Things I want to do in Columbus

When I move to a new town, I spend many hours driving with the intention of getting lost. Finding my way home again helps me understand better than studying a map. I also find the places I want to go back to - restaurants to try, parks to explore, stores to visit. I am creating the map of my new life in a new place.

I have lived in Columbus for more than 10 years (and less than 20). I've moved away and come back more than once. Each return strengthened some belief that I already knew all there was to know about Columbus and its neighborhoods. And with each return, I explored less and less.

Parenting changes lives. For the purposes of this post, having babies changed mine in two ways. 

1. Being a parent made the walls close in on me at home. When I had little tiny babies, I was tethered to a house because a baby was napping or sick or the world wasn't running on our schedule. When my babies became mobile and verbal, the house wasn't big enough for all of us to play in every day. We, all of us, needed room to run or space for the noise to get away from my ears.
2. It is hard to think of anything, especially of new fun things to do, when your kiddos have reached the point where they are demanding to be entertained. Like most answers to parenting questions, one needs to plan ahead. 

I am a list maker. Being the nerd that I am, I started making a complicated Excel spreadsheet with activities, possible field trip destinations and their hours and prices, and local festivals. I got used to scouring local websites, reading corkboard announcements and finding people that were more in the know that I was. Correction: Than I am.

That list saved lives.

And making that list made me realize that there is so much I don't know about Columbus. And while I no longer drive around trying to get lost, I am actively seeking out new experiences in this place I have known for so long.

I feel like I am creating a map of my new life in an old place. 

A new list has been brewing in my head. It's time to put it out there. A throwing of the gauntlet, if you will.

My list of "never before but will soon"s in Columbus:

Food and drink

• Eat at Basi with its biggest ambassadors/mayors: Christy and Molly  (UPDATE 4.11: DID IT! It was as wonderful as I expected. I want to do it again.)
• Eat at Las Delicias 2... again. (I have eaten here once before and loved it; but it disappearred before I could ever go back)
• Find great Thai food in Columbus (with great vegetarian options for Paul)
• Eat at Smothered Gravy
• Eat at Latitude 41   (UPDATE: Oh yes. oh yesyesyes)
• Eat at Refectory
• Attend a Flying J Dinner

photo by Ely Brothers; more of their gorgeous pictures from this dinner can be see here

• I want to do a progressive dinner of Betty's restaurants (this is not an actual thing, it would be self-lead)
• Find the best fried chicken, greens and cornbread in town
• Try a bloody mary
• Score some Honda beans for playing and/or making my own tofu
• Bottle some OYO at Middle West Spirits
• Take friends and family on another Columbus Food Adventures tours   (UPDATE: this is a perpetual bullet point because CFA keeps coming up with new tours that are perfect for someone I know)
• Visit Snowville Creamery (DONE! And the cows were beautiful and happy!)
• Tour Rockmill Brewery - or take the next Beer bus tour by House Wine
• I want to cook the line again, somewhere, for just a short stint.
• Eat at Revolver in Findlay
• Visit Chef's Garden in Huron

Everything else

• See bison at Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park
• Go to more festivals! any festivals! (Asian festival - check! Arts festival - check!)
• See a game at the new Columbus Clippers stadium
• Go to a Columbus Crew match (and stay for the whole thing)
• Visit the new CMA
• Find the best view of downtown Columbus (current placeholder is Huntington Bank, floor 23 but I am taking suggestions)
• Take the tour of the Statehouse
• Watch an Ohio Roller Girls Derby game
• Visit Serpent Mound
• Sleep in a yurt at the Wilds
• Visit Ohio's Amish Country (I want to find those little Amish girls that used to have a booth at the Worthington Farmers' Market and eat all of their butter cookies)
• Photography classes from anyone, anywhere but most especially any of the Wilds' photo camps
• Crop mob some of my favorite farms
• Go ice skating
• Take a hot air balloon ride over Columbus 
• Make a trip to the Slate Run Historical Farm
• Letterpress something
• Ride a horse (Done and DONE!)
• Attend a Pecha Kucha

I'll be making this list my home page so that I am reminded that I have yet to see and do it all.

What is on your list?

Something Lovely

These sculptures adorning the walls at the beautifuly Grange Insurance Audubon Center were crafted from recycled materials by Michelle Stitzleig. 

They were equally as beautiful from a distance and up close.

They also make me wish I could see the beauty in all of the doodads and broken wizzits cluttering our home.

Go to the Audubon Center, and go quickly, because it is so full of beauty.

I saw a rainbow! A double rainbow even!

I bought this beautiful, delicious cookie from the Goodie Shop. 

A toss-up

When Kenny asks you which mayo you would prefer on your takoyaki: hot mustard or Mentaiko mayo, you should say both. 

That is what I did and I ran out takoyaki before I could pick a favorite. 

Next time I am going to have to get more than one order. 

The red line to Argyle

Any other place of worship would be built to command reverence. 

It is true of churches and cathedrals, sports arenas, the New York Stock Exchange (perhaps less so these days than in days of old), our National Parks... each impressive from near and far... a procession of worshippers approaching... rituals and traditions surrounding the establishment... grand in scale and design...

