What’s New

Nobody does Respectability Politics better than Christianity! Director Adamma Ebo sets out on a mission to air the dirty laundry of the Southern Baptist church in the satirical mockumentary Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Sterling K. Brown) and his wife Trinitie (Regina Hall) are two church leaders in the midst of damage control, trying to save their congregation—and their marriage—after news of the pastor’s affair goes public. 

While the philosophy of their faith allows for a quick confession and forgiveness in the eyes of the Lord, their congregation isn’t so easily convinced. As strict adherents to the prosperity gospel, Lee and Trinitie work to tempt their flock home the only way they know how—through continued maintenance of their picture-perfect facade. But as the pressure mounts, the leather of their Ferragamo loafers begins to crack. 

The brilliance of Ebo’s script implicates everyone in the community, highlighting the lengths that supposedly “enlightened” religious folks will go to avoid true introspection. Brown is audacious as the hypocritical pastor who prays only to the altar of his own success, never providing proper ministry to those most in need—including himself. Hall’s depiction of the quiet implosion of the pastor’s wife under the 100-ton weight of the Truth is hilariously devastating, a deft examination of human nature and the unfathomable depths of denial.

For those who grew up with any personal proximity to the Black church or religious homophobia, this movie will hit incredibly close to home. Ebo’s film perfectly captures the ridiculousness of the theater of dignity performed every Sunday morning at congregations across America, while reminding us that the truth can set you free—but only if you let it. R, 102 min.

Wide release in theaters and streaming on Peacock

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Thursday night punk music at One City Tap (3115 S. Archer)? Must be Otro Ritmo! Rejoice in the frenzied guitars of Poison Boys, Liquids (a favorite of Reader senior writer Leor Galil), and Flying Heads. The show starts at 9 PM and wraps at midnight. Will it run on punk time? Who’s to say! For more information, check out Otro Ritmo on Instagram. (MC)

Chicago Jazz Festival kicks off today with performances at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington) and Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion (201 E. Randolph), continuing through Sunday with additional performances at Maxwell Street Market (800 E. Desplaines). All the shows are free and appropriate for all ages. It’s impossible to sum up all the great performers appearing this year, but you should certainly check out the Reader’s guide , which includes information on jazz performances at neighborhood venues around the city. (Most of those events are ticketed.) (KR)

Richard III is perhaps the most infamous villain in the Shakespearean canon (he seduces the widow of a man he killed over the dude’s casket fer crissakes!) But Babes With Blades’s latest production puts the spotlight on how disability and ableism figures into how Richard sees himself—and how others see him. As Reader freelancer Bridgette M. Redman discovered in writing about Richard III with the Babes (opening in previews tonight at 8 PM), casting actors with disabilities (Richard is played by an actor with partial blindness, while his nemesis, Queen Elizabeth, is played by a Deaf actor) lends texture and nuance to the story. The production, presented in collaboration with University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center, runs through 10/15 at the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway; for information and tickets, visit babeswithblades.org. (KR)

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Ollyvia Putri insists on only canned Wijsman sweetcream salted butter for her bacon cake.

“I cannot change that,” she says of the imported Dutch butter. “My grandma would kill me.”

“For problem-free use in tropical countries,” the distinctive red cans of Wijsman can run up to $10 for less than half a pound. But that’s not the only reason Putri’s buttery 20-layer kue lapis legit, aka “dense layers cake,” aka spekeok, aka “bacon cake,” sells for $88 apiece. Each one requires about four hours to build, its successive batter strata spread thinly and baked individually, pulled from the oven, and pressed with melted butter, all on repeat until the result is something the Dutch colonial housewives in Jakarta—in their attempts to recreate cylindrical baumkuchen, or spit cake—thought looked like slabs of pork belly.

“They say it’s the layers, but I think it’s because of the amount of fat in it,” says Putri, who makes the cakes four at a time out of a Naperville shared kitchen. These she sells mostly online in four flavors—along with a variety of Indonesian cookies—under the handle Lapis312.

Given the volume she moves—she ships to all 50 states—Putri is arguably the queen of kue lapis legit in America. Her sister Marcella, with whom she opened a pastry shop in Singapore, is her southeast Asian analogue. But they owe it all to their late grandmother who passed the recipe on to them. “My grandma was a great cook,” says Putri. But “growing up I did not care much about cooking or baking. I was just an eater.”

