Recipes & Cooking
Socially Savvy: Polishing Your Skills
Prepare for Spring with a Midwinter Cooking Class Winter’s cold dark nights can leave us feeling as if we’re locked in and hibernating. If your post- holiday, pre-spring entertaining schedule is lagging and you haven’t [...]
Truffle Hunt with Bret Bannon: Stay at Julia Child’s Home in France
Program We are excited to be considering offering a Winter Truffle Hunt in 2012. Details are currently being finalized. The following are tentative details. For dates and availability, please e-mail bretbannon@bretstable.com (This e-mail address is being [...]
Locally Sourced: Sitting at Bret’s Table
On a crisp winter afternoon, I was invited inside the warm Longfellow neighborhood home of Bret Bannon and his partner Jon Templeton. Whisked into a stunning kitchen I think I shouted an obscenity and hugged [...]
Locally Sourced: Food Swap
I learned many invaluable lessons this summer. One was that pickling is really just boiling – shockingly simple. Who knew? Also, making jam? A breeze. I was astounded by my new-found talents. Armed with this knowledge I was [...]
Holiday How-To: Reminisce and Stress Less
I was the hippopotamus for Christmas Christmas wasn’t about anxiety until 5th grade. It used to be the odor of pine in the living room, colorful lights attached to our farmhouse, and the anticipation of [...]
Home & Yard
The Death of the Whirlpool Tub?
By Ed Roskowinski, CR Owner/General Manager, Vujovich Design Build Many master bathrooms in the US have a whirlpool tub, and when I ask clients about their “must haves” for their master bathroom remodel, a whirlpool [...]
The Brighter Side of Winter
With the garden tucked away for winter and hardy plants settled into dormancy, gardeners too can think about taking a little rest. After all, like the plants, we need a little downtime to be ready [...]
A Glamorous Lifestyle
Are you one of those people who love watching HG TV? Do you find yourself clinging to your armchair in anticipation of seeing the final transformation, as well as the homeowners’ reaction? Although these shows [...]
Holiday How-To: O Christmas Tree!
If you haven’t picked out the absolute best tree or fresh holiday greens yet, don’t fret. Fresher is always better when it comes to holiday greenery. Here are a few pointers on how to choose, [...]
Gardening: Jack Frost is knocking. Let him in!
November signals the end to our enjoyment of the heat loving gardens of summer. The psychological reality sinks in that fall is upon us and winter is near. For some, this brings about sadness that [...]
Crafting & Home Arts
How-To: Canning 101
Late spring 2004, I received a letter from the Creative Activities supervisor at the Minnesota State Fair and I’m paraphrasing, “Since you have won 1st place three years in a row for your Vidalia Onion [...]
Vehicles & Rides
The Scene from the 2012 Chicago Auto Show
On February 8th and 9th, I was down at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show fulfilling my duty for several media outlets, including Lavender magazine. Instead of a simple write-up, I offer these images from the [...]
It’s Auto Show Season Again
What attracts you to an auto show? Is it the prospect of buying a new vehicle within the next several months? Is it to fuel your love for the automobile by checking out what’s new [...]
Review: Hyundai Elantra
We love to live large. It is American trait that we live it up the best way we can. It is reflected in our homes, our wardrobe, the way we like to party, and in [...]
Review: GMC Terrain
The question is no longer “what is a crossover.” It is “what size do you need?” Since petrol prices scaled up to $4.00 a gallon nationwide around the first part of 2011, the North American [...]
Seven New Vehicles for the New Year
We no longer live in traditional model years. When September and October rolled around, we knew it was time to compare the previous model year’s vehicles with the new ones. That way, we would track [...]
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