Last call for fresh turkey at Foodstuffs!

If you’d like to get your hands on a scrumptious whole turkey or turkey breast for your holiday dinner, Foodstuffs is taking orders for local Harrison Poultry birds through Wednesday, December 19 - this week. Their price is $2.49 a pound for a whole bird (complete with pop-up timers!), or $4.49 a pound for breast meat. Pick up is scheduled for Christmas Eve, from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Foodstuffs is a gourmet wonderland, and during the holiday season, they offer all sorts of fabulous sides to make that meal perfect, and allow you to enjoy some the the holiday, too! And their cakes are killer - I just scarfed down a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. To.Die.For.

There’s four great locations on the North Shore:

Evanston:
2106 Central
847.328.7704

Glencoe:
338 Park Ave.
847.835.5105

Glenview:
1456 Waukegan Rd. (Carillon Square)
847.832.9999

Lake Forest:
255 Westminster
847.234.6600

Technorati Tags: Foodstuffs, North Shore Chicago catering, fresh turkey, Chicago holiday dinner catering, Evanston catering, Glencoe catering, Glenview catering, Lake Forest catering

Here’s some quick and dirty info on this weekend’s anticipated PACE cuts that’ll affect North Shore commuters:

The 210 Weekday Route is being discontinued. This means people using this route, which serves Glenview, Skokie, Morton Grove and Lincolnwood, will have to find alternate routes and/or transportation. There are some alternatives:
• At Glenbrook Hospital, Route 270 service is available to and from the Jefferson Park CTA terminal, with connections en route with Pace Routes 208 Golf Rd., 226 Oakton St., 250 Dempster St., 290 Touhy Ave. and 423 Linden CTA - The Glen - Harlem CTA.
• At Glenview/Harlem, passengers can access Routes 422 and 423; Metra-Milwaukee District North line service is available at the Glenview Metra Station.
• At Waukegan/Golf, passengers can access Pace Route 208.
• Along Dempster between Waukegan and Ferris, passengers can access Pace Route 250.
• At Niles Center/Oakton, passengers can access Pace Route 226.
• At Lincoln/Touhy, passengers can access Pace Route 290.
• At Lincoln/McCormick, passengers can access CTA Routes 11 and 82.

Saturday service on Route 422 will be discontinued. This bus serves Glenview, Skokie, Wilmette and Northbrook. Here’s a few alternatives:
• Evanston area residents wishing to get ot Northbrook Court can access Route 213, which runs between the Davis Station and Northbrook Court via Green Bay Road.
• Evanston area residents looking to head in the direction of Old Orchard (Skokie) via Golf Rd. can use Route 208 from the Davis Station.
• The Metra-Milwaukee District North line may be an alternative for passengers traveling to or from areas near the Glenview or Northbrook station.

Saturday service on the 423 Linden will be discontinued. This route serves Glenview, Wilmette, Winnetka, Golf, Kenilworth and Northfield. PACE offers theser alternatives:
• Alternate service for the Sheridan Rd. portion of the route is available via Pace Route 213 on Green Bay Road, which operates to and from the Davis CTA/Metra Station, or the nearby Metra-UP North rail line.
• The Metra-Milwaukee District North line may be an alternative for passengers traveling to or from areas near the Glenview or Glen of North Glenview station.
• Along the Harlem Ave. portion of the route, service is available on east-west Routes 208 Golf Road, 250 Dempster and 290 Touhy; passengers may use these routes in combination with Route 270 Milwaukee Ave. to travel to and from the CTA Blue Line. (Route 270’s southern terminal is the Jefferson Park station.)
• Between Northwest Hwy. and the Harlem CTA Station, CTA Route 88 provides service on Harlem Ave. (southbound only as the end of a loop).

Technorati Tags: Glenview bus service, Winnetka bus service, Wilmette bus service, Skokie bus service, Old Orchard bus service, Northbrook Court bus service, Evanston bus service, PACE bus service, North Shore Chicago PACE bus service, PACE cuts, CTA cuts

I was watching The Today Show a few minutes ago as I was cleaning up breakfast, and caught myself in one of those “You’re talking out loud to yourself” moments - the kind where you actually say out loud, to no one, “You’ve got to be @#$!%* kidding me!” Topic? How to get kids to exercise in front of the TV.

It’s this kind of marketing that makes me want to tear my hair out. OK - so if you have to choose between the XBox and Wii, and your kid is a bit on the portly side, I can see where having this kind of information – that Wii gets your kids up and moving – may be beneficial. But when they highlighted Fisher-Price’s little tot bike that plugs into your TV so that they can exercise while learning their ABCs, well, that’s when my jaw hit the floor.

Seriously? Here on the North Shore, we are surrounded by recreational opportunities that are so much healthier for you. Hey, parents, how about singing the ABC song while tooling down the North Branch trail. This biking/walking trail was recently renovated and quite simply is gorgeous, especially at this time of year. There are several really convenient spots to jump on the trail, with a really prime spot just off of East Lake Avenue near the border of Wilmette and Glenview. Also, this trail runs straight through Chicago Botanical Garden. Fabulous.

Or how about packing up a fall picnic, a football and a frisbee and hanging out at the Skokie Lagoons? Just off the Edens Expressway on the Winnetka border, between Dundee and Willow Rds, the Lagoons are a great place to enjoy the fall foliage, teach the kids about nature, and even try to catch a fish or two.

And then there’s the lake - the walking path on Northwestern’s campus is beautiful this time of year, and on a clear day you can catch a wonderful view of downtown and the skyline. The Open Lands in Lake Forest also offer breathtaking scenery.

The point is, you don’t need to figure out ways to incorporate exercise into your child’s TV habit - you need to figure out ways to take the TV out of the equation altogether. And living around here, there’s no excuse not to - get outside whle the weather’s still beckoning!

Technorati Tags: Cook County IL Forest Preserve, North Branch bike trail, Skokie Lagoons, Lake Forest, Winnetka, Northwestern University, Evanston, Chicago Botanical Garden, North Shore bike trails