What happened??

I had a realization last week as I drove up to Middletown (about 45 minutes north of Cincinnati) for dinner. I have always had a fascination with history, historical spots, people, you name it. When I moved to Cincinnati, I continued that love of history but with a certain zeal. The history of my family could be found in Cincinnati! There are unpublished blogposts in my head about all the interesting tidbits I've found, but for now, I had one of those real moments in which you understand something about yourself.

I am an observer. Over the past few months, I've found myself looking at maps of the area, surveying the landscape, and reading up about the area as much as I can. There's not a moment when I'm driving that I don't turn my head to see a rusty train track, a forsaken canal, or an abandoned factory and think "what happened"? My realization (or generalization?) was this: In New England, anything historical is either preserved or used. Call it New England frugality, but there isn't anything out there that we DON'T use. Yet, Cincinnati is a veritable graveyard of "things that were good at one time no longer seem to be useful". I've had these feelings for a long time but it wasn't until I drove across the now-defunct Miami-Erie Canal in Middletown that I was able to put words to these sentiments.

Is it a New England superiority complex? Maybe. Is it the fact that so many industries that once formed the backbone of Ohio life have left the area for greener and cheaper pastures? DEFINITELY. In any case, it was interesting to come to that realization. There's something about Cincinnati that pulls at the heart-strings. Surely a region that saw such an economic and social boom must still have something to offer to the masses, right? And even if those industries are no longer in town, isn't there a way to better preserve the history of the area outside of museums and historical societies? Being somewhat new to town, there's a really good chance I haven't spent enough time focusing on what the area does have. Yet, I can't get the sight of neglected railroads and buildings out of my head.

More thoughts on this issue are sure to emerge. In the meantime, I would love to hear from the native Ohioans out there.

Rocked!

Finally back from my adventures in Northern Michigan and looking forward to the future more than ever. Many of you probably know that I answered "yes" to a very important question that was asked of me on our dock at precisely 8:45 pm on June 24. Here's a picture of the idyllic setting.



Definitely a blogpost for another day but for those who aren't familiar with Northern Michigan...think Cape Cod, the Islands, Maine, etc. Now picture something 10 times more beautiful. Now you have Northern Michigan.

Looks like Northeast TRULY meets Midwest...stay tuned.

The 20's are winding down

At approximately 5:30 pm, I'll be cruising down this road...



Happy birthday to all the other 22ers out there!

Hello summer...and blog

Summer is here although with the weather we have had thus far in Cincinnati, I feel like we are in the middle of August. It is HOT here!

Life has been busy. Work has been busy. This poor blog has been somewhat neglected. With the advent of summer, I hope to be a bit more diligent in my posting and will try not to complain about the weather too much. It is HUMID here!

June 2010 highlights:

Housewarming party
Tornado sirens (not a drill this time) and subsequent panic attack
Learned how to tap (and untap) a keg
New spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A
Birthday dinner in Cincinnati with a CT friend!
Drove by the remnants of Big Butter/Touchdown Jesus in Monroe
Business trip to Boston with a special trip up to Salem (my birthplace!)
Dinner in Beacon Hill with two very close friends
Family research at Cincinnati Historical Society

Next stop: Walloon Lake, Michigan for 12 days! For those back east, northern Michigan is THE spot for a summer respite. Pictures and posts to follow.

Even Poppy the dog from CT loves Walloon Lake!

A Downtown Oasis

After some terrible weather last week, I was absolutely delighted to finally enjoy some sun this past weekend, which has continued through this week. I decided that Sunday was the perfect day to take a long overdue trip to Findlay Market.

Located downtown, in historic Over-the-Rhine, the market is the continuously operated public market in Ohio. This is definitely not Quincy Market for those of you in Boston but more along the lines of Eastern Market in DC, although not as big. The market is open year-round and features a variety of merchants that sell everything from basic produce to bison meat to quail eggs.

