Recent Events Around Town

Its been very busy around Columbus since my last blog and the great weather has been a perfect complement to the events. First there was the Ohio Wine Festival, held at the North Market in downtown Columbus. This event features about a dozen Ohio wineries. The proprietors of these wineries share the same passion for their craft as those in the more notable wine regions of the U.S. However their disadvantage is typically that they do not grow their own grapes and therefore lack a hands-on component that most wine-masters consider the core of good wine making. Additionally, many west coast wine masters have had wine crafting in their blood for many generations. This is a huge advantage as wine crafting is as much an art form as it is a business. The event started at 6:00p but since the weather was nice and we had nothing else to do, Misty and I headed down to the Short North area a few hours early to eat some lunch, have some Jeni's ice cream, adult ice cream as Misty calls it, and drink some cocktails. In retrospect, the cocktails were probably not a good idea prior to wine tasting, if you know what I mean...

As we sifted our way through the crowd I tasted wine from around 8 wineries (about 4 too many). Some wine was respectable and some could have been used to strip the paint of my deck. Along the way I ran into an old friend and colleage, Robin. He and his wife own the Wyandott Winery, here in Columbus. I found a couple of their wines to be respectable enough to purchase. All in all I headed home with about 5 bottles and a headach. But it was still an enjoyable.

This past weekend was the Columbus Jazz and Rib Fest. This is one of my favorite events; as you know I LUV RIBS and the Jazz goes down pretty easy too.

This event hosts around a dozen competative rib burners and probably an equal number of local and national Jazz bands. Misty, Caleb and I attended the Rib Fest this year. Misty's not a rib eater but Caleb was a big help as the portions are typically quite large. We sampled ribs from Armadillos (my favorite from last year), PigFoot and Big Boned. All were different and all were great. Although we did a good job of stuffing ourselves, Caleb still had enough room for a ear of roasted corn. Hmmm, yummy stuff!

With full bellies and feeling relaxed thanks to some good jazz we headed home for the evening. Of course we had to take one more look at the Columbus skyline. You gotta admit, it was looking pretty good that day.

Do you have a good rib adventure to share? Do you have a love for jazz? What's your favorite wines? I'd like to hear from you.

Today marks the beginning of the Dublin Irish Fest, the last big party of the summer in our neck of the woods. You'll definitely be hearing from me soon.

See you next time!