Jane Says

When WCIU asked me to host the cooking segments for the morning show I was thrilled!  I love to cook and I love to eat… I consider myself a pretty good home cook and it’s something I really enjoy… not to mention I’m Greek, so it was a natural fit. 

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree and in my case it’s true! Cooking has always been in my blood.  During World War II, my Dad was the first officer to go to Cooks and Bakers School.  He ended up retiring as a full Colonel but waaaay before he flew up the ranks, the commanding officer took one look at my Dad’s last name, recognized it as Greek, and threw him in the mess tent.

My Grandfather owned a restaurant on Chicago’s South Side which my Dad took over after the war.  The restaurant was at 63rd & Kedzie and was called The Wheel Inn Cafe. 

Both my Dad and Mom were excellent cooks.  They were creative in the kitchen, we always sat down at the table for dinner and they loved to try new recipes.  My mom was even featured in the local newspaper for a great recipe she submitted…I was fascinated with the photographer and media even then.  When I was growing up my Dad cooked weekday meals and my mom the weekend so I can remember spending a lot of time in the kitchen with both of them.  The grocery store was a daily stop for my Dad and my mom worked hard to create a monthly menu planning calendar for the family. 

When I was 7 years old my parents had me in cooking classes and I continued cooking because I saw the joy it brought people (and I knew one day I actually might have to cook for my own family).  I’ll let you in on a little secret, my reading material of choice is…a cookbook!

The Chefs we work with on these segments are true professionals and we are lucky to get their top secret recipes.  It may look like I get to eat all of that food they show us how to make but most of the time it’s just a bite.  So when do I get to eat?  After I make the recipe at home and, you best believe, I eat.  My goal, to give you my experience, tips, and how to’s making these recipes from a home cook perspective. I look forward to sharing with you For the Love of Cooking. So be sure to check out www.wciu.com/jane for all the recipes and demo videos and remember to tune in to WCIU “The U” channel 26 every Wednesday morning at 8am.

We’ve all heard of psycho therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy… all things that are meant to help you resolve problems. Lately I have been extremely busy with work life, home life and just life in general…seems like there is never a moment to myself. Until today when I thought my stop at the mall was part of the “errands” I had to run but rather was a moment of relaxation. As I stood on the elevator heading inside I felt an unusual sense of calmness, nobody needed me, I was finally alone, there were no pressing issues running thru my mind, I was relaxed and I thought, “Ah, so this is retail therapy.” Retail therapy is defined as shopping with the primary purpose of improving the buyer’s mood or disposition. Often seen in people during periods of depression or transition, it is normally a short-lived habit. Items purchased during periods of retail therapy are sometimes referred to as “comfort buys”. So I bought shoes… shoes I don’t need, but shoes that, for a few minutes, made me feel stress free!  

Leisurely shopping is not something I normally do nor make time for… it’s always a mission, always done under time restraints so this time is was different, it turned into a welcomed treat. 

We talk about living a healthy life; after all, that is what this show and blog is all about. So how can shopping be healthy?  Seems to me it can be more of an addiction but, when I am walking around in a stressed filled daze because I’m worried about when I’ll work out again, what nutritional meal I am going to make, is my mom ok, will I get to bed early, and how will I be recharged for another busy week? I realized that sometimes a unplanned break in the pattern of healthy living is found in the little things.  The reality, it’s the balance of all things in life that allow for optimal healthy living. So today, retail therapy was what I needed to continue living a healthy life.

Original posting for www.livinghealthytv.com.

When we take note of things happening in the world of pop culture today we have 2 Chicagoans on the verge of winning top reality show prizes and one Chicago team on the verge of winning the top trophy in sports…Evan Lysacek on Dancing with the Stars and Lee DeWyze on American Idol, both days away from winning it all!

And we can forget the Chicago Blackhawks who are 2 games up in this series and on there way to playing for the Stanley Cup… If I breath now will the house of cards come tumbling down?

It’s exciting to think about… I mean, I don’t know Evan or Lee and I don’t even follow hockey, but I just love it when all eyes of the nation are focused on the Windy City.  Even though sometimes I can be mad at Chicago for its nasty weather, parking tickets and taxes. And yes, we’ve got the famous politicians already casting a national glare on Chicago with Obama and Blagovich, but its the unknown to celebrity-status-super star that is exciting to me!

So for the next week I will be holding my breath that we win… that the BLACKHAWKS take it all (I’ll never be able to say that about the CUBS), that Evan dances home with the Mirrorball trophy and that DeWyze takes his amazing pipes to shatter all sorts of billboard chart records!

Next up, Oprah is looking for her newest disciple to host their own TV show on the OWN network…Could America’s Plain Jane finally be discovered? Audience I’ll need your votes….  just like Evan, Lee and the Blackhawks, I could help keep Chicago on the winning streak!

So I’ve been in a really crabby mood lately…well, not so much crabby but sort of the nothing’s-wrong-with-me-but-I-have-no-reason-to-smile-blahs. For anyone who knows me, that statement is probably difficult to believe. I’m usually the type of person who bounds in the room with a huge smile on my face full of energy and zest for absolutely no reason. Some people I know even have to take medication just to deal with my contagious enthusiasm. But latey, I’ve had the blahs…

Even the gym and a great workout, which I promise you, releases those endorphins that I love so much and 100% of the time works to get me excited again and back to normal, didn’t work. The thing is, it wasn’t for one day it was for a week straight; I just wasn’t my usual peppy, life is great self. Until this morning when after a workout at Lifetime Fitness that I didn’t think was great (an odd result to say the least), I was in the locker room and smelled a smell that made me smile.  It made me happy.  I was smiling and it as because of a smell (which is a strange thing to say about locker room anyway), but, it was afterall the one thing that broke the spell.  So I turned to the girl next to me and said, “what is that smell? It just made me so happy.”  She replied, Japanese Cherry Blossom and pulled out a bottle from Bath & Body Works.  Of course I started to tell her how I was crabby, and how that smell suddenly made me happy, and it was unreal that a smell could make me smile, and… Kindly, she reached in her bag grabbed the body lotion and said, “here, try some.”  I put it all over my hands and forearms and walked out to the world smelling myself. 

Since then I have taken a shower and didn’t have any Japanese Cherry Blossom to replace the lotion I put on earlier but I doesn’t matter; the first smell of the scent seemed to do the trick. I am happy, gleeful and smiling once again. Man, it’s good to be back. I will be buying my own bottle of Japanese Cherry Blossom tomorrow.