My first TasteCast: Taste of Belgium

First off, full disclosure: I'm a member of the Cincinnati chapter of TasteCasting. From time to time, we visit a local food biz and write up a review in exchange for some free samples. And no one tells us what to say! Yea! (If you're interested in joining up, let me know.)

Okay, now take a minute to look at these pictures from Taste of Belgium and take a guess as to how my lunch hour went today.







Ahh. Want to look at them again?

I've been to Findlay Market's Taste of Belgium before, for calzones and their delicious Belgian waffles. What I didn't know before this visit was that they also make their own pizzas (with beer in the crust, mm), savory and sweet crêpes, and desserts like danishes.

I think the crêpes were the biggest surprise to me-- a great lunch option I hadn't considered before. We tried the classic ham-egg-Gruyere cheese combo as well as a new Reuben combination they've created. I'd recommend them both. I'd super-recommend the lemon-and-lavender-sugar blend for dessert-- but we all know how I feel about lavender sugar, don't we?

Did you know that Findlay Market is open during your workday? Every day but Monday (hours on Findlay's site). While we were there, business was pretty... dead. Tons of sitting room, tons of open parking, and tons of vendors with deliciousness to sell. (Not just waffles, but that's a great place to start!) If you're like me and you're used to be elbow-to-elbow on Saturday mornings, try this out and see if it's not 100% as awesome with infinitely more breathing room.

Taste of Belgium's website: http://authenticwaffle.com/
Taste of Belgium's Twitter: http://twitter.com/tasteofbelgium
More pictures from this TasteCast: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rrrrred/sets/72157623252419520/

Linchpin, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love OTR

A month ago, my boyfriend and I unintentionally took a real estate tour of what I'd previously considered to be the scariest part of Cincinnati: Over-the-Rhine. (It was a pit stop during an architecture tour.) Last week, we put a bid on our dream home. I'd like to talk about my major attitude shift, and how it coincides with a book I just devoured.

First off, the book. I've finished Seth Godin's Linchpin-- he offered advance copies to people who made a charitable contribution to the Acumen Fund. (Nice.) I ordered it because Godin has written a number of other books that relate to marketing (my field)... but this one leans much more toward self-help. It's as much about marketing as it is about teaching, piloting, plumbing, you name it.

In Linchpin, Godin talks about how people become indispensable... how they go above and beyond their jobs, their day-to-day, the expectations people put on them. I couldn't read it without thinking about OTR's Gateway Quarter and the people I've met in the past month. For instance, from Godin:

The only way to get what you're worth is to stand out, to exert emotional labor, to be seen as indispensable, and to produce interactions that organizations and people care deeply about.

Or...

If you can be human at work (not a machine), you'll discover a passion for work you didn't know you had. When work becomes personal, your customers and coworkers are more connected and happier. And that creates more value.

After that eye-opening architecture tour, Dan and I started walking around the Gateway Quarter. What I could not help but notice was that every shop owner talked to me-- not (only) about the sale of the week, but about the neighborhood, their families, local events, you name it. It was easy to see that their shops were more than jobs to them-- there was passion and knowledge that I've never seen in the suburbs.

And as I engaged social media to connect with people, places and businesses in the area, I couldn't ignore the fact that every person I came in contact with knew almost everyone else I'd already met. Tenants connected me with developers, entrepreneurs recommended restaurants. They wave to one another in the streets and there are more tweet-ups happening than I can keep up with.

The community that is working to develop the Gateway Quarter in OTR is comprised of linchpins-- people who are overcoming the expectations of the rest of the city to create something positive and powerful. From Godin again:

Emotional labor is the hard work of making art, producing generosity, and exposing creativity. Working with a map involves both vision and the willingness to do something about what you see.

There is an astounding vision and an undeniable passion in Cincinnati's Gateway Quarter, and I can't wait to be a part of it. Furthermore, I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and seeing how I can help add to the humanity, the generosity and the creativity that sets OTR so far apart.

