Food Features

Untitled Document Thirty years ago, it was Chicago’s most romantic restaurant. Today, Geja’s Café is still a serious contender for the title. For my husband, Peter, and I, Geja’s still conjures up a host of happy memories because that’s where’d we’d go several times a year to reconnect romantically when his dental-school pressures, our new […]

Untitled Document  “One of the main reasons restaurant food tastes so much better in America than home cooking,” says renowned chef Mario Batali on his Food Network show, Molto Mario, “is that chefs aren’t afraid to really brown things.” It’s a mantra he repeats on any show in which he’s browning anything. Batali knows what […]

Untitled Document We’ve just taken a vacation that’s become a midwinter tradition. We had a wonderful time, and afterward, as always, we were refreshed, relaxed, and reinvigorated, not least because we had no fatigue from a long car trip, worries about bad weather, road conditions, or flight delays. In fact, we never even left our […]

Untitled Document It was something everyone had in common. We’d gathered last summer for a conference on “Food Memories.” Everyone was interested in preserving and promoting local foods and their traditions against the onslaught of industrial agriculture and mass-produced prefab food, but our backgrounds were diverse. There were wealthy people for whom promoting sustainable food […]

Untitled Document After years of ignominious obscurity, the University of Illinois football team was going to the 1984 Rose Bowl! For my husband, Peter, and me, the timing was perfect. Neither of us had ever been a big football fan. During our tenure at the university’s Champaign-Urbana campus, we hadn’t gone to a single game. […]

Untitled Document There are two times when those who celebrate Christmas open their presents: Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Well, not exactly. Christmas gift-giving customs vary around the world, and many of them aren’t even on Christmas Eve or Day, which is kind of nice, separating the spiritual and religious aspects at least somewhat from […]

Untitled Document ’Tis the season to celebrate. In days gone by, exotic specialties from far away were eagerly anticipated once-a-year treats and highlights of holiday meals. Children were thrilled to get a single orange in their Christmas stockings. Wooden barrels packed with oysters layered carefully with ice were shipped by rail to the Midwest for […]

Untitled Document Scenario No. 1: It’s 4 p.m. on a Saturday. You’re standing in an incredibly long checkout line with your contribution to the Secret Santa gift exchange at tonight’s Christmas party, and you’ve just remembered that you’re supposed to bring an appetizer as well. You’re already running behind: You still have to battle the […]

Untitled Document “The heavenly aroma still hung in the house. But it was gone, all gone! No turkey! No turkey sandwiches! No turkey salad! No turkey gravy! Turkey hash! Turkey à la king! Or gallons of turkey soup! Gone, all gone!” — Ralphie Parker, A Christmas Story When the Bumpuses’ dogs sneaked in and dragged […]