It wasn’t until she was a junior engineering student at the University of Michigan that she caught a fever for pastry, eating exam stress by baking cupcakes and tiramisu for friends. “I was very fortunate to have my parents’ support,” she says. “I guess being the youngest I didn’t have any burdens or anything, and they allowed me to go to pastry school.”

That’s how she wound up in Chicago studying under Sébastien Canone and Jacquy Pfeiffer at the French Pastry School. “I didn’t really know any fancy technique like chocolate work or sugar work,” she says. “Going to school really opened up my eyes.” After graduating she worked for a year under another instructor at the Peninsula—then-executive pastry chef Dimitri Fayard—and then landed a two-month stage in Paris at the pinnacle of French pastry and chocolate: Pierre Hermé, rotating through all the kitchen stations in the renowned patisserie.    

In 2015 she returned to Singapore where she opened Ollella with her sister, specializing in French choux pastry and kue lapis legit (not to be confused with the multicolored steamed rice flour kue lapis sagu, which Marcella now offers). “My sister really wanted to incorporate Indonesian pastries and my grandma’s legacy,” she says. “Other than us no one would have continued making kue lapis because it’s such a crazy cake to make,” she says. “I think the process is a dying tradition. The younger generation doesn’t have the time nor patience to make traditional cakes. And given how labor intensive kue lapis is, it is not a common cake to be made at home to begin with.”

They sold traditional kue lapis legit, spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and a “secret” fourth—popular with the old folks—along with the unspiced “butter” variety for the youngsters; and another common variety made with prunes, each layer of the latter two misted with dark rum. But they wanted to make a mark. “At that point in time there weren’t many funky flavors of kue lapis. It’s quite an expensive cake to play with. We definitely wanted to make a chocolate version, but everyone loves Nutella and I thought it will make for prettier layers. It was a huge hit; our second bestseller behind butter.”

In 2018 Putri married and returned to Chicago where her husband worked. “It’s been awhile since I worked for someone else, so I decided to start something on my own. I saw there was a need for good lapis in the U.S.”

She tested the recipes in her home kitchen, adjusted to North American ingredients, but realized there was no substitute for the 82 percent butterfat Wijsman. “When you open it it kind of smells like a very mild cheese,” she says. “But it’s not as oily as a normal European butter.”  

She posted her cakes for sale on expat Facebook groups and set up a table at the annual consulate-sponsored Indonesian Independence celebration. Word quickly spread among Indonesian, Singaporean, and Malaysian communities across the country. Before long more than half her online orders were coming from the coasts, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Philadelphia. Her business exploded after COVID hit, when folks couldn’t travel home to get their kue lapis legit fix. Today more than 80 percent of her orders come from out of state.

Putri also introduced sweet and savory cookies typically eaten on holidays like Chinese New Year and Eid. Nastar are orbs of crumbly shortbread-like dough encrusting deposits of pineapple jam spiced with clove and cinnamon. Sagu keju are savory gluten-free rosettes made with cassava flour roasted with fragrant pandan leaf and mixed with cheddar cheese. She recently introduced a favorite: her grandmother’s kastengel, fingers of shortbread baked with edam cheese.

“That one’s personal to me because when we grew up she used to make nastar and kastengel a lot, especially for Chinese New Year. It’s really something you can keep popping in your mouth.”

Putri recently offered her whole line of treats at a Monday Night Foodball pop-up, the Reader’s weekly guest chef series at the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park. You can always order online, but the only regular local retail outlet that stocks them is the Indonesian market Waroeng in Schaumburg, where she also sells her kaya: pandan-infused coconut jam, typically eaten on toast for breakfast.

When you consider that she simmers coconut, eggs, and caramelized sugar for more than three hours to achieve its exact custardy consistency, a drive to the western suburbs doesn’t seem too much of a burden. “You have to cook it low and slow and keep stirring it,” she says. “But everything good is always labor-intensive.”

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Ollyvia Putri insists on only canned Wijsman sweetcream salted butter for her bacon cake.

“I cannot change that,” she says of the imported Dutch butter. “My grandma would kill me.”