Gateway Quarter: http://www.gatewayquarter.com/
Seth Godin's Linchpin: Amazon link

Buying local for Christmas

For this past Christmas, I challenged myself to buy locally as often as I could. I had a great time doing it! I couldn't show you the pictures before the holidays because, um, they were GIFTS, but I wanted to take a moment to show you three of my purchases that supported local biz. (Sorry for the ill lighting.)


Here's a Clifton Comics gift certificate, lovingly drawn by the proprietor himself. (I also bought some Magic: The Gathering cards from him, as stocking stuffers-- I'd usually buy these at a Target or something so I hope buying from him made a better impact?)
Clifton Comics website: http://cliftoncomics.com/


We have here the much-adored VisuaLingual "seed bombs"-- another great stocking stuffer that my brother loved. No one in my family had heard of these "guerilla gardening" bombs, and when I explained the concept they were really excited. I might be buying more of these in the near future...
VisuaLingual's Etsy: Midwest Seed Bombs


And last but not least, my own favorite... the Steve Zissou finger puppet. I first came across these puppets at Crafty Supermarket, and snagged a business card with the Etsy address. Maybe not the most USEFUL thing in the world, but I think the unique artistry and the adorable detail made this 100% worth it!
AbbeyChristine's Etsy store: Steve Zissou finger puppet

A quick riddle...

What do the following images have to do with Cincinnati?





Okay, the answer is: not much, except they tell part of the story of where we've been for a month, and specifically after the holidays.

The first image is from the National Aquarium in Baltimore, and the second is the ocean room at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

The third is from the sculpture garden outside of the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art, and actually DOES have a tie to Cincinnati... as soon as I saw it, I figured it had to be by Mark di Suvero, who created the similar red steel sculpture that sits outside of the Cincinnati Art Museum. There's another of his pieces, "For Kepler," in front of Miami University, which is where I first learned about di Suvero.

We're back on track now-- no more traveling for a while, and some exciting Cincinnati news to share soon (yeah yeah, some of you have already heard). Hold on tight, and I hope you had a great holiday!

Oops!

Haha, the blog is not defunct. In fact, Dan and I have been condo hunting in the Gateway Quarter lately, and learning a lot about Cincinnati and Over-the-Rhine in the process. More on that soon... we're in a bit over our heads with all the new real estate jargon on top of already crazy holiday stuff. (And no promises on the condo, so don't get too jazzed. Just in the beginning stages of consideration.)

But people really seem to like the comic book wrapping paper post, so in the mean time I'll show you a few more I've wrapped up. This has been a really fantastic alternative for me this year-- I haven't bought a single scrap of traditional wrapping paper. These presents look so much more me anyhow. You like?

New finds at Findlay

No secret: I've been falling in love with Findlay Market for months now. I've bought all my pasta, bread, fresh fruit and veggies, gelato, and more there since we started frequenting the market.

But lately I've been trying to find new things to buy and experiment with. Here are two of my best recent finds: the first, a dried pepper bouquet. I gave this to my mom as a sort of hostess gift when she had an early Christmas (or late Thanksgiving) party at her house. I'm trying to stay away from the cut flower business-- and they tend to die anyway. ;) This will last forever, the peppers are still edible, and it looks and smells vibrant and delicious.


The second, from the Herbs and Spice and Everything Nice stand (across from Dojo Gelato), is lavender sugar. I had never even heard of this before my friend Jennifer mentioned it on Twitter. I talked to the ladies at the stand about it, and they suggested I try a tablespoon in a regular sugar cookie recipe. The result was phenomenal-- I got a lot of "oh WOW"s when people tried them at work. It's not a taste you're expecting-- floral is not something I usually associate with cookies. If you're feeling adventurous, throw a bit in your next batch of cookies-- no more than a tablespoon though, because a little goes a loooooong way.

Findlay Market Myths

I'm loving this blog post by Daisy Mae's Market, rounding up her top six myths about my darling Findlay Market. Did you know, for example, that Findlay has two full-time beat cops?

Findlay Market Myths