The weather over the weekend was fantastic! Plus the weather for the week ahead doesn’t look too bad either. I hope that I get the opportunity to take advantage of this heat wave.

5 Day Forecast

Fortunately we took full advantage of the weather over the weekend. Saturday afternoon we headed down to Williamstown Lake in Kentucky. Kim’s uncle has a small cabin on the shores of this  300-acre reservoir. Though we didn’t take the pontoon out during this visit, some of the group took rides on the paddle boat. Other activities included shooting a BB gun, grilling some food, and sitting around a campfire.

As nice as Saturday’s weather was, Sunday may have been even better. I took Trey on an early morning walk throughout the neighborhood. We then followed that up with some outside play time before heading to a very nice playground outside of the Pleasant Ridge Recreation Center. We then wrapped up the weekend with another grill out with Kim’s siblings. Bonus!

Pleasant Ridge Park

Having spent nearly  half of my life living in Cincinnati, LaRosa’s pizza was always one of the places that I missed while living elsewhere. Now that we are living back in town, I’ve discovered some other local pizza places that I like even more. However I still love the thin crust, square cut, LaRosa’s pizza.

One weekend night a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were out in search of pizza. We first stopped at ZZ’s  and quickly found a 30 minute wait for a table. Without much room for our son to run around, we decided to try their pizza another night. We drove over to Dewey’s in Oakley, and found an even longer wait. We were starving at this point and I suggested we just head over to the nearby LaRosa’s for dinner.

Multigrain Wheat Crust Pizza

Upon entering the restaurant and finding no wait for a table I was reminded again another reason to love LaRosa’s, I have never had to wait for a table. My wife immediately noticed a new item on their menu, multigrain wheat crust pizza. I agreed to try it out with her. The 12″ square pizza serves 3-4 and starts at $9.99 with 3 toppings, we choose ham, pineapple, and banana peppers.

I must say that I wasn’t sure that I would like LaRosa’s on a crust other than the traditional that I was used to, but I honestly could hardly tell a difference. It seems that this multigrain crust isn’t as crisp as the regular, but that was the only thing I noticed. I didn’t even really taste a difference. The pizza was just as good as always.

Despite the frigid temperature and the falling snow Sunday morning, I braved the elements to run the three-mile Sprint for Special Olympics.  Kim and her family are big supporters of Hamilton County Special Olympics, so this is just one of many events throughout the year that I get to enjoy. Plus it provided me the opportunity to try out my new running tights and half zip top that I recently purchased. The race went really well for me, as I finished in fifth place overall with a time of just over 24 minutes. I’ve run this distance in under 24 minutes a few times, but never when it was this cold.

My wife had some shopping she needed to do up in Kenwood on Saturday afternoon. I used this an excuse to try out a sub shop that has been on my radar for a while, Firehouse Subs. Of their 485 locations in 29 states, five are in the Cincinnati metro area, and this is one of the closest to our home.

I’m a sucker for a well prepared hot sub, and this looked like just the place to fill that craving. They have ten hot specialty subs on their menu, along with some more basic hot and cold subs. I didn’t think twice about ordering anything other than a hot specialty sub and went with the Club on a Sub ($5.79) – smoked turkey breast, Virginia honey ham, crispy bacon, and melted Monterey Jack cheese on wheat. I also agreed to have it “Fully Involved” meaning  mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, and a dill spear on the side.

Club on a Sub

The sandwich was great! The wheat bread was fresh and just a touch crunchy from the oven. The meat and veggies all appeared and tasted fresh. This was a great sandwich that I would not  hesitate  to eat again. My wife had the Engineer Sub ($5.59) – smoked turkey breast, sautéed mushrooms, and melted Swiss. She also was very happy with her sandwich.

We each made had a combo with a bag of chips of our choice and a medium drink for $2.29 extra. The medium cup was huge, easily the size of most places large. And with their Coca-Cola freestyle machine there are over 120 different combinations of soda available. I tried some flavored drinks, but they all were a little too sweet for my tastes. It was still fun (and slightly confusing the first time) to play with this unique machine.

We had a great first experience at Firehouse Subs, and I will definitely add it to my list of quick eats. I just wish there was a location closer to home.

This past weekend I was able to finally attend my first Bockfest. According to their website, “Bockfest is a celebration of historic Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati’s brewing heritage and the coming of spring.” In my own words I would say that it is a really big party, second only to Oktoberfest.

The Goat!

After a scary storm ripped through the area on Friday afternoon, I was a little unsure of the status of the Bockfest parade that evening that would kick of the weekend of events. As it turns out, nothing stops Bockfest, and I was glad to hear it. Kim, Trey, and I made a quick decision to get downtown so that we could catch the parade up Main Street.

More Goat

Christian Moerlein Beer Truck

CEO of Christian Moerlein, Greg Hardman

I held Trey for most of the 30 minute parade, so I didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked, but it was a fun way to kick off the night. All of the local bars were serving various bock beers in plastic cups so the crowd could enjoy them outside on the sidewalk while enjoying the parade.

Once the parade was over we spent some time on the back patio of the new Mayberry location hanging with friends and enjoying more drinks. Later in the night I went out with some of my friends to some of the other participating venues nearby to sample other beers and party with thousands. I never made it to the Bockfest Hall, which was my only disappointment of the night. I heard that it was really crowded though, so perhaps skipping it wasn’t a bad thing. Next year I do hope to see the inside of the hall though. Put it in your calendar now to join me, the first weekend of March.

