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Gina and Matt Pistorio channel their love of fishing into a fundraising campaign for Casting for Recovery, a national charity that helps women recovering from cancer. pg6
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THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
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3
INDEX
NEWS
14 pain hustlers
The director of the Harry Potter film franchise delivers a dark tale about addiction and corporate greed
8 fact or fiction Juliet Hart and PJ Powers of Evanston talk Timeline Theatre and a new play that opens November 1
14 the royal hotel
This gritty Australian film brings more ambiance than impact, earning only a 2-star review
9 shop for a cause The Club of Hearts hosts its annual Revel fundraiser next week at North Shore Country Club
16 #hashtag
Meet Elaine Vasquez, the owner of Winnetka's Towne & Oak, and find out what's trending in her life
10 inquiring minds Science educator Jack Laws is now in residence at Lake Forest Country Day School
LIFESTYLE & ARTS 12 a pro's prose
17 material pursuits
This weekend's luxury trends include high-end wheels for the kids and two cultural performances in the area
17 ask dr. e.
Lake Forest psychologist and renowned life coach Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo reveals a new column
Don Pierson receives the History Center of Lake Forest Lake Bluff's coveted Local Legend distinction this weekend
13 north shore foodie
This Roasted Tomato, Herb & Cheese Hand Pie recipe is perfect for fall
LAST BUT NOT LEAST 18 sunday breakfast
Holiday Boutique Co-chair Stephanie Knight promotes Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital's vital initiative and the lures of this year's boutique
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TOP 1% IN THE NORTH SHORE * | #2 IN ILLINOIS BY REAL TRENDS ** *By North Shore-Barrington Association of REALTORS ® 2021 **#2 in State of Illinois by Real Trends 2015-2021. This data is informational and cannot be guaranteed accurate. Data maintained by MRED LLC may not reflect all real estate activity in the market.
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
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5
NEWS NEW HOOK ON HEALING
From PG 1
BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
When Winnetka residents Gina and Matt Pistorio opened their commercial real estate business, Madison Rose, in 2020, they had more than selling or leasing properties on their minds. From the very beginning, they also wanted philanthropy to be a big part of the company’s mission. “The bigger purpose of Madison Rose was to have a something other than just negotiating commercial real estate deals,” says Matt, explaining that the company is named after the couple’s two daughters. “That's why we gave it the name we did.” Driving the choice to make philanthropy an integral part of their new real estate business was Gina’s experience as a breast cancer survivor. Her love of fly fishing was especially instrumental during her healing process. So, in their first year of business, the couple held a virtual fundraiser for Casting for Recovery—a national organization that funds healing outdoor retreats
Every November Madison Rose hosts a Moonlight fundraiser for Casting for Recovery, an organization that provides fly fishing trips for women recovering from breast cancer.
for breast cancer survivors and those undergoing breast cancer treatment. “With Casting for Recovery, we just thought that we fished together a lot, and it was therapeutic,” Gina Pistorio says. “After breast cancer, that was the one thing we did together, and we enjoyed doing it, so we teamed up with Casting for Recovery.” The first virtual fundraiser was held in 2020 and the couple has held an online fundraiser each October to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, followed by an in-person fundraiser, Moonlight, in November. To date, they have raised more
than $300,000 for Casting for Recovery. This year’s Moonlight event will be held on Thursday, November 16, at BIÂN, a private health and wellness club in River North. In past years, hundreds of the couple’s real estate colleagues, friends, and family have attended and this year they are hoping to include even more at the event, which is open to the public. Tickets are $125. The virtual fundraiser also remains online through October 31 for those who can’t make the event. Among this year’s sponsors are Bear Construction, Centre Construction Group, Chicago Board of Trade Building, Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions, The Prime Group, EWP Architects, and Stantec. The choice to hold this year’s Moonlight at a wellness venue like BIÂN is particularly meaningful. Earlier this year, Gina had surgery to remove a brain tumor, another traumatic experience. In addition to raising funds for Casting for Recovery, this year’s event will also spotlight the importance of mental and emotional health for survivors of all kinds—featuring a variety of activity rooms that include a magician, a live painter, a silent disco room, dueling pianos, food, and sound meditation. “We are in real estate and instead of it being all real estate people, the last two years we opened it up to more family and
friends and significant others,” Gina says. “So, a lot of our friends from Winnetka and family will join. We’d love for people on the North Shore to come because there are a lot of women around here that have been diagnosed.” The couple is also talking to the national Casting for Recovery organization about opening a chapter in Illinois. Currently, the funds they raise go toward the organization’s general fund, but having a chapter in Illinois would allow them to directly sponsor fly fishing trips for women In 2020, Gina and Matt Pistorio launched Madison Rose, a commercial real in Illinois. estate company with a philanthropic mission. While the Pisreally ties together some of the things that torios say there are a lot of worthy, larger we use as therapy for our own family.” charities addressing breast cancer, they “If you've ever been fly fishing, you know wanted to support Casting for Recovery that there's nothing other than maybe because it’s also personal. playing a musical instrument where you “When our family started going out to are more present than when you fly fish Montana to the place we have there, and because it is very difficult. It's challenging our little girls were getting older, we just started spending so much more time in na- and you don't think about anything else other than what you're doing at that moture and recognize how therapeutic it can ment,” Matt adds. “You're fully present and be,” Gina says. “So, Casting for Recovery you're not thinking about the treatment or what you've gone through.” Casting for Recovery fly-fishing trips also connect women with other survivors where they can build new relationships. They also have oncologists that the survivors can talk to and confide in. The organization’s mission is about making a difference, in the short-term and long-term. “We just found with Gina—and all these younger women who were getting breast cancer reaching out to her trying to understand her experience—that this was an organization that doesn't see the amount of fundraising that a typical breast cancer organization sees in terms of donations, but it has such a massive impact on these women,” Matt says.
