Always have been a fan of the Chex Mix. My mom would make it herself so we had something for an after school snack or on the weekends when we had friends over to play games and watch horror movies.

This is her recipe, straight from the box of Chex Rice cereal when I was a kid:

• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1 Tbsp. Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1/8 tsp. garlic salt (not garlic powder)
• 2 cups Wheat Chex square cereal
• 2 cups Rice Chex square cereal
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 cup small pretzel sticks

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Melt butter in a large frying pan.
Stir in Worcestershire sauce, salt, and garlic salt.
Add Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, peanuts and pretzels.
Mix until all pieces are coated with the butter mixture.
Place on a shallow baking pan with sides.
Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

This is great warm or cold. Put it in a baggie and it stays good for up to a week.

Did you know that the Chex people have been making different flavors and variations to sell as snack foods? They are up to 15 varieties, sorted into groupings:

• Salty
• Chocolate
• Sweet n Salty
• Fruit n Nut
• 100 Calorie

My favorite is still the Traditional, but I do like the Bold Party Blend and the Honey Nut.

I love Chicago. It’s my favorite “big city” to go for business or for pleasure.

There’s so much to do and see - and hundreds of good places to eat all kinds of food, especially steaks and chops. One of my favorite restaurants in Chicago is the Chicago Chop House. It is a classic Chicago bar and restaurant. Anything on the menu is guaranteed to be great, and the wine list is spectacular.

In the summer you can charter a sail on one of the tall ships out on the Lake. That is a must-do. Put it on your bucket list. And take a river boat tour - it’s great fun and you learn a few things about the city, too.

Read the Chicago Tribune for news you can’t get in the other daily papers. There are a lot of crime stories, but a lot of human interest things, too. A great weekly column by Garrison Keillor, best known as the radio host of “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Eating a meal is much more enjoyable when you have someone else to share the time with you. I have asked a friend from work to go to dinner with me this evening. We will find a nice restaurant near work so that driving over there will be easy. There are many nice places near the office and we have a choice of every type of food, from steakhouse to seafood to Italian and pretty much anything else you would like.

My favorite restaurant in the area is Alexander’s. Hands down, the food is always superb and the wait staff is highly trained and efficient. I like that they have and enforce a no cell phones in the dining room policy, too. Very classy.