Category > Local 365
When I was young, Christmas at our house meant friends and family dropping by for coffee in the days leading up to and after “the big day.” My mom always had a stash of zucchini and cranberry bread and sour cream coffee cakes in the freezer for these occasions. As a child I thought these visits were treats because of the baked goods. Of course I now know the real treat was for my parents to escape the hustle …
My mother’s favorite season was fall; no doubt it was because the first freeze allowed her to stop canning and freezing and not feel guilty about it. A child of the Great Depression, her great shame was wasting food. Each spring when my father would go to the quarry across the state line to get gravel for the farm’s driveways, she would enlist my brother, sister, and me in getting rid of past date food from the basement pantry. …
"I used to think, ‘I only have five tomatoes. What will a place like the Times Center do with five tomatoes?'" says Lisa Braddock, creator of Sunshine Harvest Sharing. "But , then I realized that they could put my five tomatoes with someone else's five and someone else's squash and make soup." The food pantry and feeding program listings on Sunshine Harvest Sharing allow backyard gardeners to easily get their harvest to people in their community whose access to …
I have now spent 14 years trying to get people to eat their vegetables in Prairieland Community Supported Agriculture. Like the adage that a weed is a plant that you haven't found something constructive to do with yet, I believe the same applies to vegetables. If you don't like a vegetable, it's because there is a recipe out there that you haven't tried it in yet. Unfortunately, okra is at the top of that list for many people. Many …
It's August and in Central Illinois no matter how hot or how dry, somehow there is still zucchini-zucchini from neighbors, zucchini from co-workers, zucchini from relatives, and in my case, zucchini from my CSA, too. Last week, I sliced it and threw it in the food dehydrator. But there is really only so much vegetable soup I want to make with rehydrated zucchini this winter. So, I began looking for ways to use it up in quantity and stumbled …
Invariably the uninsulated farm house my grandfather built only became hotter during the summer with the advent of canning season as my mom processed a seemingly endless stream of beets, corn, cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes. We didn't have air conditioning until I was almost out of high school. Even then, it was only a single unit in the dining room, and my mom forbid us to sleep downstairs. She was right, going from heat to cold and back …
Several years ago I watched two children grab daikon radishes from the crates of the Prairieland Community Supported Agriculture pickup and begin to have a light saber battle that would have made Yoda proud. If only Western adults could muster such enthusiasm for this vegetable. Daikon puts Western radishes too shame size-wise. Smaller daikons are eight inches in length, but in loose, loamy soils they can reach nearly double that. And that seems to be the problem for Western …
By now you've seen the hipster-mocking Portlandia short, "Put a Bird On It," in which the merits of adding meaningless bird stencils to home décor objects is praised at the expense of appreciating actual birds. At some level, this is the status of pesto. It doesn't matter that you can make a passable pesto with a food processor as opposed to grinding it by hand with a mortar and pestle. No, classic basil pesto has been deemed too difficult …
It's been said that growing things in East Central Illinois is as easy as throwing seeds out your back door. Yes, that's exaggerating a bit, frankly a lot in a year like this. But, I never cease to be amazed at the melons, cherry tomatoes, and potatoes that spring from compost piles in my neighborhood. In addition to being blessed with fertile soils, we also are blessed with farmers willing to take chances on vegetables that are more common …
Sure we've had record rain and it's been unseasonably cool. You would think this would guarantee the mildest radishes ever. Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. Whether radishes are hot depends less on whether they've had to endure hot temperatures and more on how long it took them to reach maturity. Most radishes mature in 30 days or less. Early spring radishes like Easter Egg, which can be any color from white to dark purple, take 25 days to mature. Cherry …
Most Recent Food Comments
Love CSR. Apart from making my way through the regular roasts in 1/2 pound increments, I also like to pick up some of the little sample packets of the flavored stuff for when the lady and I feel like getting crazy. Sticky Bun is pretty nice.