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For more information on the Madison Rose Moonlight fundraiser, visit casting forrecovery.harnessgiving.org/campaigns/12106. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
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7
FACT OR FICTION NEWS
Evanston residents Juliet Hart and PJ Powers started Chicago’s Timeline Theatre nearly three decades ago with a mission that goes beyond putting on plays. The duo reflect on the company’s Living History Education Program and its new play, The Lifespan of a Fact, which opens November 1. BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Though he gets asked every now and then if he’s married to Juliet Hart (this writer did), PJ Powers and Juliet Hart are most definitely married to other people. But you can see how some might make the mistake. Hart and Powers met three decades ago at The Theatre School at DePaul University. After graduating, they became two of three founders of Timeline Theatre in Chicago. Both now live in Evanston and they’ve been joined at the hip ever since. Next up for Powers and Hart are their starring roles in The Lifespan of a Fact, a comedic look at the sometimes-shady area between fact and fiction. Powers plays the writer John D’Agata, the author of an essay about Las Vegas that stretches the truth. Hart plays Emily Penrose, the Editor-in-Chief of a luxury magazine due to publish the essay, and Alex Benito Rodriquez plays Jim Fingal, an intern assigned to fact check the essay. “It’s both a really fun and funny play and also a conversation starter. Jim Fingal came back with a laundry list of facts that he found questionable,” Powers says. “D’Agata’s stance was, ‘Hey, I’m not a journalist, I’m an essayist and I take some creative license and some creative liberties’.” Powers says he empathizes with D’Agata because theater makers are not documentarians, and often take creative license to tell the story in the best way. That’s different than just making stories up and passing them off to journalism outlets that people trust. Top (From left) Alex Benito Rodriguez, Juliet Hart, and PJ Powers in Timeline Theatre’s The Lifespan of a Fact. Photo courtesy of Peyton Robinson.
The Timeline Theatre Company ensemble in 1997.
“It’s challenging because in this day and age, the source for obtaining news for many people has become varied,” he says. “It isn’t like the old days when there were true journalistic publications and three television networks. People are getting information from social media through any number of sources and it’s hard to determine where truth and opinion and alternative facts might live.” Given all the noise, explor-
ing these issues seems as relevant as ever, even more so if you can reach children. In addition to being a member of the Timeline ensemble and taking roles in its plays, Hart runs Timeline’s History Education Program, a partnership with Chicago Public Schools that gives students exposure to the theater and also some of the themes that Timeline is tackling on stage. The education program aligns with the mission when the theater company was founded 27 years ago. Powers says they wanted to explore history
8 | SATURDAY OCTOBER 28 | SUNDAY OCTOBER 29 2023
and make connections between past and present, and that touch on the social and political issues of the day. They also wanted Timeline to be driven by the ethos of ensemble and for its 15 ensemble members to collaborate on programming. “As Artistic Director, it’s my job to lead the group in discussion and decision making. My vote on what we should produce counts no more than the other 14 members,” he explains. “That was baked into our organization from the outset, to focus on our mission rather than thinking, ‘Let’s do this project for this artist or that project for that artist’.” Hart’s interest in art education began during a pre-college gap year that she spent working with kids in the children’s theater at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Timeline History Education Program was born out of her love for education, teachers, and learning (her father is a lifelong English teacher). The program not only exposes school children to a play, but it does also so in a way that aligns the content of the play with whatever they may be studying in class at the time, be it history, social studies, or geography. The Timeline cast spends time in the classroom with students and students attend a special matinee where the audience is entirely made up of schoolchildren. The kids are also offered the opportunity to act out a scene or two of the play if they’re comfortable. “We introduce students to whatever the play is onstage through the social and historical context and encourage students to find their own personal connection, whatever it may be in that point in history or to that social or political issue,” Hart says. “The most important thing to us is that students’ own identity and experience has an opportunity to express itself.” Timeline works with 10 different schools at any given time and about 1,000 students participate every year. It would love to work with more, Hart says, but there are logistical challenges with a smaller theater space to do much more. “When the actual live experience happens with all the other context around it,” she says, “it’s so rich and just a really important part of the process and of developing a whole new generation of theater makers and theater lovers.” The Lifespan of a Fact runs November 1 through December 23. For more information about the theatre or to purchase tickets, visit timelinetheatre.com. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
SHOP FOR A CAUSE
NEWS
On November 1, the Club of Hearts hosts its annual Revel fundraiser at North Shore Country Club, offering shoppers an opportunity to purchase unique items and support a worthy charity.
Club of Hearts founders (left to right) Patti Kane, Carole Sandner, Marianne Bestler, Mary Anne Bobrinskoy, and Erin Foley. BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Savvy shoppers can begin checking things off their holiday list November 1 at the second annual Club of Hearts Revel fundraising
boutique—featuring a broad array of jewelry, clothing, charcuterie boards, knitted hats, nuts, and chocolate. The event benefits Fill a Heart for Kids, a Lake Forest-based charity that supports the needs of homeless and foster children. The organization provides kids with meals, school sup-
plies, winter clothing, gift cards, holiday gifts, and additional necessities to help them thrive in what are difficult situations. Club of Hearts was founded in 2020 by five women who were all involved in charitable causes but who wanted to support smaller organizations that are having a strong impact. After a slow start due to the pandemic, the organization held its first Revel fundraiser last year and raised just over $111,000 for Enchanted Backpack, a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides the tools kids need to successfully learn in school. “It's a group that every year picks a different partner to do service for and to raise funds for. That's what makes it fun for those of us who are members because we’re learning about all these cool, smaller charities that have been vetted,” says Missy Burger, co-chair of this year’s fundraiser and one of 90 members of Club of Hearts. “They're bona fide smaller charities that just kind of need a little extra help.” Club of Hearts’ giving model allows members to quickly see the impact they are having. Burger says it’s great to watch kids’ eyes light up and amazing to be able to share members’ talents and resources in a way that benefits children. The organization gets as much benefit from giving time and money as the kids do in receiving them. Members of the organization come from
all corners of the Chicago region, including the North Shore. They have regular meetings on Zoom and have quarterly meetings around the Chicago Metro area. It’s structured fairly loosely. There aren’t layers of committees and subcommittees; it’s all one big collective effort to carry out the mission. “We try to move our meetings around. We Zoom a lot of meetings just because it is hard when some people are so far away,” Burger says. “We go as far as Naperville to the west, and in addition to the North Shore, have members from Western Springs, Arlington Heights, and the southern suburbs.” Burger says one of the aspects about the Revel event she likes the best is that it is about more than just shopping. There is a communal feel to it. For the $25 admission fee, shoppers get wine and small plates, so they tend to hang out and chat. “Our event is one of the first of the holiday season, so we come out of the gate hot. It's only one day, so that's nice for the vendors that they can set up and not be there for days,” Burger says. “It is a very community, fellowship kind of shopping. Last year, people told us, ‘That was so great. We really enjoyed the whole experience of this event versus typical boutique shopping’.” For more information and to purchase ticket for Revel, visit clubofhearts.com.
