Stories by Daniel Hautzinger

"Being a native Michigander, I'm legally required to love cherries," Abra Berens writes jokingly in her new, fruit-focused cookbook Pulp. Try a recipe from it that pairs the raw sweetness of cherries with decadent chocolate pudding. 

“Fewer and fewer people just don’t know farmers, and so they don’t understand what goes into it,” says Abra Berens, who has received national attention for both her produce-focused cookbooks and her literal farm-to-table cooking at a farm in southwest Michigan.

The fourteen-year-old Marie Antoinette is sent away from home to marry an equally young heir to the French throne in order to cement an alliance between the Habsburg Empire and France. It is her duty to produce an heir.

Charlotte returns to Sanditon for Georgiana's birthday party, this time with her fiancé Ralph. Alexander Colbourne still holds a flame for Charlotte, and his niece Augusta is scheming to force the couple together. 

Nancy aids a woman as she dies of a painful cancer at home and learns a secret of her life, while Lucille struggles with homesickness and depression that is worsened by an outbreak of racism in London.

Sisters Amy and Clodagh Lawless own and operate The Dearborn in the Loop, but previously chafed at the lack of recognition they received as women in the restaurant industry—and scions of an Irish restaurant family. “We’re always Billy Lawless’s daughter or Billy Lawless’s sister,” Clodagh says. “I’m like, ‘Excuse me.’”

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the simple but utterly worthwhile soda bread, in a version from Christopher Kimball's Milk Street that is brightened by orange and dried cranberries and slightly sweetened by white chocolate chunks. 

Colleen Taylor Sen has lived in West Ridge near the South Asian mecca of Devon Avenue for fifty years, before there even were South Asian restaurants and shops. She has written numerous books about Indian food, although she came to writing them later in life.

In his newest special, Geoffrey Baer explores The Most Beautiful Places in Chicago, from gilded lobbies to verdant parks and eye-bending skyscrapers to glorious sacred spaces. He discusses the project, and what he loves about Chicago. 

Father Augustus Tolton escaped slavery in Missouri to become the first openly recognized Black Catholic priest, ministering in Quincy, Illinois and establishing the first standalone Black Catholic church in Chicago. While there are currently no African American saints, he is currently a candidate for sainthood.

The Illinoisan and Chicagoan Lizzie Magie invented a board game at the turn of the twentieth century as a teaching tool on behalf of anti-land ownership ideals. It later influenced Monopoly. Discover her story in an excerpt from a new American Experience documentary on Monopoly. 

Tristan is determined to become his own man outside of Siegfried's shadow as Christmas approaches and Siegfried makes a devilish bargain to protect his brother. An impending departure clarifies things for Mrs. Hall. 

Fat Tuesday may now be unofficially known as Pączki Day in Chicago, but there are plenty of other treats to enjoy on a day when Christians traditionally used up fat and meat before entering a period of fasting. 

When Tyris Bell decided to open his own restaurant, Bell Heir's BBQ in Canaryville, after opening Luella's Southern Kitchen and working there for eight years, he decided to keep mac 'n' cheese on the menu, and use a recipe that's "basically the same."

Tyris Bell helped his brother Darnell Reed open Luella's Southern Kitchen and worked there for the past eight years. Now he has opened his own place, an eclectic barbecue joint in Canaryville. Don't worry, it still has mac 'n' cheese.