When my daughter Kara flew in for my birthday this past weekend from her home in New York City, we decided to have dinner one night at our newest restaurant in Libertyville, Shakou Sushi. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, our little downtown has become quite the restaurant row in our area north of Chicago […]
A Slice of Laughter
Today is my birthday. And as we age, sometimes we like to forget birthdays, especially as the numbers keep going up. But when a birthday cake can bring tears of laughter instead of tears of growing old, it’s a good thing. My birthday cake from today will make me laugh for a long time to […]
Rain, Snow, Floods, and a Birthday
I have been sitting here trying to figure out what to write about for my next blog when a message just came through on my Facebook page. My sweet youngest daughter wrote the following post before going to bed: I cannot wait to go home tomorrow to celebrate my Momma’s birthday! It doesn’t matter how old […]
A Michelin Star Meal with Cuisinart
What could be better than an evening at Michelin-starred restaurant Acadia in Chicago with hosts from the Cuisinart company and table mates being cookbook authors and magazine editors? Talk about lively conversation! Sometimes I have to pinch myself that I am able to attend these amazing events. My daughter Kristina and I had another one of our food […]
Night with a Carnivore
Iron Chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and co-host of The Chew, Michael Symon, is also a longtime affiliate with Calphalon. In celebration of Calphalon’s fifty years and to present Symon’s newest cookbook, Carnivore, Calphalon hosted a dinner to showcase both. My daughter Kristina and I were thrilled to be invited to the event held at the Calphalon kitchens in […]
The Taste of My Hometown
My hometown of Libertyville, Illinois, about 35 miles north of Chicago, was named by CNN as one of America’s best small suburbs due to the vitality and ambiance of our downtown along with its strong sense of community and historic appeal. There are many things to brag about in Libertyville – our beautiful parks, downtown activities, great schools, […]
A Hollywood Face Lift
Welcome to the new Culinary Cellar! I moved my blog to WordPress, and as you can see, it looks a little different, but modern and updated. You might even say it has had a face lift. But not any face lift; it was done by Andrew Wilder of Blog Tutor in Los Angeles. There are parts […]
Finding Grace
One of the favorite activities my daughter Kristina and I love to share together is our quest for beautiful food everywhere in the world. Whenever Kristina is visiting us near Chicago from her home in Los Angeles, we know all we have to do is drive into the city for some of the best food on […]
