365 Weekly Archives - 365Barrington

271. Heinen’s 4PMPanic: Fisherman’s Soup

The late days of summer are perfect for…

11. Frozen Zucchini 5K Snowshoe Adventure 2013

What’s long and green and wears snowshoes in…

283. Marketplace: Dr. Reinhold Llerena on the Power of Prevention

As we get close to wrapping up 2012, the new year is on the horizon and resolutions are already on our minds. (Not to rush the season. We still have all of December to indulge!) But in the coming weeks, we’ll be getting to know more about some of Barrington’s very own experts in health, fitness and fresh starts, starting this week with family physician and Alexian Brothers associate, Dr. Reinhold Llerena.

To learn a little more about Dr. Llerena, we paid him a visit in his office, which is located in a highly traveled spot in town. It’s right by Barrington’s drive-thru Starbucks on Northwest Highway.

We asked Dr. Llerena for a few tips to a healthy new year and the conversation quickly turned to five health issues that he says can be prevented or more easily managed with early detection. We’ll get to Dr. Llerena’s list of 5 Most Preventable Diseases in just a minute.
But first, we’re excited to introduce Dr. Llerena as the first medical professional to join the Barrington Online Markplace here at 365Barrington.com. In case you’re new to this website, here’s a quick look at how the Marketplace works…
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At the beginning of each workweek, we introduce you to the latest local businesses, professionals & organizations to join our Barrington Online Marketplace by featuring them here at 365Barrington.com and via our weekly email newsletter. If you’d like to receive those emails, which will also include information about upcoming events in Barrington, just enter your email here and click “Submit”.
Fill out my online form.

You’ll find the new community resource at 365Barrington.com/Marketplace. To have your business, organization, home or event featured, visit 365Barrington.com/Advertise for more information or call Liz at 847-691-3150.
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Now back to our newest Marketplace member. Dr. Llerena grew up in a household of teachers. Which is probably why, as a family practitioner, it is almost second nature for him to teach his patients how to best take care of themselves to prevent or minimize disease as they age.
“If you are exercising and eat a healthy diet, then keep it up,” said Dr. Llerena. “And see a family doctor every couple of years. After age 50, see your doctor every year because things crop up a lot quicker.”
Dr. Llerena says he takes it hard if a patient he sees regularly comes down with an illness.
“If someone has a heart attack, stroke, an ulcer, or something I know was preventable and I find out they get sick, I take it personally. So, my drive is to make sure people know why they should be having preventative tests, why they should be having certain vaccines.”

Diet and exercise are important to prevention, but Dr. Llerena says so are the appropriate medical tests and checkups. Here’s what he says are the 5 Most Preventable Diseases More Treatable with Early Detection ……

282. Barrington EATS: The Pomegranate Plunge

Have you noticed the large and beautiful pomegranate fruits, a seasonal favorite found at the grocery stores these days?

Do you buy them and use them, or are you intimidated by the required task of scoring the seeds or using the fruit?

This post should help you overcome your intimidation, by giving you many, many reasons to take the pomegranate plunge……

274. Barrington EATS: Something to be Thankful for at Heinen’s Fine Foods

Have you ever wished there was a Thanksgiving…

271. What are You Thankful For Thanksgiving Contest

Now that Halloween is behind us, let’s face…

270. Barrington EATS: Perk Up Your Pork Chops

My company’s mission is to help anyone and everyone achieve more healthy cooking at home, with less stress time and money spent. At the simplest level, I get asked often for meal ideas you can just pop into the oven, with little prep time. There are so many, and they are not pre-packaged processed or ready-made foods. Trust me, with a little thinking ahead, this can be done with fresh ingredients right from your cabinets and refrigerator. Pork chops are one of those things that make a great pop-in-the-oven dinner.

Some people fear baking pork chops because they tend to be dry. And they are if you don’t add other ingredients. But following are three simple ways to perfectly top pork chops for tasty tender results, each with just a few minutes prepping time……

267. Marketplace: Craft Corner Wednesdays with Wool Street & Wild Onion Brewery

When it comes to the art of brewing, serving and sampling craft beers, there are a few experts on the subject right here in Barrington. The owners of Wool Street Grill & Sports Bar and The Onion Pub & Brewery are teaming up to bring you locally brewed BEER, in a whole new way, on Wednesday nights!
Starting this fall, Wool Street is now offering on tap six craft beers currently produced at The Wild Onion Brewery in Lake Barrington, and it gets even better…
They’re also hosting a regular “Craft Corner” beer event on the last Wednesday night of each month, featuring locally brewed beers and guest beer experts, like Onion Pub owners, brewers and distributors, Mike and John Kainz.
It’s a new partnership that’s all about encouraging us to “drink local” and enjoy locally sourced and locally sold craft beers. “This concept of offering a locally brewed craft beer night with food pairings and education is totally new and unique to Barrington.”……

