Kim and I have been busy watching craigslist for some new backyard entertainment for Trey. We finally secured a clubhouse on Monday and yesterday I picked up a swing set with slide. Hopefully this means that we won’t have to bust out the pool every time we go into the backyard to play. It seems to be working so far as Trey splits his time between both new items.

Clubhouse - Complete with mail.

Swing Set And Slide

The people I bought the swing set  from have twin girls, hence the pink baby swing. Trey doesn’t discriminate though.

Slide Time

He’s already figured out how to use the rope ladder that is on the front side. I figured he would use the steps on the backside for a while but he is proving me wrong already. I hope this provides hours of entertainment for the little guy.

I took a gamble and headed to the Radiohead concert last night at Riverbend. A friend had an extra ticket in the lawn, so I figure it was worth checking out. Many people regard them as a great live band, but unfortunately I just didn’t get it. I will admit that I’m not very familiar with much of their catalog, but only one song that I even remotely recognized was played. After glancing through the setlist, it seems that most of the material was from the bands last couple albums, which I have never listened to.

I will admit that the light show was pretty impressive, but it was a little hard to view many of the special effects from the lawn. The normally somewhat helpful video screens on either side of the lawn were terrible last night. Rather than alternating between shots of the band members the screen was always divided into sixths and filled with grainy imagery. Plus with Riverbends terrible sight lines from the lawn (can’t they find a way to support the roof structure without massively obstructive steel columns?), I could not get into the show at all.

Terrible View From Riverbend Lawn

Sometimes gambling on a show pays off, but it doesn’t always work that way. I can now scratch Radiohead off my list of bands to see and realize that most of their music is not for me.

After a quick trip to the zoo, my family and I decided to get some lunch near Clifton and the University of Cincinnati. We quickly remembered the large number of Indian restaurants in the area and decided to give one of them a try. We settled on Dusmesh, which just might be the highest rated Indian in the city.

Outside Dusmesh

Dusmesh isn’t as close to campus as other Indian places, but would it be worth the extra drive? It does sit across the street from Cincinnati State Technical  and  Community College.  The building itself appears to be an old house that has been modified into a rather large dining area when compared to other Indian restaurants we have visited. Google maps shows a different outside color, so it seems that the outside was painted somewhat recently.

Inside Dusmesh

There are two main dining rooms, and we were sat in the street side room, which was relatively empty compared to the other room. The other room also contained the lunch buffet, the main reason for our visit. We were quickly offered water by our server and he asked if we would like anything else to drink. The restaurant does not serve alcohol, but you can bring your own.

My Buffet Plate

I started with a large serving of chicken tikka masala, chicken & broccoli, and some mixed vegetable pakora (clockwise from bottom). First of all the pakora were delicious, easily the best I’ve had. This was my first experience with an Indian style chicken and broccoli dish and I really enjoyed it. It was a bit sweet at first taste, but comes through with a nice kick of spice at the end. The sweetness was a little much on my second plate, so I don’t know if I would order it as an entrée, but I did enjoy it at first. The chicken tikka masala was also good, but I wish it was a bit spicier. I would definitely consider ordering it as an entrée and spicing it up a notch.

Wife's Buffet Plate

My wife sampled a lot more of the food than I did with her first plate. From what I can remember the real standout of her choices was the mushroom saag (at the top of her plate). We’ve had other saag dishes before, but the mushroom was new to us and it was very tasty. This was easily the favorite of our toddler son. The buffet itself cost just $8.50 each, which I feel is a great price for a lot of excellent quality food. We will be back.

Loveland has a new restaurant, Kirby’s, which opened just a few weeks ago in the old Sleepy Hollow space. Not much has changed, as far as I can remember, on the outside of the building, but the inside is much different from the old space that used to be a Christmas celebration every day of the year.

Inside Kirby's

Truth be told, I never went inside Sleepy Hollow but I heard enough stories to feel like I had. We arrived around six this past Friday evening and though the parking lot was nearly full it was no problem getting a table. Perhaps there are a few too many tables on the inside as it felt a bit cramped and was really loud.

Our service was adequate, though we did have a fairly long wait between drink and food orders. That was the only complaint I would have as far as the service goes and a manager even stopped by at some point to see how we were doing. Also there is a pretty good list of craft beers available, another bonus in my book.

Gourment Grilled Cheese

For dinner I went with the gourmet grilled cheese – a double decker of three different cheeses, tomato slices, and grilled bacon. It is served with homemade Saratoga chips and a pickle spear ($8.95). Overall I was happy with my choice. I wish I would have asked about the bread, as I would much rather have it served on something other than plain  ol’ toasted white. I’ve never had a double decker grilled cheese before, but it worked well. All of the bread was crisp and the cheese was very gooey. The Saratoga chips were also good.

