Dinner

Chill Out and Get Baked: Dessert, Skokie Style

Sweet spots add flavor for those new dating relationships to share.

Everyone loves a new romantic relationship. That period of discovery at the beginning ("You like movies and music! Wow, I like movies and music too!") gives way to great joy, where a single text message can make or break a day ("that thing u did last nite? <3 <3 <3!"), and everything - everything - is an odd, grand adventure before it's something that will one day be brought up in therapy and logged into a police report. And so, in the beginning, we go to restaurants and sit across from one another to find out who we are, and watch carefully to see who picks up which check, and we stow that information away as fodder for arguments that may long outlive the relationship itself. The lucky among us, however, find a friend who, while they …

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A Passion for Pies

Local librarian, author and blogger shares her fond knowledge about pastry.

Amy Alessio believes pies are rich – in history. Much like fashion or cars - pies give you a peek into the past.  At least that's what Alessio believes.  She's a librarian by day and a pie connoisseur by night. She threw a pie party at the Skokie Public Library, 5215 Oakton St., on Wednesday evening. Although her presentation included everything from fillings, crusts to even pie holidays, her expertise isn't just in baking pies – she's an expert on pie history. "The cookbooks read like novels," Alessio said. "I was interested in the history and the picture of the life of these times." Alessio's personal library is stocked with a collection of more than 350 vintage cookbooks from the 1940s through the 1980s. She says the cookbooks …

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