Our holiday celebrations are shaping up pretty much the same way they do every year. Well, actually, things have been on the crazy busy side for us lately, even by our standards, so Hanukkah got the most perfunctory nod. But we’ll make up for it by celebrating Christmas as generations of Jewish families have—and as we always do. Continue reading “Traditions and non-food food for thought”
For the second time in as many weeks, we did a weekend road trip to upstate New York. About 1,500 miles in three days, part two of the daughter move. And while it was tiring—besides the driving, there was the loading and unloading of boxes and bags, a bookcase, a bike and countless things not starting with B—just looking at the photo above has me ready to get in the car again. Continue reading “Road trips and dining at the bar”
Ten bucks can buy any number of little indulgences. In the hands of Feeding America, it can also feed 100 hungry people.
It was recently announced that, by 2020, a woman’s face will grace our ten-dollar bills. That got me thinking about what a Hamilton (or Tubman or Roosevelt or…?) will get you these days. Continue reading “What $10 can buy—and what it can give”
Okay, this sucks hard. Blue Kitchen is so broken at the moment that we don’t even know what all is wrong with it. We do know that you can’t click through on old posts, and we can’t reply to comments. Hang in there. We’ll be back soon.
We like kitchen stuff. We don’t need to own it all, but we just like being around it, looking at it and talking to people who like it as much as we do. So attending the International Home + Housewares Show every year is like the best school field trip from childhood memory. Continue reading “Cool kitchen gear alert: the 2015 Housewares Show is coming to Chicago”
OKAY, IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE. I could post a recipe here, I suppose. But even if you were inclined to add it to what you have already planned, would you have the time, energy and open stores to track down ingredients and put it together? Yeah, I didn’t think so. Instead, I’m going to share a holiday story with you. Continue reading “Christmas memory leftovers”
No recipe this week. Just some random thoughts on Thanksgiving, food and family.
We had a full house this Thanksgiving weekend. Both daughters were in town, as was another guest—quite a crowd for our two-bedroom apartment. With an inflatable mattress, the living room was pressed into part-time duty as a bedroom. The five of us shared our apartment’s one bathroom. The more skittish of our two cats often found herself trapped behind closed bedroom doors. Transportation for various needs involved scheduling turns with our one car, walking or taking public transportation. And we all loved it. Continue reading “Plenty to be thankful for on Thanksgiving”
No technical difficulties. Life is just being a little too interesting right now to put together a post. Everybody’s okay, but there is just way too much going on. I won’t bore you with details or excuses (and I think any litany of excuses should be required by law to end with “and the sun was in my eyes”). I’ll just say come back next week for a fresh recipe.
What we eat doesn’t just affect our health—it affects the health of the planet. Two recent articles highlight serious food production problems and possible solutions.
Want to help improve the planet’s health? Eat less beef and more chicken. That’s the assessment of James Hamblin’s most recent piece for The Atlantic, “Meats: A Health Hierarchy.” He backs it up with some powerful numbers, like the fact that farming cattle produces about four times as much greenhouse gas as does poultry or fish. To explain the impact of this much greenhouse gas, Hamblin quotes Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the Environmental Working Group: “If every American stopped eating beef tomorrow and started eating chicken instead—which I don’t expect—that would be the equivalent of taking 26 million cars off the road.” Continue reading “What we’re reading: chicken vs. beef and improving fish farming”
These days, I skip breakfast. This is shocking to my sister, who says, “How can you do that? It’s one of the three most important meals!” But I just, oh, I just can’t.
As it happened, the other day, we had to drive up to the North Shore to take care of some errands and see some folks. So by the time we got to the Old Orchard mall, it was late morning and I was good and hungry. Continue reading “The spread of the new: when big restaurant chains get it right, everyone wins”