Well, for those of you who have not heard, I have received (and accepted) a job offer in Salt Lake City with Holland & Hart to join their real estate group. I have some great friends who work there and look forward to joining them. Over the last 5 & 1/2 years, we have come to love Columbus, and I have enjoyed working for SZD, so the change will be bittersweet for us. We are, however, excited to rejoin our family and the topographic beauty of the Salt Lake Valley. If you are one of our Ohio friends, we expect you to visit soon. If you are one of our Utah friends, we look forward to renewing your acquaintance. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to slurp down some Jell-O before I head off to a protest.
* photo courtesy of cinnamonsheep
Could have used a tripod, but didn't have to thanks to the wonders of VR. This is untouched, straight from the camera (except for a little cropping). A bit of a different feel from the one below it, eh?
Last night we went to Spagio which, for whatever reason, sometimes gets a bad rap. We decided to try it anyway and really liked it. We had chicken and spinach ravioli (with vegetables and a pesto sauce) and a pork chop (with chipotle vinagrette, mashed yukon golds, apple-jalapeno chutney and blackened tobacco onions). The food was excellent, the service was prompt and unobtrusive and it is only two doors down from Jeni's. Perhaps our experience was a fluke, but we will return and try it again--it was very good. Spagio: Recommended.
This morning we went to Tasi, which is somewhere I have wanted to go for a long time. Tasi Rigsby (Kent, who runs one of the best restaurants in the city, is her husband) is the restaurant's namesake, and given the restaurant's pedigree, I had high expectations. Breads and pastries are prepared by Eleni-Christina Bakery (another Rigsby endeavor), and all of the food is prepared with fresh, local and high-quality ingredients. The chocolate croissant (or pain au chocolat, if you prefer) shown above was perfect (and generously-sized), and the french toast and sourdough pancakes were incredible. Like I said, I had high expectations--and my expectations were exceeded. If the food is similarly good after a couple of more visits, it may get an asterisk on my list. For now, Tasi: Highly Recommended. (As always, more pictures on my Flickr.)
Took a few photos this weekend, and this was one of my favorites. Amazing what a VR lens can do (1/6th sec exposure, hand held). Unfortunately, the camera was set to spot metering (not sure why), which I didn't realize until I was on my way home. View my Flickr for a few more (here is one of the other pics I liked).
After a year and a half in which our only trips were to Utah, we decided to branch out and do something fun. Since (I am embarrassed to say) I had never visited our nation's capital, we decided to spend the weekend in Washington D.C. We had a great time (can't go wrong staying at The Westin Grand (thanks Hotwire)), and it was plenty colorful as it happened to be the first weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. As always, click on the picture above for many more pictures on my Flickr. Unfortunately, what looks good on my monitor may not look good on yours--time to get mine calibrated.
I had several locations I wanted to photograph this morning, but it was exceptionally foggy so I had to improvise. A couple of more photos are on my Flickr (click on the photo above).
We experienced a record-setting weekend in Columbus with a single snow storm total of 20.4". Other than a trip to Costco--which is a weekly event regardless of the weather, whether we have time, or whether we need anything--we spent most of the day inside. Noah and Logan entertained each other without either taking a nap and without any fights. Granted, Logan is young enough that he doesn't fight--we act as his proxy as necessary, but there weren't any of those either. I will leave you to guess which of the foregoing is the more impressive record. My Flickr has a couple of more photos of the snow.
There are not many things I enjoy more than a tenderloin grilled on my own grill. But, it is sometimes nice to get outside the house, and so I have complied this list of my favorite places to eat in Columbus. Many of these restaurants serve excellent steaks; all of them (on the first part of the list) serve something I have enjoyed (regardless of the animal) or have served something I didn't mind but in an enjoyable manner (you need to visit the Blue Nile if you have not been there). I have tried to keep off as many chains as possible, but in some cases they were irresistible (e.g., Morton's, Smith & Wollenski, etc.) Enjoy!
Noah is generally content unless (1) someone other than Noah touches his giraffe without his express consent, or (2) someone eats Jeni's in front of him without sharing. In the event of either (1) or (2), beware.
