Peter Glatz

I grew up in Arlington Heights, a suburb about 30 miles from Chicago. Depending on traffic, driving downtown could take up to an hour, so our trips into the city were infrequent and usually reserved for special occasions. Once a year for my birthday, my father would take me to one of Chicago’s museums or […]

It was 1984. We had just bought our first house, an old farmhouse built in the late 1800s. The kitchen was outdated and needed renovation. There wasn’t a range hood over the stove, and over the years, the ceiling and cabinets had acquired a dingy brownish-grey patina from the buildup of decades of smoke and […]

Though it’s only the middle of September, Oktoberfest officially begins this weekend. Over six million people will be attending Munich’s annual beer bash which goes on for 18 days. Oktoberfest has spread across the globe, with major celebrations taking place in such diverse places as Brazil, Australia, China, Argentina, Japan, South Africa and Hong Kong, […]

Summer’s end is just around the bend. My tomatoes and cucumbers are starting to get scarce, but the capsicum plants I’ve been faithfully tending are heavy with peppers and ablaze with color. It’s time to preserve some of this bounty for enjoyment over the winter months. Homemade giardiniera is a delicious way to preserve the […]

I have fond memories of dining at the old Baur’s Restaurant just south of the Statehouse back in the early 80s. Surrounded by legislators, lobbyists and journalists, Baur’s was our special occasion restaurant in our early years in Springfield. I even took our young daughter there for a birthday date and ordered the chateaubriand for […]

One of my daily tasks at my first restaurant job was to make a “green sauce” to accompany our bison or quail dish. I never had a specific recipe to work from, just a general formula. Since our restaurant was a “farm-to-table” concept, I made my green sauce with whatever seasonal herbs our farmers brought […]

Look what they done to my song ma Look what they done to my song Well it’s the only thing That I could do half right And it’s turning out all wrong ma Look what they done to my song The words to this song by the singer-songwriter Melanie popped into my head as I […]

Although Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873, the old Japanese 24-season lunisolar calendar is still used to celebrate birthdays and cultural events. July 7 is Shsho or “small heat day” when the “warm winds blow, and young hawks learn to fly.” In modern times, July 7 is also known as Hiyashi Chuka Day. Hiyashi […]

Imagine what life was like around here in the 50s. I’m not talking about the 1950s when I was born. I’m talking about a hundred years before that, in the 1850s. Back then, all of Springfield’s public water came from a single pump on the southwest corner of the town square. That’s where you got […]

When big box stores started putting local mom-and-pop shops out of business, our communities lost many experts and artisans. As local hardware stores, grocers and bakeries closed, we no longer had access to their knowledge and information. In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of locally owned artisanal businesses, including, thankfully, butcher shops. […]