Loved Mariano’s in Chicago

Wish We Had A Mariano’s In Columbus!

I had the opportunity to have a tour of the grand opening of the Harwood Heights Mariano’s Fresh Market last week. I walked out of that store really wishing that I would be able to shop there regularly.  Of course, that isn’t an option for me since I don’t live in Chicago, but I’d love Mariano’s to come this way!

The feel of the store was nice. It was very crowded since it was the grand opening and you could feel the energy and excitement that everyone had. What makes the store different?  There were many differences from stores I’m familiar with.

They have a $6 meal that you can purchase to take home, or eat in the store. You can pick the main course and a couple sides for a $6 or $10 meal. These foods looked like awesome home cooked meals. We were going to ate lunch while we were there and everything I saw, I was thinking… oh, I want to get THAT for lunch! Look at those pot pies! They were huge! I’ll tell you what, you wouldn’t be able to pick out these meals at a restaurant for $6!

The bakery was incredible. Have you heard of Fruit Loop or bacon donuts? Look at some of the goodies.

They have their cake decorators work where you can watch them. I really loved that.

They have creativity rights to create fun! These little 5″ cakes were darling. Loved the cupcake cake!

I SO wanted to try one of these cream puffs, but I did refrain.

They had a grill set up in between the seafood and meat departments. You could ask them to take a salmon or steak and grill it for you right then!

They have an extensive wine department. You can also create your own six pack of beer. I thought that was really unique. This particular stores has an extensive couple of international aisles.

We were able to meet Mr. Mariano, the CEO of Mariano’s. He loves visiting the stores and stopping to talk to families shopping. He wasn’t too sure what “bloggers” were, but we helped to fill him in. It was nice to see him in the store, and was really friendly.

There is an huge floral department and the flowers were absolutely beautiful.

Sushi anyone? They had a sushi bar. I’ll admit that I didn’t try it myself. But they were making it fresh as it was ordered.

It sure was pretty though, and three of the bloggers did have sushi for their lunch and loved it.

Melissa @ConsumerQueen and I had a fresh salad and fresh fruit.

Vivian King was our tour guide, and we’ve been working with her through Collective Bias. It was great to meet her in person. She had the ribs that were so awesome! There is a BBQ department that prepares them fresh in the store. We were able to try samples of them earlier. She said that she normally always gets the sushi at the grand openings, but she was straying from her normal today.

This is what I really wanted to try for lunch, but from the samples that they had throughout the store, I was actually a little too full to get one for lunch. They had individual pizzas that they would make to order for you. I wanted a mushroom, onion one… my fav! Maybe next visit to Chicago!

Look at this monster sandwich! It looked, omg good!

I have never thought about “eating” a meal at a grocery store before. But that is very much the norm at Mariano’s.  You can come in for a glass of wine, pick out your meal and eat in the cafe. I will certainly be stopping back by to try some more of their meals on my next visit to Chicago.

I am an employee of Collective Bias and Mariano’s is our client.  I went on the tour to see the store, and took a lot (almost 300) photos while there. I decided to create a post because I was so impressed with the store, I was not asked to write a post, nor expected to. I just wanted to share with you all!

 

 

 

 

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Downtown Disney

Shop Downtown Disney!

Downtown Disney is nice because you don’t have to pay to go in.  Parking is free, entrance is free, it’s just a nice place to be able to shop and take pictures and eat!

The Lego store there is the coolest one I’ve ever been to.  The Lego sculptures are amazing, like the dragon in the water.  Elise had never seen anything like them.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner.  It was around 3:30pm, so you could consider it either a late lunch or early dinner. We got a seat (which I was thrilled but surprised at, even at 3:30pm).  What a cool experience for a child (and adult!)

We did some pin trading with the Disney employees.  Did you know that the employees who have pins on a vest or lanyard will trade you any authentic Disney pin for free?  You decided which one of theirs you want and you can pick any of your pins to trade back. It is so cool, you ask one and a couple others in the area will come up and show you their pins.  Elise and I both had fun doing that.  One of the things I did on another trip was to buy some of the “surprise” dollar bag of pins at the counter and use those to trade with. This time I had ordered some trading pins off the internet for Elise to have fun with.

We had some Ghirardelli  ice Cream after dinner. Yum!

We did some shopping in one of the Disney stores and bought the boys a couple pins for their lanyards since they weren’t with us.

There is a new T-Rex restaurant that looked cool. We didn’t go in, but by the looks of the line, it looked popular.

We had a lovely evening at Downtown Disney. This is an easy must do on any day of your trip. I’m glad we did go in the afternoon rather than in the evening, because a storm let loose right as we were leaving.

 

 

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Fort Rapids

Located in Columbus Ohio – Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark is fun anytime of year

The kids and I went to Fort Rapids in door water park at the end of 2010. I wanted to share this post from my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog with you, so I’m reposting it.

We were invited to go to Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort and decided to plan it around the triplets 10th birthday.  They turn 10 on December 30th, 2010 and we knew with the winter setting in, this would be a great time to go.

