Brunch with Gale Gand

Gale Gand is hands down my favorite chef and Chicago personality. Thanks to a keen eye of my friend Wendy, I was notified that she was a co-hosting a brunch at The Bristol restaurant with the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food(founded incidentally by the infamous Julia Child). It was to promote her new brunch book, which is another culinary masterpiece. Well, brunch was to die for. Crepes with bananas and homemade Nutella, strata with wild onions, noodle kugle, pear coffee cake, bacon waffles, yes bacon waffles, asparagus with eggs, hmmm... I feel like I might be forgetting something, but regardless amazing!!!!

Then as we were asking Gale if she'd take a photo with us, she asked us to send it to her because she forgot her camera and wants to post it on her blog. I am in heaven, will send you the link when I see it up there. YUM!!!!

Thank you's!!!

I want to thank some recent supporters:

My book club members:
Meg Heron Blake
Eileen Blake
Jeanine Kupec

Jen Belongia

Senator John Milner

Anna White
Gina Cook

Donations Wanted.....

I just got the updated needs list from AHOPE. While there are many needs, so many of them are so heavy and bulky. Unfortunately I have limited luggage space, so I've decided to collect wristwatches. They are looking for children/teen watches for ages 8-15. There are about 35 children at Big AHOPE and I hope to bring enough for everyone. The watches in the picture are ones my mom and I purchased today at Kohls and Walmart. We got them all from $7 to $11 a piece.

Please let me know if you'd like to donate a wristwatch.

Kiva Loans

As I wrote in my previous post, I got my mom a Kiva Loan for Mother's Day. She went on the site and wanted to choose a woman from either the Ukraine(where her family is from) or Ethiopia(obvious reasons)... but since at the moment there are no loans from there.. she choose a single mother from Tajikistan. She choose Inobat Narzullaeva because they were the same age. Inobat works in the clothing market, selling traditional caps. She wants to diversify her selection. Good luck Inobat, I hope you get your entire loan and that it helps!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I made brunch for Mother's Day. I made currant scones with clotted cream, lemon curd and raspberry jam. I did veggie and cheese omelets, hash browns, fruit and of course mimosas.

My mother is always saying she doesn't want anything for holidays, so this year I got her a gift certificate to Kiva loans. Kiva loans are a way to do micro financing for people in struggling countries. They write a business plan, you loan them money, they use the money for their business project, you are notified how it goes and then eventually the money is paid back and you can reinvest it in another person. It is really an amazing organization. Looking forward to seeing who she will pick for her loan.

Hanging with Charlie and Miss Juliet!!

Yesterday I got to meet Charlie and hang out with my goddaughter, Juliet. Charlie is cute but awfully skinny... I swear his sister was chunky from the word go.
Juliet turns three at the end of the month and can tell you all the reasons that babies cry as she ticks them off on her fingers, recite many lines from any princess movie and if you ask her what she thinks about her brother, she'll tell you that he is "boring". Which let's face it, babies don't really do much, but eat and sleep, so I get her point!!!

Welcome to the World!!!

Welcome to the world, Charlie James Becker!!! Born May 4th at 10:39am. Charlie, Hank(the hippo) and I will visit you on Saturday. Your mom doesn't do the whole visit in the hospital thing. Please ask your big sister for me, what kind of treats I should bring.... We are all very excited that you are here!!!!

Person of the week

Have any of you been chosen as person of the week?

Yes, I was person of the week at school this past week. We may not make as much money as most of the rest of you, but seriously, can you say that for a week straight, that every time you passed someone, they said congratulations and burst into applause. My kids made me posters and I got to wear a sash that had puffy paint on it that said Person of the Week. All very fancy, if you ask me. These are pictures from the week.

You got to love working with little people!!