I just got back to Chicago after a few fun filled days in Arizona working with the boys of Digestif. I met the chef, Payton Curry, back in October while we were both participating in the Food and Wine event, Eats3. I had invaded his kitchen to get ready for my chef demo and we pretty much just hit it off. Aside from the curly hair in common, we have similar styles. Our food is not overly fussy, our kitchens have a fun vibe while everyone in them is still focused on putting out great food, and we both like to have a good time but know when to get serious. So after a few days of hanging around we decided it would be fun for me to come back down in December and do a wine dinner.
 read more »

This week I was lucky enough to have my first experience cooking at the James Beard house in New York. James Beard was a huge influence on the culinary world, through his teaching, cookbooks and his love of food. Though he passed away over 20 years ago, his legacy lives on through the James Beard Foundation.
 read more »

I just got back from a great trip to Walla Walla, Washington. I will admit that part of the lure to the area is the fun of saying Walla Walla…but the real reason to visit are the amazing wines found in this region. Back in the early 90’s, there were around 15 wineries in the area. Now there are close to one hundred. Located about five hours East of Seattle it is a bit more remote than the very popular wine regions of Napa Valley and Sonoma which hopefully will guarantee that though it will most likely continue to grow, it will not become over-commercialized as some West Coast wine areas have.
 read more »

Last night was a great success for Common Threads. I am a big supporter of this charity and enjoy working with the women who run it. Back when I was a bit younger (just turned 32 today! Yikes) I helped organize a dinner supporting the charity where we invited a number of talented Chicago chefs all under 30 to participate. We each did a course that was paired with a wine chosen by Alpana Singh. The dinner was great and raised quite a bit of money for Common Threads.
 read more »

This week was filled with fun charity events in Chicago. The challenge was to make food for the various events out of my home (small Chicago apartment) kitchen.

The first event was a charity event at the Anti-Cruelty Society. I am a huge animal lover, though at the moment I have only my niece (sister’s dog) Callie. A little too nutty right now to take care of my own pet but I can visit with her whenever I need some entertainment.
 read more »