February Tour de Food Blogs

Thanks to Amy of From the French Kitchen, she has featured me in her Tour de Food Blogs! This tour is Amy's creation where she says...

"The idea came to me when I realized I have been reading the same few blogs for the past 4 months. I rarely look at other blogs that aren’t on my normal rotation. It wasn’t until I started clicking links from a blog that had tagged others that I started to realize I needed to broaden my food blog horizons. What better way to increase my recipe box while also bringing some visibility to other food blogs?" --Amy

So if you're interested, check out From the French Kitchen for her write up about yours truly and my culinary adventures... as well as her past and future posts of fellow food bloggers!

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Planning a Party?

Something fun to share...

I was recently featured in Chicago's RedEye paper where I shared some tips on entertaining and parties. You can read it through THIS LINK or the entire article below (specifically, in the 'Make it Interactive' and Throw an Educational Party' sections). Before you know it, the holiday partying will be in full swing so keep some of these great tips in mind!

We came to party

Make your bash a hit by shaking things up

By Danielle Braff

For RedEye

Published October 11 2008

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's are just around the corner--and means one thing: The party season is nearly upon us.

But if you've burned a few too many brain cells while roasting in the sun this summer, we have a few reminders to help you make sure your bash is the best.

First off, even if you're super-excited to be throwing the first party of the season, don't go overboard and invite too many people. Everyone knows what it feels like to be packed onto an "L" train, and no one wants to revisit that feeling at a party, says Robyn Bruns, president of Red Letter Event Planning in Chicago.

Keep in mind the square footage of your home and the number of bathrooms before making up your guest list. If you really must invite everyone and his mother, make your party an open house so that your guests will be staggered, Bruns suggested.

And while it may be tempting at the moment to charge people to come to your parties, it's a major faux pas to ask people to pay up, says Debi Lilly, owner of A Perfect Event, an event planning company in Chicago. "When you're throwing a party, you are the hostess and you're inviting guests. So you'd never want to charge people to come to a party," Lilly said.

Besides, just because you can collect enough money to buy a keg doesn't mean you have a hot party on your hands. Instead, get creative with your party planning. RedEye collected tips from experienced party planners to help make your bash the talk of the town.


Pick a good theme
Theresa Winters, 27, and her roommate Nora Best, 28, say they are legendary in certain Chicago circles for their elaborate Logan Square house parties. Before each event, Best and Winters figure out a theme that they think will get guests excited.

"One of my best parties ever, which people still talk about, was in 2002," Winters said. "It was pirates versus dinosaurs. Random? Yes. Hilariously fun to throw? Of course."

Other themes they've tried: "Three's Company" ('70s-style dress), Roaring Twenties (men wear newsboy caps and women dress as flappers) and White Trash vs. Eurotrash (one guy came dressed in a white garbage bag).

When deciding on a theme, it's OK to think outside the box.

For instance--sure, summer and its beautiful weather have gone away. But that doesn't mean you have to resign yourself to sitting inside the house till April.

Libby Langdon, interior designer and commentator for HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style," suggests fall picnics--a little cooler, but still a lot of fun. Tell everyone to meet in an apple orchard, pumpkin patch or local park, Langdon said. Bring cider, Frisbees and extra sweaters.

Make sure your guests remember the theme and the party by giving them a party favor they can use and enjoy, said Susan Cordogan, owner of Big City Events Chicago.

Hand out pumpkin-scented candles, Cordogan said. Or, if you're hosting a bonfire, give guests a fleece blanket they can use at the party and then keep.

Be careful not to make the party too theme-oriented, however. A dress-up theme is always fun, Bruns said. But "paper leaves and tissue pumpkins are for grade school, and not for your chic party," she said.

There's a fine line between a fun theme and a cheesy party. So before sending out that Evite, think to yourself: Is this something that would have been good when I was in kindergarten? If so, go back to the drawing board.


Make it interactive
Your guests have probably been to hundreds--if not thousands--of parties where they stand around chugging beers and noshing on chips.

But Joan "Joelen" Tan said her meet-up group, What's Cookin' Chicago, always gets booked full whenever she schedules a food swap. Similar to a holiday cookie swap, Tan, an employee benefits consultant who lives in Rogers Park, takes it one step further by swapping throughout the year.

Successful parties have included brownie, cupcake, fudge and candy swaps, Tan said. But she added that there's no need to stop at food. Friends can share books, purses and accessories they no longer want.


Serve a signature drink
Every year, the folks at North Center eatery Sola offer The Great Pumpkin martini ($10), and it's a huge hit, said Carol Wallack, Sola's owner and executive chef.

To copy her recipe, Wallack said you can mix Stoli Vanilla vodka, pumpkin puree, cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger and nutmeg for a drink that tastes just like pumpkin pie with a vodka chaser.

If that sounds too complicated, simply serve a pumpkin-flavored ale, which can be found at World Market or at a liquor wholesaler.


Pick the perfect date
Three-day weekends, New Year's Eve and big holiday weekends may seem like the perfect time to throw a party, but, of course, those also are the dates when everyone already plans penciled into their calendars.

To make sure you get a full house, choose a date when everyone's sure to be free, said Best and Winters. They throw an annual "Eve of the Eve" party.