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9
INQUIRING MINDS NEWS
Noted scientist and science educator Jack Laws took up residence at Lake Forest Country Day School and showed students some innovative, new methods to expand their scientific knowledge. BY MITCH HURST THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Dave Genger, who passed away in 2010, was a much-beloved science teacher at Lake Forest Country Day School (LFCDS). Genger’s fingerprints are still all over the hands-on, innovative programming at the school. Not long after Genger died, LFCDS established the David Genger Scientist-in-Residency Day in his honor. Each year, an expert in a scientific field joins LFCDS students for the day and provides hands on instruction to complement the already robust science programs at the school. The first Scientist-in-Residence was Dr. Tung Jeong, a leading international expert on holography, and the annual program has been held ever since. “This annual event is a way to honor Dave’s legacy and allow our current students to have the sort of one-of-a-kind experiences they might have in Dave's classroom,” says Mark Arthur, LFCDS Science Department Chair and 7th Grade Science Teacher. “Dave was the innovation master. From starting the LEGO Robotics program to breeding corn snakes, his curriculum and teaching methods were at the highest level." Arthur says Genger embraced all fields of science. He loved the mechanics and engineer-
fields on campus represents Dave’s love of nature and his desire to impart that value to his students." The 2023 Dave Genger Scientist-in-Residence took place last week at LFCDS, and this year it was expanded to two days. John Muir Laws, a California-based scientist, and science educator spent three days on campus teaching LFCDS students new and interesting ways to learn about science. Laws is the founder of the Wild Wonders Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging nature connection and conservation through attention, curiosity, art, science, and community. “We were tremendously fortunate to have Jack Laws on campus. Something special about Jack is that he is both a master scientist and a master educator,” says Greg McDonough, Innovation Space Director at LFCDS. “He resonated with our students from 1st through 8th grade in a great way. Jack also did different activities with each grade level so that teachers who saw each lesson could potentially do different activities that other teachers saw in the future. Our campus is about 30 acres, and Jack utilized all of our outdoor spaces in curating an exceptional experience.” Laws had 1st-graders sketching colors near the playground, 8th-graders on LFCDS outdoor classroom trails journaling plants, and
Noted science educator Jack Laws spent two days on the Lake Forest Country Day School campus last week working with students.
ing of a robotics unit as much as he enjoyed the chemical, physical, and natural studies of science. “He encouraged his students to explore living things and to develop an understanding and respect for creation, growth, and survival,” says Nan Caldwell, World Language Department Chair and Upper School Spanish Teacher. “The tree planted near the playing
6th-graders documenting all the plants they could observe around the school’s pond. Before moving back to Lake Forest, Lisa Lucas Talbot and her daughter, a student at LFCDS, took classes with Laws in California. She thought Laws would be a perfect for this year’s residency and introduced him to LFCDS staff. “I’ve met few people in my career and life
who can have an audience of people from 5 or 6 years old to grandparenting ages and engage them and hold their attention,” Talbot says. “Whether it’s for 90 minutes or an eight-hour field trip, that is a communications skill that is almost unheard of.” Central to Laws’ work both as a scientist and educator is journaling. Students learn keen observation skills by journaling and drawing
10 | SATURDAY OCTOBER 28 | SUNDAY OCTOBER 29 2023
pictures and can compare changes over time. “Jack’s approach has always been to start with this habit. The nature journaling habit is not about becoming a great artist and making the most life-like cardinal on your page,” Talbot says. “It’s about becoming a better observer of the world around you.” When Talbot visited campus this week, she says one of the things Laws exhorted the students to do is to look for things close by to study. You don’t have to travel the world to find something interesting to observe. “You can find amazing things to study, to observe, to ask questions about, and to broaden your world at Costco,” she says. “It isn’t about feeding your confirmation bias or reinforcing what you already know to make you feel good.” For more information about Lake Forest Country Day School, visit lfcds.org. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
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11
A PRO'S PROSE LIFESTYLE & ARTS
Pro Football Hall of Fame writer Don Pierson—a Chicago Tribune sports scribe from 1967-2007 and a longtime Lake Forest resident—receives Local Legend distinction from the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff this weekend.
