Open House Chicago (OHC), now in its eighth year, is for anyone who has ever walked past a building, questioning what it was like inside, wanted to investigate a neighborhood and understand its history and visit spaces and places in the city never before explored. “OHC is a showcase to understand the basic fabric of…
Category: History
Queretaro: Colonial Charm in the Highlands of Mexico
My first morning in Queretaro, about a 90 minute drive north of Mexico City, I walked along the cobblestone streets in the city’s historic center to the fairy tale castle-like La Casa de la Marquesa, once a private home built in the 1756, now a restaurant and hotel. The menu reflects the vast citrus groves,…
Silver & Tequila in the Sierra Madres: The Tale of San Sebastian de Oeste
High in the Sierra Madres, we follow the twisting road from Puerto Vallarta and the seaside on our way to San Sebastian de Oeste. Crossing the long spanned bridge over Rio Ameca, the road curves around a ridge and into the tiny village of La Estancia and Hacienda San Sebastián, a family owned raicilla and…
South Bend’s Magnificent Tippecanoe Place
Built in 1889, Tippecanoe Place, a fine dining restaurant in South Bend is an elaborately gabled and turreted 24,000-square-foot Richardsonian Romanesque-style house which belonged to Clem Studebaker, one of the Studebaker auto magnates. Perfectly preserved, it’s about what having it all meant back in the late 1800s. With 40 rooms, 20 fireplaces and ball room,…
A Sumptuous Gathering of Seasonal Recipes, Culinary Poetry and Literary Far
Book combines poetry, prose and food Chef Myra Kornfeld and poet Stephen Massimilla have put together a luscious cookbook illustrating how poetry, prose and food have been inspirational throughout history. The 500-page book, “Cooking With the Muse: A Sumptuous Gathering of Seasonal Recipes, Culinary Poetry and Literary Fare,” is divided by seasons. It pairs 150 recipes…
Bridgeton Mill: Grinding Away for Almost Two Centuries
The wheels of Bridgeton Mill, a three story building next to a 268-foot covered bridge, both painted a matching red and rising above a large waterfall, are always working overtime. “We sell about 40,000 pounds of flour, pancake mix and cornmeal every year,” says owner Mike Roe who was grinding away for the Indiana State…
King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World
For her book King Solomon’s Table: A Culinary Exploration of Jewish Cooking from Around the World (Alfred A. Knopf 2017; $35), Joan Nathan, the multiple James Beard award winner, followed in the footsteps of Jewish traders as they circumvented the globe centuries and even millenniums ago. As they traveled, they brought the food cultures…
Making Maultaschen at Maulbronn Monastery
In a room where flickering flames highlight low beamed ceilings blackened with centuries of smoke and glass windows wavy from almost a millennium of time give views onto a cobblestone courtyard bordered by half-timbered buildings. I am at Maulbronn Monastery learning to make maultaschen, a centuries old dish that originated here. If I succeed, I’ll…
Magnolia Springs, Alabama
On a languid afternoon after too much time in the sun in Gulf Shores, Alabama, I decided to follow the coastline in Magnolia Springs, a small town along the headwaters of the Magnolia River. With jasmine and bougainvillea in bloom, it seems like a true Southern Gothic (in the good sense of the word) type…
A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook
I’ve come lately to be a fan of the Game of Thrones, having first read the historical novels by Maurice Druon upon which GOT author George R.R. Martin used as a basis for his Medieval fantasy novels which are now a long running TV series. The original books by Druon are based upon real life…
