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Friday, August 23, 2019

What We Ate in Cincinnati

Cincinnati was a surprisingly fun town with tons to do and see. And since eating is my number one pastime, you know we found good food in the Queen City. Here are some highlights:

Food
We had several great meals and one pretty terrible one. Our best meal was at BOCA where we had tremendous food and an awesome waiter (thanks Kyle!). It's pricey--especially for Cincinnati, but we split an entree and appetizers and walked away full. My favorite of the night was the Egg Raviolo "San Domenico," which was a raviolo stuffed with an egg yolk. It was heavenly! A close second was the Corn Elote (R.A.D.), which was fresh pasta that tasted like Mexican street corn. Sidenote, if you haven't had fresh midwest corn in the summer, you're missing out.



We had another great meal at Salazar. I got talked into the Fried Pimento Cheese Fritters and am so happy I did. Such a great guilty pleasure. And the homemade spaghetti with fresh corn and tomatoes was incredible.


For a quick bite, the tacos and roasted cauliflower side at Bakersfield were great! The cauliflower was like a yummy, spicy dip, and the Hongos taco was my favorite.


Since Cincinnati is known for its chili, we stopped by Skyline to check it out. Sadly, their vegetarian offerings were pretty lame (black beans and rice), so we skipped it. Luckily, there was a great vegetarian chili option at the airport called Gold Star Chili. We loaded up our to-go containers with spaghetti, chili, onions, and enough cheese to feed a village (veggie 4-way). Verdict: it was delicious! Nothing like the chili I'm used to as a Texan, but still really good.

Sadly, Satre totally missed the mark for us. We went there initially because my dad's colleague's cousin was the chef. Turns out, he no longer works there--a fact we only discovered as we were paying our bill. The food was ok, but the service was terrible. Definitely not worth a visit. At least the company was good!


Sweets
There were two main sweets were were told we had to have in order to properly experience Cincinnati: Graeter's ice cream and Holtman's donuts. So of course we obliged.

We got a a really delicious apple fritter at Holtman's. I wanted to go back and sample more, but each time I was nearby they were closed. Bummer. I'm not sure it was the best fried dough I've had, but it was really tasty.


We had Graeter's twice. I had their black cherry with chocolate chip and their cookie dough chocolate chip. Dan had the banana chocolate chip and the maple cinnamon crunch. The ice cream was good, but not nearly as good as Jeni's.


Drinks
To be honest, we didn't really go out for drinks other than having a cocktail at dinner. We grabbed a beer at Taste of Belgium and wish we had stayed for a waffle. And I had a great chai latte at Coffee Emporium (Dan had an espresso).


But one of the most fun places we went to was called Tokyo Kitty. It is a crazy little Japanese karaoke bar/night club that we just stumbled upon. We got there a little late for the group karaoke and only participated in a few songs before the DJ started up, but trust me when I say this is one of the most unique places I've been in a while. It was such an interesting mix of people that words won't do it justice.



Cincinnati was such a fun surprise. Now it makes me want to explore more U.S. cities. Hopefully we can make this a more regular thing!

See part 1 of our Cincinnati trip here:
Kid-Free Vacation to Cincinnati: Part 1

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Zahara the Brave: First Solo Adventure

This summer Dan and I hit the family lottery. My in-laws asked if we would consider sending Zahara to Florida for two weeks of grandparent fun time. At first, this seemed like way too much time. We've never been apart for that long before. I wasn't worried about her--I knew she'd have a great time playing at the beach, swimming in the pool, hanging out with her aunt. I was really worried for my in-laws though. Two weeks straight with a six-year-old is hard work! But, they kept asking, so we figured, let's try it.


Zahara is six now, which means she can fly on her own! Game changer! I've been flying on my own since I was that age, thanks to a travel agent mom and grandparents who lived in a different city. Flying solo isn't for everyone at that age, but I felt pretty confident that Zahara would do well. She's pretty independent and is a seasoned traveler. If I had to guess, I'd say she's probably been on close to 200 flights. Plus, give her a tablet and tell her she can watch unlimited movies and she's solid for days. Ha!


In the days and weeks leading up to the trip, we sprinkled in lots of conversations about what was coming up. We talked about strategies for how to ask for things on the plane, like drinks and bathroom, and what it would be like to be gone for so long. She was literally counting down days.


On the morning of the flight, she understandably got a bit nervous. She bravely powered through though and walked on the plane with her head up (and her tablet in her hands). And when my in-laws picked her up at the gate, they said the flight was great. She was a champ!



The two weeks went quickly for everyone. She spent her days taking swimming lessons and getting quality time with her family. We spent the two weeks living a one-child life (WOW! So much easier), and even snuck in a kid-free vacation thanks to my parents who came to watch Asher for a few days!!




All-in-all, this was a fantastic experience for everyone, and I'm looking forward to it being an annual event. HUGE thanks to my Florida family for making this happen! Love you guys!

Monday, August 19, 2019

More Birthday Celebrations!

I'm now in my late thirties. That's just a fact. Neither good nor bad. But it is kind of unbelievable sometimes. It's not that I don't feel like I'm in my late thirties--I mean, I'm a homeowner, a mom of two kids, with a husband of more than ten years. But it's still weird to me.


Nevertheless, birthdays are something to celebrate, and celebrate I did! You already saw my amazing dinner at Rose's Luxury, but I was lucky enough to have a second birthday dinner with my friends Ally and Mitchell. We had such a fun night at Le Diplomate*!




I love this place. The food is so good, and the drinks are some of my favorite in the city. I especially love the Romarin, which is Rocktown Vodka, St. Germain, Rosemary, and Grapefruit. It's so good that it's dangerous.


As with most French restaurants, there aren't a ton of vegetarian/pescatarian options, but the ones on the menu are so fantastic that it's worth the trip. Our table ordered a bunch of non-meat appetizers and it turned out to be so much food I couldn't even finish what we ordered. I think the tuna carpaccio and the haricots verts were my favorite, but the mushroom tart was a close second. We also got a free cheese plate after a waitress broke a glass and some of the shards went into Ally's back(!!).


My super thoughtful friend Dani called the restaurant and sent a glass of sparkling wine to my table. Can you even? I would never even think of something like that. It was really special. What a great way to round out my birthday. Cheers to 37!


*Incidentally, Le Diplomate is another Starr restaurant, so of course I love it. See more of my favorite Starr spots here.

See more birthday celebrations here:
2018:
Asher's birthday
Dan's birthday
2017:
Asher's 1st birthday
Dan's birthday
Calli's birthday
2016:
Dan's birthday
Zahara's 3rd
Calli's birthday
2015:
Zahara's 2nd
2014:
Dan's birthday
Zahara's birthday
Calli's birthday
2013:
Dan's birthday
Calli's birthday
2012:
Dan's birthday
Calli's birthday