BY BILL MCLEAN THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Don Pierson took a class taught by former Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes. He met often, at 6 a.m., with Mike Ditka to help the former Chicago Bears head coach write his autobiography in 1982. “Woody Hayes could have been a history teacher,” says Pierson, who, during a 40-year career (1967-2007) at the Chicago Tribune, became the newspaper’s first full-time Chicago Bears beat writer after covering Hayes’ Big Ten teams and taking Hayes’ Introduction to Football course while majoring in journalism at OSU. “When I sat down with Mike Ditka during those early mornings in his office at Halas Hall, he was always focused. I’ve told people I was never intimidated by Mike Ditka because I covered Woody Hayes at OSU.” A longtime Lake Forest resident, Pierson covered the 1985 Bears—a squad teeming with delightfully outsized personalities—during the franchise’s Super Bowl season. As of this weekend, the 79-year-old is an official member of a league of Local Legends, a team of luminaries sporting considerably more star power than Ditka’s crew of gridders displayed 38 years ago. Each year, the History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff presents a new Local Legend, honoring someone who has contributed significantly to the community and the world. Pierson joins the ranks of Captain James Lovell, Adrian Smith, John Bryan, Richard Marx, Bill Kurtis and Donna LaPietra, Mark and Franklin McMahon, Ellen Stirling, Ryne Sandberg, Marian Phelps Pawlick, Jack Schuler, Dr. Eugene Hotchkiss III, the Honorable Susan Garrett, and Ed Wehmer. His story will be celebrated at 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 28, at the history center as he’s interviewed by local author and journalist David Sweet. The setting is an intimate interview that encourages the sharing of little-known stories, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and insights missing from standard biographies. “Don was an old-school writer, always positive and extremely professional,” says History Center Board Member Fred Jackson, who served as a co-chair of the Local Legends selection committee. “You read him because of his ability to write outstanding human interest stories. Don was a great Local Legend candidate. He’s a family man, a class act, and a down-to-earth guy. And the man certainly knows Bears history. I
still love going through the coffee table book he wrote (Chicago Bears Centennial Scrapbook, 2019, with co-author Dan Pompei).” Pierson, a Pro Football Hall of Famer writer, will be recognized and celebrated at the Local Legends Benefit on Saturday, October 28, 4 p.m., at the History Center in Lake Forest. He’ll be interviewed by local author and journalist David Sweet. The setting is an intimate conversation that encourages the sharing of littleknown stories, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and insights missing from standard biographies. “I thought it was a prank when Fred Jackson called to inform me,” says a chuckling Pierson, who moved to Lake Forest with his wife, Kathy, in 1974, and helped raise their children, Craig and Kate. “What I’ve always liked about the event is that it promotes the History Center and reminds all what a wonderful resource it is for our community. It’s a thrill and quite an honor to have been selected, considering the well-known names of all of the previous honorees.” Pierson and Captain Lovell shared something in common before 2023. “We were in the same book club,” Pierson says. Pierson grew up as a Cleveland Browns fan in Kent, Ohio, and attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, where he played football only as a freshman—“I was too small for the sport,” the former running back says—and ran for the Rough Riders’ cross country team as a senior. He devoured sports stories and columns in the Akron Beacon Journal, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and the Toledo Blade. A young Pierson threw Recorder-Courier newspapers onto Kent driveways and took golf scores over the phone for the same publication. Pierson’s first assignment for the Chicago Tribune, in 1967, was a feature on a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan who was hospitalized at the time. It didn’t take long for an editor to choose Pierson to cover the Chicago Bears for the paper. “I went to Ohio State, so it was assumed that I must know a lot about football,” Pierson says. He did. He also reported thoroughly and accurately and wrote well, making him a triple threat in the realm of grid scribes. Pierson also got assigned to cover the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (1984) and in Barcelona (1992), allowing him to flex his versatility as a writer while crafting track and field, boxing, and men’s swimming stories and features. Bold-faced Bears names, including George Halas, Red Grange, Sid Luckman, Dick Butkus, and Gale Sayers, answered questions from Pier-
Don Pierson is this year’s Local Legend. Photography by Katrina Wittkamp
son, who served as president of the Pro Football Writers of America and later received the Ring Lardner Award for excellence in sports journalism in 2009. “Dick Butkus was my favorite Bear to cover,” Pierson says. “He’s a genuine guy, a regular guy, authentic. I was at a golf event with him, and what I remember most about it was Butkus sitting with his (Chicago Vocational) high school friends. And he’s still promoting anti-drug initiatives for high school kids.” Bears running back Brian Piccolo died of lung cancer in 1970. Most of Brian’s Song, the 1971 movie about Piccolo’s friendship with Sayers, was filmed in Rensselaer, Indiana, the former location of the Bears’ training camp. The late James Caan portrayed Piccolo. Pierson didn’t appear in the flick, but he deserves credit—for finding out that Caan had made a courageous request which resulted in instant pain. “James Caan was a thin man then,” Pierson recalls. “He wanted to be tackled by real Bears players during filming. Well, after getting tackled for the first time, that was it, no more. Caan didn’t want to feel that again.”
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Pierson, a grandfather of four, has stories to tell, too many to count. They’re typically interesting and enlightening and entertaining to sports fans and fans of life. But he’s the story now, a worthy and humble Local Legend. “Don Pierson is the quintessential local guy,” says History Center Board Member and Local Legends Selection Committee Co-chair Kristen Chun, a Bears season-ticket holder since the 1980s and owner of a car adorned with a Bears license plate. “He’s fantastic, like all of our Local Legends are, and we hadn’t honored a literary Local Legend until we named Don. I love that each Local Legend is a part of our community, people who shop at local grocery stores and say hi to you. “I can’t wait to listen to Don tell stories and talk about my favorite football team in a relaxed setting at the Local Legends Benefit.” The History Center of Lake Forest-Lake Bluff is located at 509 East Deerpath Road, Lake Forest. Call 847-234-5253 or visit lflbhistory.org for more information. To register for the Local Legends Benefit on October 28, visit lflbhistory/give-join/ local-legends-benefit. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
LIFESTYLE & ARTS
Roasted Tomato, Herb & Cheese
NORTH SHORE FOODIE
BY MONICA KASS ROGERS THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Because I love them so, herbs dominated my vegetable garden this year—dill, oregano, lovage, lavender, parsley, French tarragon, lemon balm, and lemon thyme, plus many kinds of basil, rosemary, and sage. Yes, all of those lovelies, plus a few veg essentials: including tomatoes! Waiting for the red globes to reach their peak, I first made these delicious savory hand pies with plump and pretty store-bought Campari (sometimes called “cocktail”) tomatoes, later switching to homegrown. Camparis are the perfect size for the recipe (less fleshy that big tomatoes, and less fiddley than cherries to slip the skins off of after roasting) but the recipe works with any size of the fruit. (If you use big tomatoes, just cut them into eighths.)
