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Grandma Maizie’s Peppermint Candy

(Originally posted on December 21, 2007 — it is an annual tradition at Smile Politely to repost this article. Enjoy!) Last year on Dec. 22, I relayed a basic recipe for peppermint bark that was created by my paternal grandmother Maizie. For years, I told myself that I would learn how to do make peppermint bark by going over to her place and having her show me how, step by step. I wanted to make sure that even if …

FOOD

Feel Free to Mess with Texas: Brandon T. Washington’s Customized Chili

A long time ago, I had a girlfriend who was from Texas. Along with a healthy dose of Texas history, she left me with a taste for good Mexican food, including chili. But, at the time, my idea of chili was a seasoning packet, water, some red kidney beans, and hamburger. Little did I know…. She bought a chili kit at the supermarket, we made it, and I was converted. Then we broke up, and I didn’t make chili …

FOOD

Angie Heaton — Local Punk Princess Turned Cowgirl Cutie

When I was a kid, my mom would make her famous chili on cold nights, nights of football games, or when one of us requested it! It is still my favorite home-cooked meal when I go to the parents’ house, although I discovered last year that she also makes a mean vegetable soup — more on that next time. Hold the lima beans, Mama! I’d like to report that nothing goes better with Mama’s Chili than a peanut butter …

FOOD

Jean Thompson: Novelist, Short Story Writer and Pie-Crust Artist Extraordinaire

The world would be a better place if more people made their own pie crust. Amaze your friends! No more nasty store-bought crusts! I will share with you my hard-won knowledge, which includes a lot of trial and error, also more than a few pie-crust tantrums, when the stuff just wouldn’t stick together (or come unstuck), and had to be hurled at kitchen walls, accompanied by bestial oaths.

FOOD

B. Joseph White – President, University of Illinois: Struffoli

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My grandparents were Italian immigrants. They loved food — pasta, prosciutto, roasted chicken and American favorites like apple pie. One of my grandmother’s specialties was struffoli, a snack or dessert that I loved as a child. I’d describe struffoli as doughnut pieces drizzled with honey and sprinkled with powdered sugar. My grandmother would make the dough, slice it into bite-sized pieces, fry them and then put them in a bowl with honey and sugar. I’d sometimes treat myself to …

Most Recent Food Comments

emma reaux avatar

I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…

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Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.

Joel Gillespie avatar

@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.

Rob McColley avatar

“more beer is drank”   Awesome. Way to go “editors.“

Annie Weisner avatar

You left out the best part—you have to REMEMBER your number after the beer chugging!     Yeah, I’m a member.

{username}

Great article, man. Like you, I didn’t really know Daniel all that well, but I felt the impact of his death. I too was inspired by him and it pleases me to see that he continues to live on in the spirit of the community.

Justine Fein-Bursoni avatar

Thanks you guys…I love living in a community that can connect, share, and create through food. It’s inspiring…

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<div> A beautiful recap of the evening and thank you for sharing why you find what the Fund is doing is inspiring. I haven’t been able to write too much about my feelings about the community’s loss of Dan yet either, but Dan has also inspired me…

{username}

Seth and Justine, thanks so much!  Through your writing and your photos, everyone can get at least a taste of what was served up Sunday night.  Dan would very much have liked that! As you say, our community is very much “fertile ground,“ and Dan had such…

{username}

That is perhaps the best article you have ever written… a love letter to Champaign-Urbana and the people who call it home.

Most Recent Comments

{username}

Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win. 

Dan Schreiber avatar

Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is.  But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…

{username}

Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…

{username}

I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get.  I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library.  None of those activities…

{username}

These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…

{username}

(speaking as a Savoy resident)  By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc.  This is how library systems work.  The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…

Rob McColley avatar

I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“

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I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?

{username}

Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.

emma reaux avatar

I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…

Dan Schreiber avatar

And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.

Dan Schreiber avatar

The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.

Timbo avatar

Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.

Timbo avatar

What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…

{username}

Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.

{username}

Thanks for the article, Ben.  I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar.  A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…

{username}

Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…

Joel Gillespie avatar

@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.

Ben Valocchi avatar

good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…

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