'Windy City Weekend': Comedian Pat McGann joins Val and Ryan

Friday, April 21, 2023
CHICAGO (WLS) -- This week on "Windy City Weekend," comedian Pat McGann catches up with Val and Ryan for some Host Chat!

How you can live 10 years longer

Researchers discovered how you can extend your life by 10 years, and you can start doing it today.

We're back with Alessi in the Kitchen!

ALESSI IN THE KITCHEN:


We're back with Alessi in the Kitchen! Chef Dino is at Tony's Fresh Market in Schaumburg to cook up some delicious buffalo chicken burgers with a celery slaw just in time for warm weather.

Ingredients:

For the burger
1.25 lb Coarse Ground Chicken
1 Tbl. Butter
2 Tsp. Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Sweet Onion
2 Cloves Fresh Garlic
1 Tbl. Fresh thyme or marjoram rough chop
2 Tsp. Smoked paprika
1 Tsp. Pink Himalayan salt
1 Tsp. Crush red pepper flake
1 Tsp. Black pepper
2 Tsp. Hot Sauce

For the spicy mayo
3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
2 Tbl. Fresh lemon juice
1 Tbl. Honey
1/2 Tsp. Cayenne pepper

For the celery slaw
4 Stalks Celery
1/2 Cup Red onion
2 Tbl. Virgin olive oil
1 Tbl. Red wine vinegar

2 Tsp. Zest of a lemon
1 Tsp. Pink Himalayan salt
1/2 Tsp. Black pepper
1 Cup Radicchio
1/4 Cup Flat leaf parsley

To garnish
Your favorite burger bun
4 Tbl. Blue cheese

Recipe:
Heat butter and oil in pan till melted
Add onion and sauté till tender on low/med heat
Add garlic, fresh herb and cook for 1 minute
Set aside to cool

Break apart ground chicken for even seasoning
Sprinkle paprika, salt, red pepper, black pepper and hot sauce over chicken
Add cooked onion and herb mixture to chicken
Mix all ingredients till blending throughout
Form 4 patties approximately a half inch thick for cooking

Mix all spicy mayo ingredients together

For Celery Slaw:
Toss celery and onion with oil, vinegar, lemon zest, salt and pepper
Set aside till ready to serve
At time of serving, toss celery mix with radicchio and parsley
Divide evenly over the 4 fully cooked chicken burgers

Preheat your skilled then add a half inch of oil
When oil is hot, add burgers and cook on each side (3-4 minutes each side)
Internal temp of burgers should be 165

Place fully cooked burger on toasted burger bun
Top with celery slaw

Top with blue cheese

Enjoy and a cold beverage!

You can find all these ingredients and more at your local Tony's Fresh Market!

Tony's Fresh Market Website: https://www.tonysfreshmarket.com/
Tony's Fresh Market Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TonysFreshMarket
Tony's Fresh Market Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonysfreshmarket/?hl=en

You can find more Alessi products by visiting the Alessi website.

Chicago's Insect Asylum crawls with vintage taxidermy and thousands of pinned insects

CHICAGO INSECT ASYLUM:


Every displayed item has a story at The Insect Asylum, a vintage taxidermy museum in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood. Owner and founder Nina Salem has spent years curating her massive collection of pinned insects and mounted animals, some dating back to the early 1900's.

"I could tell you where every single rock and stone was found," Salem said. "Everything has its own life to it both before death and after death."

One unique specimen on display is a Jenny Haniver stingray, which Salem acquired in 2020. The mummified creature looks almost humanlike and the history of its form stretches back to 1518.

"The 'Jenny Haniver' was made by the Fijian tribes in order to ward off demons and dragons," Salem said. "Now we have one hanging in our museum."

Salem says one thing that separates the Insect Asylum from larger museums is that most of the items can be physically touched as opposed to being behind glass. A taxidermied giraffe named Long John is one of many exhibits with a 'green dot,' denoting that it can be touched by museum visitors.

"The very first thing we do is say, "make sure you touch the giraffe," Salem said. "When people find out that you can physically touch the taxidermy here, their faces light up."

The museum also boasts a collection of live insects courtesy of Lucca Dana-Coulon, The Insect Asylum's Resident Entomologist. Dana-Coulon says that visiting the museum is a chance for the public to interact with insects in a more positive way than they normally would.

"The main relations we've built with insects as a society has been mainly through the lens of horror or through the lens of extermination," Dana-Coulon said. "We just don't have a relation to these creatures despite how massively important they are."

"It's a great chance to come in and learn about these species that we need to survive," said Carson Edfors, the museum's Specimen Director. "Insects are an essential part of our ecosystem."

Another thing that makes The Insect Asylum unique is that it holds special hours to accommodate children and adults with sensory processing difficulties. Salem and the rest of her team have autism and she said they operate as a team in educating the public about animals and insects because it's a subject they love.

"Anything animal, insect, plant, or nature; my brain is just like a rocket ship," Salem said. "It's more than just a hobby; this was my hyper focus."

For more information on the Insect Asylum, visit their website at theinsectasylum.com.

Roeper's Reviews: Spend or save?

ROEPER'S REVIEWS: SPEND OR SAVE?


'Guy Ritchie's The Covenant' - SPEND
"Guy Ritchie's The Covenant" stars Jake Gyllenhaal as an army sergeant whose life is saved in Afghanistan by an interpreter only for him to turn around to now save the interpreter's life himself.

'Beau is Afraid' - SAVE
Joaquin Phoenix stars in the surrealist A24 movie, "Beau is Afraid" as a paranoia-driven man who embarks on an epic journey to visit his mother and conquer his fears.

'Evil Dead Rise' - SPEND
The fifth installment of the "Evil Dead Rise" series has a woman fighting for her life when an ancient book gives birth to bloodthirsty demons.

'The Diplomat' - SPEND
Netflix's newest series "The Diplomat" is about a career diplomat who juggles her new job as ambassador to the United Kingdom with her turbulent marriage to a political star.
Copyright © 2024 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.