HAND PIES
Slow roasted with garlic for a good hour and a half, the tomatoes deepen to rich flavor that matches their hue. Tucked into crusts with freshly made basil pesto, two kinds of mozzarella, they are delicious. I used Jessica Battilana’s New York Times calzone as my jumping off place for this recipe, learning from her that for crisp-perfect crusts, you need to bake at a raging 500 degrees. But while Battilana designed a drier filling to ensure that crispy crust, I prefer a little juicier filling, so added some cubes of fresh mozzarella to the whole milk mozzarella shreds, lots more garlic, and some chili flakes for punch. And the crispy crust held! You can use 24-ounces of store-bought pizza dough if time-pressed, but the homemade crust is very good, so do try to make it if you can. To round out the meal, serve the pies hot from the oven with a fresh green salad.
SERVES 6
INGREDIENTS FOR THE ROASTED TOMATOES & GARLIC • 2 ½ lbs. Campari (sometimes called cocktail) tomatoes, washed and dried OR 2 ½ pounds any tomatoes (sliced into eighths if large; left whole if using cherry or Campari) • 3 Tbsp olive oil • 6 to 8 garlic cloves, small dice • ½ tsp freshly cracked pepper • ½ tsp salt FOR THE DOUGH: • 1 cup plus 3 Tbsp warm water • 1 Tbsp pure cane sugar • 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast • 3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour • 1 ½ tsp salt • 2 Tbsp good quality olive oil • ½ to 1 tsp chili flakes to add to tomatoes after they are roasted
METHOD MAKE DOUGH In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine water and sugar; stir to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast over the warm sugar water and let stand 10 minutes until yeast is foamy. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil, and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium and continue mixing with dough hook until mass comes together in a ball. Remove dough from bowl and knead for three more minutes until smooth. Spray inside of mixing bowl with light vegetable-oil spray. Place dough ball inside and cover with kitchen towel. Place bowl in a draft-free spot and allow dough to rise for 1 hour and 15 minutes. While dough is rising, roast tomatoes and garlic.
Photography by Monica Kass Rogers THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
ROAST TOMATOES & GARLIC Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place tomatoes on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Scatter chopped garlic over all. Drizzle with 3 Tbsp of olive oil, rolling the tomatoes around a bit to make sure they are coated. Grind pepper over and sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or a little longer, until tomatoes are very soft and skins completely crinkled. Slip off and discard (or save to eat later) skins from tomatoes. Scoop tomato flesh and juices into a mesh strainer over a bowl, setting aside the garlic for a minute. Press tomatoes to release tomato juices into the bowl. (Note: Save the tomato juice to drink fresh, to make a Bloody Mary, or to add to your next batch of chili!) Dump strained tomatoes into a bowl, stir in the roasted garlic, and add ½ tsp homemade or store-bought red chili flakes. Set aside.
FOR THE FRESH BASIL PESTO • 2 large bunches fresh basil, stems discarded, leaves packed to make four cups roughly chopped • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 2/3 cup pine nuts • Finely grated zest from 2 fresh lemons • 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (plus more after pulsing pesto, as desired) • ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed • 1 heaping cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (parmesan) cheese • Salt & pepper to taste TO FINISH PIES • 2 ½ cups shredded whole-milk mozzarella • 1, 8-ounce ball fresh mozzarella cut into cubes • 1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tbsp milk • Sea salt flakes DIVIDE DOUGH Flatten dough ball into a disk. Cut in half. Cut each half into thirds. Roll each into a ball. You will now have six dough balls. Cover dough balls with clean dish towel and allow to rest for 15 minutes while you make pesto. MAKE PESTO Combine basil leaves with pine nuts, garlic, and lemon zest in a food processor. Pulse to break down into small bits, scraping sides of food processor bowl as needed. Add lemon juice and olive oil and pulse again. Add parmesan and pulse once more. Stir; add more olive oil as needed to make a rich sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper and more lemon juice, if desired. MAKE PIES Preheat oven to 500 degrees. On a clean work surface with a sturdy rolling pin, roll one of the dough balls into an 8-inch circle. Starting at center, spread with generous dollop of pesto, leaving the outermost inch of the dough circle bare. Sprinkle grated cheese over pesto. Place three cubes of fresh mozzarella along the center-half line of the dough. Top with a few spoons of the roasted tomatoes and garlic. Lift and fold right half of the dough circle over the left half to make a half-moon shape. Press top edge into bottom edge to lightly seal and then roll and crimp the edge of the half-moon to completely seal in the filling. Repeat until all six hand pies are finished. Coat each with egg wash. Sprinkle lightly with salt flakes. Very lightly grease sheet pan. Place pies on pan and bake at 500 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes until deep golden brown. Watch closely during last few minutes to ensure crusts don’t get too dark. Remove from oven. Serve with fresh green salad.
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PAIN HUSTLERS LIFESTYLE & ARTS
David Yates, director of the Harry Potter film franchise, delivers something darker and more thought-provoking with a film about real-life social issues in a modern cutthroat society.