Grouper Finger Basket

My wife may have ordered the best dish we sampled that night, the grouper finger basket – fresh grouper fillet cut into thick strips, breaded and deep fried. Served with fries ($11.95). The serving of fish was large, enough for all at the table to have a piece of their own. I’m not normally much of a fish eater, but this was very good! The also offer a grouper sandwich that comes blackened that is likely very tasty too.

Sandwich / Soup Combo

My mother went the sandwich and soup combo, selecting a half blackened caesar wrap and french onion soup ($9.95). I didn’t get the chance to taste any of her food, but I didn’t hear any complains from her. My dad had the ravioli creole – pasta filled with sausage, peppers, onions and a blend of cheeses tossed in their homemade creole sauce ($14.95). He really seemed happy with his choice and was the first to clean their plate.

Despite some potential issues with the restaurant size and layout, the food at Kirby’s was good. My parents live in Loveland, so I’m sure we will be back to sample more from Kirby’s in the future, though it will be hard to overtake Paxton’s and The Works as our go-to spots out that way.

Last night I took a walk down to Dutch’s  for a tapping event benefiting the  Leukemia and Lymphoma Society with proceeds going to help  fund the fight against blood cancers. For the event, they tapped  all five beers of the Dark Horse Holiday Stout Series, 2012 Stone Imperial Russian Stout, Epic Brewing Big Bad Baptist, and Dogfish Head Black & Blue.

I started my tasting with Epic’s Big Bad Baptist. This is ranked as a world-class beer on BeerAdvocate and it did not disappoint. There was quite a bit of coffee flavors, so beware if you aren’t much of a coffee fan. However I really enjoyed the coffee flavors as well as the subtle tastes from the barrel aging process.

Next I sampled the Tres Blueberry Stout from Dark Horse on suggestion from a friend in attendance. I could smell the blueberry as the beer was being poured from tap. However, on first state the beer wasn’t nearly as sweet as I had expected. It seems that most of the blueberry is in the nose, with just faint fruit flavors in the taste to go along with the dark chocolate and coffee flavors. It’s a unique beer that is worth trying.

Finally I had a glass of the Stone Imperial Russian Stout, another world-class beer from BA. This was not nearly as coffee flavored as the other two, with much more chocolate and burnt malt taste. The alcohol taste is also more prevalent than in the others. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the Big Bad Baptist, but still a very solid beer.

It was a great event with some really wonderful beers available. As I spend a lot of time trying a wide variety of craft beer, I’m hoping to make beer a more prominent feature here on the blog.

The past couple of years my strategy for the Taste of Cincinnati has been to show up early to try to avoid the large evening crowds. The hard part in doing so is that the temperatures can sometime be really warm in the early afternoon, such as this year. In the end we only made it for about an hour and a half, but I was still able to sample most of what I had wanted to try.

First up this year was the fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Strasse Haus in Covington. This was the “Best of Taste” in the appetizer category. My mom found this right away and I stole a bite of it after letting it cool. It really was delicious, and this comes from someone who wasn’t a big peanut butter and jelly kid growing up. It would be a little hard to actually share as an appetizer (and I don’t even see it on their menu) but it was good nonetheless.

Strasse Haus - Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly

Next was an item on my agenda, du jours  black bean burrito, the “Best of Taste” winner in the vegetarian entrée category. This restaurant operates inside the Gateway One building on  Elsinore Ave. It appears that there is an affiliation with the former Courtyard Cafe. Anyway this burrito was excellent! I was really surprised at how much flavor was involved with what appeared to be a rather standard vegetarian dish.

Du Jours - Black Bean Burrito

From there we headed down toward the food truck area at the far east end. Food trucks were a new addition this year, though only three of them were on site (plus Queen City Cookies and Cold Stone for dessert). The three were Pizza Bomba, Cafe de Wheels, and Taco Azul. Since I had already had the other two, I decided to try a slice from Pizza Bomba.

Pizza Bomba

My brother recommended the mac and cheese pizza to me, which he had the day prior and really enjoyed. However that seemed a little heavy for the hot afternoon. Instead I went with a slice of pepperoni. After a couple of minutes wait my slice was ready for me to eat. The crust is made on the truck, cooked perfectly, and tastes wonderful. The small pepperoni slices were abundant and tasted great, as did the cheese and sauce. I really enjoyed this slice of pizza and hope to find their truck again soon.

