Category: Lifestyles

Nigella Lawson: Another British invasion

Jae-Ha Kim

Good English food was an oxymoron until the Brits invaded America. Again. While they’re barging through our kitchens this time, we’re not so hot to keep them out. It helps that the latest imports such as Jamie Oliver, that hottie on the Food Network’s “The Naked Chef,” are easy on the eye. These days foodies are raising eyebrows at the sexy star of “Nigella Bites,” the delectable Nigella Lawson. She’s slim with model good looks, and this recent widow is raising a family without complaint or a ladle out of place.

On the road again

Jae-Ha Kim

Here’s what separates the weekend biking enthusiast from Chris Naunheimer, founder of the northwest suburbs’ cycling club the Arlington Flyers. Every year just about this time, we may dust off our Schwinns and go for leisurely rides that usually end with a frothy drink or a scoop of ice cream. When it rains (or we get tired), we quickly pedal back to the comfort of our homes.

Shed a ton Chicago

Jae-Ha Kim

It’s time to get fit, Chicago. Sure, like many of us, you were a bit surprised in January when Men’s Fitness dubbed us the second fattest city in America. Lest we comfort ourselves with the fact that we’re not yet the fattest city in the nation–that distinction belongs to Houston–bear in mind that just last year we were a distant No. 10. Well now, it’s time for us to do something about it.

Hamming it up for hunger

Jae-Ha Kim

Step aside, Anna Kournikova. You’ve got some tasty competition on the pinup calendar front. More than a baker’s dozen of top Chicago area chefs have struck a pose to help fight hunger. Unlike the beefcake and cheesecake calendars flooding the market, there were no age, sex or physique requirements for these models, who gladly posed for the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging’s Holiday Meals on Wheels (Out of the Kitchen to Fight Hunger) calendar.

Can you steer clear of the SAT? Some students work around a test many deplore

Jae-Ha Kim

Here’s how Katharine Callard outsmarted the SATs: She chose a college that didn’t require them. That’s right: She didn’t sweat those SAT prep classes, and she got into Hampshire College anyway. Of course, as a straight-A student at the top-notch Latin School of Chicago, Callard had a pretty good idea of her ability to do well in college.

Cleopatra: The beauty myth

Jae-Ha Kim

When Cleopatra is mentioned, beauty, sex and seduction are three words that almost immediately spring to mind. But what about brains? More than 2,000 years after her death, the Queen of Egypt still reigns as one of history’s most famous and mysterious women. There’s a new exhibit about her that hopes to clear up some points. A year after premiering in Rome, “Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth” opens Saturday at the Field Museum–the only North American venue for the expansive project.

SOFA 2001: Celebrating the joy of creativity

Jae-Ha Kim

More than 1,500 artists from 87 galleries around the world will exhibit pieces made from ceramics, glass, metal, wood and textiles. There’ll also be a book sale, lecture series and nine special exhibits. SOFA Chicago touts wider aisles this year, making it easier for specators to navigate Navy Pier’s Festival Hall and leaves more room for the exhibitors.

Comfort entertainment after the World Trade Center tragedy

Jae-Ha Kim

Chicagoans want to hear Ray Charles sing “America the Beautiful.” We are reading up on the Middle East. We are renting movies that celebrate the human spirit, but some of us also are checking out “Armageddon” and “Independence Day”–films where the United States reigns victorious. In different ways, we all are sating our psyches with comfort entertainment–in whatever form we need it–to help us deal with last week’s tragedy.

Summer sexoscopes

Jae-Ha Kim

Do the stars line up for a summer romance? Or have you been stuck with a dud rather than a stud? Will your love stick around? Or will you need to change your name/phone number? We certainly don’t have the insight (or advertising budget) of TV’s Miss Cleo, but with only a little summer left, we’ll try our best to assess your sextrology. (Note: No astrologists were harmed in the making of this chart.)

The incredible disappearing photobooth

Jae-Ha Kim

When Lilia Chacon and her good buddy Katie Carrillo ran into that rarity known as a photobooth, they knew what had to be done. ”We put our $3 into the machine, went in and mugged it up,” says Chacon, a reporter for Fox News Chicago. ”This was about 10 years ago when we were both single. It’s a carefree, fun reminder of who we were at that stage of our lives. We split the photo strip in half so we each have two shots.”