Before hunkering down at our Williamstown Lake house for a Thanksgiving celebration with my in-laws, I ran the 103rd annual Thanksgiving Day Race in downtown Cincinnati. My dad has run this race for years and he had no issue convincing me to run it with him this time around. It was my first time running the race, but he made sure to warn me of the large crowds that we would likely encounter.

The beautiful weather on race day brought out an estimated 17,500 runners and walkers! With such a large crowd it was definitely a little hard to navigate the course without nearly bumping into one another, but it was a great time and I will absolutely run it again in the future. My dad and I finished with a time of 53 minutes flat, or just over 8:30 page. Not bad for a crowded course and a nearly 10 minute long first mile.

Last night we attended Newport on the Levee’s Light Up The Levy Grand Illumination event. The highlight of the event was the flipping of the switch to turn on the lights on their large tree. Santa was on hand to help in the celebration and there was even a little fake snow to make it all the more festive. Since I will likely miss downtown Cincinnati’s Light Up The Square on Friday evening, this was a nice way to kick off the holiday season.

Tree Before

Interviewing Santa

It’s Snowing!

Grand Illumination

Saturday night Kim and I headed down to US Bank Arena for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. This was my first show of theirs so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. The moment the lights dimmed I knew we weren’t in for atypical Christmas show. I was already aware that their music was more rock-based that most holiday music, but it seemed that the rock aspect of their music was even more dominant live in concert.

Pyrotechnics

Besides the metal style instrument solos, their show was complete with a very impressive light show with loads of video boards, lasers, and even pyrotechnics! I think at one point there were even women dancing on stage similar to what you would see at a Mötley Crüe concert. I honestly didn’t expect it to be this over the top.

Impressive Light Show

Mixed between all the rock music was a narrator who was trying to tell some sort of “Lost Christmas Eve” story. However, I felt the story was more depressing than anything and wished they would have just stuck to the music.

Choir

Throughout the night, the band was joined by various singers and even a choir. The string section orchestra was on stage for most, if not all, of the performance. We later found out that the members of the orchestra were all local musicians who were selected to perform with the band during this tour stop.

Moving Trusses

At one point in the show, two of the musicians started rising up over the crowd on these really long trusses. Once the trusses were fully extended, each of the moved in opposite directions away from the stage. The violinist on the truss nearest to us eventually was over our section and I was looking straight ahead to him just feet away from us!

Well Hello There

After a couple of hours on stage and at the end of the story, the band and other musicians were introduced and then we were told that it was time for the second act of night. In the second act, the band performs a mix of songs from their catalog that had not been featured in the story. It was getting late for us and we still had to pickup Trey from the other side of town, so we called it a night shortly into the second act. Even though we had to cut the night short, I felt that I had experienced enough of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show to leave a lasting memory.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra “Wizards In Winter” from Ed Paff on Vimeo.

For dinner on Friday night I picked up a couple of pizzas from Mt. Adams Pizza & Deli. Before 7PM there is plenty of ten minute parking on the nearby hilly streets of Mt. Adams. If you are picking up pizza later in the evening, the bar filled neighborhood will likely be void of any available free parking. However I bet their average customer doesn’t run into parking issues, as they seem to mostly cater towards late night diners, who are likely taking cabs around town or who have already paid to park in a nearby lot.

Outside Mt. Adams Pizzeria

I arrived around 6:20 to find one of the few tables inside occupied and another two customers in line placing orders for dine in. Another guy walked in shortly after I did, who was also picking up a carry out order. I called ahead and was told that my pizzas would be ready in 20-25 minutes, and when I arrived 25 minutes later they were in one of those insulated delivery bags waiting for me, still hot from the oven.