“For problem-free use in tropical countries,” the distinctive red cans of Wijsman can run up to $10 for less than half a pound. But that’s not the only reason Putri’s buttery 20-layer kue lapis legit, aka “dense layers cake,” aka spekeok, aka “bacon cake,” sells for $88 apiece. Each one requires about four hours to build, its successive batter strata spread thinly and baked individually, pulled from the oven, and pressed with melted butter, all on repeat until the result is something the Dutch colonial housewives in Jakarta—in their attempts to recreate cylindrical baumkuchen, or spit cake—thought looked like slabs of pork belly.

“They say it’s the layers, but I think it’s because of the amount of fat in it,” says Putri, who makes the cakes four at a time out of a Naperville shared kitchen. These she sells mostly online in four flavors—along with a variety of Indonesian cookies—under the handle Lapis312.

Given the volume she moves—she ships to all 50 states—Putri is arguably the queen of kue lapis legit in America. Her sister Marcella, with whom she opened a pastry shop in Singapore, is her southeast Asian analogue. But they owe it all to their late grandmother who passed the recipe on to them. “My grandma was a great cook,” says Putri. But “growing up I did not care much about cooking or baking. I was just an eater.”

It wasn’t until she was a junior engineering student at the University of Michigan that she caught a fever for pastry, eating exam stress by baking cupcakes and tiramisu for friends. “I was very fortunate to have my parents’ support,” she says. “I guess being the youngest I didn’t have any burdens or anything, and they allowed me to go to pastry school.”

That’s how she wound up in Chicago studying under Sébastien Canone and Jacquy Pfeiffer at the French Pastry School. “I didn’t really know any fancy technique like chocolate work or sugar work,” she says. “Going to school really opened up my eyes.” After graduating she worked for a year under another instructor at the Peninsula—then-executive pastry chef Dimitri Fayard—and then landed a two-month stage in Paris at the pinnacle of French pastry and chocolate: Pierre Hermé, rotating through all the kitchen stations in the renowned patisserie.    

In 2015 she returned to Singapore where she opened Ollella with her sister, specializing in French choux pastry and kue lapis legit (not to be confused with the multicolored steamed rice flour kue lapis sagu, which Marcella now offers). “My sister really wanted to incorporate Indonesian pastries and my grandma’s legacy,” she says. “Other than us no one would have continued making kue lapis because it’s such a crazy cake to make,” she says. “I think the process is a dying tradition. The younger generation doesn’t have the time nor patience to make traditional cakes. And given how labor intensive kue lapis is, it is not a common cake to be made at home to begin with.”

They sold traditional kue lapis legit, spiced with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and a “secret” fourth—popular with the old folks—along with the unspiced “butter” variety for the youngsters; and another common variety made with prunes, each layer of the latter two misted with dark rum. But they wanted to make a mark. “At that point in time there weren’t many funky flavors of kue lapis. It’s quite an expensive cake to play with. We definitely wanted to make a chocolate version, but everyone loves Nutella and I thought it will make for prettier layers. It was a huge hit; our second bestseller behind butter.”

In 2018 Putri married and returned to Chicago where her husband worked. “It’s been awhile since I worked for someone else, so I decided to start something on my own. I saw there was a need for good lapis in the U.S.”

She tested the recipes in her home kitchen, adjusted to North American ingredients, but realized there was no substitute for the 82 percent butterfat Wijsman. “When you open it it kind of smells like a very mild cheese,” she says. “But it’s not as oily as a normal European butter.”  

She posted her cakes for sale on expat Facebook groups and set up a table at the annual consulate-sponsored Indonesian Independence celebration. Word quickly spread among Indonesian, Singaporean, and Malaysian communities across the country. Before long more than half her online orders were coming from the coasts, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Philadelphia. Her business exploded after COVID hit, when folks couldn’t travel home to get their kue lapis legit fix. Today more than 80 percent of her orders come from out of state.

Putri also introduced sweet and savory cookies typically eaten on holidays like Chinese New Year and Eid. Nastar are orbs of crumbly shortbread-like dough encrusting deposits of pineapple jam spiced with clove and cinnamon. Sagu keju are savory gluten-free rosettes made with cassava flour roasted with fragrant pandan leaf and mixed with cheddar cheese. She recently introduced a favorite: her grandmother’s kastengel, fingers of shortbread baked with edam cheese.

