It's my favorite time of year: football season. Tailgating, Super Bowl parties, eating food with your fingers. How can life get any better? For me, it is all about the food, game and friends. Whether ...
Which to Use: Food Processors vs. Blenders vs. Immersion Blenders?
Kitchen space is a valuable commodity, so do you really need a food processor and a blender on your counter? What about that immersion blender stuck in your drawer?
Less than one week ago, Chicago welcomed its first food museum. Foodseum is a free, pop-up museum currently featuring an interactive exhibit "The Hot Dog and Encased Meat of the World." The museum ...
Fall Baking: It's Time for Cookies and Apple Fest Pie
As the temperatures begin to dip here in Chicago, it is important to rejoice in all of the fun fall baking we can look forward to now that we can finally turn our ovens on again! The two desserts I ...
In April of this year, The Chopping Block launched a new website. At over 100 pages, it was a labor of love and took almost a year to complete. We knew it was the right move when we started receiving ...
I have recently decided to get in touch with my family's roots. Of course, there are many ways to do that. But I decided to honor my heritage by making some of the food that my parents remember ...
Everything You Need to Know About The Big Green Egg
You may have heard of it before, but just what is the Big Green Egg? The Big Green Egg is the Rolls Royce of grills and smokers, and it really deserves this title.
During my travels last month, I stayed with friends in their new house. As the curator of an amazing museum and an authority on rare books and maps, their lives are full of cool stuff. I expected ...
I love pie. Sweet, savory, fruity, meaty, I love 'em all. There is no such thing as pie season, pie is for every season. One of these days I'll get around to making a "Pie of the Month" calendar, but ...
As much as I hate that summer is coming to an end, this time of year does bring back a fond childhood memory. No, not back to school… but my Papa’s Hot Peppers.
Chicago Loves Pierogi: Learn to Make it in our Cooking Class
There's no question we love Pierogis in Chicago. With such a strong Polish culture in our city, we've all likely tasted the traditional dumpling which can be made with either sweet or savory ...
I am not a baker, and that's okay. You don’t have to be well versed in baking procedures to learn how to make bagels. It's not hard. It just takes a little time and patience, because there is ...
Sweetness in wine is a funny thing. Take Riesling. Every time I mention it, I see facial expressions that tell me it’s not a favorite. When I ask why, the answer is “I don’t like sweet wines.” But ...
Our Summer Canning and Preserving class, which features a new menu, is coming up in a few weeks! Because it’s a new menu, I went ahead and tested a couple of the recipes to ensure they worked well, ...
Cheese Making at Home Part 1: Butter, Buttermilk and Sour Cream
I just got back from a two-day cheese making class at the Ploughshare Institute in Waco, Texas. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the class. When I take classes, I am always looking for ways to ...
I might have made the most delicious peanut butter and jelly in all of mankind. It is quite possibly the most perfect PB & J that civilization has ever seen. Even if you say to yourself right ...
Out of all the food blogs I’ve written, the ones I’ve had the most fun with and enjoyed the most have been about my favorite place to travel, San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, and the fresh summer ...
I am a forgetful person. No matter what I do, I can’t seem to overcome it. No matter how many post it notes I make or how many ‘reminder’ apps I download for my phone, I will forget something.
I recently bought LeCreuset Egg Cups. Why? Because they are so cute! Then I had to figure out how to make the perfect soft or hard-boiled eggs so that I could use them.
