Village of Orland Park Presents Ninth Annual Taste of Orland Park Food, Music and Entertainment Highlight Weekend

Village of Orland Park Presents Ninth Annual Taste of Orland Park

Food, Music and Entertainment Highlight Weekend

ORLAND PARK, IL - August in Orland Park means the Taste of Orland Park. The ninth annual event will showcase 18 of Orland Park’s favorite eateries, selling a variety of food and drinks. The Village of Orland Park’s three day food fest opens at 5 p.m. on Friday, August 3 and closes at 9 p.m. on Sunday, August 5. Admission and parking are free.

“The Village of Orland Park has a great weekend in store for everyone,” said Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin. “We have 18 great restaurants, exceptional entertainment on two stages, community wide participation and something for every age group,” the mayor said.

The Taste of Orland Park features a rich tapestry of culinary delights ranging from American classics to a variety of ethnic fare. Participating Orland Park restaurants include Baby’s Steak and Lemonade; Beggar’s Pizza; Blissful Banana Café; Burrito Jalisco; Café Gaston; Cooper’s Hawk Winery; Culver’s; El Pueblito; Hienie’s McCarthy’s; Mo’s Chinese Kitchen; Oberweis Dairy; Old Town Pizza; Orland Park Bakery; Palermo’s; Papa Joe’s; Riviera Country Club; RoccoVino’s and Rock Bottom Brewery.

Participating restaurants must be located within the Village of Orland Park and each “taste” is no more than $4 a dish. Select restaurants will serve alcohol, including beer, wine and a number of specialty drinks. All food vendors will sell pop and water.

“The village started the Taste of Orland Park in 2004 as a way to showcase the great restaurants we have in town,” said Trustee Pat Gira, chair of the village’s Recreation and Parks Committee. “The village staff works on this event for months, lining up the restaurants, community groups, the entertainment and making sure that we put on a great event for the community. They do a great job every year,” Gira said, “It’s a nice weekend to try some of Orland Park’s great restaurants, enjoy live music and see old friends,” she said. 

Along with indulging in a variety of cuisine, the three day fest includes live entertainment on two stages, community groups offering children’s activities, Kids’ Day on Saturday, a classic car show on Sunday, Bingo inside of the Civic Center both days and more.

The festival begins at 5 p.m. on August 3 with the 70s rock band, The Juke Box Band. That will be followed by the Orland Park Improv Team performing on the community stage with country line dancing instruction inside of the Civic Center. At 8 p.m., the village will host Live Band Karaoke on the community stage, inviting brave attendees to sing with a live band.  The first day of entertainment will conclude with the country and western band, Jin and Tonic, on the main stage from 8:30 p.m until 11 p.m.

Activities on Saturday, August 4 include Kiwanis Club Bingo inside of the Civic Center from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Saturday is Kids’ Day at the adjacent John Humphrey Sports Complex, from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Activities include face painting, spin art craft, Thanks for the Memory Photo Booth, Pop A Shot Speed Pitch and Basketball, and “Touch a Truck.” There will also be a moon jump, obstacle course and slide for kids to enjoy, provided by Moon Jump Inc.

The annual Family Water Balloon Toss contest will be held at 2:30 p.m. at the Humphrey Complex and teams may include siblings or a parent and child. The Family Egg Drop Competition will follow at 3:30 p.m. Each team, which must include an adult and a child, must create and bring a device to catch the falling eggs. Eggs will be dropped from a cherry picker at increasing heights. The egg-catching devices must be no larger than two feet in diameter and pillows and hands may not be used. Pre-registration is not required for either of the free contests. Winners of each contest will receive a free Centennial Park Aquatic Center pavilion rental with twelve passes to the village’s pool.

A number of Orland Park organizations will be present during Kids’ Day, including the Orland Fire Protection District, Orland Park Police Department, Orland Park Pioneers Football and Cheerleading, Orland Park Soccer Club Soccer Combine, Orland Youth Association Girls’ Program, Joon Lee’s Taekwondo, the Village of Orland Park Karpov International Chess Institute and the Village of Orland Park Fencing Program.