I purposely held off on having breakfast at home so that I could head right to Taste of Belgium, this absolutely phenomenal store that sells, well you guessed it, Belgian waffles. I'm usually quite content to have a plain Belgian waffle but this time I decided to spring for the ham and gruyere crepe, which was bigger than a Chipotle burrito but 10 times better. It was impossible to eat and walk, which prompted me to sit, eat, and indulge in some people watching. College students, young children with their parents, tourists, musicians, and more pervaded the area that day. As the market is located in Over-the-Rhine, it attracts a very diverse group of people. OTR has a rich history as a German neighborhood back in the 19th century. However, over the past 100 years, the area has seen a significant decline and many of the beautiful buildings have fallen into disrepair. The good news is that there are many efforts from several organizations to redevelop the area, and from what I've read and seen, it seems like those efforts are working. Here's an interesting photo I took of one of the doors. Note that both pets AND handguns are not allowed in the building.



It should be interesting to see what happens in the neighborhood as Findlay Market truly is a diamond in the rough.

A trip to Kentucky: Maifest 2010

On Sunday, I traversed the Ohio River and found myself in Covington, KY. Cincinnati readers may be shocked (or not) to hear that many outsiders do not realize that Kentucky (aka The South) is immediately adjacent to Cincinnati. Meaning, right across the river. Here's an analogy - Cincinnati : Covington as Boston : Cambridge. Make sense?

There's a great area of Covington called MainStrasse, an historic district with obvious ties to the rich German heritage of the area. When I have a free weekend and the weather is better, I'm going to make a more substantial visit to MainStrasse. Like Cincinnati, the village is home to many annual festivals, including Oktoberfest and Maifest - the latter is the festival I visited on Sunday. As you probably guessed, Maifest is an annual festival held in May to celebrate the beginning of spring. Too bad that the weather was more reminiscent of the beginning of winter! Like any festival, food is the main attraction (at least for me), so I thought I would share the menu and some pictures (please forgive the photo layout and quality). Bon Appetit!

What I ate/drank at Maifest 2010:

Fried Goetta balls
Crawfish with lots of seasonings
Boneless barbecue ribs
Kentucky Ale
Christian Moerlein IPA
Deep Fried Oreos

Here's the scoop on ice cream

I always love finding new and fun websites and here's what I found today: Cincy Favorites. This site is dedicated to all of the best foods the Queen City has to offer. What's more, the site features online ordering and delivery so that you can enjoy all of these comfort foods outside of Cincinnati. Considering that so many Cincinnati ex-pats are very attached to some of the local food, this is a great idea. Two of the featured products were ice cream so here goes...

The two ice cream companies with which I am most familiar are Graeter's and UDF (United Dairy Farmers). Both stores are located all over Cincinnati and their products are available in grocery stores, so there's no hiding. Graeter's brands itself as having perfected the traditional French Pot process, utilizing lots of eggs and cream. The result is a very creamy ice cream with lots of flavor. During Cincinnati visits when I was younger, a trip to Graeter's was always on the itinerary.

In the other corner, you have UDF ice cream. They, too, boast of their heavy use of cream which also lends itself to a smooth and decadant consistency. What always threw me about UDF is the fact that it's part ice cream parlor, part convenience store. I have yet to find a UDF that didn't have a gas station attached to it, and I can't think of any gas stations/convenience stores in the Northeast that serve premium ice cream! As such, I didn't have my first UDF ice cream until after I moved here...and realized there was a UDF a stone's throw away from my apartment. So I HAD to go there, obviously.

To the non-Cincinnati readers, you may enjoy a side-by-side comparision (just the facts) of Graeter's and UDF. Here's my chart. I had way to much fun making this. Note: I used a 5 mile radius of my neighborhood.



As for taste, there are some differences. This is probably going to sound contradictory but Graeter's, with all of the creamy texture, is actually very light and airy compared to UDF. It's as if the ice cream had been whipped, so the richness comes from the particular flavor. For example, my all-time favorite ice cream is peppermint stick, which is often only available during the holidays. Graeter's has a delicious version that packs a ton of pepperminty taste but it's not heavy. UDF also has a peppermint stick ice cream, and while I also enjoy it (particularly in milkshake form), it is more dense than its counterpart over at Graeter's. However, dense can be good, like the Vanilla Fudge swirl at UDF. If I had two cones in front of me right now, I would quickly reach for Graeter's but finish up with UDF. There's no need to limit myself to one ice cream cone, right?

To the Cincinnati readers, I want YOUR feedback. Don't be shy. If I'm totally off the mark here, let me know. If you're mad that I left out Aglamesis', speak up. In my defense, I have yet to try the latter.

Until then...Happy Ice Cream Season!