Today I added a bunch of pictures of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan from our camera to kimandedjr.com. Enjoy!

If there is one thing that Cincinnatians love as much as their chili, it would have to be soft serve ice cream. Each neighborhood seems to have at least one free-standing ice cream stand called either a creamy whip, whippy dip, or something similar. Two weeks ago I found myself at Putz’s Creamy Whip, one of the most famous of all the local shops. The business started way back in 1938, and though they have moved locations a few times, the current location has been in service for around sixty years.

Est. 1938

According to their website’s history page, the construction of I-74 in the early 70’s nearly forced them out of the current location as the highway was supposed to come within three feet of their back door. The owner’s were able to convince the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to move the highway nine feet back to save the location. Later, in 1987, the street the store was on was renamed to Putz Place. So this ice cream stand is legendary for many reasons.

Open For Business

Following the lead of my wife’s family, I ordered a medium size Krunch Cone with vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream. Krunch was a combination of sprinkles and some sort of crunchy bits similar to what you would find in the  chocolate  of a Nestlé  Crunch. Now there is a good idea, I wonder if I could get them to dip this into chocolate after covering it with krunch. Even without the chocolate coating this ice cream hit the spot.

Krunch Cone

We spent the last few days up in Chicago for the Dave Matthews Band Caravan  and had a great time. Taking Trey to his first real concert experience was overall a very positive experience. As we expected he didn’t make it all the way until the end of the show any of the days, though we didn’t leave until the encore break on Friday night. He actually slept through the entire DMB set that night. Traffic ended up being terrible even after leaving early, so each night after that Kim took Trey back to the hotel earlier to avoid the traffic. My friends had arranged for limo bus transportation back downtown and I took advantage of that those two nights.

Family Photo

The music was a really great lineup. Big surprises of the weekend for me included Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Ben Folds, and Mariachi El Bronx. I figured Ben Folds was going to be good, but I forgot just how many great songs he has in his catalog. The other two big surprises came from my friends’ suggestions and they were awesome performances. The only real let down for me was the Flaming Lips playing The Dark Side of the Moon, which I thought was going to be really good but was just really weird instead.

Chillin' On Day 2

Another  disappointment  for me came from the site that was selected for the show. “Lakeside,” as they have called it, is really just the site of a former steel mill that was shut down in 1992. Since that time it has sat vacant with most of the buildings removed but not all the bricks, stones, and other artifacts that were left behind. In front of each  stage was a large mulched area, but getting between stages could be a little troublesome, even with our super three-wheeled jogging stroller. This can’t compare to the large green lawns I’ve sat on at other festivals. Besides the ground of the grounds, the traffic nightmare from Friday night was the worst I have ever seen. We sat in the parking lot for well over an hour before moving from our row of cars and this was before the show was even completely over.

Trey Making Friends

Not everything was poorly organized though. The food stands were actually much better than the average carnival food. Also I appreciated having around a dozen craft breweries on site for purchase. Free water was available if you had your own containers, but not enough booths were there. One of my friends waited over an hour. We brought in our own  disposable  bottles,which I wouldn’t have done if water was easier to get. With all of that said, some issues are to be expected from a first time festival, and I hope that if they do this again that other changes will be made. We still had a great time and would consider it again in the future.

Ready For DMB

These photos all came from friends’ phones. I have more photos from our own camera, so I’ll get those posted later this week.

For the first time since I moved away from Cincinnati in 2003, I played hockey with my good friends Ken and Jon last night. I played hockey with them both while in high school and both of them were in my wedding party. They are playing a summer session of adult hockey with a team at the Northland Ice Center. I probably would have joined them for the entire session but my hockey equipment was trapped in storage somewhere waiting for our  move-in  day at our new house. Once our boxes were all unpacked, I told them I was ready to play. Their team had a game last night and needed substitutes, so I dusted off my equipment and found the old rink.

Nothing much has change at Northland, the first rink I played at in Cincinnati. Though the glass on top of the boards has been replaced as needed, the same old benches are still in the lobby, and the concessions looked the same as ten years ago. They do have some newer locker rooms, though I think those were completed before I left town years ago. The rink was really warm and the ice was really soft, which I am not a fan of. Regardless I had a blast playing hockey with my old friends once again.  We tried to play on a line together and succeeded for most of the game. All three of us had a goal in our 4-1 victory. The playoffs start next week and I believe I will be back on the ice with them!

To celebrate the  Fourth Of July, and to show of our new house, we invited our families over for some appetizers and drinks before moving up to the nearby Ault Park to catch the fireworks. Even though we still have some boxes lying around, by Monday we had a majority of the rooms in our new house setup and looking somewhat presentable. My mom snapped some pictures of the party, though they are mostly just pictures of Trey. She must have really missed our little man while on vacation all of last week.

The fireworks in Ault Park were a nice ending to a really busy weekend. I didn’t get any pictures of my own, but aultparksunrise.com has some excellent shots from the evening.

Last weekend my wife and I stopped at Findlay Market, my first time through Ohio’s oldest continuously operated public market. We arrived around 11 in the morning and walked through a mostly deserted market, which I think is a rarity here. We bought some turkey from Silverglades and some sausages from Kroeger & Sons, but the real winner from our shopping was the waffle I had from Taste of Belgium.