Kids’ Day participants will also include the Bulls/Sox Academy, Independence Winter Guard, ISU FireBirds Ground Quidditch Team, Micro-Reality Stock Car Racing, Team USA Martial Arts, and Victory Martial Arts.

Saturday’s main stage entertainment includes Bopology performing at 1:30 p.m., the Chicago Tribute Anthology performing at 4:30 p.m. and the Journey tribute band, Infiniti, performing at 8:30 p.m.

The third and final day of the Taste of Orland Park begins with the Classic Double K Car Show at the adjacent John Humphrey Sports Complex from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday. Food vendors open at 1 p.m. with Confetti performing on the main stage, playing everything from 40s swing to pop.

The Orland Park Lions Club will host Bingo inside of the Orland Park Civic Center from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday.  The final round of “Orland Park’s Got Talent” will be held on the community stage at 2 p.m., with Five Guys Named Moe performing on the main stage at 4 p.m. American English, the Beatles tribute band, will close the fest Sunday night, performing on the main stage at 7 p.m.

“The Taste of Orland Park is a great showcase of the Orland Park community,” McLaughlin said. “The restaurants, the community booths, the sponsors, the local performing groups, the school groups --- everyone makes it a great weekend showcasing what makes Orland Park the great town that it is,” he said.

A full schedule of events, complete with restaurant menus, appears on the Village of Orland Park’s website at www.orland-park.il.us with printed schedules available at all village buildings. For more information, call the Village of Orland Park Recreation Department at 708/403-7275.

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Finally joined a health club, LifeTime, to lose weight and trim up

