Star Light, Star Bright
I spent my Saturday night up in the country, at Angelic Organics Learning Center’s Gather & Grow Farm Social in Caledonia, Illinois. It was a wonderful evening about which I’ll have much more to say very soon. But I wanted to share this photo and the obvious point of which I was reminded.
I’m a city kid and I adore Chicago. But when you spend about 99 percent of your time in the city, you can forget how much of the cosmos you can’t see because of light pollution.
Caledonia is about 90 miles northwest of Chicago’s downtown, very near the Wisconsin border. As soon as the sun set on the cloudless night, I spent a good deal of time just staring up at the sparkling celestial lights that I don’t normally get to see.
I do not know which planet is shining bright amid the stars in the photo above (please enlighten me if you know). But it was amazing to experience again after a long while. I think I need to do this more often.
Wednesday: Dana Cowin Dinner at Wherewithall
I recently published an article about The Abundance Setting, the Chicago nonprofit that advocates for women and especially mothers working in the culinary industry.
Now I am happy to share information about a special dinner the organization is presenting on Wednesday (October 5) featuring Dana Cowin — former editor of Food & Wine — to celebrate the launch of her new Zine, Speaking Broadly, which also is the name of her existing podcast.
The informal dinner and discussion with take place at Wherewithall restaurant at 3472 N. Elston Ave. in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood. Beverly Kim and Johnny Clark, the wife-and-husband chefs who own Wherewithall, also are co-founders of The Abundance Setting.
According to the organization:
It's an informal social dinner this Wednesday, Oct. 5, 6-9 p.m. at Wherewithall. Dana Cowin, former Food & Wine editor and Top Chef judge, will be our guest for the evening as she celebrates the launch of her new Zine Speaking Broadly. The Zine comes on the heels of her podcast of the same name. Small plates from 10 great chefs, wine by Une Femme Wines. Tix are $100 (a great value given the food and wine, plus Dana will be giving out copies of her new Zine at the event).
Saturday: Jam with Evolved Network and Gardeneers
Before I left on my field trip Saturday, I took part in a tour of Green City Market that was in part intended to introduce Sebastian White, creator of The Evolved Network, a bold and creative nonprofit that works through gardening and cooking lessons as a therapeutic approach to address the critical issues of youths living in Chicago’s under-resourced neighborhoods.
This Saturday (October 8), Sebastian is teaming with Gardeneers — a nonprofit that builds and manages school gardens on the city’s South and West sides — on a demo titled “Jamming with Chef Sebastian and The Gardeneers.” According to The Evolved Network, the event
will break down the steps to make not one but two delicious dishes utilizing jams made by Chef Aaron Gougis of CookinHungry and vegetables from Gardeneers gardens. Finally, sit down to enjoy your masterfully created dishes and hear all about the therapeutic and holistic-based work with kids that The Evolved Network does through the farm to table process, and the work of the school-garden programming that Gardeneers does on the South and West side of Chicago.
The event includes free ingredients, the culinary demo, and recipes and ingredients to take home. The event is BYOB if you want to have a favorite beverage to pair with the tasty dishes.
Click below for tickets (I’ll see you there) and for more information about The Evolved Network and Gardeneers.
In the photo above, Sebastian White of The Evolved Network (right) and Adam Zmick, co-founder of Gardeneers (center), look on as Green City Market Executive Director Mandy Moody addresses the group gathered for Saturday’s market tour. Sebastian and Adam are collaborating on Saturday’s chef demo.