Last week in the midst of the ChefTalk.com meltdown I was able to take a break and have a bit of fun with my wife at the Intelligentsia Coffee roasting plant in downtown Chicago. For those who don't know what I am referring to with the "ChefTalk.com meltdown" I am referring to the serious down time we experienced a couple weeks ago.

Long before things went south with the ChefTalk servers my wife...

A month or so ago I was invited to a ten year anniversary party for North Pond Restaurant (Welcome To North Pond Restaurant | 2610 N. Cannon Drive Chicago IL 60614) in Chicago. North Pond is one of Chicago’s finest restaurants in my opinion and they are firm believers in supporting local farmers. At the party North Pond had all of their suppliers from local breweries, wineries, growers, farmers, pork suppliers, chicken suppliers you name it they were there. Each one had a stand where they told you...

About a week ago we had some friends over for dinner. It was a typical Chicago January night and the temp was around zero so I was suprised when they actually made it.

Not wanting to get overly complicated I roasted a chicken with potatoes, onions and garlic underneath which served as a natural rack of sorts. I use amish chickens that I get from Pasture2plate.com and they are they best I have found and always tender.

For the vegetables I did something that I had never...

Around New Years I purchased several bunches of parsley (one of which was still alive and kicking) and I had a crazy idea on how to preserve them. First let me say my idea is untested so I will have to post back on the actual success of my idea.

For a number of years I have had a food saver system which I use to vacuum seal bacon that I make as well as other things that end up in the freezer. The original food saver I had was marginal but about a year ago I bought an updated model...

Over the past several years I have attempted to make my own yogurt, but each attempt always resulted in nothing more than room tempature milk. Finally after about 6 attempts I actually ended up with real yogurt and learned what I was doing wrong.

If your wondering why anyone would want to make their own yogurt it is because I grew up with my father making yogurt. My father grew up in small village in Greece where they made their own yogurt. It was not a regular item in our house or...