You get older and your metabolism slows down. And as your metabolism slows down, you start to put on weight. Most people put on weight in "shifts." That means as you age 10 or so, your weight increases and adjusts to a new "normal." Many people try to off-set weight gain by eating healthy. But eating healthy isn't enough. Remember, your metabolism slows, so what used to be "regular eating habits" are now excessive eating habits for you. What you used to eat before, now is adding weight as the process of burning calories naturally slows with your metabolism.
So you have to exercise. Exercise helps compensate for metabolism slow-down. It actually helps boost your metabolism.
Well, in the 20s, 30s and even the 40s, my metabolism was always good. Now that I'm in my 50s, I can't rely on it to eliminate the calories and weight that I have been putting on. I reach a natural plateau in the 50s of 220 lbs. Everyone has a different natural plateau of weight. That's mine. But, when you enjoy eating the way I do, the weight starts to pack it in, and it doesn't spread around equally. For some reason, weight gain loves to hang around my waist. 
And that weight gain adds stress and the stress wears you down and pushes your metabolism down, too. It's a vicious cycle.
I tried dieting. I did the Atkins Diet in the 40s and 50s and it worked great. Sure Atkins died of a heart attack. Basically, everyone does, eventually. The Atkins Diet is great for fast weight loss but the real challenge isn't getting used to the boring daily menu of all protein for 10 days or more, but rather when you are done and lost 30 pounds, how do you keep it off.
Eventually, Atkins weight loss stops working if you do it too often. Maybe it causes liver problems or gall bladder problems, too.
I lost 40 pounds once on Atkins. I kept it off for about a year, but eventually it slowly crept back on with a vengeance. Lost weight doesn't like Atkins and when it comes back, it packs in the fat even more.
In the 30s and 40s, I used to belong to the East Bank Club downtown. It really wasn't to lose weight but to have fun. It was a power convergence point where you met clients, old and new. It was fun, more like a country club for people who liked to spend a lot of money on exercise-wear, the fashionable sexy stuff that looks great on models, people like Jillian Michaels and on TV commercials, but looks funny when on regular people. There is a whole industry in fitness clothing and now technology, too. 
Maybe I should find a fitness business for a client to help them because most really don't know how to market beyond the community demand they enjoy -- people who come to them rather than being led to them to join.
Teh Nova Plates at the EBC were great. The pool on the rooftop was the best in Chicagoland. Hot women, too. Isn't that why most men join a health club? To meet hot women? 
Maybe so. But that's before they start to put on weight.
So last week, after a decade of ignoring the physics of life, I decided to join LifeTime in Orland Park. It costs about $140 a month for a family of three, including my son.
Why not? I thought. I waste a lot of money other ways in life, especially on technology that doesn't last very long.
I have to tell you the past week has made a huge difference for me. I've moseyed on up to 2306 pounds. Yikes. I can't help it. I'm Middle Eastern and I love food. Being Middle Eastern is an advantage when it comes to healthy living. That Mediterranean Diet is phenomenal and does a lot of good. Though I had a heart valve replacement surgery several years ago, my arteries were clean and clear. Because of the extra virgin olive oil and the hummus and garbanzo beans and the Tahini. Believe it! That Mediterranean diet works and can help you clean your system.
Of course, some people are genetically inclined to bad health. My dad smoked for 60 of his 70 years, two packs of Camel filterless cigarettes a day. He lived 70 years, but probably would have lived 100 had he not smoked. (I smoked when I was in college but quit during basic training in the Air Force and never picked it up again. That was more than 40 years ago.)
In one week, I'm down 10 lbs. I went from 236 lbs to 226 lbs and I am eating the way I always eat. The only difference is I go to the healthclub every morning around 5:30 or 6 am -- sounds early but I am up at 5 am every morning and I usually sit at a computer and write for 2 1/2 hours before heading for a hectic day of managing media and political consulting clients who are ALWAYS ON THE FRONTLINES OF CONTROVERSIAL NEWS. In the media almost everyday. That's stressful, the other killer of people besides age.
I have a plan. I power walk one hour every morning. That's it. That translates into about 3 miles with the treadmill set at "3."
I was going to buy a treadmill. I found a ProForm 850 that normally costs $1,200 at Walmart for only $490. Almost bought it. Fortunately, I don't have an SUV any more so I couldn't get it home and changed my mind. The next day, I joined Lifetime.
Of course, the only problem with Lifetime is they have been doing this so long they don't care any more. The service there is pretty shabby. There's no follow-up. Just the fast-talking sign-up pitch and then pay. I was going to join anyway.
The equipment is out-of-date. So 80s. The treadmills don't connect to the technology. You can't plug in your iPod into the treadmill or any of the equipment. They told me they are going to install WiFi in September. If you have to wait that long, you obviously don't understand how important wireless is to today's society.
They have a wall of TV sets each tuned to a different channel and you can listen in to any of them by using an FM radio set to the channel. (91.1 FM, for example.) The problem is the system sucks. I don't want to go out and buy a radio. I dropped the radio and all the other technology that followed like the Walkman when the iPod and iPad and iPhone were born, about 5 years ago.
You can go to Radio Shack and buy a $20 adapter to plug into your iPod Touch or iPhone to listen to the TV FM broadcast signals of your choice. (There are about 10 of them). But they don't work on the iPod Classic or on the iPad which has a 10-12 hour battery strength. The iPhone lasts a few hours but you will be burning up battery power pretty quick.
So I set the iPad on the Treadmill ledge that is there coincidentally. Not as a ledge to hold an iPad but as a design feature. I just lucked out. And I use a Bluetooth earphone system -- Back Beat Go from Plantronics. And I play an audio book and listen while I work out.
It makes the time go faster, especially learning more and more about Internet marketing and media and PR from the audio book I purchased.
Lifetime is not the power location to meet clients, either. Which is good, I guess. It's worn down looking. The in-door and out-door pools are good, but we're members of the Orland Pool, which for $150 a year is the BEST! The only advantage of Lifetime is that their in-door pool is heated and open all year round, and a great choice after the outdoor pools there and at Millennium Park close for the Fall.
The food isn't bad at their little restaurant at the entrance. Very healthy and very affordable, too. A good buy.
Anyway, it's just been 10 days. But the results of daily exercising speak for themselves.
I'll keep you updated when I am down to a svelte 180 lbs and have a 8 ridge washboard stomach. Well, just  being able to look down and see all of my feet without leaning forward, well, that's something any baby boomer would hope for these days.
-- Ray Hananiawww.hanania.com