BY REX REED ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours, 2 minutes RATING: 3 stars After making a name for himself directing four money-making Harry Potter films, British wunderkind David Yates decided it was time to leave Hogwarts magic behind and change the pace with a grittier look at the real world. The welcome result is Pain Hustlers, a re-
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes RATING: 2 stars
In the Australian film The Royal Hotel, Liv and Hannah, two Canadian girls looking for kicks while backpacking Down Under, run out of money in a remote mining town
al-life story with social issues about capitalism that is entertaining and funny while it makes you think, without being too earnest and serious. Based on the nonfiction book The Hard Sell by journalist Evan Hughes, it chronicles the glamour, excitement, and depraved indifference toward idealism in a cutthroat society. The story centers on an ethically compromised single mom named Liza Drake (Emily Blunt, who just gets better every time out of the starting gate) who is working as a barroom dancer when she meets Pete Brenner (Chris Evans), a smarmy drug rep for a pharmaceutical company on the verge of bankruptcy. Sensing a driving need in Liza to succeed without the annoying drawbacks of civic duty and moral responsibility, he recruits her to peddle a new type of opioid designed to give pain relief to cancer patients. Some will undoubtedly accuse the film itself of lacking a moral center as its characters profit from pushing fentanyl, a
toxic drug more powerful than heroin and very much in the headlines these days for addicting teenagers and destroying communities. But Yates is more devoted to making an audience laugh at the outrageous lengths to which Liza will go—from flattery to bribery—in order to convince doctors to embrace the painkillers her company makes. There's a manic intensity to the whole thing, as Eliza climbs the corporate ladder and buries her reservations in alcohol and partying. Only in the third section of the film does the screenplay by Wells Tower get down to the business of rattling the chains aimed at shocking us into asking questions about how capitalism has perverted the American health care system. Completely out of her league, Liza struggles to make a dent in that system before convincing doctors to favor her company's drug, cracking the code and writing a new,
unscrupulous playbook for strong-arming physicians to prescribe medication. But it feels too good to make her mark and form a crackerjack team that starts spreading the scheme from coast to coast. Her life skyrockets her life to heights she never imagined. By the time she wakes up to the harm she's done, her personal relationship with Brenner is in grave danger of collapse, and Liza is headed for self-destruction instead of self-improvement. Emily Blunt is so good that she elicits our sympathy trying to provide a stable home for her daughter and help her mother (Catherine O'Hara) while we remain reluctant to face the truth that she's helping kickstart the opioid epidemic. It's a stunning and compassionate performance, but box-office success for Pain Hustlers remains debatable. Public reaction to the horror when she flies close enough to the flames of her own innocence and evil to burn will be intriguing to watch.
THE ROYAL HOTEL
A gritty Australian film about two young women backpacking across the country puts ambiance over impact. and take jobs as bartenders in a blistered, beat-up pub called the Royal Hotel. In the weeks that follow, they find out no adventure in the middle of nowhere is
a picnic. Their accommodations above the bar are impossibly primitive. The pub sign is as bleached and faded as the dirt roads that lead to it. The customers are crude,
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abusive louts who have sex with the two girls Liv and Hannah are replacing. The owner is a brutish drunk. Serving beer and mopping up blood and vomit, THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
LIFESTYLE & ARTS Hannah, the pragmatic one played by Julia Garner, wants to leave immediately, but there's no train for days, and besides, she feels obligated to protect Liv, the pretty, sexy one ( Jessica Henwich), from the patrons she teases and unwisely flirts with, some of whom are dangerous. It's a barbaric way of life, but they learn to get used to it and the more they acclimate, the closer they get to losing their values and
lowering their standards. Written and directed with muscle and grit by Kitty Green, The Royal Hotel is loaded with grim ambiance, and there is even some suspense, mainly while the viewer waits to see if anything will ever happen. Aside from the assorted villains and a poisonous snake that invades the bar, nothing much ever does, which leads to
the bigger concern—why make this movie at all? The life-changing tension between Aussie vulgarians and civilized outsiders that usually leads to violence and rape is not an original subject in Australian movies, but it's a theme that has been explored with more depth and detail in far superior films such as the devastating Outback (re-released to great acclaim as Wake in Fright).
The cast is convincing, and the two leads are admirable—especially Julia Garner's Hannah, showing several colors and feelings as she tries to negotiate the deadend circumstances of life in Hell without parole. The outback, once again, is the film's most valid and important character—a place of endless fascination, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Welcome to The Matlin Group,
Laurie Tuchman!
GLORIA MATLIN
ZACK MATLIN
The Matlin Group thematlingroup@compass.com Glo | 847.951.4040 Zack | 847.722.2977
LETA GOLD
SALLY BLOOM
JENNI GORDAN
The Matlin Group is a team of Real Estate agents affiliated with Compass. Compass is a licensed Real Estate broker with a principal office in Chicago, IL and abides by all applicable Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only, is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, and changes without notice. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of Real Estate brokerage.
THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
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LIFESTYLE & ARTS #HASHTAG EDITED BY DUSTIN O'REGAN ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL
ELAINA VAZQUEZ is the owner of Towne & Oak, a café and private event space located in the Hubbard Woods district of Winnetka. Classically French trained, she previously cooked at various restaurants in the country, including the 3 Michelin Star Joël Robuchon at the Mansion in Las Vegas. In 2008, she started her catering company, Boutique Bites, where she built a brand known for executing the finest experiences for clients and companies with the highest expectations. After 10 years and hundreds of parties, Vasquez felt ready for a change, and began to concept Towne & Oak while on a trip to London. With such a large catering clientele already on the North Shore, she knew Winnetka would be the perfect location for her café. The design of the space was very clear— Napa Valley meets Nantucket (two places she loves). After an eight-month gut renovation project, the café officially opened in October 2020. Towne & Oak is where Vasquez’s background in fine dining meets her true appreciation for casual entertaining.
#ON MY NIGHTSTAND
I read every morning and night and often two to three books at once. I just finished reading The Secret Life of Groceries—the Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket. It’s a fascinating and thoroughly researched look into how the supermarkets of today came to be, the complicated and expensive process of getting a product onto shelves, and our dependence on labor from other countries to supply goods we’ve come to rely upon. You’ll never think of shrimp the same way again. I’m currently reading Smile by Sarah Ruhl. It’s her memoir detailing her diagnosis with Bell’s palsy after the birth of her children. Really well written and surprisingly light and funny at moments. I’ve just started The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand. All of her books take place on Nantucket (my favorite place) and she releases a new one every summer. Bliss.”
#ON MY MOBILE
I have an affinity for London and all things London inspired, specifically food and design. I love following @ Pretty City London on Instagram. Her posts always make me want to plan another trip there.
#IN MY EARBUDS
My two favorite podcasts that I alternate listening to are How I Built This and Second Life. I’ve been a business owner for 15 years and have always found other entrepreneur stories very powerful and inspiring. And it’s always nice to hear you’re not the only one going through certain struggles.
