Ohio Wanderlust

Two weekends ago we headed back up to the Red Space in Cleveland to attend The Mac and Cheese Throwdown. The event paired two of everyone's favorite things -- macaroni and cheese and charity. Twenty local restaurants served up mac and cheese dishes to about 1,500 ticket holders to declare the best mac and cheese dish in Cleveland and raise money for Berea based charity W.A.G.S 4 Kids . W.A.G.S. 4 Kids provides mobility service and autism service animals to children with disabilities throughout Northeast Ohio. At the end of the night Metropolitan at the 9 took home Judges Choice AND People's Choice and $50,000 was raised for W.A.G.S. 4 Kids. Taste options included tickets for 10 tastes or tickets for all 20 tastes. The restaurant list and their mac and cheese offering were conveniently provided once you checked in at the door.     Yuzu -- Umami Mac and Cheesegasm.   The Greenhouse Tavern -- Quack N' Cheese.  Deagan's Smokey and Spicy Mac ...

Happy Mardi Gras! I wanted to get this post in before the end of February and it's fitting, because Coquette Patisserie has King Cake today.  On February 19th Dave and I attended Afternoon Tea at Coquette Patisserie -- this event required registration in advance and it sold out so if you see an Afternoon Tea pop up on Coquette Patisserie's Facebook page make sure to register yourself! Afternoon Tea is an event hosted semi-frequently at Coquette Patisserie -- a quick glance at their past Facebook events showed a December, January, and February tea. However, this is not a monthly event (yet), so if you'd like to attend one keep an eye out and then make sure to book a table. Afternoon Tea for February consisted of a prix fixe menu which included "a tea sandwich, quiche, French macaron, opera cake, cheesecake and fresh baked brioche with jam & compound butter, and a pot of tea or a french press of coffee." When we arrived we discovered tha...

I had another blog post planned for today, but Kurentovanje was so much fun yesterday I needed to share everything that happened at the event. I found out about the Cleveland Kurentovanje event on Facebook earlier this week and prior to seeing the event shared by Cleveland Night Market . We went into this event kind of blind, we had no idea how to pronounce Kurentovanje (we know now!) and did no research outside of looking at the Facebook event the Slovenian National Home created. There was a schedule of events available that told the history of Kurentovanje which originated in Ptuj, Slovenia about 55 years ago. The event always takes place before Mardi Gras and in Slovenia Kurentovanje draws 100,000 people yearly with 800 Kurents marching in the procession. The Kurents wear sheepskin garments and have a chain of huge bells hanging around their waist. The clanging of the bells helps chase away winter. The Kurents also have a furry hat with ribbons, and a long red tongue. Compl...