266. Barrington EATS: Lunch Lessons on “Tasty Tuesday”

Have you heard about Tasty Tuesday? Wondering what’s going on that tastes so good? It’s the latest initiative in Barrington School District 220’s effort to better educate our students on healthy eating. They’re turning lunchtime into a teaching opportunity by having fun with featured foods.
Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, Sodexho Food Service and our school PTOs are working to introduce one new healthy food to our students each month.
On the first Tuesday of the month, elementary school students will have an opportunity to sample a fruit or vegetable during lunch. Then, the same food item will be offered intermittently in the lunch menu for the remainder of the month.
The district is also getting students involved on the middle and high school levels, where they’ll offer the fruit or veggie of the month and display posters about “Tasty Tuesday” in the cafeterias. And, for early childhood students, a healthy snack of fruits or veggies will be offered twice a week.
The goal of the program is to provide elementary age students with increased opportunities to sample fruits and vegetables. Why? Because research shows that it takes five to twenty tastes before children begin to like a new food.
The district is also encouraging families to get involved by including the same fruit or vegetable in your menus at home throughout the month to increase opportunities for further taste testing.
October’s Tasty Tuesday food is Sweet Potatoes. You likely know that many studies point to the sweet potato as the number one healthiest vegetable.
One medium sweet potato contains only 130 calories, 2 grams of protein, less than one gram of fat, is low in sodium, contains a full day’s supply of vitamin C and provides 700% of the US RDA for Vitamin A. The antioxidants in the sweet potato may help to prevent heart disease and cancer, bolster the immune system and even slow aging by promoting good vision and healthy skin. Talk about a super food!

Below is one of my favorite, unique ways to use sweet potatoes, in the Sweet Potato Salad recipe from my 30 Spectacular Salads cookbook……

265. Spot the Scarecrow: A Straw Man for 3 Reasons

There are only a few days left to vote for who you think should win the Village of Barrington’s annual scarecrow design competition. So we have time for one last Spot the Scarecrow mystery photo contest. One Barrington business designed their scarecrow with a Ride for 3 Reasons theme this year in honor of Bob Lee, who is wrapping up his 2,000 mile bike ride down the Pacific coast this week.

If you can guess outside what Barrington business we spotted the 3 Reasons scarecrow, you’ll have a chance to win a prize linked to the place where we took the picture. Take a minute to look for the clue you’ll find under his armpit. You can greatly increase your odds of winning just by picking up the phone ;)!
Bob Lee is getting closer, but he has yet to reach his goal of raising $1 Million to support initiatives related to cancer, ALS and Hospice end-of-life care. He still has to raise about $100,000 in individual donations to unlock $200,000 of matching funds that have been pledged to the cause if Bob can reach his goal. Bob says every little bit helps and he’s looking forward to visiting with supporters at his welcome home party, which is coming up from 4 to 5 p.m. at Good Shepherd Health and Fitness Center on Saturday, November 3rd. To learn more about the ride and support the cause, visit 3Reasons.org.
And if you know where we took the picture of this week’s 3 Reasons scarecrow, all you have to do is enter your guess below for a chance to win. But first, we just drew the name of last week’s winner and it is……

264. 10 on Tuesday: Great Gatsby Glam, Beer School & Halloween Fun

The new Great Gatsby movie coming out next year featuring Leo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey McGuire is the inspiration behind this year’s Barrington Junior Women’s Club fall fashion show. The event is called Great Gatsby Glam and I’m told people will be dressing for the theme this year, from the runway models to your hosts to some of the guests with plans to break out their art deco baubles and feather boas for the party.
Event co-chair, Keisha Fulton St. John says we can expect to see a lot of feathers, flappers and guys in tuxedos adding a major glam factor to the popular annual event. “When you’re walking in, you’re going to feel like you’re entering the Academy Awards because we’re doing a red carpet with velvet ropes and a backdrop with photo-snapping paparazzi. Inside, the whole space is going to feel like you’ve stepped back into the Waldorf Astoria in the 1920’s.”
About 40 participating boutiques will be offering on-site shopping prior to the fashion show and luncheon at Stonegate Conference Center in Hoffman Estates, starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 10th. But this event is just one of many upcoming things to do that made this week’s “10 on Tuesday” list of upcoming events in the Barrington area……