Inside Mt. Adams Pizza & Deli

We had a $20 Groupon to use, so we decided to try two of their 12″ specialty pizzas. First up for me was the Mediterranean Pizza with feta, green olives, onion, banana peppers, tomato, and oregano ($14 for 12″). First of all, I don’t think they could have possibly fit any more toppings on this pizza. You definitely get what you pay for, as far as toppings are concerned. With so many toppings it was hard to get a taste of the sauce, but once I got closer to the edge of the crust I really enjoyed what I could taste. Plus the crust itself was really good, just slightly crispy and definitely chewy. I could have gone another minute or two overall on the bake, but still a solid pizza.

Mediterranean Pizza

Our second pie was the Mona Lisa chicken pizza with barbecue sauce, chicken, and onion. This wasn’t quite as filled with toppings as compared to the Mediterranean, but still more than your average pizza. This is one of their “white pizzas” which have no sauce, but are brushed with olive oil and garlic. But with the barbecue sauce drizzle, you don’t really need any other sauce on this pizza. This pizza seemed to be a little more well done than the first, which I really enjoyed.

Mona Lisa Chicken Pizza

In the future I would probably skip the Mediterranean in favor of something with a little less olives on it, but the Mona Lisa is definitely worthy of ordering again. I don’t think I will go out of my way for Mt. Adams Pizza, but it is definitely worthy of a visit when in the area.

In a recent produce delivery from Green B.E.A.N. was a massive two-pound sweet potato. When I placed the order I thought that it said two pounds of sweet potatoes, and not one gigantic one. Realizing that it would take forever to cook this sucker whole, yesterday I searched the internet for a good recipe that would feature chopped sweet potatoes. What I found was a recipe for roasted sweet potatoes and onions.

My Results

I liked that the recipe called for two onions, which I also already had on hand. These were regular old yellow onions and not sweet or Vidalia, but I don’t think it hurt the recipe at all. I also left out the almonds since they are on my list of foods I’m supposedly allergic too. The amaretto liqueur left a sweet glaze with a hint of booziness. I really enjoyed this dish. It is probably my favorite sweet potato dish in a long time. Consider it for your Thanksgiving dinners. I would but I’m in charge of green beans this year.

I’ve run three of four times since the big half marathon last month. Immediately after the race I caught a nasty chest cold that I didn’t kick for a week or so. I was also having some pain in an old snowboarding injury to my ankle. Plus I really wasn’t feeling all that motivated to get out and run. Today I finally went out and ran something longer than a 5K and my 5 mile run felt good. So I just decided to register for the 103rd Thanksgiving Day Race. My dad runs this every year and always says how much fun it is. I guess in one weeks time I will find out for myself.

Last week I mentioned going to the grand opening of the Microsoft Store at Kenwood Towne Centre. Well the real reason for attending was to get a bunch of wristbands for the O.A.R. concert this past Saturday for the opening weekend celebration. In the end I was able to get extra wristbands for some friends and family to get in, even though eventually they let anyone in to the concert without wristbands.

Parking Lot Stage

We arrived to find the opening act, Andy Grammer, already on stage. He is most famous for his song “Keep Your Head Up,” which closed his set of over an hour. He mixed in a few covers to keep the unfamiliar entertained, but I was surprised by how many in audience seemed to know so much of his material. Knowing just one of his songs definitely put me in the minority.

Since we brought Trey along for his second O.A.R. show, we spent the afternoon in the back of the crowd, where he was free to run around and have fun. Though I did catch him dancing along a few times, I think he was most entertained by the temporary tattoos that some workers were passing out. He even figured out who was giving them out and would go back to them (repeatedly) for more. I think by the end of the show he was pretty well covered from head to toe.

Tattooed Trey

Though I knew that O.A.R’s set wouldn’t be more than an hour and a half, I was pleasantly surprised to hear a few tracks in their set. “Light Switch Sky” and “On Top The Cage” are at the top of my list, since I hadn’t heard either of those in some time. The rest of the set was pretty predictable, but still the crowd really enjoyed it. For starters we couldn’t have asked for a better day, but to get to hear nearly three hours of live music for free was just the icing on the cake. Plus I was able to get a few meet and great passes for after the show so I could take Trey to meet the band.

