At the south end of the land that is now Panther Creek Country Club sits the historic 1860 Spaulding Orchard farmhouse, my home for the last 35 years. What was once one of Illinois’ largest ap...
Spring has sprung! Brightly colored bulb flowers are beginning to bloom and the cheeky chatter of songbirds fills the air. Winter is officially behind us. Unfortunately, the flu season has not c...
Diet fads and gimmicks generally don’t interest me. I’m immediately suspicious of any diet that suggests removal of an entire food group, and I tend to steer clear of low-fat or reduced-calo...
Google released a report last year that analyzed what everyone’s cooking, buying and ordering. Google analyzed all the food-related search queries between January 2014 and January 2016. They l...
Like many Americans, every year I looked forward to my St. Patrick’s Day corned beef and cabbage. And every year, my mother loved to remind us that if we really wanted to enjoy a traditional I...
I had a transformative experience recently. I was standing in my late wife Julianne’s teaching kitchen next to my daughter (and fellow IT food columnist) Ashley Meyer and longtime friend Chef ...
Spend a few minutes perusing popular food blogs for health-conscious recipes and one thing begins to become clear – cauliflower is the new “it” vegetable. Thanks to popular diet trends suc...
Back in the late 1970s my wife and I used to go out for a steak dinner to a tavern in Virden called Rockenbachs. We were newbie wine connoisseurs at the time and enjoyed drinking Lambrusco, a se...
Turmeric is a spice rack regular in my kitchen. I use the deep orange powder when cooking Indian or Southeast Asian cuisine, and usually throw a pinch in when I’m making deviled eggs for more...
Champagne is a classic choice for Valentine’s Day, and it, along with other sparkling wines like cava, prosecco and moscato d’Asti, are some of the most versatile wines to enjoy and pair wit...