Liège Waffle

I ordered the waffle topped with strawberries and whipped cream, but the sweet waffle doesn’t need to be topped with anything. The waffle is a  Liège waffle, named after a city in Belgium where it was invented. This style of waffle uses a special sugar in the dough that  caramelizes  on the outside when baked. The flavor of the waffle from Taste of Belgium is very close to that from The Liege Waffle Factory that was available in our grocers freezer in Denver. Having a freshly made waffle of this style was  glorious  and I will definitely be back for more.

After an  unsuccessful  closing on Wednesday night, we finally closed on our new house last night! Kim is at the house now as the movers are taking all of our stuff inside. I cannot wait to get settled in.

Below is a photo that Kim took during our final  walk-through  of the house.

Additional photos from the listing website can be viewed below. I will try to update my blog as we finish furnishing the rooms with our own stuff.

Before this past weekend I dined at Allyn’s Cafe one time before, but as it was years ago I don’t remember much about the visit. My wife and I headed to Allyn’s for diner after a busy day spent mostly in the surrounding area. She actually noticed the restaurant much earlier in the day and commented that we should try it again. I knew that Allyn’s had a good beer selection and that was exactly what I was looking for to help unwind.

While looking over the menu I enjoyed a Bell’s Two Hearted Ale. The menu is a mix of mostly  Mexican  and  Cajun  choices with a few other “thangs” thrown in. I was in the mood for Mexican food, so I quickly decided on the chimichanga with chicken. Once that decision was made, my wife and I agreed that she should order something from the Cajun side so we could share both meals. Eventually we settled on the chicken and sausage  jambalaya. This was served with a house dinner salad and we wisely chose the  creamy  jalapeno, which turned out to be  delicious!

House Dinner Salad

As far as the entrees go, I was really happy with our choices. First the chimichanga was served with tasty sides of  vegetarian  black beans,  Mexican  rice, and refried beans. Though the sides weren’t large, I appreciated having a variety of good tasting items that were much better than the Don Pablo’s sides that I recently had. The chimichanga itself wasn’t as fried as I’ve had in other restaurants, but still good.  It was filled with plenty of pulled chicken and there was a nice sauce occupying the bottom of the entire plate.  I did not use the included salsa at all.

Chicken Chimichanga

After eating my half of the chimichanga plate, my wife and I switched platters. The chicken and sausage jambalaya was equally as good as the chimichanga. The spicy mix of shredded chicken and sliced sausage was mixed with rice and served in a wide rimmed bowl. Also served on the side of this dish was a large slice of corn bread, which we also liked. The serving sizes were large and we could not finish either plate. Our service was great, constantly refilling all the water we were using to put out the fire in our mouths. The restaurant itself was a little dark, but for dinner that isn’t a problem. If you are there during lunch, I would request the outdoor patio to take advantage of the bright summer days.

Chicken And Sausage Jambalaya

The Green Dog Cafe reminds me of a variety of restaurants in our old home of Denver, Colorado. The menu  features “local pastured poultry, organic sustainable fish, antibiotic free pork and other fresh foods that appeal to all tastes, including vegans, vegetarians and those who don’t tolerate wheat and dairy.” This is not something that I could have found in Cincinnati when I last lived here in 2003, at least not easily, but I’m glad to see that this has changed.

Front Of Menu

My wife and I stumbled across this restaurant while heading toward the neighboring Greenorama Home Show. We both actually read about the restaurant recently, but didn’t pay much attention to where it was located. When we pulled into the parking lot to find an ATM, we spotted the restaurant and immediately headed for the front door. One glance at the menu and I knew that I was ordering the Green Dog BLT with  roasted turkey. My wife went with the Green Dog Burger made of garbanzos, mushrooms, and herbs. Each of these came with one side. I chose the kimchee while my wife had the green salad.

Green Dog BLT

My sandwich was gigantic! It was filled with plenty of thick cut roasted turkey to go along with the bacon, arugula, and tomato. Other reviews I have read  stated that there is too much bread on the sandwich, but I felt that the ratio was pretty close to perfect, though I must admit that my sandwich does look much better than the picture in the other review. I would definitely order this sandwich again. And the kimchee was a really good mix of pickled vegetables that were spiced up a bit.

Green Dog Burger

My wife was also very happy with her veggie burger. I had a small bite of it and I was impressed with the taste of the patty. One disappointing thing was that the online menu says it should be served with red onion and tomato jam, but I don’t recall that being true. I would definitely like to try this jam on a future visit. The green salad was pretty typical mix of field greens that I would skip.

I would easily recommend trying this restaurant and I’m sure we will be back in the future. Another review that I read from back in 2009 was not that positive either, but I think some changes have been made to the Green Dog Cafe and it is worth a revisit if you have been there before. I hope that it continues to improve on our favorable first visit.

Saturday afternoon we met up with some friends at the  end of Paddlefest,  the largest canoe/kayak paddling event in the Midwest with  over 2,000 paddlers making their way down the Ohio river. Though we didn’t get to see very many of the kayaks as we arrived too late, we were able to enjoy the  Gold Star Chili Finish Line Festival at Yeatman’s Cove. We walked through the numerous booths filled with books and gear to find the Mt. Carmel Brewing Company booth. There we enjoyed a couple of beers with our friends while listening to a polka band. I didn’t get any photos of the event, but found some on this blog. I even make an appearance on the far right side of this photo from Thadd’s blog.

After the event we stopped by our friends’ new apartment at Current At The Banks. They too just moved back to Cincinnati after years spent living in Denver and then in San Francisco. Their new place is impressive and will only be better once more restaurants, shops, and bars open on The Banks. Here is a photo of the view they have out their window on game days.

Great American Ball Park