One of the pleasures of living in a three bedroom house with four people is the frequency and non-negotiability of me losing my office space to make room for someone else--guests or, most recently, my own kids. Access to the computer has been limited to between 6:30 and 7:00 pm, which happens to be the same time dinner is served. Logan takes up the space the rest of the time.
The result of the foregoing is nearly two and one-half months without an update. Such delay is remarkable only for the fact that, if you scroll down a bit you'll notice, I finally started to get in the habit of posting every couple of weeks. Ali promises that, one day, Logan and Noah will learn to sleep through each other's whines--and when that happens, you can bet they'll be sharing the same room and I'll reclaim my man space. My blogging philosophy is quantity over quality, and lately I have produced neither--I vow to return to my frequent and mediocre ways in the near future. In the meantime, my Flickr contains a few pictures from the holidays. Click the pic to see more.
This is a terrible photo--in fact, I'm embarrassed to put it on my site. I took this in the Hocking Hills where I had previously spent a lot of time hiking and taking 'snapshots'--hastily taken and quickly forgotten photos. We came upon this waterfall in Conkle's Hollow--I walked up to it, snapped this photo and was ready to leave. But, this was one of the last places I would shoot for the day, and since this was one of the few times I had a tripod on a bright day (the blown out foreground gives that one away), I decided to take my time. Click on the picture above to be taken to the next photo I shot. Much better--not perfect, but something at least worth saving from the trash bin. The difference between these two frames taught me to be a more attentive, thoughtful hobbyist. Time and a little thought make a big difference.
Noah asked to get a pumpkin all day long, so we took him to a pumpkin patch to pick one out. When we got there, he only wanted the pumpkins that were smashed or diseased, both of which he referred to as "broken". Click the picture above for more details about the day.
"As we sift the ways of the world[,] let us reject the commonly accepted attitude of expecting the government to supply us with the necessities of life. This practice, if fully adopted, will change any society from one of freedon to one of slavery. Let us . . . be self-reliant.
...
The first principle of action . . . is, therefore, for us to take care of ourselves as far as possible.
The second is to be so bound together as families that we shall sustain each other. Fathers and mothers are under a divine command to care for their children, and children have the responsibility to care for their parents.
When Church members cannot provide for themselves and are not cared for by their families, they are to be cared for pursuant to the third principle of Church Welfare, which is, by divine command, that the membership of the Church shall take care of them."
"The dispensing of these great quantities of gratuities has produced in the minds of hundreds of thousands--if not millions--of people in the United States a love for idleness, a feeling that the world owes them a living. It has made a breeding ground for some of the most destructive political doctrines that have ever found any hold in this country of ours, and I think it may lead us into serious political trouble."
Good Columbus Restaurants (*my favorites)
*Northstar Café (Short North)
*Northstar Café (Clintonville) (the two have different menus)
*Handke's
*Mohawk Café
*Mitchell’s Steakhouse
*Lindey’s
*Jeni's Ice Cream (not a restaurant, but the best ice cream money can buy)
*The Rossi
Tasi
The Top
Martini’s
Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse
Barcelona
Anywhere at the North Market
Bexley’s Monk
Spagio
Confluence Park (best views in the city)
Lu Pon Xi (now Paul Liu's)
Flat Iron
Rigsby’s
Columbus Fish Market
Brio Tuscan Grill
Ruth’s Chris
Morton’s
Old Bag of Nails
Smith & Wollensky
Cap City Diner
Le Chetalaine
Columbus Brewing Company
Mozart’s
Panda Inn
Blue Nile
Thai Orchid
Bon Vie
Taverna Opa (closed?)
Benevolence (very hippy)
Club 185
Aladdin’s
Riverview (now La Tavola?)
Barley's Brewing Co.
Japanese Steakhouse
City Barbeque
Graeter's
Not Visited, But Up Next
G Michael’s
L’Antibes
M
Bravo
Alana’s
The Refectory
Marcella's
Betty's
Rosendale's
Wont' Make You Sick, But There Are Better Options
Indian Kitchen (like eating in someone's front room)
Surly Girl
Bodega
Gordon Biersch
O’Shaugnessy’s
Network
Zola’s Dining Lounge
Cotters
Eddie George’s Grill
