Shelf Life: 'Dreaming in French'

It reads like the plot of a novel - three women from different backgrounds spend time in the early 20s in Paris, returning to the U.S. transformed.

Horror in the garden: Carnivorous plants take a bite out of pests

With their sweet fragrance and pretty colors, pitcher plants beckon, inviting insects to partake of what must be the most delicious nectar nestled in the depths of the wide open red and green lined mouth. But the slope is slippery and tiny plant tentacles carry the insect down into depths ma…

Local herb society crafts varied recipes from wild ingredients

What to many of us would look like a collection of weeds - after all, I have spent hours pulling chickweed from my gardens before learning that it is edible and tasty - are the foods that once made up the ingredients of ancestors' meals.

Mommy bloggers dish the dirt on parenthood

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had images of whipping up organic baby food in my food processor and saw myself dressed in Ralph Lauren pastels placing my child in a car seat in my Volvo station wagon. Sure, I didn’t have a Volvo or any expectations of getting one but I did have t…

'First Son: The Biography of Richard M. Daley'

Beaten by Harold Washington in the Democratic mayoral primary in 1983, Richard M. Daly threw his hat into the ring one more time after Washington's death in 1987.

Miller Beach Marketplace takes a step up

"In the next five years, I think Gary is going to be the coolest place in the world," Carmella Saraceno tells me as we sit at one of the cafe tables under a brightly colored beach umbrellas suspended from the ceiling of her recently opened Miller Beach Market Place.

International Antiques Fair brings rare finds to Chicago

This Thursday evening marks the beginning of the 16th Annual Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair.

Shelf Life: 'Snapper'

For the last decade Brian Kimberling has lived in Bath, England and before that years spent years in Mexico, Turkey and the Czech Republic teaching and developing websites. But he never forgot his Indiana roots and even now yearns for Indiana. In "Snapper" (Pantheon Books 2013; $24.95), his …

New book examines the post-closure fate of steel mill country

Any of us who grew up in the steel mill belt lining the shores of Lake Michigan knows how the downsizing and closing of the once powerful industry which employed hundreds of thousands and generations of families, was overwhelming.

Gardening for a well-stocked bar

When Amy Stewart orders a drink, she doesn’t consider how cooling a gin and tonic will be after a long hot day or about the sweet minty punch of a Cuban-style rum mojito.

Service dogs lend a helping paw

While most pooches snooze on the couch dreaming of what table scraps they'll be able to score that evening, other canines are earning kudos by helping others.

Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family

Many memoirs seem to be about overcoming a dysfunctional past but what stands out in "Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family" by Ezekiel Emanuel is how much love, structure and encouragement the siblings received.

Shelf Life: 'Evil in All Its Disguises'

In Hilary Davidson’s third mystery "Evil in All Its Disguises" featuring travel writer Lily Moore, it’s not all Champagne and good times.

Delicate sweets: Macarons are a delicious spring pastry

It was love at first bite - two tiny circles of meringue, their centers nicely chewy, sandwiching a filling of sweetly flavored buttercream - think miniature whoopie pies but much more sublime.

Author talks about how we feed ourselves and others

Winner of the 2012 James Beard award for Best Individual Food Blog, Elissa Altman first started writing her Poor Man’s Feast blog in 2008.

Anne Willan's latest cookbook traces history of recipes and menus

Here we peruse four centuries of gastronomy including the heavily spiced sauces of medieval times, the massive roasts of King Louis XIV and the elegant 18th century chilled desserts.

Fernwood Symposium: Growing and consuming the best fruits and vegetables

Thomas Jefferson’s revolutionary credentials go far beyond Founding Father and authoring the Declaration of Independence; he also inspired a revolutionary cuisine according to Peter Hatch, who for 35 years was the Director of Gardens and Grounds for Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation.

'Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age

Suffered heart palpitations last time you clicked open your cell phone bill? Wondered why your unlimited data package morphed into a monthly limit that seemingly reaches the top just a week or so into your billing cycle? And why can your son’s college roommate get good reception on home visi…

Storm Kings: The Untold Story of America's First Tornado Chasers

Lee Sandlin grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but he had a fascination with his father's stories about the tornados that roared across the flat plains of rural Oklahoma.

Geneology research uncovers hidden history

I have, it seems, learned more about my family history in less than an hour than from half listening to old stories for most of my life.

Lansing foodie turns out winning recipes in Katie's Passion Kitchen

Growing up in a family that took their love of food up more than a notch or two, Katie Fioretti always knew in the spring she and her father would go out to hunt for the wild asparagus as they first popped out of the ground.

Nigella shares 'Easy Italian-Inspired Recipes'

Refusing to let herself be airbrushed into a waif for her newest culinary competition, ABC’s “The Taste” with Anthony Bourdain, Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey, Nigella Lawson likes to show that she appreciates good food.

Chicago's cable car system uncovered

The term cable cars, so quaint, picturesque and San Francisco. But back in the late 1800s, Chicago streets rumbled with the sounds of the largest cable car system the world had ever seen.

Indiana's ties to Underground Railroad

Other historic river cities in Indiana such as Madison and New Albany were also important stops on the Underground Railroad.

The South Shore's hidden architectural wonders

Northwest Indiana and Michigan are home to edifices designed by architecture stars such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Thomas Edison and Edward D. Dart.

Endangered Architecture

Endangered buildings are sometimes in the eyes and beliefs of the beholders.

