Ohio Wanderlust

Yesterday Dave and I had tickets to attend Afternoon Tea at Coquette Patisserie on the East Side of Cleveland. Our morning in Beachwood ended early, so we made the drive to University Circle in search of something to do until our Tea Time. While feeding the parking meter, I remembered that I had received a glowing recommendation of Piccadilly Artisan Creamery from a friend after Dave and I had visited Coquette Patisserie for the first time a few months ago. We were greeted by two enthusiastic employees who gave me permission to take photos while they explained the process to us. We would select an ice cream base, then toppings or mix-ins from the provided list. If we weren't feeling crafty, there were some tried and true combinations that could be selected as well. Once the ingredients are selected everything goes into a bright and cheerful colored Kitchen Aid mixer to be frozen with liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen, coming in at very cool -321° F, freezes ...

This morning we drove up to Cleveland to attend the 1st Annual Cleveland Donut Fest -- Donut Fest originated in Chicago, the first New York City event was held last year, making Cleveland the third city to host the event. According to an interview the organizer gave to Cleveland.com, the 1,000 tickets sold out in three hours. Dave and I were lucky enough to score two of those tickets for the 10:00-12:00 time slot. Cleveland Donut Fest 2017 was held at the RedSpace, an event space best described by the tagline on their Facebook page "a raw space at HotCards" -- RedSpace certainly is raw, with very industrial elements. I appreciated that Donut Fest restricted access to two hour increments, it made navigating the vendors so much easier than the mess that could have been -- essentially there was just a winding line from Vendor 1 all the way through Vendor 12. Tickets included the chance to sample donuts from twelve area establishments:  Becker's Donuts; Bloom Ar...