Challenges

The Chicago culinary scene is bigger in Texas. At least five Chicago cheftestants have been awarded the coveted “Top Chef: Texas” jacket in the latest season of the show, which premiered Wednesday night. The final slate of 16 cheftestants, which may include a sixth Chicago chef, likely will be revealed next week. In Wednesday's episode, some of the chefs worked with pig and rabbit to create their dishes. Yawn. It seems “Top Chef” has fallen into the “Project Runway” trap of repeating lame ideas for challenges.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's getting his own reality show. OK, that's not exactly true, but apparently Rahmbo's trips to Hollywood have been paying off in bigger ways than with gifts and campaign contributions. He's about to get a publicity boost, too: CNN has ordered and eight-part docuseries called "Chicagoland. " Produced by Robert Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn of Sundance Productions, "Chicagoland" aims to "explore where politics and policy meet real people's lives--in a city generating change and innovation in social policy, education and public safety--to meet national and local...

Attention Chicagoans: There comes a time in every city when it must pool its people together for peace, justice and … Pumpkin spice lattes. For the second year in a row, Starbucks will promote its fall favorite through a series of challenges starting Monday. Based on a points system, one U.S. city and one Canadian city will receive the drink in-stores first. Starbucks will award points on three main criteria: sharing via social media (Facebook and Twitter); daily challenges including word searches and trivia; and creative challenges such as scrapbooking and pumpkin poetry.

The office vending machine may soon come under a snack attack. Mayor Emanuel on Wednesday asked Chicago businesses and organizations to participate in a citywide vending challenge to offer healthy snacks in their vending machines. “We know it's the right thing to do. We're leading by example,” said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Bechara Choucair. Healthy food options started popping up last month in vending machines at city-owned buildings after the City Council passed a healthy vending policy in December.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's getting his own reality show. OK, that's not exactly true, but apparently Rahmbo's trips to Hollywood have been paying off in bigger ways than with gifts and campaign contributions. He's about to get a publicity boost, too: CNN has ordered and eight-part docuseries called "Chicagoland. " Produced by Robert Redford and Laura Michalchyshyn of Sundance Productions, "Chicagoland" aims to "explore where politics and policy meet real people's lives--in a city generating change and innovation in social policy, education and public safety--to meet national and local...

Check out the travels of Leslie Hope of ABC's paranormal hit, “The River,” and you get the impression that very little scares the Canadian actress. Long before “The River” came along, when she was playing Teri Bauer on “24,” Hope trekked deep into the Amazon River basin to live for a week with the Huaorani Indians. She's traveled to Iceland, Peru, the Faroe Islands, Turkey, China and Laos. A 2003 trip took her to Cambodia, which inspired her to make the award-winning documentary short about street kids called “What...

Companies have long been trying to take familiar flavors and translate them into snack foods. So how'd The Popcorn Factory do when it comes to translating some of Chicago's most iconic flavors to popcorn? As the old Meatloaf song goes, two out of three ain't bad. Here's what we found after sampling the three Chicago-style flavors set to roll out Monday, the city's 176th birthday. Deep-dish pizza If Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was heavy on cheese flavor, then its popcorn translation would be perfect.

The office vending machine may soon come under a snack attack. Mayor Emanuel on Wednesday asked Chicago businesses and organizations to participate in a citywide vending challenge to offer healthy snacks in their vending machines. “We know it's the right thing to do. We're leading by example,” said Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Bechara Choucair. Healthy food options started popping up last month in vending machines at city-owned buildings after the City Council passed a healthy vending policy in December.

Game Show Network and the creators of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" have come up with a new competition and they're looking for people with a passion for the Bible. GSN's "The American Bible Challenge" will conduct auditions June 1 through 3 near Chicago. The show pits Bible enthusiasts against each other in a trivia quiz format in which competitors play to win money for their favorite charities. Jeff Foxworthy will host the show. To participate in the auditions, send your name, age, contact info, and a current photo to...

She sleeps on the boat. Even in a storm, even at a port, her bed rests inside a 6-foot long air- and watertight sleeping cabin. And it's not really a bed. Just a thin mattress pressed between walls with enough room to stretch her legs, and a seat belt used to keep her buckled in.   When you lay in the boat, you think for a moment, "This isn't so bad. " Then you remember the boat is docked in a harbor in Chicago on Lake Michigan on a beautiful day...

Companies have long been trying to take familiar flavors and translate them into snack foods. So how'd The Popcorn Factory do when it comes to translating some of Chicago's most iconic flavors to popcorn? As the old Meatloaf song goes, two out of three ain't bad. Here's what we found after sampling the three Chicago-style flavors set to roll out Monday, the city's 176th birthday. Deep-dish pizza If Chicago-style deep-dish pizza was heavy on cheese flavor, then its popcorn translation would be perfect.

At stake is a chance to join RedEye's final Four Score panel of the season. Enter by following and tweeting @redeyesportschi with your submission by noon Tuesday with the hashtag #bearschallenge. THIS WEEK Bears fans, we challenge you to give us your best Packers joke/insult. And because we want Bears to laugh at themselves, too, we also challenge Packers fans to give us their best Bears joke/insult. Creativity counts, by the way. Once submissions are closed, we'll choose our favorites and crown eight winners , four...

Thanks to all who entered Volume 1 of RedEye's Bears Trivia Challenge! Here's the solution: Question: Lance Briggs bet Robbie Gould $50 he couldn't kick a football to the top of the John Hancock building. Lance now needs to borrow $50 from Jay Cutler, but more important they have to get the ball down. How many times would the entire roster need to stack itself head to toe to fetch the ball?” (No fractions or decimals, please; that would be kind of morbid.) Answer: The height of the Hancock Building is 1,127 feet to the roof (where the ball would be, which does not...