Fröhliche Weihnachten! Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...a German Christmas, that is!

Today marks the first day of the third annual Lincoln Square Christkindl Market and it takes place all weekend. December 3rd, 4th, and 5th will be filled with ice sculptures, shopping, 30 hours of live music, and tons of kids activities! St Nicholas will also be stopping by!

Enjoy all of this in the comfort of heated tents on the corner of Leland and Western Avenue. Visit the market during these hours:

Friday, Dec 3rd--Noon - 10 PM

Saturday, Dec 4th--9 AM - 10 PM

Sunday, Dec 5th--10 AM - 7 PM

Hosted by St. Matthias Catholic Church, sponsored by several local businesses, and featured in the November/December issue of Midwest Living magazine, this event is bound to be a success! Visit the website for even more exciting details: http://www.lincolnsquareck.com/

Make sure you do some Christmas shopping while getting in the holiday spirit this weekend at the Lincoln Square Christkindl Market. Can't wait to see you there!

Holiday Gala 2010

Join your Lincoln Square neighbors to celebrate the holidays at the 2010 Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce Holiday Gala! Attend the annual fundraiser and dinner next Friday on November 19th.

Start the night off right with a pre-party in the DANK Haus Skyline Lounge, presented by Bridgeview Bank, from 5-6 PM. Then enjoy Cocktail Hour with hors d'oeuvres provided by Lincoln Square Chamber businesses from 6-7 PM. Move the party downstairs to the Grand Ballroom for dinner, catered by LM Restaurant, at 7 PM. Choose from three delcious meals: beef brisket with potato gratin and parmesan gnocchi, roasted chicken breast with green lentils and baby vegetables, or a vegetarian option of herbed goat cheese whole wheat crepes with eggplant. You can also order bottles of wine for your table, donated by Provenance Food & Wine.

The night continues with live music and dancing with the Flat Cats at 8:00 PM. Play a round of Wine Roulette (with wine donated by The Book Cellar), honor your neighboring business owners at our Awards Ceremony, try your luck at our raffle buckets, or bid on items at the silent auction throughout the night!

Tickets are $75 per person or $650 for a table of 10. Please visit our website, http://www.lincolnsquare.org/, for more details and a copy of our RSVP form. This event would not be possible without our participating businesses who are donating hors d'oeuvres, gift certificates, and silent auction items, so thank you!

We can't wait to see you dressed in your holiday best next Friday!

Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Merlot, oh my!

Our 5th annual fall Wine Stroll occurred last Thursday on November 4th, from 7:00 until 9:30! It was our biggest one yet, with over 165 attendees, completely selling out the event. For the first time ever, we divided the destinations into three routes, so "strollers" could choose which businesses they preferred to visit.

The routes were playfully named after winter wines: Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Merlot, or attendees could pay a higher fee to visit The Vineyard (or all of the participating businesses). Guests checked in at the DANK Haus and then proceeded to retail stores, restaurants, and bars in the Lincoln Square area. Wine and appetizer tastings were provided at each destination and attendees left with a specially engraved Provenance Food & Wine (the event's gracious sponsor) and Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce wine glass. We will have another Wine Stroll this spring, so stay tuned for tickets!

FALL in the Square

Forgive us for not posting recently! Fall has been busy at the Chamber AND in Lincoln Square.

We hope that you were able to attend Apple Fest on September 25, but if not, please visit our Facebook page to view all of the pictures! We shut down the 4700 block of Lincoln Avenue for the first time and it was a huge success. We had the usual apple pies, apple cider, apple crepes, apples by the bushel, you name it! And this year, the Chamber sold caramel apple treats which were a delicious blend of Honeycrisp Apples with caramel, oreo crumbles, M&Ms and peanuts. We'll definitely have those again next year! Scooby Doo and the Mystery Machine also came to visit and neighborhood kids were able to enjoy that, a haystack maze, and foursquare. A Country Affair performed in the afternoon and transformed the block into a fall dance party. We had countless Lincoln Square businesses selling their products and local farmers selling fall-focused produce. If you missed it this year, don't worry, there's always next year, and we're already counting down the days!

