Linda Yu, best friend Sylvia Perez get cookin’

Sylvia Perez and I met in our news director’s office at ABC7- Channel 7 in Chicago. We both knew instantly that we would be friends.

It has been nearly three decades of working together, becoming the first all- female anchor team in Chicago with our own midday newscast. We’ve anchored and reported together during major crises, political trials, fires, murders and special events.

We’ve experienced life- changing times together: pregnancies, delivery rooms, personal tragedies, career successes, raising children, making new friends.

And oh, the meals we’ve shared! From chicken Caesar salads across the street from ABC7 at Catch and Carry to new restaurants, old favorites and neighborhood stops. We’ve shared osso buco, pâtés, every kind of Chicago steak, sushi, deep- dish, hot dogs and brats. Home meals included turkey and prime rib Thanksgivings, and our mutual favorite ingredient — butternut squash in soups and stews.

In all these many years, through all these countless meals and plenty of conversations about my Chinese culture and her Puerto Rican heritage, Sylvia has never made arroz con habichuelas for me, even though I know that red beans were the food of her childhood.

So this family recipe is something new I’ve learned from my friend, as well as new stories about her growing up, why this dish is so important to her, the secret her mother kept from her, and what makes her sometimes feel the envy of her sisters and brother. Join us at suntimes. com and learn, with me, about arroz con habicheulas.

Find “Food We Love with Linda Yu” each week on the Chicago Sun- Times website and on Fridays in the newspaper. Each week, a special guest will join Linda in the Sun- Times kitchen to share a secret family recipe, interesting and unusual favorite dish, or even a remarkable drink concoction. You’ll see a different side of some of Chicago’s most interesting people, hear some great stories about food and family, and get some amazing recipes to try at home.