263. Marketplace: “Top 10 Must-Haves for Fall” at Notice: Accessories for Living

I recently left one of Barrington’s hottest new apparel and gift boutiques with a major retail therapy rush and a list of the top 10 new items in the store that they call “must-haves” for fall. If I were you, I’d run to Notice: Accessories for Living on Cook Street if you’re in the market for: a.) a “little bit of sparkle”, b.) the “perfect pants” or c.) a perforated vegan leather dress that’s “celebrates your curves, is hot, very hot, and great for many occasions”.
We’re excited to welcome Notice: Accessories for Living as the newest member of the Barrington Online Marketplace here at 365Barrington.com.
We’ll be sharing their Top 10 “Must Haves” list in a moment, but first, here’s a quick look at how our Marketplace works…
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At the beginning of each workweek, we introduce you to the latest local businesses & organizations that join our Barrington Online Marketplace by featuring them here at 365Barrington.com and via our weekly email newsletter. If you’d like to receive those emails, which will also include information about upcoming events in Barrington, we promise we’ll prove worthy of your email inbox. Just enter your email here and click “Submit”.
Fill out my online form.

You’ll find the new community resource at 365Barrington.com/Marketplace. To have your business, organization, home or event featured, visit 365Barrington.com/Advertise for more information or call me (Liz here, nice to meet you) at 847-691-3150.
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Notice: Accessories for Living opened in Barrington this past May. The Barrington location is the third in this series of family-owned Notice boutiques run by by mom, Mari Barnes and her two daughters, Hannah and Becky. They have two additional Notice locations in Evanston and Lake Geneva.
I caught up with Hannah and Becky to find out about the store’s latest inventory and they shared their favorite new items for fall. Hannah, who manages the Barrington store, told me one of the highlights at Notice is that they work hard to keep their inventory fresh.
“Everything is constantly changing with new scarves, new gloves, great fall pieces, winter items and spring merchandise which will be here before you know it.”
Becky says they’ve learned a lot about what Barrington shoppers want since opening this past spring and are introducing new products based on local customer feedback.
“The Barrington shopper loves feminine designs. They like to be on-trend, with put-together looks that are very fashion-forward, but done in a sophisticated and ladylike way.”
So, without further delay, here’s the list of Notice’s “Top 10 Must Haves for Fall”, complete with explanations from Becky about why these items are great as gifts and made for any wardrobe. (But hands off my perforated vegan leather dress ;))……

262. Marketplace: Thomas Balsamo’s Gift of Portraiture

One of the very best gifts you can…

261. Barrington Eats: Feast Your Eyes on Heinen’s Fall Foods

The Prepared Foods section at Heinen’s provides extremely unique and exciting selections for you to take home, heat and eat. And while they have some good standard everyday fare such as Chicken Romano and roasted potatoes, they also offer higher-end options that are fabulous, well-thought-out and really above and beyond everyday dinner. But the best part is that Heinen’s reinvents their Prepared Foods menu for every season and is now offering a full selection of tailor-made fall options at their Barrington store.
We’re taking a look at Heinen’s Fall Foods today in Part Two of a three-part-series about some of the most exciting seasonal offerings to be explored at Barrington’s newest grocery store. To learn more about the new fall offerings in their Prepared Foods counter, we spoke with one of the company’s corporate chefs and learned that they truly think before they create, taking into account the demographics of their eating audience. They profiled our area and say they discovered that we like finer things but also happen to love good old-fashioned comfort food.
The results of their research equal creamy rich goodness paired with delicate seasonal ingredients and include items such as rich Pumpkin Bisque, delectable Truffle Macaroni and Cheese and multifaceted Risotto Cakes……

260. Spot the Scarecrow: Remembering Whitney Houston

It’s Wednesday and that mean’s it’s contest day here at 365Barrington.com. We’re playing another round of Spot the Scarecrow this week. It’s our usual mystery photo contest with a fall twist. For a chance to win, all you have to do is tell us where in Barrington we spotted this scarecrow tribute to deceased diva, Whitney Houston. A local business designed her for the Village of Barrington’s annual scarecrow competition. Can you guess where she is?

If you can tell us where Whitney is perched, you have a chance to win a prize worth $60 from the business who designed her. Whitney is one of dozens of scarecrows hanging around town these days. Voting for the Village of Barrington’s annual scarecrow design contest is underway now. You have until October 31st (Halloween) to cast your vote by CLICKING HERE and they’ll announce the winners on the Village web site on Thursday, November 1.
And you may still wondering where we took this last Spot the Scarecrow mystery photo……