Shelf Life: Author explores hidden history of "Sealab"

The 1960s were a time of watching rockets launch from Cape Canaveral, blasting men into space as we raced the Soviet Union to reach the moon. On TV, we could see hunky blonde Lloyd Bridges fight crime while swimming beneath the waters in the hit show “Sea Hunt,” introducing Americans, and th…

Conversation hearts still all the rage for Valentine's Day

File it under the category of “who would’ve thought” but the best selling Valentine’s confection isn’t chocolate covered cherries, truffles, butter creams covered in chocolate or turtles. Instead, it’s those pastel colored heart shaped candies printed with little sweet sayings such as “Be Mine.”

Miller artist has the need to create

Creating has always been the driving force in Leila Edwards' life.

Lincoln: A behind the scenes historical perspective

During the tumultuous three months before he was assassinated on April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln employed the type of machinations that would have been the envy of any of today’s political operatives. Eventually, as portrayed in the Academy Award nominated movie "Lincoln", he was able to per…

Best-selling author's inspiration ripped from the headlines

Gone Girl tells the story of a couple who in the financial downturn decide to leave a glamorous life in Manhattan and start over in a small Missouri hometown.

Shelf Life: Blackett's War

By spring of 1941, their seas decimated by the onslaught of Nazi U-boats, the British War Cabinet changed tacks by hiring former navy officer Patrick Blackett as director of the World War II antisubmarine effort. Blackett, who would go on to win a Nobel Prize, gathered up a team of scientis…

The Mardi Gras state of mind

Over the years, the Mardi Gras has become synonymous with New Orleans, that most French of America’s cities. But the holiday, which started this year on Jan. 12 and ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, is also a state of mind. Mardi Gras enthusiasts don’t have to travel south, be…

The Mardi Gras state of mind

Mardi Gras enthusiasts don't have to travel south, because some of the traditions and foods of New Orleans can be found along Lake Michigan's shore.

Alternative treatments for heart disease

Alternative treatments can have a place for treating heart disease.

Women's heart disease can bring unexpected symptoms

Six years ago, Jennifer Buss began to feel ill as she drove her car. Just as she was able to pull off the road and stop, she passed out. A trip to a cardiologist revealed she needed immediate open heart surgery.

Local author draws inspiration from gardening

An avid gardener, Linda Tsoutsouris created and maintained elaborate perennial gardens, vegetable gardens and rose gardens at her home in Valparaiso. A former elementary school teacher in Munster, Tsoutsouris also wrote romance novels set in Indiana and Illinois in the 1800s.

Miller restaurants boast historic pasts, great flavors

Summer days at Miller Beach meant sandy feet, frazzled hair and the glow of too much sun and water.

Sacher Torte recipe is still a highlight at Bit of Swiss

During the summers spent in an enclave of old cottages on Lake Michigan in the Grand Mere area off the highway near Stevensville, summer treats meant going to Bit of Swiss Bakery, then owned by Hans Kottman and his wife Mary.

Celebrating the holiday season with homemade tamales

Tamales are a food that often graces Mexican tables during the festive season. It's a culinary tradition that brings families together to make the ethnic specialty.

Author sings the praises of cinnamon rolls

Who doesn't love a freshly baked cinnamon roll covered with gooey white frosting? Just the scent alone can send many of us into a culinary ecstasy.

Historic preservationist tells history of area parks in new book

In the 1830s, Chicago, though still a village, had aspirations not only to become a city, but one with glorious parks as well.

SHELF LIFE: The Minimalists explore simplicity as lifestyle

There’s an old joke about how a millionaire on vacation in Mexico tries to convince a fisherman that he should start a business selling his fish, work 60 to 70 hours a week running it, make tons of money and then he can do anything in the world he wants.

New book exposes Lincoln's obscure early career

I had never realized that Abraham Lincoln was a captain in the Black Hawk War in Western Illinois in 1832 – indeed, I had never even heard of that war. But its impact on the young Lincoln, who witnessed atrocities against civilians by Native Americans and who also had to protect an elderly P…

Author explores the partnership between Chicago chefs and the farmers who grow food for them

Profiling 25 Midwestern farms in her book Locally Grown: Portraits of Artisanal Farms from America’s Heartland, Anna Blessing tells us the story of each.

Old-style Sacher torte

During the summers spent in an enclave of old cottages on Lake Michigan in the Grand Mere area off the highway near Stevensville, summer treats meant going to Bit of Swiss Bakery, then owned by Hans Kottman and his wife Mary. Kottman, who hailed from Austria, had first been a baker back in t…

Ina Garten’s new cookbook perfect for making mistake proof meals

You buy the ingredients, maybe spending a little more than you should – but the recipe looks great and you’re having friends over you want to impress. Back home in your kitchen you start cooking following the recipe step-by-step.

Cookbooks are perfect to add to the holiday list

As a food writer and someone who just loves to eat, I’m often asked what the new best cookbooks are. But for that type of recommendation, going beyond the personal, I turn to my New York friends in the cookbook publishing business. Based on their responses, here are my suggestions for some o…

'Smitten Kitchen' blogger and author offers perfect recipes, solidarity for home cooks

Deb Perelman, named the top food blogger of 2011 by Saveur magazine and praised by Martha Stewart, doesn’t work out of a swanky, gleaming high-tech kitchen.

A special country road drive

I went to visit my friend Jackie Hughes who lives in Elkhart, Indiana last week and she and I took a ride through Amish Country to a bakery near Shipshewana she’s been telling me about. Called the Country Lane Bakery, it is, of course, on a back road and even though Jackie has been there man…