Steven Tyler quitting Aerosmith?

1 comment November 10th, 2009 09:43am Georgette Braun

Check THIS out.

List of restaurant don’ts too delectable

3 comments November 10th, 2009 08:42am Georgette Braun

These two lists of 100 Things Restaurant Staff Should Never Do (the first 50 HERE; the next, HERE) in the New York Times is incredible, stupendous, so on-target you’ll be shouting “YES!” and clamouring for your favorite eateries to train their staff this way on what not to do.

A few of my favorites:

17. Do not take an empty plate from one guest while others are still eating the same course. Wait, wait, wait.

40. Never say, “Good choice,” implying that other choices are bad.

52. Know your menu inside and out. If you serve Balsam Farm candy-striped beets, know something about Balsam Farm and candy-striped beets.

57. Bring the pepper mill with the appetizer. Do not make people wait or beg for a condiment.

58. Do not bring judgment with the ketchup. Or mustard. Or hot sauce. Or whatever condiment is requested.

77. Do not disappear.

97. If a guest goes gaga over a particular dish, get the recipe for him or her.

I’m going to put a copy of this list in my purse when I’m reviewing local eateries for our My Last Bite dining-out feature that runs in GO on Fridays. Maybe I’ll just randomly pick a number or two and see how the eatery measures up.

Other ideas? What are your favorites on the list? Other pet peeves?

Magenta 4-plus-inch heels have Geo out of her comfort zone

2 comments November 9th, 2009 12:22pm Georgette Braun

The magenta 4-inch-plus-platform-heeled sandals I’m wearing for a fashion show Friday have me in a tizzy.

I’ve never owned pink, or even red, shoes; never worn heels higher than 2.5 inches. But I’m really digging these heels. They make my Puttin’ on the Glitz look for the SwedishAmerican cancer fundraiser at Giovanni’s. The little black dress I’m wearing from That Boutique is simply nice, but the shoes from the same store make the ensemble pop.

Guess I’m so stoked about wearing the heels because I’m pushing my comfort zone with the height and color. Reminds me in a small way of Mary E. Larson of Pecatonica, 86, who’ll next week act in her first play since high school. She’ll be featured in GO on Nov. 17.

Now, if I can make it safely across the catwalk and can find $69 I don’t think I should be spending elsewhere, I’m going to buy these heels. Even if I don’t wear them again for a few years, I don’t have to worry about my feet growing. I’ve been a 10 since high school.

BRAD BURT | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
GO columnist Georgette Braun models magenta Caparros shoes with 4-inch heels ($69 at That Boutique) that she’ll wear Nov. 13 at Puttin’ on the Glitz, a fashion-show fundraiser at Giovanni’s in Rockford for The Regional Cancer Center at SwedishAmerican.

Stressed out? What’s your fix?

1 comment November 6th, 2009 09:01am Georgette Braun

The first story I’ve written for our new GO Relax section that will run Saturdays in the newspaper deals with, well, ways to relax. Some laugh about it, others smell the roses (or rose oil, anyway), and the list goes on.

Tell here in comments about your stress-busters.

Post-Halloween haunt with no path, one glowstick

Add comment November 4th, 2009 08:00am Georgette Braun

Walk through the Screamatorium Haunted House in South Beloit from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday for the Dark Stalkers experience.

Each group is given one glow stick and upon entering the haunted path at 6512 Manchester Road, the group is left alone to find its way out in darkness. If you lose your glow stick, you won’t be given another. There is no time limit. It could take you 20 minutes or more than an hour. The creatures, Screamatorium staff who are known for their intense in-your-face effects, will run customers in endless circles around the detailed horror scenes.

No one under age 13 will be admitted without a parent or guardian. Tickets available only on-site, and there are no advance ticket sales. Cost is $10.

SCOTT MORGAN | ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Cassi Canaday, 14, of South Beloit gets ready Oct. 23 for the haunted house in South Beloit.

Rockford retirement community chef in Chicago culinary contest

1 comment November 3rd, 2009 10:44am Georgette Braun

The days of pureed peas and lukewarm meatloaf are gone at today’s retirement communities.

