Chow Down Chicago: Good Eats from the Windy City

  Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, and brunch is even better because it's like breakfast on steroids.  A day on which brunch is eaten is almost always a good day because it means you've likely slept in, had a lazy morning, and probably don't have much else you have to do for the rest of the day. It's even socially acceptable to have a little late-morning/early-afternoon booze. A day with brunch is usually a day taken slowly and savored. I for one say we need more days with brunches.  When I'm looking for alternatives to my usual first-meal-of-the-day fare, I often find inspiration in Southern-style cuisine. Buttery grits with lots of milk, salt, and pepper make a satisfying breakfast when I need a break from oatmeal and want to start my day with something savory rather than sweet. But brunch demands something sweet.  On that note, here is a recipe for corn meal pancakes, which are also known as johnnycakes . They offer a slight twist on the usual pancake: t...

  One good thing, maybe the only good thing, about March weather in the Midwest is that it's prime time for making maple syrup. Maple trees are tapped to make syrup in late February and March, when temperatures consistently rise above freezing during the day and drop to below freezing at night. This weather pattern causes sap to flow throughout maple trees, allowing them to be tapped. The sap is then boiled to make syrup, which can be used for many delicious purposes.  Native Americans were the first to convert maple sap into sugar and syrup. Early settlers in the Americas also learned to convert the tree sap into a sweetener. At this time, honey was rare in the area and both molasses and cane sugar came all the way from West Indian plantations. Many settlers decided to make their own sweetener rather than support slavery and pay the high shipping costs for molasses and sugar. The 1803 Farmer's Almanac advised settlers to "make your own sugar and send not to the Indies for...