Pendant raffle to aid Fox Valley Food For Health

Maybe it's a bit of irony, or just another example of what the Fox Valley Food for Health organization is all about.

Either way, the fact that Isaac Kornhauser of State Street Jewelers is involved in the group's Harvest Moon Dance fundraiser this year is important both for him and the organization.

Kornhauser created a moon-and-stars necklace pendant that will go to a lucky raffle winner at the organization's Harvest Moon Dance in November.

Fox Valley Food for Health is a nonprofit organization that works to assure people dealing with chronic illnesses and treatments are eating healthy meals. It is also apparent that any type of service like this also takes a lot of stress off families because the special meals are delivered to those in need.

And Kornhauser has been down this road recently.

While he didn't specifically use Fox Valley Food for Health's services because he lives in Cary, he understands the importance of having someone bring food to help you when battling an illness.

And he had a tough one. Kornhauser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July of 2017 and underwent difficult surgery and recovery.

"I was told about the Fox Valley program and it resonated, because it was really nice when people were bringing food to me," Kornhauser said. "The organization seemed like a really good idea."

Kornhauser has been feeling well lately, having caught the disease early enough to knock it out. That's not an easy feat for pancreatic cancer.

"The odd thing is that I felt pretty good, even before being diagnosed, so it was amazing to hear what this could have done to me," he said.

Kornhauser was commissioned to make the pendant by Martha Sanchez, a spokesperson for State Street Jewelers who designed it. Sanchez also has a granddaughter who serves as one of the teen chefs for Fox Valley Food For Health.

That's another thing you should know about this group. Students from all of the area high schools pitch in as the chefs.

"We have a mix of everybody from the different schools," said Molly Evans, the executive chef for Fox Valley Food for Health.

"A lot of the students don't necessarily want to go into culinary, but they enjoy cooking and learning about food, and this is a great way for them to do that while performing a service," said Evans, who has been a corporate and personal chef prior to her service with the organization.

The Harvest Moon Dance takes place from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Eagle Brook Country Club in Geneva. Tickets at $150 per person are available on the organization's website at foxvalleyfoodforhealth.org.

In honor of Harvey:

Anyone who walks past the new Harvey's Tales book store at 216 James St. in Geneva can see that the place has been spruced up a bit to give it a relaxing, book-reading atmosphere.

It also doesn't hurt that the store sells "nitro-infused coffee," a foamy caffeinated concoction that a few patrons have already told owners Chuck and Roxanne Osborne makes for a nice complement to the books and reading areas.

Harvey's Tales held its official grand opening yesterday, but the shop has been open for a couple of weeks.

It's the culmination of a couple of years of work for the Osbornes, who felt a book store in downtown Geneva would be fun to operate in retirement.

They've lived in Geneva for 30 years, and just saw a nice need for a small bookstore near the popular Third Street retail sector.

"It's all new books in here, new releases, classics, a little bit of everything," Chuck Osborne said. "We just unlocked the doors to open it one day to see what would happen, and it's been sort of crazy (busy).

"It's encouraging that people still like to read, and I always thought they did," he added. "We have good coffee, free Wi-Fi and places to sit."

It will be an interesting change, as Chuck is a recently retired math and science teacher after 32 years in the West Chicago School District, while Roxanne will finish a long stint in corporate real estate at the end of the year.

And where did the name for the bookstore come from?

"We named it after Harvey, a Bernese mountain dog we had for about 10 years, and everyone loved Harvey," Osborne explained.

"He was just a sweetheart," Osborne said of their pet that died a year ago.

But Harvey's spirit lives on in a way other than a bookstore in his honor. The family has a new 7-month-old Bernese mountain dog named Hazel, who already has a children's room at the store named after her.

"We are looking forward to bringing this to the community," Osborne said. "We just think it is going to be fun."

Grandstander stood out:

I can always count on Rob Mondi to introduce me to some new delicacy that one of his restaurants is featuring.

The St. Charles businessman joined up with chef David Reyes to open The Grandstander in the former Abby's Breakfast and Lunch location at 11 N. Third St. he had to give up last year because of some health issues.

The Grandstander, touted as a smokehouse and dart bar, made the move into St. Charles from Geneva - and it has been doing well, Mondi recently told me.

He said both the menu and the restaurant's emphasis on dart boards have been popular.

During the recent Scarecrow Fest, I tried the sweet potato tots with marshmallow sauce, and the fried cheese curds with ranch dressing. Both were great sides to go with a bratwurst with sauerkraut and caramelized onions.

Not your typical festival fare, you might think. But it was fine by me, and highlighted the culinary upgrade the festival has enjoyed since making it a "Taste of St. Charles" event within Lincoln Park.

Love those Kit Kats:

CandyStore.com reaches its conclusions on what qualifies as the favorite Halloween candy of each state by noting how much has been purchased. And I'm certainly on board with what that data showed as the favorite in Illinois.

The ranking has to have something to do with the number of items eaten as well, so I would say I did my part in making the Kit Kat bar the favorite candy in our state.

And that's simply from eating what is left over at our house after we greatly overestimate the number of kids likely to ring the doorbell on Halloween night.

But how can you go wrong with an extra bowl of Kit Kats? You can't.

CandyStore, monitoring its sales data for the past 11 years, tabbed Kit Kat because of 169,089 pounds of it being sold in Illinois in the past year.

It topped Sour Patch Kids at the No. 2 spot and Snickers in third place.

dheun@sbcglobal.net