Ohio Wanderlust

Welcome to my first post of 2018! I haven't forgotten about Ohio Wanderlust, the holidays are always a little crazy for me and the winter months sometimes make it hard to commit to cool places and events due to the volatile weather. In the last few weeks I've made several dinner plans at new places, purchased tickets for events, and signed-up for festivals I haven't attended before. In the next few months I hope to ramp up to even more posts before the summer festival season when it's much easier to leave the house to walk into balmy 80 degree weather over the 9 degree weather we were enjoying at the beginning of 2018. In 2016, Dave and I made reservations with some friends to check out Empress Taytu on St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland. It was the first time many of us had experienced Ethiopian cuisine and we loved the experience. Some friends who had missed the dinner at Empress Taytu expressed an interest in going, so when I saw Zoma on a list of the best things ...

Last night we went to the sneak preview of That Christmas Bar a new pop-up bar hosted by TD's Tailgate Grill in Canton. We've never eaten at TD's Tailgate, but we do enjoy one of the other two restaurants in the area owned by the same owners -- Twisted Citrus .  The owners got the idea from a Game of Thrones pop-up bar they visited in New York City (um, yes please). They then converted an extra room at TD's Tailgate in a Christmas extravaganza utilizing items from the Hartville Flea Market , garage sales, estate sales, and Goodwill (more on the decor and transformation from the Canton Repository ). To be honest, I don't think either of us really felt like going out last night, but we had a blast starting from the moment we set foot in That Christmas Bar. We arrived between 5:30 and 6:00, the bar had just opened at 4:00, and the place was packed. Another couple got up from the sixteen seat bar, which gave us space to squeeze in. All night as soon...

The Cleveland Flea kicked off the weekend showing off their brand new store front at 3333 Lorain Avenue in Ohio City. All four holiday fleas are three day events set up on a pay structure to ensure that the building is not too crowded. Friday is Party & Shop ($20), Saturday is Classic Flea Experience ($10 from 10:00-2:00, then free), and Sunday is Brunch & Shop (free). This prevents everyone from showing up at the exact same time and overcrowding the 20,000 square foot space.  We decided paying was best for us and opted for the Saturday morning event -- two of our friends came with us as well. Dave and I had previously attended an outdoor flea, but never a holiday pop-up and Kaley & Jon were new to the Cleveland Flea experience and had been wanting to attend one. We arrived slightly before 10:00 and the small parking lot at the building was full, but there was plenty of free street parking available near the venue. Since we are gearing up f...