes, swap with us. Cathy had sent ahead ...
March 2015 Food Swap at The Chopping Block
What a difference a month makes! While we all had to trudge through a blizzard to make it to the February swap, it was sunny and mild in downtown Chicago the day of the March Chicago Food Swap. For this event, we returned to The Chopping Block, Chicago's premier recreational cooking school, located in the iconic Merchandise Mart. This was the ...
February 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
Last Sunday, February 15, was the February meeting of the Chicago Food Swap As I trudged through the snow, wind howling around me, on my way to the Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory Field House, I suddenly remembered that the 2014 February Chicago Food Swap took place in similarly bad weather. Note to self: perhaps skip February next ...
Chicago Restaurant Week 2015: Nightwood
My third and final 2015 Restaurant Week meal was lunch at Nightwood, the Pilsen restaurant owned and operated by the Lula Cafe team. Located on an out-of-the-way corner -- hey, at least there's street parking -- Nightwood is a pleasant spot with exposed brick walls, a windowed front wall and deeply 70's leather chairs. I gather the outdoor patio ...
Chicago Restaurant Week 2015: GT Fish & Oyster
Another day, another Restaurant Week meal. This time, my $22, pre-fixe lunch came courtesy of GT Fish & Oyster. This was my third visit to this nationally recognized, East Coast style seafood restaurant and once again, I was reminded why I love it. GT Fish & Oyster is one of the restaurants that does not condescend to its Restaurant ...
Better than Take-Out Vegetable Biryani
Sometimes the tail wags the dog around here. I had a big batch of cucumber and mint raita sitting in the refrigerator -- a recipe that I had developed for my upcoming cookbook on food swapping -- and needed to come up with a way to use it. I have always enjoyed heaping cool, refreshing raita on biryani, the spicy South Asian mixed rice dish, when ...
Chicago Restaurant Week 2015: Blackbird
Did you know that Chicago Restaurant Week is happening right now? From January 30-February 12, over two hundred and fifty restaurants in the city and suburbs — including some three and four-star restaurants — are offering special pre-fixe menus of three and four courses for $22 a person at lunch and $33 or $44 a person at dinner. (Tax, tip and ...
Game Day Recipes from Stephanie Izard
I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. In the pantheon of Chicago celebrity chefs, Stephanie Izard ranks among my favorites. Not only was Stephanie the first woman to win on "Top Chef," my favorite television show, she is ...
January 2015 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap started its fourth year off with a bang at the January food swap. A few timely mentions in the local press, such as the Chicago Reader and the Check Please Planner, brought a wave of new swappers who mixed right in with the returning veterans. And there was plenty of delicious food all around. One of the highlights of ...
Cooking Demo with Chef Takashi Yagihashi
I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Chicago is a city rich in celebrity chefs from Rick Bayless to Stephanie Izard. One of the international celebrity chefs that Chicago likes to claim as its own is Chef Takashi ...
November Chicago Food Swap Recap
The final meeting for 2014 of the Chicago Food Swap took place this past Sunday at Peterson Garden Project's Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory Field House. Despite freezing temperatures, snow flurries and parking woes, the event was a tremendous success. Everyone left laden down with delicious homemade and homegrown food and a warm ...
October 2014 Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap had its October event this past weekend. It was our second event in our new home, the Peterson Garden Project's Fearless Food Kitchen. As is so often the case, the offerings reflected the best of the season, from the tail end of backyard garden produce to Halloween-themed treats. The October swap was smaller than the ...
Cooking Demo with Rick Bayless 10/20
I am a member of the Everywhere Society and Everywhere has provided me with compensation for this post. However, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Chicago is a city rich in celebrity chefs, but perhaps none is as well known as Rick Bayless. Restauranteur, author, television star, Rick Bayless has been educating American audiences ...
September Chicago Food Swap Recap
Sunday marked the return of the Chicago Food Swap after a two-month break. The September swap was the first event in the Chicago Food Swap's new, permanent home, the Fearless Food Kitchen in the Broadway Armory field house. This roomy, light-filled teaching kitchen, operated by the community gardening nonprofit Peterson Garden Project, makes a ...
July Chicago Food Swap Recap
The Chicago Food Swap returned to Wicker Park, and the funky confines of co-working loft Free Range Office, for its July swap. It was a small but lively gathering peopled mostly by returning swappers with a few new faces scattered here and there. Located on the second floor of a converted glove factory, Free Range Office is filled with light and ...
Scenes from the Farmers Market
At least once every year, I like to bring my camera with me on one of my early Saturday morning trips to the Oak Park Farmers Market to capture the abundance. Mid-July is a heady time at the farmers market. The tables are groaning with fruit from the Michigan orchards. Stone fruits of all kinds, from cherries to apricots to peaches and plum, ...