Saturday morning my family and I went to Parky’s Farm, a 100-acre educational farm with live animals, wagon and pony rides, playground, indoor Parky’s Playbarn, and more. Most activities and exploring are included with $3 admission per vehicle, or the $10 annual Hamilton County Parks pass. The pony rides are $3 per child shorter than 48 inches, the wagon ride is $2.50 per person (2 and under are free), and the indoor playbarn is $2.50 per child (2 and under are free).

In addition to the above mentioned activities, our two-year-old love the petting yard with one month old baby goats as well as watering all the vegetables in the large gardens. We spent at least three hours at Parky’s with all the activities available. Since the park is inside of Winton Woods, there are many other activities you could enjoy, and you could easily spend an entire day there.

Three weeks ago a new gelato and crêpe place opened in Mt. Lookout Square called Buona Terra. My family and I checked it out last Friday after having dinner at Zip’s.

Inside

The inside is beautifully renovated and modern. The menu is written in chalk on the wall, which I’m assuming was painted with chalkboard paint. They have a handful of crêpe options split between sweet and savory. We didn’t try the crepes on this visit, but will be back soon to do so.

Counter

They have a massive gelato case that wouldn’t even fit through their front door. Fortunately they were able to get it inside while doing renovations to the outside walls. It contains two dozen varieties of gelato and sorbet. The friendly employees are more than happy to let you sample as many as you’d like.

Gelato Case

Our son easily settled with the cookies and cream gelato, while I chose the blackberry sorbet ($3.50 each for small cups). They try to use as many local ingredients as possible. For example, the blackberry came from locally sourced berries from Sunrise Farms located in Dalton, Ohio.

Gelato!

Both flavors were delicious. The cookies and cream was very creamy and had a great chocolate balance to it. As much as I liked it, the blackberry was even better. I would highly recommend it. We will be back again soon and will definitely be trying the crepes as well.

My wife and I met for lunch on a recent Wednesday afternoon at the Washington Platform Saloon & Restaurant. The original Washington Platform was established in the same location in 1875. Unfortunately prohibition forced the closure of the saloon until it was re-established in 1986. The current restaurant at the corner of 10th & Elm is now famous for their oysters and seafood.

Outside

The restaurant was decently crowded on our arrival at 12:30, with most customers sitting in the back dining room. There is a more casual dining space just inside the front door and next to the bar, but that was not being used much during our visit. The back dining area is more brightly lit and offers a better experience in my opinion.

Mixed Greens Salad

My wife and I both started with a mixed greens salad, which was included with our entrées ($2.95 otherwise). They make all of their dressings in-house and they include Caesar, sweet chili vinaigrette, buttermilk garlic ranch, balsamic vinaigrette, 1000 Island, and bleu cheese. I tried the sweet chili vinaigrette and was amazed by how delicious it was. The balsamic was also tasty, but we both agreed that the sweet chili was the way to go. It was great!

Cajun Grilled Snapper

My wife ordered the Cajun grilled snapper served with vegetables ($18.95). She was served a large plate of food with two big pieces of fish. I’m not really a fish lover, so I just tried a small bite. The snapper was heavily seasoned with Cajun spices and was cooked well. It did not tasty overly fishy, which I appreciated. My wife really seemed to enjoy it.

Chicken Carbonara

Even though half of the menu is dedicated to seafood, there are some other options. I went with the chicken carbonara in a Romano cream sauce with bacon, onion and sweet peas ($15.50). Again the serving size was large. I’ve had carbonara dishes before that I did not like, but this one was pretty good. It had a subtle cheese and cream flavor that let the bacon, onion, and pea mixture shine through.

Overall we had a good dining experience from the Washington Platform Saloon & Restaurant. Be sure not to skip their delicious homemade salad dressings even though the entrée plates are large and filling.

Last night I attended The Lumineers concert at Riverbend. It was a lovely night for a concert with temperatures hovering around the 70 degree mark. The show was originally scheduled for the much smaller and intimate PNC Pavilion on May 4, but was moved to Riverbend after tickets originally sold out in minutes.

Opening the show were J Roddy Walston and the Business, which I completely missed, and the Cold War Kids. I wasn’t familiar with the Cold War Kids at all, but their indie rock sound reminded me a lot of the Local Natives. Their latest single “Miracle Mile” is a good example of their sound at it’s best. I watched the majority of their set from the lawn and noticed that Riverbend has installed another projection screen.

New Project Screen

The Lumineers started their 80 minute set at 9:30 on the dot with their piano and drum driven song “Submarines.” The biggest shock of the night came when they launched into their mega-hit “Ho Hey” after playing just three songs before it. I almost expected some of the crowd to thin after this move, but the venue remained filled throughout their entire set.

I never really noticed it before, but lead singer Wesley Schultz sounds a lot like Bob Dylan. This was especially evident during a cover of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” One of my favorite moments of the night came in the middle of their set when Schultz and Neyla Pekarek shared vocal duties on a new song. Pekarek can really sing, and I wish the band better utilized her vocal abilities.

The Lumineers

The second single from their debut album, “Stubborn Love,” was the second to last song of the set and was a high point of the night. The encore started with “Morning Song,” the last song on their album. Then came another cover, the Violent Femmes’ “American Music” which turned into a big sing along. The same was also true with the last song of the night, “Big Parade”

Overall the concert was a good one and was well worth the $35 ticket price. I still think that it could have been even better if it were at a smaller venue, where the audience could feel more connected. However I think that opportunity has passed since the band continues to sell out venues across the country.

I was recently given a free Draftmark Tap System from BzzAgent for my evaluation. It didn’t come with any beer in it, but I finally got around to buying a refill bottle of Goose Island Honker’s Ale today. The store I went to had that along with Budweiser and Michelob Amber Bock refills available. Other varieties can also be found such as Shock Top, Shock Top Wheat IPA, and Bass Pale Ale.

Honker’s Ale

The sales clerk at the store commented that not many of the Draftmark systems or refills have been sold. I had to agree with her judging from the dust that was collected on top of each box. That left me wondering about the freshness of the beer, and I could not find a born on date or expiration on the box. All it said was that the beer would stay fresh for 30 days once installed in the system. I would really like it if there were born on dates available that way you know how fresh the beer is.

Draftmark

The Draftmark operates using a rechargeable battery pack and uses air to keep the right pressure for the flow-rate. The pressurizing is a noisy process that you can hear even through the closed refrigerator door, but at least you know it is working. It was a little deep to fit on some of my refrigerator shelves, and I found it worked best on the top shelf of mine.

In The Fridge

Pouring the beer should be just as you would do with any draft beer. Start with a tilted glass, pour the beer so it falls a short distance on to the side of glass, and straighten the glass as you pour. Unfortunately I found it impossible to not get at least three fingers of head, most of the time I wound up with even more than that. Using a very bad pour form would result in nearly an entire glass of foam. It does settle quickly, but definitely not the ideal way to pour a beer.

Lots Of Head

The beer itself was nothing extraordinary, but it goes down easy. Honestly it reminded me a lot of one of my homebrews. Each refill has one gallon of beer in it, or around 8 pints. At around $15, the refills are a great deal considering what the equivalent amount would cost in a bar. I’m curious to see if the beer truly does stay fresh for a month, or could it even go longer, even though I doubt it will last that long anyway.

Yum!

Overall the Draftmark system is a neat idea. However it doesn’t seem to have caught on with the general public. And I have a couple of issues with the design and functionality. If more styles of beer were available, I could see myself using it, but with the current lineup I don’t think I will be refilling it again anytime soon.