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Back to the Heartland: May 2012

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Back to the Heartland. Monday, May 21, 2012. Notes from a pie crawl. Alright, so it's clear that I'm a pie person. I mean, cake's ok but it's basically a pile of sugar compared to a buttery, flaky pastry stuffed with sweet fruit. Those in the know have been predicting pie's ascent as the dessert of choice for a while now, even going so far as to pronounce cupcakes dead. Pie Stop #1 - Bang Bang Pie Company (Logan Square). We started at Bang Bang Pie Company. Which I wrote about back in November. On the me...

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Back to the Heartland: October 2011

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Back to the Heartland. Tuesday, October 25, 2011. How does your urban garden grow? Me and Grandpa, in matching overalls, sometime round 1981. I chucked it all, and resorted to a summer and fall using the same old grocery store dried herbs and vegetables. There's a food revolution. Under foot but sadly I wasn't going to be a part of it. And, at the rate the global population. A real life fruit? I plucked it right away and headed straight to the kitchen to - you guessed it! I'm resolved to try again next y...

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Back to the Heartland: November 2011

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Back to the Heartland. Friday, November 18, 2011. Pie in the sky. Pie in the sky, or on the corner in your hipster hood. The timeless art of pie baking, like all things homespun, homemade and handed down. Is being revived and refashioned in kitchens across the country. In New York you can find the Elsen sisters serving up their grandmother's pies. With new flavor twists; their shop, Four and Twenty Blackbirds. It's true, but get greedy and the flavor you end up with tastes more like humble. Pie also conn...

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Back to the Heartland: January 2013

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Back to the Heartland. Thursday, January 17, 2013. Featured: Stafford's Perry Hotel in Petoskey Michigan. Shortly after our wedding in November, I was contacted by the Stafford's Perry Hotel. About sharing pictures and details from our day on their wedding blog. I was happy to do this! We had a really excellent experience there, and everything - from the rooms to the staff to the event itself - was top notch. The Perry Hotel, in Hemingway's heyday. You can read their entry on us here. 2012 was the three ...

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Back to the Heartland: January 2012

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Back to the Heartland. Tuesday, January 24, 2012. If you're like me, you don't know a bobbin. After receiving a hand-me-down sewing machine for Christmas, (to provide some context, my grandma looked it over and commented that she hadn't used a model like that in "decades." Ouch.) I set out to change that. I signed up for a beginner's "Sewing 101" class at The Needle Shop. At the SWEAT SHOP. The Needle Shop seeks to grow such a community in Chicago, and offers pretty robust class offerings. Making somethi...

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Back to the Heartland: April 2012

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Back to the Heartland. Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Taste of the Nation Chicago. I'm helping with this year's Taste of Nation Chicago. Charity event and will be contributing regularly to their blog. Please follow along if you're so inclined - Share Our Strength is a terrific organization working to end childhood hunger in the U.S. by 2015. Friday, April 20, 2012. Postcards: Gunflint Trail and Grand Marais, Minnesota. When I booked our trip to Gunflint Lodge. Driving along the iron-ore red Gunflint Trail.

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Back to the Heartland: 2012: GO JUMP IN THE LAKE.

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Back to the Heartland. Wednesday, January 9, 2013. 2012: GO JUMP IN THE LAKE. In my experience, it takes about 3 years to feel like you really belong someplace. Go jump in the lake, says one Chicagoan to the other. I'm so glad I finally did. Woke early on a Saturday and hiked through mounds of snow to reach my destination, a warm basement with six sewing machines. And a set of eager seamstresses-to-be. Completely entranced by Race. From the duet performance during Winter Fire. At AWP and found some unexp...

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Back to the Heartland: June 2011

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Back to the Heartland. Thursday, June 23, 2011. Yarn bombing: when domesticity and rebellion collide. Image taken from The New York Times. Who knew knitting could be so gangsta? On June 11, crafters across the country and beyond "yarn bombed". Objects in their neighborhoods, cities, streets and buildings. The art form is said to have originated around 2005 in Austin, TX when shop owner Magda Sayeg. Yarn bombs don't neccessarily have to be large-scale pieces. Some of the most charming projects I've se...

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Back to the Heartland: May 2011

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Back to the Heartland. Saturday, May 21, 2011. Go progressive: spring dinner party. Grandma in her kitchen, 1951. I know not everyone will think this sounds like a charming relic from the bucolic past. But my mother's memories aren't of harried aunts swirling around a hot kitchen, or of stale gatherings she was anxious to escape. She remembers the parties as lively and fun, a chance to play with her cousins' new toys and also show off her own. For her, the food came second to the company. We sampled as w...