Township residents saved more than one million on prescription medications in 2012

Township residents saved more than one million on prescription medications in 2012

July 3, 2012 - ,IL  – The Coast2Coast Rx free discount card program has saved township residents more than $1,029,153.67 on their prescription medications this year.  The 47 townships with the Coast2Coast Rx program, in counties across Illinois, have saved an average of 50% off of their prescription medications.  To combat rising healthcare costs, townships have offered this valuable resource to its residents.

The Coast2Coast Rx Program was first implemented in Niles Township in October 2010.  Niles Township Supervisor, Lee Tamraz said, “The Coast2Coast Rx Program is a great program. I have received unbelievable feedback that leads me to only speak highly of the program.”  He added, “There is a need for a program like this because people don’t have the income they had ten years ago.  It makes me feel much better knowing I have done something like this to help the residents of the [Niles] Township.  Endorsing this program was one of the happiest moments I have had as Supervisor.”  The Coast2Coast Rx Program has saved Niles Township residents over $600,000 on their medications thus far.

Orland Township, Supervisor  O’Grady said, “When we decided to  make the Coast2Coast Rx Discount Program available to our residents, we weren’t sure what to expect, but after 7 months of making the program available, our residents have filled over 5600 prescriptions, using the Coast2Coast program, and have saved over $230,000.  In these tough economic times, I’m proud that Orland Township took the initiative to offer this program, which has provided a significant benefit to many of our residents, at no cost to the tax payers.”

“At a time when the State has had to discontinue the Illinois Cares Rx program, it’s reassuring to see that the Townships are providing leadership to assist those most in need” said Debby Karton, Illinois distributor of the Coast2Coast Rx Discount program.

Providing savings for residents through this Rx program came at no expense to the townships.  Besides the discount on prescriptions, the card also provides 50% to 80% discounts for lab and imaging tests, and discounts on dental, veterinary, vision, diabetes supplies and equipment and hearing services, further helping residents save even more money on their healthcare costs for these services.  The Coast2Coast Rx card allows all township residents, regardless of income, age, or health status to participate in the program and save on the cost of their medications.  Even pets and other people living outside the townships are able to take part in the program.  The Rx card is distributed free of charge and may be used at all pharmacy chains and most independent pharmacies and includes over 60,000 drugs in its formulary.

The Coast2Coast Rx Program is in Algonquin, Avon, Barrington, Benton, Berwyn, Bloomingdale, Bremen, Calumet, Cuba, Dorr, Downers Grove, Ela, Elgin, Elk Grove, Evanston, Hanover, Lemont, Leyden, Libertyville, Lisle, Lyons, Maine, Milton, Moraine, Naperville, Niles, Northfield, Nunda, Oak Park, Orland, Palatine, Palos, Rich, Riverside, Stickney, Schaumberg, Thornton, Vernon, Warren, Wauconda, Waukegan, Wayne, West Deerfield, Winfield, Worth, York, and Zion Townships.

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Cuzzin's Cafe - Italian Comfort Food

I love stuffed artichokes. You can't always get them. I used to go to Palermo's in Oak Lawn, but they are often out and don't have this delicacy that years ago an Italian date told me was something to share with someone you really loved.
So when I heard Cuzzin's Cafe in Orland Park served stuffed artichokes, I figured, why not make it a meal, and took the family there to enjoy a nice authentic Italian  meal.
The food was very good, for the most part. I can't say it was bad. But it was off when we went tonight. Right off, I ordered the stuffed artichoke. It was tough, although the stuffing was phenomenal. Usually, you work your way through the maze of artichoke leaves covered in thick stuffing and the artichoke meat is soft. But this one was a little under cooked, maybe. Tough tough. The heart was like stone and it's the first time I didn't finish eating it, even though Alison kept telling me that "It's fattening." Not referring to her but to me where fatty foods have been making their presence a little too known.

