Preach!: Meat and Tights

Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm

We have been customers of Cedar Valley Sustainable Farm for two years now and I can’t say enough good things about this community-supported agriculture (CSA) situation. For $570 a year we receive bimonthly packages of high-quality, locally-raised chicken, pork, beef and eggs.  The shares are delivered conveniently and reliably to Provenance in Lincoln Square. (They also deliver to other Chicagoland areas: Lakeview, Edgewater, Naperville, Oak Park, Evanston, Logan Square and Frankfort.)

We do occasionally purchase additional meat, such as prosciutto or chorizo, from the store for specific recipes, but the shares are of sufficient quantity to feed our family of two. It’s worth the price knowing that the animals we eat were raised on a humane, sustainable family farm and slaughtered at safe, small-scale processing facilities.  Look how happy that pig is!

You can learn more about Cedar Valley on their website, blog and Facebook profile.

Uniqlo Tights

Each fall, as soon as temperatures drop below 65 degrees, I celebrate the return of tights season.  I love tights.  I wish my legs could be surgically replaced with tights. And let me tell you: Uniqlo makes the best tights.

I stock up each time we visit New York and now, lucky for us all, Uniqlo has an online shop so that people all over the United States can experience the joy of Uniqlo tights.

My very favorite pair is their $12.90 Heattech tights: they are the perfect pair of warm, opaque, matte black tights. And they are durable as all hell.  I have worn them several times a week for months now, and I am not delicate with them: I put on tights like I’m pulling on dungarees.

Whoa, look at that shadow on the wall. Dustin Hoffman, you cad.

(Preach! is an occasional Sunday feature with personal endorsements of products, stores and services — generally one Chicago recommendation and one anywhere-in-the-world recommendation.  These posts are not sponsored in any way.)