Ohio Wanderlust

Our friend Kayla highly recommend Jungle Jim's to us on our recent trip to Cincinnati since she knows that we love food and exotic foods. I had initially planned to stop briefly, but my coworker encouraged me to make a morning of it and I'm so glad that we took more time to see everything. Kayla described Jungle Jim's as Trader Joe's and Six Flag's weird baby. Jungle Jim's is self described as having "...two locations, more than 500,000 square feet combined, hundreds of thousands of products, and over 70 countries represented." Jungle Jim's is a foodie and traveler paradise -- I wish we had something like this near us because to truly go through all of Jungle Jim's we would have needed more hours than we were able to spend. I warned Dave that I would want to buy things, but access to exotic produce and ingredients would really take my cooking skills to the next level. I also really appreciated exploring the international sections, we ha...

When we were invited to this wedding we knew we wanted to check out Rhinegeist. Rhinegeist is the largest craft brewery in Cincinnati and their beers and ciders are sold by Giant Eagle (and Market District) which is why we've been able to try them. I brought their "Bubbles" Rose Cider for everyone to try on our recent family vacation. The Rhinegeist Brewery is 25,000 square feet and features multiple spaces for large groups, while we were there Rhinegeist was hosting both a rehearsal dinner and a wedding. Rhinegeist directly translates to "Ghost of the Rhine" and is located in the old Moerlein bottling plant (1895). Moerlein was the heart of the Over-The-Rhine Brewery District in the 19th century. In 2013, Rhinegeist brewed its first batch of beer. As soon as you enter Rhinegeist you can smell the brewing. You head upstairs into the main floor of the brewery which is full of cornhole, games, and picnic tables. We toyed with the idea of staying on the main ...

Dave and I spent the weekend in Southern Ohio for the wedding of one of our friends from law school. Lucky for us between recommendations from a coworker and the bride we had a blast visiting various venues in-and-around Cincinnati. The Over-The-Rhine neighborhood came highly recommended and Abigail Street had plenty of vegetarian options as well as great reviews on every site I checked. I was worried that we would end up on the wait list, but we arrived at 5:45 and were able to get a table; however, by the time we left Abigail Street was full. Founded in 2011, Abigail Street focuses on a tapas style menu with a Mediterranean influence. Our server let us know that the menu does rotate, so some of the options that we tried may not be available at all points during the year. I really don't think that you'll be disappointed with the menu either way. We found the concept to be unique, while we've been to tapas restaurants in other cities we still haven't found o...

Home Again Flowers opened their farm stand in April 2018 and the farm stand is currently open Monday through Friday until the end of September. The premise is simple, you can stop by the farm stand and pick-up an already created bouquet. During the week the farm stand is self-serve and located on Andrews St. NW. In July 2018, Home Again Flowers opened the you-pick-flower patch. On Friday mornings from 9 am - noon; Friday nights from 5:00 pm - 8:30 pm; and Saturday morning from 9 am - noon you can attend a you-pick event through the end of September. The flower field is about half an acre in size and parking is accessible on the north side of the Hartville Flea Market . Home Again Flowers has everything you need for your visit -- flower snips, containers of water to hold while you meander around the field, even vases for purchase if you forget to bring your own. In addition to what is available at the farm stand/you-pick patch, the owner of Home Again Flowers is deeply invol...