Airport Tips For The Busy Holiday Season; Cookbook Gift Ideas

On the 21st: Friday will be an extremely busy day at Chicago’s airports, with an estimated 5.7 million travelers coming through Midway and O'Hare. We called up a couple of travel experts to share their advice. And, are you still behind on holiday gifts? We assembled some chefs and other foodies to provide some recommendations for everything from cookbooks to baking recipes.

We’re less than a week from Christmas. And if you’re anything like the team at The 21st, you’re trying to get all of your work responsibilities squared away while also getting ready to travel.

This Friday, an estimated 5.7 million people will come through Midway and O’Hare. That would make it the busiest travel day of the holiday season. For some people, this time of year is just one of a few times they get out of town, or out of state. And all that can be stressful.

So this morning, we called up a couple of transportation and travel experts to help you out. Mary Wisniewski is the transportation reporter for the Chicago Tribune. She also writes the column Getting Around, and she joined us from their newsroom.

And Jason Benetti also joined us. And maybe he’s not an official expert but he knows a little something about travel in his role as the play-by-play TV announcer for the Chicago White Sox.

And —

Are you all done with shopping? Maybe you still need to pick something up for the home cook in your life? Well thankfully, there are plenty of excellent cookbooks to choose from - and we brought in a couple of Chicago cookbook authors to give suggestions and recommendations for holiday cooking and gifts.

But first, Monica Eng hosts the Chewing podcast. She’s also a reporter with WBEZ Chicago, and she joined from there.

She recommended a range of cookbooks:

1. Milk Street: Tuesday Nights by Christopher Kimball
2. Eat A Little Better by Sam Kass
3. Chinese Street Food by Howie Southworth and Greg Matza
4. Everyday Dorie: The Way I Cook By Dorie Greenspan
5. The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook by Chandra Ram
6. Korean BBQ: Master Your Grill In Seven Sauces By Bill Kim and Chandra Ram

Authors of Korean BBQ: Master Your Grill in Seven Sauces, Chandra Ram and Bill Kim, also joined us. Chandra is the editor of Plate Magazine and the author of The Complete Indian Instant Pot Cookbook.

And Bill Kim is an award-winning chef best known for his Chicago restaurants including BellyQ and Urban Belly.

Plus —

Are you in the middle of finals week this week? Do you have a big project to get done before the new year? Is the stress of holiday shopping and hosting getting to you?

Try taking a deep breath and… bake? Yes, why work when you can procrastibake? The term has been hashtagged on Instagram more than 30 thousand times with people around the world posting their baking creations. Maybe it’s not surprising that those posts spike around finals, Tax Day and Election Day.

Not only can baking be a great outlet for when you’re feeling stressed, but it also can yield some pretty delicious results. One person who knows a little something about this joined us today. Ellen King is the co-owner of Hewn Bakery and she’s the author of the new cookbook, Heritage Baking.