Pizza Bomba - Spot-On Pepperoni

At this point we were all getting hot and decided to move on, but not before I stopped to try the new Rondos from LaRosa’s. According to their Facebook page, “Rondos are the pizza version of the cinnamon roll.” This was not my first time having pepperoni rolls, as they were a favorite of our at Wyman’s #5 in Denver. And while not as great as Wyman’s version, the Rondos were good. The spinach Rondos won an Award of Excellence.

LaRosa's - Pepperoni Rondos

Overall it was another successful visit to the Taste of Cincinnati!

Last night was one of those nights where karma was on my side. The Dave Matthews Band was in town for a show at the Riverbend Music Center, a place I have seen them play at seven times before, the last time was back to back nights in 2003. Last night was my 45th time seeing DMB play (including a couple of Dave & Tim Reynolds performances). I had tickets with my family in the lawn, surprisingly where I’ve sat for every other DMB show I’ve seen at Riverbend since 1997. In my more recent years I’ve really developed a dislike for lawn seats, but I figured hanging with my family would be a blast. It turns out that seeing a show with them on the lawn will have to wait for another time.

Free PIT Upgrade!

As we were all sitting on the lawn between sets my brother spotted a couple of people walking through the crowd with a sign advertising free pit passes for anyone driving a Volkswagen. At that point I was so glad that I had driven our ten-year-old VW Jetta to the show. I sprung to my feet with my key in hand and ran toward the pair. They saw me running and yelling from a mile away and even though a couple of other people were quickly approaching, I was awarded the pair of free pit tickets!

Sweet!

Since my brother was the one who spotted the sign he claimed the other ticket and away we went. Wristbands were issues to us to allow access to the general admission pit area. Once inside we made it to within probably ten feet of the stage. Toward the end of the show there were only a couple of people between us and the band. It was an incredible experience that I will not forget. Seeing the band perform at such a close distance after years of following them is remarkable. They way they interact on stage and with the crowd is something that cannot be experienced elsewhere.

You Never Know

My only regret was not having a better camera with me. I tried my best with my iPhone 3GS and I still managed to get some good shots. Here are another dozen of my favorites from the 70+ photos I took.

#41

Duel #1

Seven

Tripping Billies

Gaucho

Jimi Thing

Boyd

Two Step

Full Band

Squirm

Watchtower

Duel #2

A weekend visit to a friend’s house in Terrace Park left us searching for somewhere to get some fresh sandwiches for carry out. Enter Miami Market to the rescue! It was a bit out-of-the-way, but there is very few options on Route 50 between Hyde Park and Terrace Park. Fortunately the sandwiches from the Miami Market more than made up for the extra drive time.

Outside Miami Market

From the outside the Miami Market just looks like a typical roadside carry out spot for snacks and drinks. But you will quickly notice the outside seating areas and even a sign indicating where to find their drive thru window.

Inside Miami Market

Once inside you will still find a small selection of snacks and drinks, but around the opposite corner is the real treat of this little shop. At this counter you can find a new hot plate special every day along with made to order sandwiches, including some grilled varieties. I also noticed some pasta salad, potato salad, cole slaw, etc. in the display case.

Cranberry Walnut Chicken Salad

Once I saw the cranberry walnut chicken salad in the case I knew that was what I was going to be eating. I had wanted to get it on a  Servatti’s pretzel bun but they were out, so I went with light rye instead. It was delicious! And as an added bonus it cost less than $5. They also have a plain chicken salad that our friend had and seemed to really enjoy. If it weren’t so far from home, Miami Market would be one of my regular stops for lunch.

In case you missed it this morning, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. A recap of the events can be viewed in this video. It’s well worth taking the 10 minutes to view this history in the making.

We got a Dragon by the tail.

Saturday evening I participated in the Tap ‘N’ Run, a 4K run with 4 beer chugging stations along the route. Kim and I signed up to be a part of our friend Sean’s surprise 40th birthday team, “4-0, The New 2-0.” We even had matching shirts made.

4-0, The New 2-0

The race start itself was a little chaotic since most participants could not hear the announcers. There were at least ten different waves, but I think most people accidentally ended up in the wrong wave. Fortunately our team made it to the very front of one of the waves, and it just happened to be the third wave that we were pre-assigned.

We Got Tapped

Early on I decided that I would run the race at a relatively normal pace even though I figured the beer chugging would slow everyone down. There was definitely a large number of people who walked the entire course, but I was also surprised to see a lot of others running it too.

With the Birthday Boy

All finishers were given a souvenir medal (that also serves as a bottle opener) along with a full beer of their choice. My time was 20:42, or approximately 8:20 pace. Definitely a little slower than I would normally run in a race setting, but this was good enough for a 94th overall finish out of 3,153 participants. Not too shabby. Our team finished 9th out of 87 teams in the growler division (8 or more members).

Finishers Medal