My mom took a ton of photos from the event. Here are some of my favorites.

Yesterday I took Trey to the Rowe Woods branch of the Cincinnati Nature Center. A friend of mine had mentioned it to me numerous times as a good place for hiking and mentioned that his nephews loved it as well. Though we didn’t really get to hike on this visit, we still had a great time.

PlayScape

Most of our time was spent in the PlayScape, basically a children’s play area that is built to look and feel like a natural environment. Though the water features were already turned off for the year, Trey still enjoyed climbing up and down the rocks where waterfalls normally would be. We also spent a considerable amount of time in the digging pit. I would hide a stick in the gravel for Trey to dig up. We must have played this game well over a dozen times.

Trey Ready To Dig

Once he started to get tired we took a short walk along the new Discovery Trail to see the fish in Matt’s Pond as well as the Abner Hollow Cabin. The cabin doors were open so Trey was able to run around inside with a couple of other kids, though there really wasn’t much to see inside.

Abner Hollow Cabin

A couple of rocking chairs on the porch of the cabin provided a good resting spot. Trey was so excited to climb on each of the chairs, and by the time he made it in the last one I could tell he was ready for a nap. Thankfully we weren’t too far from the car, so I picked him up and carried him through the woods and back to the car.

Rocking and Roaring

I hope to return to the nature center on a future warm day or sometime next spring to see more of the over a dozen miles of hiking trails.

This afternoon I headed out to the Kenwood Towne Centre over an early lunch break to check out the grand opening of the new Microsoft Store. Truthfully I was really going to get free concert tickets, but I figured I might as well take a couple of quick photos while there. It was so crowded though that I had a hard time getting much other than pictures of the crowd. From what I quickly gathered though, it looks very similar to an Apple Store, but obviously selling Microsoft hardware and software.

Crowd Outside the Store

Crowd Inside the Store

Inside Microsoft Store

The time change on Sunday had my family ready for lunch by 10 AM. We made a trip through the grocery hoping to kill some time before most restaurants would open at 11. Once the clocks struck the magic hour we popped into J. Alexander’s in Rookwood Commons. I had visited this location many years ago, but hadn’t dined at any J. Alexander’s since.

We arrived to find the restaurant mostly deserted except for a couple of other early riser tables. We were immediately seated in a comfortable booth near the other parties. After a few minutes another employee came by to take our drink order and quickly dropped those off. Then again within a few more minutes our server was at our table ready to take our order. Since we were very hungry and with our soon to be two-year old son we knew exactly what we wanted.

Veggie Burger

I went with the Veggie Burger and fries ($11). This was a thick made in-house patty filled with rice and even a touch of spice. Even though I typically enjoy black bean based burgers better, this one was still very good and worthy of ordering again. Plus the fries are the very thin shoestring variety that cook up so well and taste great.

Thai Kai Salad

My wife ordered the Thai Kai salad ($15). The way the salad was piled high at first made it actually appear much smaller than it really was. Once she started digging into the dish it was obvious that this was more than she could eat in one sitting. I stole a few bites and have to say that this was a great salad, even though the price still seemed a little high.

Kids Fingers And Fries

Though the menu made no mention to having kids selections, we asked our server anyway. She happily listed three of four items from the top of her head. We were torn between the grilled cheese or the chicken fingers, but ending up going with fingers and fries ($6). Our son really loved the fries and even took down nearly an entire piece of chicken. I stole a couple of bites and have to admit that the chicken fingers were right up there with some of my favorites. They could have used some dipping sauce, but I guess most kids wouldn’t use that anyway.

We had a very nice lunch at J. Alexander’s despite it costing quite a bit more than we traditionally spend on lunch. The dinner menu looks even more expensive, so this restaurant may be best saved for special occasions.