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player ready...This week, we’re highlighting all the best fall activities to squeeze in before the first frost. We’ve mapped out dozens of apple orchards and pumpkin patches within driving distance, plus a ranking of 30 pumpkin-flavored foods at Trader Joe’s and what might be the best display of autumn leaves in the Midwest. There are fiery bowls of pozole to warm you up on a chilly day, plus impeccable fall theater you won’t want to miss.
Already looking ahead to the holidays? Our 35th annual Holiday Cookie Contest launched today — perhaps your recipe will win our $250 prize.
Soak in those cozy-weather vibes, and we’ll see you next week.
— Ariel Cheung
Your guide to apple picking in the Chicago area, from pick-your-own orchards to an apple tree maze
Whether you’re on the hunt for the perfect peck for your homemade apple pies or picking a pumpkin destined to become a spooky jack-o’-lantern, we’ve mapped out apple orchards and pumpkin patches within driving distance of Chicago, complete with info on prices, attractions such as hayrides and corn mazes, and more.
The Tribune’s 2021 Holiday Cookie Contest starts Wednesday. Here’s how to enter our annual bake-off.
Haul out the KitchenAid and get those eggs beating — the 35th annual Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest has arrived.
Going strong since 1986 (except for a blip in 1999), the cookie contest seeks out the best, the most scrumptious, and the most deliciously creative cookies in the Chicago area — and there’s a cash prize for the top three winners.
Meet the 2020 Holiday Cookie Contest winners: Fluffernutters, spitzbuben and sables
Review: Second City is back on the mainstage and back in form with ‘Together at Last’
It’s the first full-blown revue from Second City since the pandemic began, and theater critic Chris Jones examined how the strange times we find ourselves in play out on the improv stage.
Can school board meetings over critical race theory or relatives participating in the Jan. 6 riots really elicit laughs? Check out the full review for Jones’ take.
Review: Alla Vita wants to reboot the staid Italian American joint
Imagine your favorite classic Italian dish — chicken parm, rigatoni alla vodka, pizza — but made with the precision and eye of one of Chicago’s top chefs. Enter Alla Vita, a new West Loop restaurant rethinking what a red-sauce joint can be.
If you, like Tribune film critic Michael Phillips, are plagued with Chosen One fatigue, it’s possible you’ve been approaching the remake of “Dune” with a wary eye.
But with Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in starring roles and the stunning visuals you’d expect from the director of “Blade Runner 2049,” there’s plenty to draw viewers in, Phillips writes — even if the film bares little similarity to its 1984 David Lynch-helmed predecessor.
The 30 best (and worst) pumpkin-flavored foods at Trader Joe’s, ranked
Anyone who shops at Trader Joe’s can confirm: Starbucks revolutionized the hot pumpkin drink, but Trader Joe’s weaponized pumpkin as an all-purpose 21st century meal, writes Tribune reporter Chris Borrelli.
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But which of its dozens of pumpkin-flavored products stand out? Borrelli puts them to the taste test, from spicy samosas to pumpkin-spiced pumpkin seeds.
Impossible nuggets still nearly impossible to get in Chicago, but how do they taste?
“I thought I had pozole figured out,” writes Tribune food critic Nick Kindelsperger (and hey, you can’t deny the guy knows his way around a good bowl of soup).
But Chicago’s newest pozoleria, Pozoleria El Mexicano in Belmont Cragin, still managed to surprise him with a recipe passed down from five generations of owner Carla Rodriguez’s family.
Museum of Broadcast Communications with John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight Masterpiece Gallery” at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio/ baiduhai)
A re-imagined Museum of Broadcast Communications is now reopened and free to the public — including, for a limited time, a micro-gallery of three ridiculous artworks courtesy of John Oliver and HBO’s “Last Week Tonight.”
‘Office Experience’ opens Friday in Chicago — you can visit Dunder Mifflin and sit at Dwight’s desk
User Upload Caption: Liu Hao is a Beijin-based genealogy researcher who helps adoptees and their birth parents connect. She is featured in the Netflix documentary “Found.”
– Original Credit: Netflix
Grappling with confused emotions surrounding the circumstances of their adoption, three Chinese Americans suddenly found themselves a little less alone with the help of a DNA genetic testing service.
The newfound cousins are at the center of “Found,” a new Netflix documentary that left quite an impression on the Tribune’s Nina Metz.
– Original Credit:
This is no ordinary retrospective. It is a full-body assault, writes Lori Waxman.
With the exception of 20 original black-and-white photo collages from the 1980s, neatly hung in their frames, prolific New York conceptual artist Barbara Kruger has replayed, animated and supersized her oeuvre of searing pasteups and critical commentary at the Art Institute.
Review: At ‘Recipe for Disaster’ by Windy City Playhouse, chaos engulfs a Rick Bayless kitchen
“Recipe for Disaster,” the new dinner-theater show in the basement of the revamped Petterino’s Loop eatery, is like a cross between “Fawlty Towers” and “Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding,” writes critic Chris Jones.
Only it’s got much tastier in-show nourishment, thanks to chef Rick Bayless’ participation. Get the rundown on the meal and the show, which chronicles a fictional “influencer night” at a hot new Chicago restaurant.
Autumn color is in full splendor in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan
You’d have to drive a long way from Chicago to find more dazzling and prolific displays of autumn leaves than those in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan.
Actually, you still have to drive a long way from Chicago anyway to see these — about seven hours. But if foliage fireworks are what you’re looking for, you won’t be disappointed.
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A loop around the lake: Michigan’s Upper Peninsula provides a welcome, nature-packed escape