You may recall my post about collard greens, well another vegetable that is new to me is broccolini (or broccolette). We’ve had a couple of deliveries of this vegetable that is similar to broccoli, but with longer and thinner stalks. The first time I prepared it I just roasted it in the oven with some potatoes and garlic, but it didn’t cook well enough for my liking. This past week I dug up a recipe where the broccolini  is blanched and then sautéed with butter, garlic, and lemon. The results were much better!

Ready To Eat

One of my brother-in-laws is currently studying Aviation Technology at the University of Cincinnati. He already has his  private pilot certificate for single engine planes, and eventually will receive his commercial certificate as well as part of the program. This past Saturday he rented a plane for an hour to give family members a ride.

The Rented Aircraft

He took both of his parents and younger brother for rides first. Here is a video of one of the takeoffs.

Fortunately after they were all finished with their rides, there was still time for me to take a quick ride!

Instrument Panel

First Officer Paff

View From The Air

Commander Hais

Also, here is a video of our smooth landing despite a shifting headwind.

Thanks for the ride, Chip!

I attended my third Cyclones game of the season this past Friday night. My uncle works for Chatfield College, which provided us with $3 tickets to the game. It is really hard to pass up a Cyclones game, and at this price we would be completely foolish. Plus we ended up with tickets just a row off of the ice. While I typically prefer to sit up higher to watch the full play develop, it was neat to be so close to the action.

Up Close And Personal

It was also King of Pop Night, featuring tons of Michael Jackson music, specialty  jerseys  worn by the team, and even bobbleheads. The Cyclones mascot, Twister, is pictured on the bobblehead in Jackson style clothes and appears to be doing the “Thriller” dance. I just put ours in Trey’s room, and I hope it doesn’t scare him too much.

King Of Pop Bobblehead

We had a great time at the game with so many family and friends and the Cyclones squeezed out a 2-1 victory over the Florida Everblades.

Prior to my first visit, I read some pretty terrible reviews of the Tumi Cafe, so I went in expecting the worst. We had a LivingSocial coupon to use, so I figured it was worth a try anyway. Upon entering the small Peruvian restaurant, we soon realized that we were the only customers for lunch on this Saturday. We were greeted by the owner and showed to a table near the back of the room.

Inca Kola

I started out with an Inca Kola,  a popular soft drink from Peru, commonly described as having a bubblegum flavor. It pours a similar color to Mountain Dew, but is even sweeter. I was disappointed to find out that Coca-Cola actually owns the trademark and that the soda is not really an export of Peru. I wouldn’t order it again, but I figured I had to try it.

Sweet Potatoes

While the owner walked us through the menu, our one-year-old son was growing very hungry, so we rushed in an order of sweet potatoes while she continued to tell us all about the various dishes on the menu. Within a few minutes, a plate of oven baked sweet potatoes with butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar and rum was given to us, and they were very good! Our son loves sweet potatoes and he quickly ate his way through these with no complaints.

Aji de Gallina

The easiest decision we had to make was to try their most popular entrée, Aji de Gallina ($8.95). This dish features  chicken covered in a sauce of walnuts, aji peppers, and Parmesan cheese. Also on the plate is their green rice and a side of hot mayo. Not pictured but also included is a small cup of  salsa criolla (aji peppers, red onion and vinegar). Though the menu describes this as very spicy, I didn’t think it was, but it was actually very tasty. The hot mayo did add a little kick, if needed.

Pulled Pork Sandwich

Since we were splitting the Aji de Gallina, we decided to order something else to try as well. With a somewhat limited menu, we decided to give the pulled pork sandwich ($4.95) a try. A full half pound of pork was served on a bun with more hot mayo and a little  barbecue  sauce. It too was good, though I think the Aji de Gallina was the standout item of the two.

While we enjoyed our food, the owner continued to share information with us. The tables, chairs, plates, and silverware are all mismatched items and have all come from the salvation army. Nothing they serve is fried, in fact they only have a small oven and use crock pots to keep things warm, cook rice, prepare soups, etc. The chicken is baked and then sliced by hand for use in a variety of dishes. She also provided some samples to us, the standout being their aji chili con carne.

It was also interesting to learn that all tips are donated to the Mt. Washington Music Project. Acts from this non-profit provide evening musical entertainment on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights. It sounds like some nights can become quite crowded, so we may have to check that out in the future. Also of note is that the restaurant is BYOB, there are a couple of alcohol retailers just behind the restaurant.

Tres Leches Cake

To wrap up our first visit to the Tumi Cafe, we ordered the Tres Leches cake ($2.95). This is a traditional Peruvian light cake dipped with three kinds of milk and covered with cinnamon. It was light and spongy cake and was the perfect ending to a good meal. Despite what I had read about the Tumi Cafe before our visit, I was pleasantly surprised and would not hesitate to go back in the future.

Overflow Crowd At Memorial Hall

Last Friday, I took a long lunch and headed downtown for the Cincinnati Streetcar groundbreaking. It started at 1pm, and when I arrived around 1:15 there was already an overflow crowd gathered outside Memorial Hall. While I didn’t get a chance to go inside to hear the speeches from Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood or Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory, I did get to see them along with other members of the city council turn the first shovels on the old brick paved Elm Street.

Shovels Lined Up

Groundbreaking!

As many projects have had a ceremonial groundbreaking and then sat idle for a while, it was nice to see that before this ceremony even took place there were visible cuts through the old pavers. They have wasted no time getting started on the project and have already posted a progress video on YouTube, which you can find below. Other information and photos can be viewed on  5chw4r7z.com and UrbanCincy.