But this rarely seems to hold true for the places we eat.

I remember the first time I went to Topolobampo. I was walking through Chicago, impressed by the sights and lights and heights and noises, when I turned the corner and there was a small awning telling me I had arrived. It was disorienting because the approach to this, my place of worship, was so unassuming. So perfectly normal. So of-this-earth.

As I have explored the food world and found the places that bring me little tastes of heaven, I find myself saying again and again: "Oh - that place? I almost didn't notice it at first."

We are told over and over that we eat with our eyes first but perhaps the meal starts before that. After all, each scene needs to be set. 

And this is my point, the setting for explosive flavors and thoughtful pairings and memorable dishes is rarely predictable or monumental. It is more often at a family kitchen table, from a trailer set up in the laundromat parking lot, behind just another door in just another strip mall, down an alley, around the next corner, at a bar... good food is anywhere.

I appreciate websites like http://alteatscolumbus.com/ and http://tacotruckscolumbus.com/ because they are constantly finding the places the rest of us mortals drive past every day and night. And by sharing the tales of their adventures, they have inspired me to open my eyes to the ordinary, ask questions of the unseen, and step into the unknown. My taste buds are the better for it.

These were just a few of the things I was considering while hunting down a good bahn mi.

(This may be the exception to my proposed rule.)

A view from wherever I was that other day

I think photography feels new every time I look through the viewfinder and see the world from a different perspective.

I've already mentioned my proclivity for taking photos of up, but when we were on the 30 something floor of Hotel 71 in Chicago, it hardly seemed necessary. Instead, I found myself sticking my camera out the window. 

I really really really like this photo.

But my love of Chicago might make me biased.

What it is

The view from Wacker and Wabash.

Good eyes, Scott and Lauren.

Do you know what this is?

I'll post the answer tomorrow. 

Molded and Bowled-ed (and Non-Newtonian Fluids): The menu from the latest CMH Dinner Club

 (art by Carl Acampado)

There were a few more rules than normal for the fourth CMH Dinner Club: 

1a. Your dish had to be moldable.

OR 

1b. Your dish had to be served in a bowl.

OR 

1c. Your dish just had to be delicious.

OR

1d. Your dish had to be a Non-Newtonian Fluid.

OR

1e. Your dish had to actually be alcohol and not a food dish at all. 

These wines were provided by Natalie and were blended and labeled at Camelot Cellars

2. Don't touch the black cat.

The spread:

Lori's spiked coffee jello shots

Other drinks were provided by Elena (Andrew's orange punch), Lori (and her well stocked liquor cabinet) & Jim. Molly was the evening mixologist.

(picture by Elena)

There was gin. I tried it. So very juniper-y.

Amber's borscht

Anne & K's bagna cauda (olive oil, butter, anchovies & garlic - and the veggies for dipping)

Christy's devilled eggs 2 ways: traditional and tweaked for spring

Heather's matzo ball soup

Jim & Emily's asparagus, ramp, Blue Jacket dairy cheddar curd salad w/ roasted pepper dressing

Jim & Emily's pork terrine (inspired by Michael Ruhlman's book)

Kate, Paul, Bethia & Bear's meaty timpano (inspired by The Big Night; recipe forthcoming)

Kate, Paul, Bethia & Bear's veggie timpano (being unmolded by Andy)

Katie's oden soup with daikon, hard boiled eggs, chikuwa, konnyaku (devil's tongue or yam cake) and mochi-kinchaku (mochi purse)

Lori's hot & sour soup (it was even a vegetarian version made completely out of love)

Molly's parmesan creme brulee and bleu cheese leek creme brulee

And for the sweet tooth:

Peeps (because there werw some people that had never eaten a peep before. Can you believe? The caves these people must be living in... wha?)

Amber's butternut squash & maple custard with candied ginger

Anne & K's Chinese mango pudding 

Anne & K's vegetarian Chinese mango soup

Bethia's summer pudding

Bethia's Christmas pudding - straight from the drawer to the unmolding and then set on fire

Carl's jello mold

Jim & Emily's chocolate, brandy, cherry & pistachio terrine

Kate's red velvet creme brulee

Lori's plum cake

Michael's cream puffs

Scott & Chad's lemon & rosemary sandwich cookies (Recipe here)

Talcott's historically accurate cross-section of sedimentary layers (made of chocolate and cookies) complete with white chocolate dinosaur bones

Valerie's green octopus & Swedish fish ocean/jello diorama

Zach's sous vide chocolate pudding and creme anglaise

And the people? Well, at these dinners, there are always incredible people to meet and fun stories to be made. 

Note: the next dinner will be May 21. Location to be announced later. The theme will be Grilled and Chilled: from Fire to Freezer. Join the conversation happening here or tell me some of your Grilled and Chilled ideas.

Note - we will accept new follower requests for @CMHDinnerClub  (and CMH Dinnerclub on FB) once we have a location determined. That account exists solely to send out the event address. More info about that here.

If you want to make the art for the event, let me know!