CHICAGO NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS - LAKE VIEW, LINCOLN PARK, GOLD COAST, PORTAGE PARK, NILES
LAKEVIEW Madagascar is the largest producer and supplier of vanilla today. They control 80 percent of the worldwide market. As a result, those beans are the least expensive. They cost $1.89 each at The Spice House in Chicago and suburbs; the Mexican beans run $2.29 each and the much rarer Tahitian beans can be as much as $4.
Whole Foods Market's Lakeview location, 3640 N. Halsted St., sells organic vanilla beans from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea at a cost of $11 for tubes containing two beans. At Treasure Island, 3460 N. Broadway, a tube of two beans was $4.19, but the origin of the beans was not labeled. They are packaged and distributed by Aust & Hachmann, a Canadian company whose website says the beans come from Mexico, Madagascar, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Uganda and Papua New Guinea.
Click here to learn more about pricing.
LINCOLN PARK
One of the two oldest male zoo chimps in North America spent time in a friendly way greeting visitors during a rare public appearance Wednesday at Lincoln Park Zoo.
The chimpanzee, named Keo, usually lives behind the scenes in a non-public area of the Regenstein Center for African Apes. In honor of his 50th birthday June 26, the zoo this week put Keo back on public exhibit along with the three females in his group.
Click here to read the article.
GOLD COAST
At the time she received her first Notice of Toll Violation in November, Marianne Kaplan was appalled.
With fines, the 28 toll-booth violations came to a heart-stopping $583.40. Kaplan, lives in Old Town and works in the Gold Coast. She knew she had not zipped through an I-Pass lane at Plaza 52 at Meyers Road without paying, ignored the toll at Plaza 51 near York Road, or any of the other 26 plazas listed. She couldn't even remember the last time she had driven on a tollway.
Then she took a closer look.
The digital photo attached as proof showed an Acura. She drives a Volkswagen. The license plate was close but incorrect. All but one number were the same. The offender's license plate begins 657, and Kaplan's plate begins 651. Click here for more details.
PORTAGE PARK
This Sunday is Father's day. Go out and bring dad out on 10-mile fun ride around Portage Park. The bike ride is a schedule tour and includes a stop for a breakfast at 9 a.m.; followed by a ride at 9:45 a.m.. Helmets are required. Riders will meet at 8:45 a.m. Sunday at Eli's Cheesecake World and Café, 6701 W. Forest Preserve Drive;773-308-7000. This event is free, and advance registration required. Click here for other ideas for Father's Day.
NILES
For Father's Day, on Sunday, the Chicago Jewish Festival will include a kosher food court. It will feature several culinary demonstrations, including chef Laura Frankel of Wolfgang Puck Kosher Catering at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies. They will begin with a presentation that focuses on summer bistro fare at 1 p.m. The program also includes a cake decorating demo at 2 p.m.; sushi demo at 3 p.m.; and chocolate-making demo at 4 p.m.. The cost is $5 and the event will run from 11 a.m. till 6 p.m.. It will be held at the Cook County Forest Preserve at Oakton St. and Lehigh Ave., Morton Grove. (Rain location: Niles West High School, 5701 W. Oakton St., Skokie.)
Click here for additional information.
