Spaghetti Trim Santa and His Sleigh

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In addition to the sweet little Christmas girl, we also bought this Santa and Sleigh for the deal of the day at this year's Vintage Christmas Antique Fair.  This has spaghetti trim like the Santas we bought last year.

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Honey Bear Farm - Powers Lake Wisconsin - And Chicago Alderman Ed Burke

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Last Summer, I was up at the Lake Geneva Walmart buying our fishing license when I noticed a guy who looked familiar in a trench coat inspecting a kayak along with a youngish other man.  I looked them over and couldn't right away figure out who it was.  Then it clicked.  It was Chicago Alderman Ed Burked and his (infamous) security detail.  Of course, that got me wondering what the Alderman was doing up there and a few searches on Google lead me to this story about how he came to acquire a place called Honey Bear Farm.  
On a recent run, Natalie came across this sign you see above:  Honey Bear Bay.  Kinda neat.  We had talked about my run-in with the Alderman and the name of the farm must have stuck because when she came back from the run, she showed me this photo.
As for the story, it is just *too* Chicago politics to believe.   From the Chicago Tribune: A subsidiary of Carson Pirie Scott & Co. sold an interest in prime Wisconsin real estate to two of the most powerful membe…
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Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

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Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera.
I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink.

I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentages (60…
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Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe

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TOM’S TAILGATER ITALIAN BEEF COURTESY OF Steve Dahl and DAHL.COM

Ingredients:
One 3 ½ to 4 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast
One package of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix
One 16 oz. jar of hot giardiniera
One 16 oz. jar of mild giardiniera
One dozen baguettes (French rolls)

Directions:
In a four-quart Crock-Pot, pour in one bottle of giardiniera. Place the roast on top of the layer of giardiniera. Sprinkle the salad dressing mixture on top of the roast. Add the second bottle of giardiniera to the top of the roast. Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. When fork tender, shred the roast in the Crock-Pot and allow it to combine with the other ingredients. Slice the baguettes in half and pile on the beef and giardiniera mixture.

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For the babe's baptism party, we hosted a collection of family and friends back at our house after the church proceedings. We ordered some of the food from Maggiano's including salad a…
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