“That one’s personal to me because when we grew up she used to make nastar and kastengel a lot, especially for Chinese New Year. It’s really something you can keep popping in your mouth.”

Putri recently offered her whole line of treats at a Monday Night Foodball pop-up, the Reader’s weekly guest chef series at the Kedzie Inn in Irving Park. You can always order online, but the only regular local retail outlet that stocks them is the Indonesian market Waroeng in Schaumburg, where she also sells her kaya: pandan-infused coconut jam, typically eaten on toast for breakfast.

When you consider that she simmers coconut, eggs, and caramelized sugar for more than three hours to achieve its exact custardy consistency, a drive to the western suburbs doesn’t seem too much of a burden. “You have to cook it low and slow and keep stirring it,” she says. “But everything good is always labor-intensive.”

Read More

Thursday night punk music at One City Tap (3115 S. Archer)? Must be Otro Ritmo! Rejoice in the frenzied guitars of Poison Boys, Liquids (a favorite of Reader senior writer Leor Galil), and Flying Heads. The show starts at 9 PM and wraps at midnight. Will it run on punk time? Who’s to say! For more information, check out Otro Ritmo on Instagram. (MC)

Chicago Jazz Festival kicks off today with performances at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington) and Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion (201 E. Randolph), continuing through Sunday with additional performances at Maxwell Street Market (800 E. Desplaines). All the shows are free and appropriate for all ages. It’s impossible to sum up all the great performers appearing this year, but you should certainly check out the Reader’s guide , which includes information on jazz performances at neighborhood venues around the city. (Most of those events are ticketed.) (KR)

Richard III is perhaps the most infamous villain in the Shakespearean canon (he seduces the widow of a man he killed over the dude’s casket fer crissakes!) But Babes With Blades’s latest production puts the spotlight on how disability and ableism figures into how Richard sees himself—and how others see him. As Reader freelancer Bridgette M. Redman discovered in writing about Richard III with the Babes (opening in previews tonight at 8 PM), casting actors with disabilities (Richard is played by an actor with partial blindness, while his nemesis, Queen Elizabeth, is played by a Deaf actor) lends texture and nuance to the story. The production, presented in collaboration with University of Illinois Chicago’s Disability Cultural Center, runs through 10/15 at the Edge Theater, 5451 N. Broadway; for information and tickets, visit babeswithblades.org. (KR)

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MJM 52 SEEKS MATURE JEWISH FEMALEMJM 52 seeks mature jewish female weekend playmate likes wine flea markets malls zoos antiques hot oil massage oral pleasure bare bottom spanking & seeking discreet LTR I can host call/text-224-292-9899-em [email protected]

Submit your Reader Matches ad today for FREE. Matches ads are not guaranteed and will run in print and online on a space-available basis.

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JOBS

Caregiver Responsibilities:Assisting with personal care, Following a prescribed healthcare plan, Ensuring my Mother home is organized according to her needs. Providing mobility assistance may be required, for example helping my Mother with her motorized wheelchair, appointments, grocery. Meal and watch over. Work Schedule is 5 days a week and 5 hours per day. Salary is $26/hr. Contact by email Daniel ([email protected]) for more details.

Dual Language (Spanish) Teacher – Provide Dual Language instructional program compatible with abilities, needs, learning characteristics w Dual Language model; implement curriculum, instructional methods, utilize materials within the parameters of the Dual Language program; create child-centered environment characterized by application of sound mental health and educational psychology practices; employ creative methods of instruction and utilize a variety of bilingual/ESL materials; formative and summative assessment for Dual Language, utilize data to improve instruction; provide building principal and Director of English Language Learner Programs with schedule of classroom activities; maintain lesson plans w all bilingual areas to be taught; use designated methods of reporting student progress. Reqd: bachelor’s degree (any field of study, per IL law); IL teaching certificate w bilingual (Spanish) endorsement or Educator License w Stipulations (ELS); and perm US work auth. Contact M Elisa Treviño, HR, Waukegan Community Unit School District #60, 1201 N. Sheridan Rd., Waukegan, IL 60085. Must apply online: www.wps60.org.