You eat artichokes with your hands, grabbing one leaf at a time and scraping the stuffing and the artichoke meat off with your teeth, discarding the tough leaves. It's messy but fun. And when you can share it with someone you love, it's just that much better. Alison tried it but Aaron hasn't evolved into a food experimentor yet. He's still too young. 
Anyway, I figured, no problem. Then they brought the bread. It was a few slices of fresh Vienna bread with a plate of marinara sauce, olive oil and grated cheese. Another reminder that there wasn't enough but that's okay because it's too fattening. 
Everything Italian is fattening, honey! Not that pleading does any good.
So I ordered heart attack on a plate, Fettucini Alfredo. The sauce was too thick, like peanut butter. Another excuse for my wife to tell me, "It's fattening, don't eat so much." I didn't.
I ordered a side of meatballs and so did my son, Aaron. My meatballs were over mixed with stuffing, and not enough meat. It tasted like stuffing more than a meatball. So I didn't eat them all. In fact, my wife was happy because I really didn't eat much at all. "Too fattening."
I know. I know.
Anyway. we'll give it another try again. The food had real authentic Italian flavors and taste. It is more of a casual dining room setting, which was nice. Maybe like a little cafe like the ones were visited when we crossed over from France into Italy a few years backed and spent the day in Menton along the French Riviera.
All Cuzzin's needs is an outdoor fountain and some little tables. It would be fun. 
Sometimes restaurant's have bad days. So I don't want to be too hard because I know the place is great. It really warmed my heart when I heard one of the waitresses say, "Hey Mom, I need a plate of ..." Family run and family operated. You have to give them the benefit of the doubt. So while I am having funw ith this experience, I;m not going to trash the place because it is great.
Try it. You'll like it!
-- Ray Hananiawww.hanania.com

New Middle East restaurant coming to Orland Park, one of Northern Illinois' best

It's called the Nile Restaurant and it's located in a strip mall at 87th and Harlem Avenue in Bridgeview. For the most part, mostly Middle Eastern men eat there. Some Americans. It's like a community insider's preference.
But it is the best Middle East restaurant in Northern Illinois, by far surpassing every other restaurant in a 100 mile radius of the Southwest Suburbs. No restaurant comes close to the food. But it is spartan. Stripped bare with essentials, only. Not the kind of place a family would go to enjoy an afternoon lunch or an evening dinner.
That will change soon, though, with the opening of The Nile II in Orland Park in the Jewel Osco Mall at 159th and 94th Avenue, where the Pita Oven tried and failed to work. The new Nile restaurant is bringing over the chef from 87th Street that has given that restaurant its phenomenal reputation. American Arabs know to go there when they can. The food is simply perfection.
The Mensiff -- lamb, rice, pita bread and the Jameed (lamb milk based sauce), is superb. No one makes it better than The Nile. It's usually the featured dinner on Fridays, which is the Muslim sabbath.
When it opens, you have to try this place. If you like Middle Eastern food, you will absolutely love The Nile II when it opens.
So many Middle East restaurants have tried and failed. Al Bawadi in Bridgeview is good and among the region's best, but it can't compete with The Nile.
-- Ray Hananiawww.Hanania.com

Police Robo-call on car-jacking 167th and LaGrange

Nothing online yet about a car-jacking reported by the Orland Park Police in a late night robo-call to residents.
The call reported a car-jacking at 167th and LaGrange Road around 2 am, warning residents that police were conducting a field search for an individual described as being 6 foot 5 inches tall.
That would put it at around Orland's Marcus Theater parking lot.
-- Ray Hanania

Orland Trustee Pat Gira plays politics while ignoring her responsibilities to village taxpayers