"No, it's not a reference to a Sapphic love affair between her and her two girl roommates, but rather references the fantastic party thrown on the eve of New Year's Eve," Winters said. "Picking the day before means everyone can come for the entire night."


Throw an educational party
Tan said her friends always enjoy themselves when she invites them over for a cooking demonstration. Since it's really expensive to host a party at a professional cooking class, Tan said she tackles a specific dish with her friends--so they teach each other and learn to cook together in a party setting.

"I purchase the tools and supplies we need so each person has their own prep station," she said. "After we enjoy all our creations, they get to keep the tools and supplies they used so they can continue making the recipes on their own."


Play dress-up
Even a party tied to a sporting event can be more extraordinary than ordinary if you put a little effort into it, said Tracey Stewart, who hosts Cubs and Bears parties in her Lakeview home.

"Color schemes to match your favorite team are a must," said Stewart, who insists that her guests dress as if they're actually going to a game instead of watching on her TV.

Stewart reminds hosts to keep the bar stocked. Hey, it never hurts to emphasize the basics. Danielle Braff is a RedEye special contributor.

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"The Hostess with the Leastest Room"

This was the headline for the news article written about me and my cooking group, What's Cookin Chicago today! Last month a writer and photographer for the Chicago Tribune came to my Wine & Dine events where we focused on Shiraz/Syrah. They asked questions about how I started, my involvement in the food industry, how my group has evolved over the past year, etc. The photographer took countless pictures while I hosted my event... and before I left, I reminded him that "Photoshop was his friend." (I don't feel I'm very photogenenic.) Needless to say, today the article was in print. I expected a small write up in an obscure corner of the paper.... but to my surprise, we got a full page with color pics! Wow. Just wow.

So without further ado, here is the link to the article, and I've copied/pasted it below in the event the link no longer works in the future:

The hostess with the leastest room
Coveted spots in apartment cooking classes fill up fast
By Danielle Braff Special to the Tribune
April 6, 2008

The street outside Joan "Joelen" Tan's Rogers Park apartment was cold and empty on a recent Saturday evening, but inside everyone was buzzing.

The approximately two dozen men and women from the Chicago area were clutching the dishes they had made for Tan's potluck dinner, and they were chatting happily. After all, they were the lucky ones who snagged a spot in one of meetup.com's most sought-after groups.

Boasting nearly 800 members shortly after its debut last year, the What's Cookin' Chicago club is so popular that people stalk the Meetup Web site to be the first to RSVP for Tan's events, which she usually holds in her two-bedroom apartment about 12 times each month.

Tan, 31, said that she has always been social but that her love for people grew once she moved out of the suburbs and into Chicago with her husband. She decided to take advantage of everything the city had to offer.

She signed up for cooking events and classes and was thrilled—until she realized how much she was spending.

"I realized, 'Why not do it myself?' " she said.

So Tan logged on to meetup.com, a free Web site filled with self-organized clubs and community organizations, and created her own cooking class.

Putting a lid on it

The first group met in March 2007, and three people attended. But as word of mouth spread, the events grew until Tan had to put a limit on the number of people, based on how many she could fit in her home.

The What's Cookin' Chicago club attracts men and women spanning all ages and socioeconomic classes. But what they all have in common is a passion for cooking. The events include cooking classes, wine tastings, potluck dinners, cake decorating and even ethnic restaurant tours.

Tan, who works as a corporate benefits consultant, always has a notebook in hand whenever she's on the train, in the supermarket or scouring the Internet for new group ideas.

She doesn't get paid for any of the cooking or organizing she does, but Tan recently also began organizing the What's Cookin' Boston, Detroit, Maryland, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., chapters—even though they're too far away for her to attend.

She also is the organizer for the Chicagoland "Nesties": In Love & Lovin' It, which attracts newly married women who want to socialize with other area women.

"I do this because I love it," Tan said. "It allows me to meet people. We've become really close, almost family-like."

But that doesn't mean there aren't problems. A recent batch of e-mails circulating through the group included complaints about being locked out of events because members weren't able to RSVP in time. Tan quickly doubled up on her events, scheduling a session earlier in the day and then repeating it in the evening, thus increasing members' chances to attend.

"It's getting impossible to get a spot in the group," said Art Davino, 60, who tends to skip Tan's cake decorating and the baking classes but always tries to get a spot in the potlucks and wine tastings. Davino added that he's not angry at Tan, whom he loves, but just wishes there were fewer members.

Yumi Masuoka of Lincoln Park said she has learned the trick to RSVPing in time. "I know that the RSVP notices go up on the 15th of the month," she revealed. "I think it's great."

Value added

One thing that's great about the group, Davino said, is its cost. Tan used to provide all the wine for the potlucks, until a member complained that he wanted better wines than she was serving.

So now Tan charges $5 per person so she doesn't have to foot the entire wine bill. And at $5 for a night out, including wine and a full meal, dessert and a lecture by Tan about the food and drinks, Davino said, "I can't beat it."

Once everyone grabbed their food at the most recent potluck, Tan led them into her living room, where she had set up tables and chairs.

Next to each place setting was a two-page informational packet she had prepared detailing the types of wine everyone would be trying.

Her husband, Louis Tan, walked around the room to pour the drinks as Tan stood before the crowd to begin the wine lecture she had studied the previous day.

"All I ask is that they leave knowing something new, and that they're full," Tan said.

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