1. Come to our Unity Awards
ARCHER PARQUETTE, MANAGING EDITOR
There’s still time to get tickets to our annual Unity Awards this Wednesday at GATHER at Deer District. Our first Unity Awards, back in 2021, were unfortunately virtual due to the pandemic, so it was awesome to see the event come to life in-person for the first time last year. This year’s event is shaping up to be even better. We have a great lineup of panelists, and I’m sure everyone will come away from the talk with plenty of insightful takeaways. (And also, there will be a bar, which is always a plus in my book.)
2. Pull on Your Fancy Genes
CHRIS DROSNER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
The fine folks down at Component Brewing in Bay View are making good beer while also doing good. Their latest release, Fancy Genes, was brewed to raise awareness for rare diseases, a cause taken up in honor of the son of one of the brewery’s team members. Mac, a frequent bespectacled 5-year-old visitor to the taproom, is one of just 200 people in the world diagnosed with Malan Syndrome, a developmental disease caused by faulty genetic duplication – hence the beer’s name. I (we) missed Component’s celebration of Rare Disease Day on Feb. 28, but the beer is on tap at Component and available in four-packs at some of the better bottle shops in the area. It’s a typically excellent Component hazy: full-bodied and bright, with intense hop flavors and aromas falling in the tropical fruit marmalade lane. Component, by the way, was the most difficult “bubble” call for our just-launched Beer Bracket. Maybe it makes the field next year!
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3. Keep a Box of Triciclo Peru’s Frozen Empanadas on Hand
ANN CHRISTENSON, SENIOR DINING EDITOR
One of the most important spots in my home is my freezer. It’s where things go to be enjoyed at a later date. If I have a loaf of some outstanding bread that I know I won’t be demolishing before it dries out. I slice it up and put it in the freezer for toast on-demand. There just might be a lot of frozen bread in my freezer right now… Another thing I like to have in there: Triciclo Peru’s empanadas. The Peruvian restaurant – at 3801 W. Vliet St. and Crossroads Collective, 2238 N. Farwell Ave. – offers handy boxes of frozen empanadas, three to a package. And man, they’re good. I’ve enjoyed the classic beef – with boiled egg, raisins and black olives – and the chicken, with a similar ingredient list. Next up might be the sweet potato, because I’m intrigued by its accompaniments – collard greens, gouda and parmesan.
4. Read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
This was simply the best book I have read so far this year. It’s about the complicated but powerful friendship between two people throughout their life, and it takes place in the 1990s and into the early 2000s (does that count as historical fiction now?). The friends meet at the hospital when they’re 12 and bond through their love of gaming. The book follows their friendship as it ebbs and flows through different phases of their lives – and their careers, because they end up going into game design together. The storytelling in this book is beautiful, in the main story about their friendship but also in the glimpses into their pasts, their relationships and even the games they are playing and creating. It’s one of those books that sticks with you after finishing it.
5. Shop the Spring and Easter Selection at Sendik’s
ALLI WATTERS, DIGITAL & CULTURE EDITOR
I regularly change up where I shop for groceries, and this week I landed at Sendik’s. What should’ve been a quick food run turned into a shopping spree for me when I spotted all of the Easter and Spring decor in the homes section. I especially loved the intricate pillows that feature bunnies, butterflies and various florals.