Village Trustee Patricia Gira is engaged in a transparent political game to promote her allies in the upcoming spring village elections. That's good to see, considering that she has spent her entire public career closing her eyes to the problems of her political pals.
Gira is angry that Pat Maher, the son of Village Clerk David Maher, was thrown out of office in the last election at the Orland Fire Protection District. Gira and Maher ran together, her for village trustee -- a seat she barely won -- and Maher to use the OFPD as a base to launch a career to higher office.
Neither really cared about the public's interests.
For example, Gira has been sending out letters to senior citizens in Orland Park inciting them tp fear using lies and exaggerations. Gira claims the OFPD is weighing closing Fire Station #6.
Not only is that an outright lie, but OFPD President Jim Hickey publicly stated that he opposed any proposal to close a fire station. In fact, it wasn't the OFPD board that brought up the issue of "closing Fire Station #6." It was in fact Pat Gira who brought up the idea?
Why would she do that when she knows that is a lie?
Well, she is using fear mongering to incite the community and to confuse seniors about the facts. She wants to build up a challenge against the OFPD in the next election in the Spring in the hopes of electing her allies to the board.
Gira ignored than nearly $2.6 million that the OFPD cut from the budget of the Fire District, the budget that her ally Pat Maher rammed through the board in January 2011. 
Gira was silent over the fact that the OFPD for the first time in FIVE YEARS has a budget UNDER $30 million.
But she did complain that the Fire District has "three public relations consultants." Not true, of course. When Gira and Maher were running the Fire District, the OFPD had four media consultants and PR consultants.
The new board under Jim Hickey, however, cut the costs of the PR workers saving more than $12,000 a year. The OFPD pays $36,000 a year for a PR consultant (me) compared to the $48,000 that Gira and Maher paid before I was hired.
Of course, Gira is hoping to incite fear and raise phony issues hoping you won't ask, for example: "How much does the Village of Orland Park which has raised property taxes how many times over th eyears, pay for public relations and PR?"
I've sent an FOIA under the Village of Orland Park's so-called transparency program to find out exactly how many hundreds of thousands the village is paying. We'll see how they respond and I'll publish it here.
It is a shame that Pat Gira is using her public office in the village to run her election strategy against the Orland Fire Protection District. Her letters are signed by her Village Title and are being sent as a Village Trustee. Is the Village of Orland Park paying for that electioneering? Maybe the Cook County State's Attorney should investigate if any village money or resources are being used by Village Trustee Patricia Gira to pay for her political campaign against the Orland Fire Protection District.
In the Spring 2011 elections, Orland taxpayers declared they have had enough with lying and cheating elected officials. They forced Maher to quit the race after his lies were exposed. Pat Gira backed him and distributed his re-election literature. 
Not only did they vote against Maher but the majority of Orland Park voters voted AGAINST PAT GIRA in that same election. She barely got 40 percent of the village vote. Nearly 60 percent of the vote went to someone else rather than Pat Gira. She doesn't even have the backing of a majority fo the residents. She knows this is probably her last term in office so she has decided to throw mud, as she did in the last election, and attack the integrity of the Orland Fire Protection District.
CANDIDATE/PARTY     ......................................................% .....................Votes
Edward G. Schussler (Orland Park United)          14.25                        2,616
Patricia A. Gira (Orland Park United)                      13.65                       2,504Carole Griffin Ruzich (Orland Park United)            12.05                        2,211
(Their votes add up to 39.95 % of the total votes cast)
I'm not going to let that happen. I'm not going to let selfish Pat Gira undermine the will of the voters who spoke loud and clear and demanded that the new OFPD better manage spending and taxpayer dollars. They demanded the OFPD cut budget spending to prevent taxes from increasing as they have in the past.
Gira is really a disgrace. That she would fear monger and incite seniors especially into believing that Fire Station #6 will be closed when she knows that is a lie and she knows that she manufactured the issue to create fear and concern, is disgraceful.
-- Ray Hanania
More reading:
Click here to read Village of Orland Park breaks promise to refund property taxes to offset Sales Tax increase