Most Wednesdays during the growing season I go to the Green City Market in Lincoln Park. It is, of course, where I shop for fruits and vegetables. But I also like to go to the free chef demonstrations that the market hosts. Because these take place on Wednesday mornings, the crowd tends to be mostly retirees, …

I love salted caramel. You love salted caramel. We all love salted caramel. Or most of us do anyway. It’s getting to the point where it’s unusual to see the word caramel not preceded by some salty adjective. But what if you could take that rich, creamy dark salted caramel and add some notes of umami? …

It may not seem like it, what with all the cakes and cookies and bars and brownies and pots de creme and cocktails, but I spend a lot of time thinking about wellness. I haven’t always been that way. I was a habitual lunch-skipper in high school (who occasionally pooled fries with friends). I subsisted mostly on grilled cheese for …

I spent the entirety of the week before last in a baking marathon. These brown butter apple almond cakes were just one of five different desserts plus a two-tier cake I made. I was tasked with creating and producing a dessert buffet for our friends’ Traci and Dan’s wedding. Traci loves good food and is …

“[T]hat old September feeling, left over from school days, of summer passing, vacation nearly done, obligations gathering, books and football in the air… Another fall, another turned page: there was something of jubilee in that annual autumnal beginning, as if last year’s mistakes had been wiped clean by summer.” Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose Reading: Helen …

When the folks at Carpano asked if I’d like to try a bottle of their newest vermouth–Carpano Dry–I jumped at the opportunity. I’ve long been a fan of their sweet vermouths, Carpano Antica and Punt e Mes (Carpano Antica has been a staple in my Manhattans for years). I was curious to see what their …