When a staff becomes a family.

As small business owners, there are things  that frustrate us on a regular basis. Mostly wearing too many hats and not having enough time to fulfill all of our jobs in a timely manner. The rewards, however, at the end of the day, far outweigh the negatives. If you are very lucky, you get a crew that clicks and becomes its own family. This photo was taken at a baby shower for one of our Old Town crew, Madeline. The fact that even the male co-workers are in attendance genuinely show their affection for our new Mom, her baby Madison was born yesterday. (Although free drinks probably helped insure their presence!)  When you have a crew that enjoys and looks out for one another, they are truly a pleasure to be around.  Laughter in the workplace among employees that like each other is music to our ears. Again, like Mom and Dad, when laughter turns to silliness, we have to step in and gets the kids back to focus on work. Don't tell our staff, but this is the scolding that makes us feel like we really are a family!

Visiting A Farmer's Market on Vacation?

I admit, it might seem a bit strange to seek out a farmer's market while on a hotel based vacation. The reason you go to a farmer's market is to buy the fresh produce and food you are planning to turn into delicious nature-inspired dishes over the next few days. Really fresh food requires only the slightest of preparation, nature delivers things that are pretty darned tasty when they are first harvested! So what is point in admiring food you are not actually able to cook with? A good market is sooo much more than just what the vendors are selling. It is about the connection to the land, the farmers, the food community that enjoys the market, the tastes, the musicians, the children and even the dogs. The people you intermingle with in a market community  will usually give you the best tourist experience a city unknowingly offers. You all have something in common, and it is easy to get the folks here to share stories, and cooking tips.

A Fond Farewell to a Longstanding Customer

This past Monday, June 1^st, my husband and partner, Tom, was working the Evanston shop. We rehashed the day in the evening, as we often do when working in different shops. He said his day was a pretty difficult day overall, the manager had the day off, and many Monday-is-the-day-when-everything-goes-wrong type things occurred.   Then something happened late in the day to remind him of the reason we love this little business.  Why we are so proud of it, and also,  so humbled by the way in which our customers enjoy our products.  

Winter is Banished, Spring/Summer Full Speed Ahead - Tell Tail Signs!

When you live in a climate which seems to have a never-ending winter, you can’t help but get excited when the first signs of Spring arrive. Signs like tulips and daffodils are obvious signs. One of my favorite signs is when the Chicago Botanic Garden announces their annual plant sale. This is one of my favorite days of the whole year, and it has become my own personal tradition.

ASTA Conference (American Spice Trade Association)

We are currently on our way to

Tucson

, for the ASTA (American Spice Trade Association) annual meeting and trade show. We are very excited to attend this conference, as it gives us the opportunity to meet some of the world’s top suppliers of spices. There are many educational seminars and current crop reports. Hopefully there is some good and spicy food!  While the world of spices has a history as long as the history of the world, innovations in crop growing and harvesting are always taking place, and we need to be knowledgeable about this.

Gale Gand hosts book signing at The Spice House

We were delighted to host Gale Gand for a book signing and recipe tasting for her new book, Gale Gands’s Brunches, this past Thursday. Our little shops host a number of cookbook authors throughout the year, and we always feel very fortunate to be considered as an author location. We try very hard to make our signings special events.

 

Green City Market Chefs' Annual Barbecue Festival 2009

Even though the trees are just beginning to show glimpses of green, plans have long been underway for one of our favorite events of the year, the annual Green City Market Chefs' Barbecue Picnic. This year the event will be held on July 16th, so be sure and save the date. I don't imagine that most of the public has any idea what goes into putting an event of this magnitude together. Luckily, two of our favorite chef people, Carrie Nahabedian and Sarah Stegner, start the ball rolling by enlisting all of their high end chef colleagues. We have quite the line up already, with almost 50 super chefs on board! Next Carrie and Michael Nahabedian generously host all these chefs to a lovely brunch at NAHA. I feel so honored to be able to join this group of dynamic culinary people. What a treat.

State Muffins?

Recently we were playing a food trivia game. The question was what type of muffin is the Minnesota state muffin? Huh? Do we have state muffins? Well the answer was blueberry and no, alas, we do not all have state muffins. Research of state foods turns up some interesting categories, and some states are way more ambitious than others in claiming foodstuffs as their own.

Chicago, City of 10,000 Potholes

Los Angeles, city of the angels. Chicago, city of 10,000 pot holes. Has the same lovely cadence, but diametrically opposing images! We recently received an email from our alderman requesting our patience with pot hole repair, as the city has 10,000 pot holes which requires some time to fill in. I started thinking about this, and it seemed to me that number was, in actuality, a VERY positive spin on the number of pot holes. Indeed, upon investigating, an article in the Chicago Tribune states that the city has fixed 280,000 pot holes since December. This apparently is about 50 million dollars worth of repair. In a brilliant marketing strategy, Kentucky Fried Chicken offered to fill in these pot holes with only one slight catch.....

Attended a cooking demo by Grant Achatz last night

I had the opportunity to attend a cooking demo/lecture last night at Now Were Cooking, a lovely cooking school very close  to our Evanston shop location. It was a rare appearance out of the Alinea kitchen for hard working Sorcerer/Chef Grant Achatz. It was a very thought provoking presentation, I think you could call it both Food for Thought and, on Grant's part, Thought for Food.