Moving further into fall, we have some great events coming up, so mark your calendars! Halloween Happenings will occur on October 30th this year, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Come out to participating businesses for some traditional trick or treating! We are also having our biannual Wine Stroll on November 4th from 7 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. We're switching things up a bit, and offering two different routes for guests to pick from. Each route will feature seven Lincoln Square businesses that will provide both white and red wine tastings with light appetizers. Visit our website for further details and to purchase tickets for the Chardonnay or Shiraz route, or to visit all fourteen businesses with the Vineyard ticket!

We're getting ready for winter at the Chamber, so stay tuned for those winter events. There will be some great ones!

Where Chicago meets Germany: German American Fest

During the weekend of September 10-12th, Lincoln Square will be swarmed with Chicago-ites from all over the city as well as out of towners who will be glad they picked this weekend in September to visit. Similar to Maifest, which kicks off the summer, German American Festival is a way to celebrate the end of Summer and welcome the start of Fall. Whether its a pretzel you fancy, polka music, sauerkraut, or a gigantic beer stein, the German American Festival is always an enjoyable time and a way to see Lincoln Square at its most authentic (Where everyone, and I mean everyone, is German!).

The event takes place just steps away from the Western Brown line stop. Just look for the people waving little German flags and hats that resemble Peter Pan. The Fest kicks off on September 10th from 5:00 p.m.-11:00p.m. Then September 11th from 12:00 p.m.-11:00 p.m. and concludes on September 12th from 12:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. Admission is free which allows anyone and everyone to enjoy the sites and sounds of the festival, however food and drinks must be purchased by tickets. This year the festival is celebrating its 90th year of German fun! So make sure to stop by, grab a brat, drink some beer and get ready to boogy down with an electric accordion.

Visit http://www.germanday.com for more info

Work the Wok

Mix an assortment of the Farmer's Market veggies to create a tasty chicken stir-fry meal in under 20 minutes!

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 Tablespoon minced scallions

1 pound of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, sliced into strips (also frozen strips will work to)

1 cup broccoli spears

1 cup string carrots

1/2 pound green beans, chopped

1/2 red pepper strips

1 cup quartered button mushrooms

3 heads of baby bok choy, chopped

*Add your own favorite veggie to the stir-fry

Low sodium teriyaki sauce

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in the wok over high heat. Add garlic, ginger, and scallions. Cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes

2. Add the chicken. Saute until the edges are brown about 3 to 4 minutes

3. Add broccoli, carrots, and green beans to the wok. Cook approximately 5 to 8 minutes until the vegetables begin to become tender

4. Add the red pepper, mushrooms, bok choy, and teriyaki sauce to the wok, cook approximately 5 to 8 minutes more, or until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are done to your likeness

5. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve immediately

Find this and other delicious recipes at http://www.foodnetwork.com

Jaw Potato-August 19th

When else can you hear Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan to Yellow from Coldplay to Save the Last Dance for Me, Jessica by the Allman Brother's? Nope, it's not the radio; it's Chicago's Jaw Dropping Jam Band Jaw Potato who will be performing this Thursday at 6:30. With the combination of Mike Zatezalo on Guitar and vocals, David Goldman on violin, Adam Krause on bass, Mike Jeffers on drums and Alex Grimes on Guitar, this cover/jam band is sure to please audiences. Because of their fun and popular covers, the crowd is always moving and singing along. However, they keep audiences on their toes by performing song that might not ordinarily be sung by your everyday jam band. Some of the bands that Jaw Potato covers are Bob Marley, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Oasis, and the Beatles. Recently, Jaw Potato has been described as "some of Chicago's finest musicians that utilize their extensive musical backgrounds and unique instrumentation to put new twists on familiar tunes making their performance different each time".

The bands myspace has a link to a live performance so take a listen! http://www.myspace.com/jawpotato

It seems as if Lincoln Square is in for a fun treat of familiar songs to sing along to with Jaw Potato this week in the square!