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THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
ASK DR. E.
LIFESTYLE & ARTS
MATERIAL PURSUITS This weekend’s curated luxury trends
HARRINGTON JUNIOR CLASSIC CARS
Harrington Group offers a dazzling collection of half-scale classic vehicles for adults and children alike. The junior cars are available in either electric or gas and customers can choose from a 125cc combustion engine or an electric drivetrain. The cars can reach 28 mph and, although not street-legal, are great for private roads. They can accommodate one adult or two children, and each vehicle has a speed restrictor and seatbelts. The line-up includes the Series 1, 300 SL, 250 Spyder, Daytona, XK, Cobra, GB6 Short Chassis, Land Junior, Willys Jeep and a single-seater race car inspired by the Lotus 25. Future models will include a Formula 1, 156 Sharknose, a 356 Speedster, and a Defender. Every jig-built chassis houses independent suspension, gas shock absorbers, a limited slip differential, a hydraulic braking system, and vented disks. Every detail is considered to replicate a full-size classic car from the fiberglass bodies to the beautiful finish in DuPont paint. Prices start at $16,000 and go up to $26,000. groupharrington.com BALLET FOLKLORICO QUETZALCOATL
The acclaimed Ballet Folklorico Quetzalcoatl, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, returns to the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) in Glen Ellyn at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11 for an evening of rich and vibrant Mexican folkloric dance. The show features magnificent traditional costumes and thrilling dance by an ensemble of nearly 100 dancers performed to classic songs from various regions of Mexico as played by an ensemble of live musicians. For tickets, visit atthemac.org. ASIAN IMPROV ARTS MIDWEST (AIRMW)
Asian Improv aRts Midwest (AIRMW), directed by multi-instrumentalist and media artist Tatsu Aoki, presents the 28th Annual Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival at Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey Ave., #208, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11. The November 10 concert features solo sets by Chicago-based multi-media artist Takashi Shallow, Pittsburgh-based shakuhachi player, composer, and visual artist Devon Osamu Tipp. AIRMW founder Tatsu Aoki will join Tipp in the world premiere of a collaborative work. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
Elizabeth Lombardo, Ph.D.
Speaker and Peak Performance Consultant
Dr. Elizabeth Lombardo is a Lake Forest psychologist and concierge life coach who is famous for her work with professional athletes. Her career as a best-selling author, keynote speaker, and media guest have made her one of the most sought-after experts in the world for those who seek to harness the power of mindset. In 2019, she founded EleVive, a business that helps teens and their parents navigate life’s challenges. Her new column in The North Shore Weekend addresses these issues and more.
When your child gets cut from a team, don’t cut your support. Dear Dr. E— We just found out that our son didn’t make the team. He’s taking the cut pretty hard—he loves this sport and seems like everything he does (and wears and says) centers on the game. What can we do to support him here? —Bummed in Baltimore Bummed, First, I empathize with you. Witnessing a child’s disappointment is one of the hardest things we parents do—and, because life is life, it’s something we have to do all too often. While this may not be a comforting thought, consider this: Every time our children fail—or fail to get what they want—it means they are reaching beyond their comfort zone. This is a very good thing and one that deserves to be encouraged and celebrated. One thing I want you to remember is that when a person is sitting in disappointment (at any age!), they are likely in what I call the Red Zone—an emotional state of heightened distress. Your job as his parents is two-fold: • Stay OUT of the Red Zone when helping your son—it will be impossible to help him deal with disappointment if you are clouded by anger, sadness, frustration, or worry. • Help him see his way out of the Red Zone by validating what he is feeling and helping him process his experience. Remember, you are not here to “rescue” him—dealing with disappointment is a normal part of life, and managing it effectively will boost his resilience and problemsolving skills for the future. You can help him navigate through this time by asking questions that help him process what happened. Things like: • What did you learn about the team or the sport? • What did you discover about yourself?
• If you could do it again, what would you do differently? • What do you love about this sport so much? • Is there anything positive that could come out of this? • What are other parts of your life that make you feel that way? I’d invite you to give your child enough time to answer these questions and avoid jumping in to prompt or add an answer. (He may surprise you!) Look for opportunities to validate his attempt, his growth, your support and love, and his larger identity beyond the game. With time and encouragement, your son will emerge from this experience better for it—and ready to tackle the next challenge with confidence. Dr. E
Struggling with teenage mood swings? Hold on tight—and try this. Dear Dr. E— My teenager’s emotions have been all over the place—and at times she feels so distant. Is this normal? —Moody in Memphis Dear Moody, When our kids hit the teenage years, we often look with nostalgia on the “Terrible Twos.” Remember when we thought THAT was hard? The short answer is YES—teenagers are moody. Hormones mixed with a developing prefrontal cortex mixed with social pressures, excitements, expectations, and opportunities are not always a great mix. That said, there are some red flags to watch out for to make sure what you’re noticing isn’t tipping into troublesome territory. • Check for changes. Swings in appetite, sleep, social interactions, and activities can indicate it’s time to start asking questions. • Problem-spot performance. A decline in grades or sports performance can be a sign that their focus or feelings have shifted. • Self-care signals. If you notice your teen has stopped showering or changing clothes, it could be a sign they are withdrawing or depressed. Listen for times when they turn down things they usually love or opportunities to hang out with people they used to care about. If any of the above rings true, broach your teen carefully and with compassion. Refrain from judgment—even in your mind (your teens have a sixth sense about this). And, if needed, get the help that will help them best—and be sure to ask them what they think this is! Dr. E
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GOOD KNIGHT S U N D AY B R E A K FA S T
Lake Forest’s Stephanie Knight—co-chair of next month’s Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital Holiday Boutique— has been a force in event planning since her days as a New Trier Township High School student. BY BILL MCLEAN ILLUSTRATION BY BARRY BLITT