HUUUUUUGE fan of their Black Velvet roast…It makes up about 75% of my coffee intake. LOL CSR is definitely one of those Champaign institutions that I brag about to people not from here. :-)
We like CSR too! We french press at home and I leave the lid off while it steeps—letting the ground beans bloom. Then, like in your tasting, I scoop off the top layer before pressing. We really need to invest in a burr grinder though, as I…
I had their tea at the Urbana Farmer’s Market when they first started out and it was great! Their tins recently caught my eye at Walnut Street Tea Company and my guests used it all up before I could even try it! Way to go Tiesta, stay…
Im fine with missing ingredients and of course they fixed things what restaurant fights with the customer over things like that anymore. ( the way social media could affect them) My problem is that I am visiting you place of business within the first week of opening.…
The second visit to Meatheads included what tasted like a stale bun. That’s the end of going to Meatheads for a while.
That seems like an odd experience to me. Basically everything you mentioned, apart from price, is contrary to what I’ve witnessed or heard about. You ate at the restaurant and the burger was cold? Seems more like the complaint of someone who took something home. And if…
Unfortunately i did not have the same experiences that some of you may have had. I went to meatheads the 2nd or 3rd night it was open and I was very disappointed. My burger was cold and soggy. I ordered one of their specialty burgers. A spicy…
Ah, I finished it weeks ago—it was figuratively on ice over the holidays… I think each has its own appeal to various consumers, but I hit Buvons/Corkscrew most frequently. The current staff is extremely friendly and has never steered me wrong for a wine pairing, even when…
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Pamela - Are the roasteries in Seattle as clean as CSR? It always disturbs me a little that it is so clean in there.
Now you will be able to munch on pizza and shrimp cocktails in downtown Urbana (whilst a DJ spins?) after your dissolution of marriage http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/features/its-your-business/2012-02-05/its-your-business-new-pizza-place-downtown-urban Is this a franchise of a Reno pizza joint, or just a coincidence of name? http://www.blackrockpizza.com
Signs someone is “fishing” for a factual anchor: 1. Starts call to radio with: “I’ve been an Illini fan for (XX) years” or “I’m a diehard fan,” as if somehow that unverifiable claim will justify the 5 minutes of B.S. that follows. 2. Makes reference to KenPom…
That’s what she said.
Black dog and Siam terrace is where I always go after my divorces.
Love CSR. Apart from making my way through the regular roasts in 1/2 pound increments, I also like to pick up some of the little sample packets of the flavored stuff for when the lady and I feel like getting crazy. Sticky Bun is pretty nice.
If you happen to be getting a divorce, or fighting a DUI prosecution, downtown Urbana is a great place to eat.
HUUUUUUGE fan of their Black Velvet roast…It makes up about 75% of my coffee intake. LOL CSR is definitely one of those Champaign institutions that I brag about to people not from here. :-)
We like CSR too! We french press at home and I leave the lid off while it steeps—letting the ground beans bloom. Then, like in your tasting, I scoop off the top layer before pressing. We really need to invest in a burr grinder though, as I…
Confidential? In this state? Hahahahahahahhahahaha
just confirmed: there will be white russians served. the art abides.
big lebowski at the art. mark it, dude.
There’s a great video promo out for “Company” too: http://vimeo.com/36077847
Wow, His Majesty took the time to answer your polite plea. It’s been a while since I spoke fluent arrogance, but allow this attempt at a translation: “I deeply regret the embarrassment…” = I wish we hadn’t got caught and it wasn’t a big deal really. “...and…
I love the Guitars
I had their tea at the Urbana Farmer’s Market when they first started out and it was great! Their tins recently caught my eye at Walnut Street Tea Company and my guests used it all up before I could even try it! Way to go Tiesta, stay…
Im fine with missing ingredients and of course they fixed things what restaurant fights with the customer over things like that anymore. ( the way social media could affect them) My problem is that I am visiting you place of business within the first week of opening.…
Thanks for that, Louis CK.
Your call to stay pissed is precisely why global warming fanatics will fail. Emotion has no place in hard science. The problem with the issue of global warming is that is has been pumped full of emotion and politics, and the science is becoming a by-product. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?KEYWORDS=global+warming
Clearly the Postal Officials in favor of this cannot make an economic argument, as this saves the post office $0. What is their rationale?
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Pamela - Are the roasteries in Seattle as clean as CSR? It always disturbs me a little that it is so clean in there.