Obama’s early writing on Chicago was eerily prophetic about America’s future Weekend Nachos leave behind a legacy of brutality Chicago powerviolence jokers Weekend Nachos have ripped it up around the world for 13 years, and this weekend they say farewell with two hometown shows. Should checking phone records after serious crashes be standard practice? Police currently need a search warrant before they can check to see whether distracted driving was a factor. The Russian hack was Trump's Nixon moment Newly discovered notes from an aide to Richard Nixon prove the former president connived with South Vietnam to win the 1968 presidential election. Obama’s making a ‘last-minute push’ to reform Chicago police before Trump’s inauguration, and other news Phoebe Robinson is a quadruple threat Bachelor strategist (and former Chicagoan) Nick Viall is being outplayed by this season’s villain, Corinne Olympios Mica Levi of Micachu & the Shapes collides with cellist Oliver Coates

Cover Story: American Theater Company’s fresh-faced artistic director Will Davis credits his gender transition with a creative awakening. Now the 33-year-old looks to turn the venerable North Center playhouse into a place of “wild theatricality.” Music: Ben Burden blends hip-hop, R&B, and pushback against toxic masculinity. After an injury ended his soccer career , he came to Chicago to find his true self in music. News & Politics: The economic causes of Chicago’s violence The city continues to pursue policies that advance inequity.feng sushi menu kensington Osteria Langhe’s David McCabe utilizes snails to put a new spin on the Bloody Marysushi los angeles takami This Prince-themed Christmas lights display will help you get through this thing called lifejiro dreams of sushi apprentice

People Issue 2016: Homer Hans Bryant, the guru of hiplet Best of Chicago 2016 Best local music blog Enter for your chance to win a pair of tickets to see Tedeschi Trucks Band live at The Chicago Theatre - Plus - a $100 gift card to Sweetwater Tavern and Grille! Enter for the chance to win a pair of tickets to Dirkschneider at Concord Music Hall More Free Stuff » Enter for the chance to win a pair of tickets to Theatre Thursday at the Lookingglass Theatre Three Pandering Sluts and Their Music-Press Stooge All Over the Map More From the Archive » 5 Rules to Make Bringing Lunch From Home Easier I am a master of bringing my lunch from home. My habit was born out of post-college poverty and nurtured by a series of jobs in offices without many restaurants nearby. Now it’s deeply entrenched, which is good because the food options at my school are really gross. (Think about a 15-year-old boy’s list of favorite restaurants and you get the idea.)

Bringing lunch is good, for both your health and your wallet*. But we live in the actual world where the start of Daylight Savings Time means we snoozed for an extra 30 minutes and now there is no time to even make a PB&J before leaving the house, so what now, Lunch Master? Here are the 5 rules I live by when it comes to bringing lunch from home: { read more } Friday Links: February 22, 2013 This is the kind of book you find around the apartment when you’re married to a nerd. (Follow me on Instagram: anjaliruth.) What I’ve been reading: The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food – New York Times * “This,” Witherly said, “is one of the most marvelously constructed foods on the planet, in terms of pure pleasure.” He ticked off a dozen attributes of the Cheetos that make the brain say more. But the one he focused on most was the puff’s uncanny ability to melt in the mouth. “It’s called vanishing caloric density,” Witherly said. “If something melts down quickly, your brain thinks that there’s no calories in it . . . you can just keep eating it forever.”

Doctors who cook say they give better nutrition advice – Chicago Tribune “The conceptual mode for this program was influenced by the observation that for healthcare professionals, practicing a healthful behavior oneself (eg, exercise, wearing a seat belt) is a powerful predictor of counseling patients about these same behaviors,” researchers wrote in a letter in the Monday issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn. Internal Medicine. Fish Get Stoned, Too – Mother Jones The scientists found that perch exposed to wastewater tainted with low and high concentrations of the drug—amounts mimicking both initial exposure and potential accumulation in fish tissue over time—showed significant changes in behavior: The fish became less social, more active, bolder, and scarfed down zooplankton faster and earlier than the control group. In other words, the fish got stoned. Why Four Workouts a Week May Be Better Than Six – New York Times But the women who had been assigned to exercise six times per week were now expending considerably less daily energy than they had been at the experiment’s start, the equivalent of almost 200 fewer calories each day, even though they were exercising so assiduously.

