New Rockford-Area Local Delivery Service Seeks Input
Plus, a reminder of Crate Free USA's Wednesday event, and a memorable anniversary
Countdown to Outdoor Market Season Kickoff
It’s Monday, so there are five days until Green City Market kicks off the 2023 outdoor market season at its flagship location.
Advance forecasts can be a dubious concept in Chicago, but right now Accuweather is predicting a couple of morning showers and some sun, with a high of 45. Weather.com’s version is sunshine and clouds, high of 41. So don’t put away the parka yet.
There is also a 50 percent possibility that on Saturday, two college basketball teams you may have never heard of will qualify for the NCAA championship game. But that’s a whole other story.
Rockford-Area Local Food Source Seeks Input
Rare Earth Food Collective is a startup online local food delivery company that plans to serve residents in northern Illinois’ Rockford area. Its goal is to be up and running no later than June with pickup locations in and around Rockford, and there will also be home delivery options.
To get it right, founder Andrew Stewart is seeking input from eco-friendly producers in the following counties: Winnebago, Boone and McHenry. He also needs feedback from consumers about their food preferences and which pickup locations/times would work best for them.
If you are interested in this concept and want to provide input — or know someone in the service region that might want to be involved — there are links below to two surveys, one for producers and one for consumers.
And thanks to Erin Keyser, who is assisting Andrew Stewart and reached out to me with this information.
Reminder: Crate Free USA Reducetarian Event
Also a reminder that Crate Free USA’s Reducetarian event is THIS WEDNESDAY EVENING.
The event — starting 6:30 p.m. at Ravenswood Loft, 4437 N. Ravenswood Ave. — features the Chicago screening of Meat Me Halfway, directed by Brian Kateman, co-founder of The Reducetarian Foundation. The foundation promotes the "reducetarian" diet, in which participants reduce the amount of meat they consume in order to improve their health, protect the environment, and spare farmed animals from cruelty.
The admission price includes vegan food, and a post-film discussion panel and Q&A in which Brian will be joined by Jess Chipkin, founder of Crate Free USA, and Cliff McConville, owner of All Grass Farms, a pastured livestock operation in west suburban Dundee. The evening is hosted by Chicago radio personality Mike Nowak.
Food will be provided by Kale My Name, Chicago Diner, Ste Martaen, and more.
Whether you are all in, intrigued or skeptical about the premise, it is an opportunity to learn more about issues relevant to our local food community. Click the button below to buy tickets for the event.
Somewhere Over Lake Michigan
Barb and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary this weekend by attending a Sunday matinee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Some rain moved in just as we were heading home, but by the time our bus reached Lake Shore Drive, the sun was breaking through — producing this vibrant partial rainbow over the lake.
Sorry about the speckles, as this photo was taken through a not-so-clean window of a bus traveling at high speed. Still, rather pretty, don’t you think?
The concert was one of the best we’ve seen in recent months. It opened with Suite from the Ballet Hiawatha by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, an Englishman who was one of the breakthrough Black composers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was followed by Clarinet Concerto by the famed American composer Aaron Copland, which featured a brilliant solo by Stephen Williamson (center above with conductor Thomas Wilkins applauding on the right).
The highlight, though, was a wonderful, dynamic performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony from the New World. The Czech composer was greatly influenced by Black spirituals — even if you’re not a big classical music fan, you’ve probably heard the “Goin’ Home” theme from the 2nd movement — and American Indian music. It is considered one of the most American pieces of music, even though it was written by a European composer from thousands of miles away,
Naturally, there was food involved in our anniversary celebration. For the actual day on Saturday, I made a pot roast with mashed potatoes. Pot roast, you might say? Isn’t that just comfort food? Yes, but… when made with a pasture-raised chuck roast from 99 Counties, it is certainly a cut above. Slap a French name on this at a restaurant and you’d pay big bucks — and like it.
We’d actually planned to eat dinner out after the concert Sunday, but the turn in the weather persuaded us to just go home for round 2 of the pot roast and potatoes. We did not feel cheated.