Stephanie Knight served as the primary organizer of the T-Rex Sue unveiling at the Field Museum in 2000. Sue—who was named after explorer and fossil collector Sue Hendrickson, not by a mama and papa dinosaur—was hatched 67 million years ago, give or take a few centuries. The focal point of the event for which Knight is planning now is considerably younger than the remains of one of the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimens ever discovered. The Holiday Boutique presented by the Women’s Board of Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital turns 44 next month. Knight and her Women’s Board cochairs, Lisa Chang and Dana Geldermann, eagerly anticipate 51 vendors setting up shop for early holiday shoppers November 16 to 18 at the Lake Forest Recreation Center. The Opening Night party on November 16 starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m. Hours for the next two days of the Holiday Boutique are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Friday) and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Saturday), respectively. Fifteen percent of the proceeds will be earmarked for the hospital’s 2023 initiative, mental health. “It was after the Sue event when I realized, ‘OK, I’m an event planner. This is what I truly love to do,’” says Knight, who grew up in Winnetka and has been a Lake Forest resident since 2010, except for the year (2016) she and her husband, Tim, and their children (Lake Forest Academy students Quinn, 17, and Fitz, 14) lived in Cleveland. But her baptism in event planning occurred when she was Stephanie Powell, a New Trier Township High School junior. Her mother, Caryl, and late aunt Midge Powell nudged her to join the Junior Board of the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center (now Rush University Medical Center). Stephanie signed up and later spearheaded a fashion show that doubled as a fundraiser for the center. The Junior Board also raised funds via pancake breakfasts. “My mother was a board member of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab),” Knight, a
1985 NTHS graduate, recalls. “I remember helping her by stuffing envelopes at home. She was active in a number of charitable organizations, and my father (the late Robert E. Powell, a longtime Inland Steel Industries executive) helped everyone and was an amazing man. He was the kindest, nicest, hardestworking person. “I was raised to give back to those who are less fortunate because of all the blessings we’ve been given. The message my parents delivered to me, through their actions, was, ‘Be kind, be charitable.’” Next month’s Holiday Boutique has generated the kind of buzz around the North Shore that would make any event planner envious. Knight praises her sister, Lake Forest resident and Holiday Boutique Social Media Chief Katie Brickman, for that hubbub. Sixty percent of the 51 vendors will be first-time participants, including some from New York, California, Florida, and Connecticut. Their lines
have been featured in Town & Country, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and The New York Times, as well as on TikTok and the platforms of Instagram influencers. Among the local vendors are Toffee Traditions (Highwood), The Forest Needle (Lake Forest), and Bunny & Babe (Winnetka). “My focus is on our vendors,” Knight says. “We’re excited about the number of vendors that will be there. At least five of them will take up space in the hallways; that’s how squeezed we are. Thank you, Recreation Center! “What people love about the Holiday Boutique is the opportunity to complete their holiday shopping in three days, maybe in only one,” she adds. Elawa Farm will be there, too, as the provider of lunches and snacks. So will California-based Poppy Gifting, co-owned by Lake Forest native Peggy O’Brien. “I’m demanding, direct, and determined,” Knight says of her let’s-getit-done-right
Stephanie Knight
The more costs you cut, the more money the hospital will receive for its important mental health initiative.
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leadership style. “I don’t waste time. And I love my co-chairs. Lisa and Dana have been wonderful partners throughout our planning. What drives me as a co-chair of the Holiday Boutique, in the weeks leading up to it, is cutting costs. The more costs you cut, the more money the hospital will receive for its important mental health initiative.” Knight majored in art history at Hollins College (now Hollins University) in Hollins, Virginia. She worked at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., for nearly three years, rising to the post of assistant to the director of education. Her next stop was at CARE, an international humanitarian organization. She worked in sales at Ralph Lauren in Chicago and was the director of development at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago for four years. Her tenure at the Field Museum lasted 10 years. In that time, Knight assisted the president, ran auxiliary boards, and served as an event planner and major gift officer. A man named Stephen Hawking requested a tour of the museum one day. Knight showed the brilliant theoretical physicist around. Stephanie and Tim got married in 2005. Tim Knight has been the president and CEO of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation since 2020. The foundation’s mission is to invest in organizations working to build thriving communities where all individuals have the resources and opportunities to succeed, without regard to income, race, ethnicity, gender, or ZIP code. He had held significant posts at the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times, among other media groups. “My husband is funny, smart, well-read, and quick-witted,” says Stephanie, who enjoys exercising, playing mah-jongg, and being around friends. “Our kids are quickwitted, too. “I like to laugh,” adds the stellar—and no-nonsense—event planner. The 44th Holiday Boutique will be staged at the Lake Forest Recreation Center, 400 Hastings Road, in Lake Forest, November 16 to18. To purchase tickets to the Opening Night party (November 16) and to the boutique’s other two days, visit nm.org/wbboutique or call 847535-6921. Follow the boutique on Instagram at @holidayboutique23. THE NORTH SHORE WEEKEND
1234 Westmoor Road $3,499,000 6 bedroom | 5.3 bath Discerningly custom, this exquisite home on a lush, private 6/10 acre lot in the heart of Hubbard Woods offers easy living throughout including an open first floor plan that includes a sun-filled great room, spectacular kitchen and breakfast/hearth room with fireplace that opens to the dramatic porch with gorgeous ceiling details and fireplace. The first floor primary suite is spectacular with a luxurious bedroom and bath (open to private ‘California’ style deck with spa) and incredible library/office with fireplace and balcony. 5 additional bedrooms, 4.3 more baths and an exceptional lower level with everything! Custom in every way with no detail spared!
Joanne Hudson 847.971.5024 joanne.hudson@compass.com
Joanen Hudson is a Real Estate broker affiliated with Compass. Compass is a licensed Real Estate broker with a principal office in Chicago, IL and abides by all applicable Equal Housing Opportunity laws. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only, is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is subject to errors, omissions, and changes without notice. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Nothing herein shall be construed as legal, accounting or other professional advice outside the realm of Real Estate brokerage. 581 Spruce, Winnetka IL 60093.
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