I flew down to Boca Raton one Sunday to do a cooking demo at Macy’s to show the whole new line of Martha Stewart’s cup cake supplies. She’s really thought of everything from travel carrying cases to take cup cakes to the beach in to cardboard boxes with inserts that have finger wholes to allow you to crab the cup cake by the sides without marring the frosting. I did make a couple colors of butter cream and did a bunch of piping and decorating with her set of tips, gel colors and sprinkles and sanding sugars.

One Wednesday I came to Gio’s school and I did one of my favorite things to do-teach. It was the French class for the 6th graders. A total of 125 kids but it was broken into 5 groups. We made Chouquette, an after school snack from France that’s a lot like an empty cream puff only a bit sweeter. The kids helped me measure and stir and pipe and then they got to taste one. I taught them how to say all the ingredients in French. So the vocabulary for that day was:

de l’eau = water
beurre = butter
sel = salt
sucre = sugar
farine = flour
oeufs = eggs
sucre gros = large grained sugar

I spoke at a press conference at the NRA (National Restaurant Association) convention to help launch a new green web site http://conserve.restaurant.org to help educate and provide resources for restaurants. I’ve been on the task force to help develop it and now it’s going live which is very exciting and hopeful. Restaurants can have a huge impact on reducing our carbon emissions and carbon foot print and this is one of the steps to help with that.

The next day I did a press conference with Mayor Daley, 20 other chefs and 4 sommeliers to announce the exciting new culinary festival to be held in Chicago on the weekend of Sept 26-28, Chicago Gourmet. It will be 3 days of wine seminars, cooking demos and hand on cooking classes for kids and family’s (my part). We got to be on the stage at Millennium Park so now I know what Renée Fleming sees when she’s singing up there!

Then I ran off to McCormick Place to do a book signing at NRA. The line kept going for 2 hours, so that felt good. Some people even brought presents!

I cooked at a private home in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest one night with Macy’s corporate chefs Tim Scott and Elizabeth Brown and my pastry chef from Tru, Meg Galus. We were bought at a fund raiser for the Good Man Theatre in Chicago and so did a 6 course dinner for 12 people. We did Arborio Rice Pudding with Citrus caramel, Strawberry Macaroon with Sour Cream Cremeux and a dense Chocolate Terrine with Espresso Syrup. Green Apple Lollipops, Canelès, Sour Cherry Jellies and Chocolate Truffles made with a single estate 75% cacao, plus some financier with rhubarb jam wrapped to take home.

I did a some TV on WGN and CLTV featuring light summer dessert using Reddi-wip. Then another one on WGN to help celebrate a cook book I helped with for the Wheat Council called Food For Thought. The book compiled 35 recipes to celebrate their 35th anniversary, 30 from parents around the country and 5 from me. To purchase the book go to www.wheatfoods.org. It’s only $3.50. The idea is to help promote food education through parents to their children, and healthy eating which includes grains. And some of the money goes to Spoons Across America, a non-for-profit group that works to influence eating habits of children. I demoed my Crepes with Vanilla Yogurt and Strawberries and then a Wheat Berry Salad with Tuna, Cucumber, and Cherry Tomatoes.

The last day of the month I did 2 demos and book signings in a row at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, Illinois. It’s a world class collection of plant, flowers with a great organic vegetable and fruit garden and a demonstration kitchen for teaching up to 150 people at a time. It was a perfect Saturday with glorious weather. I wanted to do something in season that they have growing there so people can see it in the ground, so I did Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Compote and Strawberry Mash. They have magnificent rhubarb plants growing near the kitchen, which I grow at my home too. My buddy in the kitchen, Kathy Skutecki, helped me as well as all three of my kids. Gio was the old pro but Ruby and Ella who are 3 years old did the later demo with me all the way through-their first appearance ever, working in chef coats…who knows…maybe they can take over for me.

Events I went to

I went to a dessert party at Ryerson Woods in Riverwoods, Il. to hear Peter Annin talk about his book The Great Lakes Water Wars which explains the urgency to protect the water in the Great Lakes, one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world supplying 40 million people who live in the Great Lakes Basin, one of which is me. One of my dad’s bands Bob Gand’s Smooth Jazz Band was playing there for the entertainment. There was really very little dessert but my poor husband needed something to go with the coffee they served him so after going behind the scenes and begging, we got a little something. Miniature cream puffs, baklava and a raspberry tartlette.

Home Cooking

Gio and I did our usual ramp picking in our woods for the restaurants. We did about 30 pounds which was divided up between Tru, Osteria di Tramonto and BluPrint where my friend Sam Burman is the chef.

My neighbor Art Bess showed me a new-to-me type of wild onion growing in our woods, so when Gio and I were out playing near a stream on the next street over I picked a few of those to try them out. The are petite and delicate and really delicious. He said as a kid his mom didn’t let him have after school snacks so he’d dig these up and munch on them. With a little salt and pepper, I can see why.

My journalist friend Barbara Rolek asked me for a family heirloom recipe from my Eastern European heritage and so I sent her my grandmother’s Cabbage Strudel which is actually sweetened up and spiced up to taste like apples with out the cost-they were REALLY poor in those days. And when I went to look at it I saw this other recipe for a nice reliable pound cake using cream cheese. I made it with my 3 year olds after school one day-I’m always looking for ways to get them into the kitchen. I got the recipe off her web site. Give it a try. It has a fine crumb and it perfect toasted with coffee.

Meals Out

One day we drove down town to see the Hopper exhibit at the Art Institute (it was closing day of course!) and we first made a stop at a new-ish cupcake bakery in Chicago called Molly’s Cupcakes. My chef de cuisine at Tru, Tim Graham has been raving about the peanut better stuffed one, known as the Ron Bennington named after a New York radio jock on XM202 who’s an FOH or friend of the house as we call it, so I had to try it along with maybe 6 other types. Most of them are stuffed which is a great idea taste-wise, but hard to keep the cupcake from sogging out. We tried the Strawberry Shortcake, the Chocolate Mousse, the Lemon Curd, but I think the most successful one was the Pumpkin Spice. The price ranges rom $3.50-$3.85 for the stuffed ones. Some of the take goes to help local Chicago public schools which is a nice bonus when you’re buying from them. And on of my old pastry assistants from Trio (1994?), Tamara White, is the head baker. Always nice to see “my kids” having a good time while still baking.

Then we went to Shaw’s Crab House for Lobster with drawn better and some sparkling Rosé, Ruinart Brut Rosé, to be specific…and yes, I did wear a bibb. I do my own laundry, so why not.

We ate at Art Smith’s restaurant Table 52 (he’s Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef too) to sample his famous fried chicken. He only serves it on Sunday’s so that’s the day to go. It’s boneless and delicious and priced at $24.00, though I did miss chewing on the bones. Sides we loved were the Way cheesy Three Cheese Mac’ and Cheese and cubed Sweet Potatoes with Honey. The meal starts with steaming-hot-from-the-oven Goat Cheese Drop Biscuits turned out of a baby iron skillet at your table that I could eat all day long. For dessert Art’s Hummingbird Cake is the way to go, a recipe from his grandmother of crushed pineapple and banana yellow cake with cream cheese frosting. Definitely order a glass of milk with it.