Claire Bidwell Smith

Today's recipe comes to us courtesy of my friend Andrea Newberry who writes the excellent blog Forkable. I thought it would be fun to partner with friends and fellow foodies now and then just to spice things up a bit. And man, does this recipe ever spice things up. Bacon-wrapped jalapeno poppers that actually look Read more…

About a month ago I decided that things had gotten a little stale around here and that I needed to put more energy into Life in Chicago. Hard to do with a six-month old, but not impossible. Anyway, I think it's been a pretty good week around here, and much like one of those annoyingly Read more…

She Wrote, He Wrote is back! And just in time for Veronica's six month birthday!   *If you're not familiar with She Wrote, He Wrote, it's a blog that Greg and I created in 2008. Organized into a he said, she said format, we both write about the same experience, usually from very different perspectives. Read more…

A couple of things. First of all, you can now reach this blog using www.lifeinchicagoblog.com. Look at that. A real url. The typepad one still works but the new one is a bit more professional, or something. It's funny, I feel like I've come a long way. When I first started blogging 6 years ago Read more…

I thought I'd link up a few of my favorite blogs today. They're all pretty much parenting blogs, but each of a really high caliber. And I'm always interested in other good blogs, so if you have suggestion for sites I can add to my daily rundown, I'd love to hear about them. Neal Pollack's Read more…

Dear Bug, It's no secret that your Dad and I met online. I was living in LA and he was here in Chicago. We were both writers for a literary website called The Nervous Breakdown. We struck up a correspondence that eventually led to us meeting, which quickly led to us rearranging our lives to Read more…

I began this blog a little over 6 years ago. Hard to believe, but true. I was 25 and living in Los Angeles. I had only been in LA for a year, having moved there from New York so that I could take care of my father who was dying. I'd been out of undergrad Read more…

I had dinner last night with some girlfriends and it was so nice to be out and part of a group of a women at a restaurant. Since I moved to Chicago and got married, I don’t do that as much as I used to. The dinner was with my friend Emilie and two of Read more…

It’s only 7:30 and I’ve been up for an hour, drinking coffee, reading emails, chatting with Greg’s parents. They’ve been here for about a week now. His sister was due to have her baby last Friday and still hasn’t gone into labor yet and everyone is just kind of waiting. The house has been full Read more…

It’s past ten pm and I’m sitting on the couch, the Olympics going on the TV in the background, cats sprawled out all around in the living room, their little sleeping purrs reverberating through the couch cushions. I’m embarrassed to say that I’m not usually up this late. Or if I am, I’m not usually Read more…