Tag archive: magazine

Last Christmas, Sears had a brisk seller in the Bionic Wrench, an award-winning, patented tool with spiffy lime green accents. This holiday season, though, Sears has a special display for its own wrench, in the red and black colors of its house brand, Craftsman.

How could a young Christian Vande Velde know what illicit, deceitful things were in store for him in the sport of cycling when he first fell in love with it?

Just how serious is America’s java addiction? According to the National Coffee Association, 64 percent of the population ages 18 and older consume at least one cup daily, up from 58 percent in 2011 and 56 percent the year before. But why relegate such impressive consumption to mugs in the morning? Chef Brendan Neville of Chicago’s Bite Café uses it to make his homemade barbecue sauce.

“Most people think peanut butter, they think jelly,” Brian Huston, chef de cuisine at Chicago’s The Publican, told The Daily. And why not? According to the National Peanut Board, the average child scarfs down 1,500 PB&Js before he or she graduates high school. But should the gooey goodness — consumed by 90 percent of American households — be exiled solely to the land of brown-bag cafeteria lunch swaps? Huston doesn’t think so; he likes to add it as a thickener to his salad dressings. “It’s like using buttermilk,” he explained, “but with that salty, peanut buttery taste.” As for the age-old crunchy vs. creamy debate, Huston still wrestles with his inner-child: “For the dressing… creamy. But if I were still in school and someone made me a sandwich, I’d go crunchy.”