When my husband and I first met I was living in Chicago in a minuscule apartment that was a mass of code violations. I loved the place in spite of its peeling linoleum and lack of ventilation, mainly because of the tiny patio in front. It was April when I moved in and before long […]
Food & Drink
Posted inFood & Drink
Beans, for hard times
My year working as a chef in Oklahoma City is coming to a close. The restaurant that dominated my life for 60 hours a week had to shutter and furlough its staff three weeks ago, and my newly acquired free time is being spent downsizing my belongings and packing for a new life living in […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Joys of backyard chickens
Not long ago I was sitting on my grandma’s sofa, flipping through the pages of Women’s Day magazine. I stumbled upon an article about zero waste recipes that use up every part of an ingredient, and I was impressed at the progressive, forward-thinking attitude conveyed in this mainstream magazine. Food waste is a major issue […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Homemade pan pizza
“I figured if we won’t eat it during a pandemic, we never will!,” remarked a friend during a recent Zoom chat happy hour. We’d been discussing the “interesting” meals we’d managed to come up with during this time of shifting shopping and cooking habits. The far recesses of cupboards everywhere are seeing light for the […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Support local restaurants
Restaurants, caterers, breweries and wineries with delivery or curbside pickup. Here is the most recent list of “Open For Business” restaurants, caterers, wineries and breweries. CLICK HERE If you see something that needs to be updated or don’t see your location listed, email marketing@illinoistimes.com Please support the sponsors below. Be sure and ask for an […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Backyard baked beans
Maybe it’s the pandemic talking, but I can’t remember the little blue flowers in my front yard ever looking so vivid, or the sun on my face feeling this blissful. I’m grateful for this new season like never before. As the temperature slowly nudges its way out of the refrigeration zone, I’ve been outside as […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Cooking your way through a crisis
There’s nothing like a pandemic to make us realize how fragile we are. It is quite unsettling to realize how unprepared our governing bodies and health care services were as they try to manage this crisis. We look to them for guidance and the best advice they are able to offer is to wash our […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Still open for business?
A new website, SpringfieldZoom.com, will consolidate business information across Sangamon county to keep consumers apprised of the status of their favorite local businesses and their services in one, easily searchable place. Mark Roberts III, owner of GoWeb1 and AlertsMadeEasy.com, said the idea came to him last week after the governor announced school closures. “I was […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Recipes for a lockdown
It was still dark when I parked my car in the nearly empty parking lot. As I walked into the grocery store the barest shimmer of dawn was just beginning to peek out from around the clouds. Inside it was nearly empty, save for a few employees dotted around the store like little islands, unpacking […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Rethinking hummus
Todd Snider is an American singer-songwriter whose music has been described as a combination of Americana, alt-country and folk. I met Todd in 2017 when he was lead singer of the Hard Working Americans, a side project of some of the members of the rock band Widespread Panic. I had driven my bus down to […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Hail the humble lentil
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” We’ve heard it time and time again, but Hippocrates’ words seem to ring especially true now, during these last frigid months of winter. It’s easy to feel out of balance when sunshine is fleeting and comfort is what we crave. Unfortunately, the insidiously delicious winter […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Home-brewed kombucha
The end of our one-year lease in Oklahoma City is approaching and we are beginning the process of boxing up our belongings and deep-cleaning the apartment. We have a $1,000 security deposit on the line, and we’ve been told that our landlord is super picky. The apartment has been well-maintained and is generally spotless… except […]
