Photo: WhiteHouse.gov

Little League’s Jackie Robinson West was a true American feel-good story.

A story of good sportsmanship and perseverance… underdogs who pushed passed the doubters and detractors to become the first African American Little League baseball team to win the U.S. Championship.

They were fêted with a visit to the White House, made the rounds of various talk shows and had a parade through downtown Chicago in their honor.

And now it’s all gone.

Little League International stripped the team of its title when it discovered that there were players on the roster who lived outside of the approved geographic boundaries from which team members could be recruited.

Those exuberant-faced boys that we fell in love with last summer are now stained by the deliberate, calculated mistakes of a few adults.

Boundary-shifting in Little League, and other sports our children play, is not new. Sometimes there aren’t enough players in a certain area, so they expand the reach of the team. Most of the time, it’s ignored because they’re playing for the home crowd… not a televised international audience.

The manager and administrator of Jackie Robinson West wanted to build a “super-team.” Both of them knew that the home addresses of the players didn’t match the addresses Little League International had on file for the players. But it didn’t matter. They wanted to win.

We’ve all read, and probably seen, adults (coaches and parents) at kids’ sports games manically swept up in the need to win. They can be physically, mentally and verbally abusive to the children.

But, in this case, the young players on Jackie Robinson West were abused, too. They probably knew that some of the other players on their team didn’t live around them, but they were manipulated into thinking it was okay… because that’s what they were told by the adults.

What will become of these boys who had a brief shining moment in the summer sun? Do they have parents that will help them understand that what happened is not their fault, and that they are still talented and gifted athletes and should still pursue their dreams?

Do you share your recipes?

When you personally share a recipe, whether it’s a treasured family creation or something you tore out of a magazine, tried and enjoyed, you are sharing a little bit of yourself.

Many of us share recipes all the time: on our websites or blogs, on Facebook, Google+ and YouTube. And of course we’re all able to get our dose of visual food porn on Pinterest and Instagram.

But when someone gives you a recipe directly, it’s even more special. They are sharing with you something that made them happy (and probably made those whom they fed happy, too)… a food memory made this way is pure love.

My wonderful friend Ivy moved away from Chicago to begin the next chapter of her life in Santa Fe. When she saw all my Hatch Chile posts a few weeks back, she shared her recipe for Green Chile Lamb Stew.

I knew I had to make it… not just because Ivy’s a great cook, but because she’s all about family and friends and, well, sharing. I knew that when I made this Lamb Stew, I would have her back in my kitchen again for a little while.

I used Hatch Chiles in this recipe (remember I bought 25 lbs. and froze them), but you can use any green chile, like Anaheim peppers, Cubanelle peppers or poblano peppers. Just make sure you roast and peel the peppers. Remove the seeds and veins if you don’t want your stew spicy.

This recipe takes about 2 to 3 hours to slow cook on the stove, so I used my trusty Pauli Cookware Pot. This is the perfect piece of cookware for a stew because you don’t have to constantly stir the stew or worry that it’s going to burn!

Thanks, Ivy. For the recipe… and everything else that comes with it.

       Print this recipe.    

If you liked this recipe, you’ll love my recipe for Vietnamese Beef Stew!

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Something delicious for this weekend: a rich Seafood Cioppino.

This recipe is Italian Chef Fabio Viviani’s take on cioppino, a tomato based stew made with whatever seafood is fresh that day. I pulled this recipe out of his fabulous new cookbook, Fabio’s Italian Kitchen. He finishes the stew with heavy cream, which beautifully balances the acidity of the tomatoes.

The recipes in his cookbook really work. In Chef’s own words: “My food is not complicated. My food is meant to be made and eaten. I just want to make sure that when you’re done cooking, every person you know will say, ‘That’s a great freaking dish.’”

And, really, isn’t that the exact reaction we all want?

Fabio’s Italian Kitchen Cookbook

       Print this recipe.    

Forget the candy corn… leave that for the kids. This is what you really want this Halloween.

Morkes Chocolates mixes a little bit of the macabre with a whole lot of chocolate to come up with a fantastic collection of molded chocolate rats, eyeballs, Frankensteins and more. The company’s been around since 1920, and makes all of its chocolate goodies from the best ingredients.

And if you’re more of a Day of the Dead celebrant, Morkes has a variety of sugar, solid and semi-solid chocolate skulls. They’ll even personalize the skulls with the name of a loved one, just like traditional Dia de los Muertos celebrations in Mexico!

You can order online here, or stop by one of their two Chicago-area locations!

You can’t have Halloween with out caramel apples. Mrs. Prindable’s uses a delicious buttery caramel that’s made the old fashioned way: slowly cooked in copper pots in small batches until perfect.

They also make THE BIGGIEST DIPPED APPLE I’VE EVER SEEN.

I’m not kidding. Their Jumbo Caramel Apple can weigh up to 1½ lbs! Mrs. Prindable’s also makes smaller, more manageable 8-ounce dipped apples. Both sizes are available in 8 different gourmet flavors, including Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Almond Caramel. Whew. Just reading that gives me a sugar rush. Take a peek at their online store here!

Chef Jamie Cantor of Platine Cookies really knows how to make some boo-tiful Halloween cookies. Her scary-themed couture cookies and Halloween Candy Craze cookies (like everything in her bakery) are created from original recipes with all-natural ingredients and mixed in a small batches.

Every single cookie is made to order… which, as you know, is so important when dealing with baked goods! Stop in her Culver City, California bakery or click here to order online.

Serve any of these sweet treats at your Halloween bash and you’ll be the talk of the ‘hood as the ghost-ess with the most-ess!