If you're looking for some tips to set a festive holiday table, bake that bird to crispy perfection, or dazzle your guests with Pilgrim lore, check out our Thanksgiving Hot Topic.

If you've decided a better way to celebrate would be to have someone else do the cooking, the serving and the dishes, you might want to check out BooRah. BooRah, like Yelp, lets you read ratings of restaurants from locals. You can add your own reviews and give your favorite place a "Rah!" or that place that served you the cold stringy turkey with the gelatinous gravy a big "Boo!"

Need a quick recipe to bring to Auntie Jane's house? Click the images below...

Gobble!

HK

Posted by Information Services at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the spirit of feasting, I thought it might be fun to feature some food and drink sites this week. First up, Eat, Drink or Die, a site largely made up of recipes and demonstration videos contributed by users of the site, as well as some experts. You can rate recipes on a scale from "die" to "delicious."

Want a sample? Here's Zac Brown's roasted potato video - which comes along with a little extra entertainment.

Yum.

HK

Posted by Information Services at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Millions of photos from the LIFE magazine photo archive are now available through Google Images. Most of these photos were never published.

The photos are available for free for personal and research purposes. The copyright and ownership of all images remains with Time (which owns the archive). It's a great resource for students, historians, photographers and the just plain curious!

HK

Posted by Information Services at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

National Adoption Day is a "...collective national effort to raise awareness of the 129,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families." Learn much more at www.nationaladoptionday.org.

The library is a rich source of information for anyone considering adoption or dealing with the parenting issues that adoptive families face. You will also find a variety of fiction titles in both the adult and youth collections.

Select titles include:

649.145 ADO Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections
649.145 COG Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child
362.734 CHI Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul
362.734 DOR So You Want to Adopt, Now What?

The Information Services Librarians can help you find more information. Make a difference in the life of a child...adopt.

jdc

Posted by Information Services at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) and the Ad Council are launching a campaign to help recognize the men and women who have served and are serving in these sometimes forgotten wars. Check out the ad campaign. The main site for vets is here.

For more information on Veterans' issues, check out the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs and the VFW sites.

Learn more about honoring the men and women who have served our country in uniform and the history of Veteran's Day in America.

HK

Posted by Information Services at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Do you know the recycling "rules" for your county? Unfortunately, many people use the "might as well put it in the recycle bin" approach and hope that it meets the criteria instead of properly sorting items. The National Recycling Coalition is sponsoring a national day to focus awareness on recycling and how we can all contribute to its effectiveness. If you want to know more about the specific "dos and don'ts" of recycling for Kane County, check out the Kane County Recycles web page or pick up one of their newsletters in the Library.

mcs

Posted by Information Services at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two of my favorite nonfiction writers were featured in the Tribune magazine recently - David McCullough and Garry Wills. They have been awarded the Tribune Literary Prize and Heartland Nonfiction Prize, respectively. If you have not read anything by either, I invite you to give them a try. You will learn much, and you will thoroughly enjoy the reading!

McCullough was interviewed by the Tribune's Julia Keller. With your St. Charles Public Library card, you can read the entire interview here.

We dare you to pick up any of McCullough's books (or DVDs) and not become enthralled by the epic stories as he artfully brings other times and places to life. In these seemingly perilous times, it is useful and somehow reassuring to learn about the serious challenges that our forefathers endured.

In Garry Wills' most recent book, What the Gospels Meant, according to a review by W. David Myers, "he takes up a formidable task: summarizing in about 200 pages the most contemporary scholarship treating the four curious texts that for 1,900 years have defined and guided the world's largest religion." Read the entire review here.

Garry Wills' other books on religion and history are all uniformly readable and rewarding. Enjoy!

LH

Posted by Information Services at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Wired:

HK

Posted by Information Services at 01:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)