What I’ve been cooking (at The Kitchn): Salted Dark Chocolate Popcorn** Creamy Butternut Squash Orzotto (Barley Risotto) with Toasted Pecans …and thinking about cooking: Roasted Cauliflower and Onion Soup – The First Mess Crispy Cornmeal Sweet Potato Fries with Chermoula Yogurt – My New Roots * If you read one thing this weekend, make it this. ** If you cook one thing this weekend, make it this. posted in Friday Links Shoyu Tamago (Soy Sauce Eggs) One thing I learned about while living in Japan was relentless repetition in pursuit of perfection. You do something again and again and again and again, until it is imprinted in every fiber of your being, and then you do it some more. Perfection can never be reached, but it’s possible to get pretty damn close if you do something every day for decades. (Watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi and you’ll get the idea.) I started pursuing hard-boiled egg perfection in Japan. And while I’ll never be able to say I’ve reached it, I think I’ve gotten pretty damn close.

If you want to make the perfect hard-boiled egg, buy the best large eggs you can afford. Keep them in the refrigerator for at least a week. (Older eggs are much easier to peel.) Place however many eggs you want to boil in a pot and cover them with at least an inch of cold water. Bring the water to a boil, turn off the heat, cover the pot and let the eggs sit for 7 to 10 minutes. I like the slightly-soft-in-the-middle yolk of the 7-minute egg; if you like your yolk firmly cooked, let your egg sit for the full 10. Pour out the hot water and run the eggs under cold water until cooled. Repeat each morning for breakfast and every day you will be a little closer to perfection. You also might be a little sick of plain hard-boiled eggs. So I present shoyu tamago, or soy sauce eggs, which are dressed up with a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar. They’re a little salty, a little sour and a little sweet — not nearly as intense as a pickled egg, but with some of the same charms.

Shoyu tamago are a staple of Japanese lunchboxes, but they also make a great snack, or accompaniment to a beer or white wine spritzer. Or maybe two spritzers, if you’re pursuing white wine spritzer perfection. Not that I’d know anything about that. { read more } posted in Eggs, Recipes, Snacks Hot and Sour Kimchi and Quinoa Stew Since I started working from home, I’ve developed a minor obsession with lunches that can be pulled together in 15 minutes or less. We don’t usually keep cold cuts on hand, so that usually means some sort of canned fish salad (better than it sounds) or a mishmash of whatever odds and ends I have in the fridge. Sometimes the mishmash is legit. This was one of those times. Mix one aging package of Trader Joe’s kimchi — it’s pretty good! — with a container of leftover cooked quinoa, a handful of chopped kale and a swirl of Korean red pepper paste, and cover it all with some water. That’s it: a spicy, sour, warming stew perfect for a rainy day lunch.

A poached egg or some cubes of tofu would make this a more filling option for dinner. Whatever you choose, you’re better off eating this particular stew in the privacy of your own home. Kimchi has the power to make enemies in work kitchens. Of course, if you and your co-workers are already enemies, by all means — fire the next shot with this kimchi-based soup. Or bring a canned fish salad. posted in Gluten-Free, Pickles & Condiments, Recipes, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian Friday Links: February 8, 2013 Getting Into Your Exercise Groove – The New York Times But a series of recent studies involving runners, walkers, metronomes and virtual reality curtains suggests that while the tug of physiological laziness is strong, it can be controlled, or at least tweaked, with some conscious effort — and perhaps your iPhone playlist. The Lovely Hill: Where People Live Longer and Happier – The Atlantic People who eat foods associated with a Mediterranean diet also experienced less negative emotions like being afraid, nervous, upset, irritable, scared, hostile, and distressed.

The more people ate those foods that are more typically American — specifically, red meat, sweets, and fast food — the less of these positive emotions they felt.Soup Making May Be Older Than We’d Thought – NPR Neanderthals, ancient human relatives that lived from around 200,000 to 28,000 years ago, would have needed boiling technology to render fat from animal bones to supplement their diet of lean meat, so that they could have avoided death by protein poisoning. Betty on The Today Show! – Meet the Shannons My friends Annie and Dan Shannon just came out with a book! Betty Goes Vegan is full of recipes for vegan comfort food and includes lots of fun stories from one of my favorite couples. And they were on The Today Show this week! Shaved Fennel, Roasted Tomato & Pistachio Salad with Creamy Yogurt Dressing Korean Chicken Sliders with Braised Kale & Kimchi Roasted Feta Cheese with Fig-Thyme Compote Creamy Dairy-Free Fish Chowder Mini Vegetarian Pot Pies – Flourishing Foodie