So says the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, which is hosting its own “Iron Chef” competition Monday through Wednesday at McCcormick Place Lakeside Center in Chicago. The group has 5,300 member organizations.

Christina Fox of Wesley Willows Retirement Community  in Rockford is among competitors from the Chicago area and Maryland and California as well who will race against the clock to create dishes using a secret ingredient. Area chefs will judge their culinary creations.

I’ll follow up to see how Fox fares.

We best shed fear of the self-checkout machine

11 comments November 3rd, 2009 10:33am Georgette Braun

Are you scared of self-checkout machines?

I’ve used the one at the Hilander (a Kroger store) on Main Street and Riverside Boulevard in Rockford just once. I tend to avoid it because I don’t want to make a mistake and feel foolish. I’m not alone.

Researchers studied the patterns at a lane of self-checkout machines in a Kroger Co.  grocery store in North Carolina, and interviewed the users afterward, according to this Daily Finance story. “They found that shoppers felt more comfortable ringing up their own purchases if they were alone or in a crowd. But if there was just one other person waiting in line behind them, they felt more pressured and less confident and were less likely to use the machine again or recommend it to others.

“Retail Banking Research estimated the number of self-checkout machines in the U.S. will grow to nearly 192,000 in 2011, more than tripling the 59,000 that were in use in 2007.”

Yikes. We best shed our fears of embarrassment and get with the program or we could be waiting in lines longer as retailers increasingly cut checkers to cut costs. We can do it. Remember, some of us didn’t used to pump our own gas, either.

Shinedown, Papa Roach, Halestorm at MetroCentre Dec. 15

1 comment November 2nd, 2009 06:00pm Georgette Braun

Hard rockers Shinedown, Papa Roach and Halestorm will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 15, at the MetroCentre, 300 Elm St., Rockford.

Tickets cost $32.50 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at metrocentre.com, 815-968-5222 and the MetroCentre box office.

Shinedown is known for hits “Save Me,” “Devour,” “Second Chance” and “Sound of Madness.” Papa Roach’s hits include “Last Resort” and “Lifeline.” Halestorm, led by siblings Elizabeth and Arejay Hale,  has had one hit: “I Get Off.” A fourth band may be added.

J.R. Sullivan won’t be home for holiday show here, so it’s on hiatus a year

1 comment November 2nd, 2009 10:36am Georgette Braun

J.R. Sullivan, who founded the now-defunct New American Theater in downtown Rockford that is informally being referred to as The Sullivan Center at 118 N. Main St., won’t make it for a variety show there that he has led for 15 years.

So Hometown Holiday will not be held this December, but is expected to return next year, according to a news release by Charlotte’s Web for the Performing Arts, which presented the show.

Sullivan is the new artistic director of the Pearl Theatre Company in New York City, and the job is keeping him busy in the Big Apple this year. “I can only say that I know this to be a one-year break, and the Hometown Holiday show will be back in 2010,” Sullivan said in the news release.

Local farmer documentary on Omaha screens

Add comment October 29th, 2009 04:15pm Georgette Braun

The 2005 documentary, “The Real Dirt on Farmer John,” featuring John Peterson, owner of Angelic Organics in Caldeonia, will be presented Saturday and Tuesday at Film Streams’ Ruth Sokolof Theater in Omaha, Neb.

The film is one of eight documentaries in the American Stories film series presented with the Nebraska Humanities Council and Federation of State Humanities Councils. It is part of a series presented with the 2009 National Humanities Conference in Omaha. The Illinois Humanities Council submitted the film for consideration.

From a story I wrote in April 2006: Peterson “embraced the ’60s and ’70s, and his friends flocked to the farm with all their flamboyant artistic expressions. Some neighbors thought he was wacky and wrongly believed worse, like he was a drug king and ritualistic killing was going on down on the farm.

“The farm debt crisis of the ’80s cost him all but 22 acres. He was depressed and went to Mexico to find himself. After his return, he started farming organically on the property and now owns and operates ecologically friendly Angelic Organics. It’s a Community Supported Agriculture farm in which about 1,200 consumers, mostly from the Chicago and Rockford areas, are invested in the expenses of producing food.”

Tell here in Comments what you like about going to Angelic Organics.

Jan. 19, 2006