Fortune Brands Home & Security, Inc. is seeking a Sr. Manager, Digital in Deerfield, IL with the following requirements: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Information Technology, Information Systems or related field or foreign equivalent degree. 7 years of related experience. Required skills: Lead design, build, and complete testing phase of software application development by performing gap analysis on current and future state business processes and align to best practices in work areas related to Integrations, Ecommerce, Enterprise Resource Planning, Automation, Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, IOT, EDI, BI and Analytics (7 yrs); Design and develop Oracle ERP application by using PL/SQL, SQL Plus, Forms, Reports, Workflow Builder, BI Publisher, and OA Framework, and SOA Gateway/Suite, along with configuration and setups for AOL module (7 yrs); Conduct research into new technologies, including tools, components, and frameworks by producing training and documentation in relation to Web development, Digital Tools, Integration tools, Ecommerce, Enterprise Resource Planning, Automation, Infrastructure, Cloud Computing, IOT, EDI, BI and Analytics (4 yrs); Support design, development and configuration in the following software application Account Receivables, General Ledger, Order Management, Inventory, Purchasing, Trading Community Architecture (TCA), Human Resources Management System (HRMS), Application Object Library (AOL), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), E Commerce Gateway, Work In Progress(WIP) and Bill of Materials (5 yrs). Telecommuting allowed; can live anywhere in the US except CA, MT, OR. Company headquarters in Deerfield, IL. Eligibility for hire in any state except CA, MT, OR. Anyone interested in this position may apply at https://www.fbhs.com/careers and search for job: Sr. Manager, Digital.

Cheetah Express, Inc. seeks an Logistics Analyst. Mail resume to 835 Greenleaf Ave, Elk Grove Village, IL.

PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES

CLEANING SERVICES CHESTNUT ORGANIZING AND CLEANING SERVICES: especially for people who need an organizing service because of depression, elderly, physical or mental challenges or other causes for your home’s clutter, disorganization, dysfunction, etc. We can organize for the downsizing of your current possessions to more easily move into a smaller home. With your help, we can help to organize your move. We can organize and clean for the deceased in lieu of having the bereaved needing to do the preparation to sell or rent the deceased’s home. We are absolutely not judgmental; we’ve seen and done “worse” than your job assignment. With your help, can we please help you? Chestnut Cleaning Service: 312-332-5575. www.ChestnutCleaning.com

LEGAL NOTICE

NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF PERSONAL PROPERTYNotice is hereby given that pursuant to Section 4 of the Self-Storage Facility Act, State of Illinois, that Chicago Northside Storage – Lakeview /Western Ave Storage LLC will conduct sale(s) at www.storagetreasures.com by competitive bidding starting on September 14th and ending on September 21st @ 12:00 pm on the premises where the property has been stored, which are located at Chicago Northside Storage 2946 N Western Ave. Chicago, IL 60618. 773-305-4000. In the matter of the personal property for the individual listed below, Chicago Northside Storage – Lakeview. Richard O’Hern N25, Giovanni Garcia L02, Matt Hampton N12, C05, M10, Patricia Woods F05, Danny Diaz K29, Dean Powell P49. Purchases must be made with cash only and paid at the time of sale’s redemption. All goods are sold as is and must be removed at the time of purchase. Sale is subjected to adjournment.

RESEARCH

Have you had an unwanted sexual experience since age 18?Did you tell someone in your life about it who is also willing to participate? Women ages 18+ who have someone else in their life they told about their experience also willing to participate will be paid to complete a confidential online research survey for the Women’s Dyadic Support Study. Contact Dr. Sarah Ullman of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Criminology, Law, & Justice Department at [email protected], 312-996-5508. Protocol #2021-0019.

ADULT SERVICES

Danielle’s Lip Service, Erotic Phone Chat. 24/7. Must be 21+. Credit/Debit Cards Accepted. All Fetishes and Fantasies Are Welcomed. Personal, Private and Discrete. 773-935-4995

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MJM 52 SEEKS MATURE JEWISH FEMALEMJM 52 seeks mature jewish female weekend playmate likes wine flea markets malls zoos antiques hot oil massage oral pleasure bare bottom spanking & seeking discreet LTR I can host call/text-224-292-9899-em [email protected]

Submit your Reader Matches ad today for FREE. Matches ads are not guaranteed and will run in print and online on a space-available basis.

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