We arrived on December 29th and were able to get our park passes when we arrived about 2pm. (you can pick them up by 1pm day of check in)  We couldn’t check in our rooms until 4pm, so we decided to go have lunch since we were starving by then anyway.

We came back at 4pm and stood in the line to check in.  The lobby was beautiful, and right off the bat I noticed the western theme in everything.  Now… where else do you get cookies when you check in?  (I know of one other place I’ve been, but they gave you a single cookie, not a tray to choose from)

Once we checked in we had to check the place out.  Saw this coffee bar, although I never did get a chance to go inside.

We had to figure out what this machine was.  It was outside the restaurant. You had to put in $2 to play. Then you tried to use the claw to pick up a lobster. If you got it up and out of the water you got to have it cooked up and served for free.  We saw some people trying later while we were eating dinner. It got noisy… they were all excited and both times thought they had the lobster, but both times it kicked off and got free.  It kind of had those loose kind of claws like the stuff animal machines do, so it didn’t have a very good grip on them, there was nothing to hurt them.

Check out the reaction when we walked into our suite called the Bright Angel Point Grand Canyon. It sleeps 12!

It was so much fun for the kids. There was so much to do and with them being 10 years old it was nice that they could be off by themselves while we just sat and relaxed. Dave read and I took pictures! lol (no.. Dave and I didn’t get in the water. Be sure to wear cool clothes because it is humid and warm in there. Great for the kids running around in swimsuits, not so great if you aren’t getting in or you have a new hairdo! lol )
There were life guards everywhere! They were regulating the slides and I don’t think you could look from your left to your right without seeing one.
This guy was funny. He saw me standing there waiting for the kids to come down the slide to try and get their pictures (which didn’t turn out.. by the way) and he said.. hey.. get me in action. He started a slow motion run.  lol Cracked me up.  (there was no one in the water by the way, he was the guard at the bottom of the slide)

Like I said.. the western theme was throughout not only the hotel, but also the waterpark. This was up in the air as decoration for part of the waterpark.

There was an adult area huge whirlpool tub. No kids allowed.  So the adults can get away from it all too.

A really large and nicely done kiddie area. This was one of the cute dumping water features in that area.

Now here is one of the water dumping features for the big kids!! lol

The kids loved it.. Even the littler slides were fun.

A and Kim’s from @craftymamaof4  – son were having fun together.

There was basketball for you to play in the water too.

This is another one of Kim’s sons.

The kids loved the lazy river. It was a popular place and would get pretty crowded, but the kids didn’t mind.

There were all kinds of people here. From babies to elderly. You also realize how big tattoos are now too! LOL Until you see people in their swimsuits, you don’t realize how popular they are. omg!
I’m adding this picture… just because I think it is cool.
We left the indoor waterpark after several hours and went back to our cool suite to shower and change. Then off to dinner.

We would have liked to stop off in the cool game room, but we never did find the time.

As I stated in the video, we weren’t overly impressed with the food.  There was a good selection on the buffet and the prices were good. Dave and 2 of the 3 kids got the buffet. They graded their meals  a C-, C and B+.  The main problem was that some of the food was kind of dry.. I think from sitting out. They do keep them covered nicely.

I ordered from the menu and got a burger and was excited to see the broccoli salad with it. I had a few bites and then stopped.. there was too much dressing on it. Too much mayo taste.  The burger was kind of dry also.  I left part of the crust and the edges of the burger.  A also ordered from the menu. He got a hot dog and loved it! He gave it an A+…. said it was the biggest and best hot dog he had ever eaten. But it took quite awhile for our meals to come. The others had finished eating… 2nd helpings before our food came out.  I would have to say that this was the only slightly negative thing that we experienced.

Everyone there was extremely helpful.  Other than the people checking me in, I’m sure no one else knew I was doing a review.  They provided this cake for the triplets birthday. It was in the room when we got there. I don’t think this was only because I was reviewing. My guess is that this would be a service that anyone would receive.  We didn’t have any forks or knife, plates etc.. in the room – so we stopped by the bar area and asked if they had some forks and plates we could use.  She  did and then when she couldn’t find a knife for us to cut the cake, she went into the restaurant to get us one.

Kim from Crafty Mama of 4 was there with her family the same time we were. That was fun. Our kids and husbands had never met, and the kids got to play some together at the waterpark. They came over and shared the cake with us for the kids birthdays.

There were 2 king beds (one up and one down)  and the other downstairs room had 2 queens. (we thought they seemed smaller than our queen at home, so I would have guessed doubles, but info says they are queen) and then a small little room with a set of bunk beds. The couch also pulls out to a sleeper sofa.

The room across from ours was having a family reunion here. Some were from the DC area, others from IL and they met in Ohio and stayed together, visited and the kids got to play. Great idea!!

The suite was unbelievable! There was 2 stories, 4 bedrooms (2 down and 2 up) 3 bathrooms, the living room with fireplace and a kitchenette area. There was no running water in the kitchenette. So that was just a little strange. We had to take our drinks to the bathroom to dump them out. But no biggie. There was a little dryer there that you could dry your suits! We didn’t use it to see if it worked though.

You don’t have to get a suite though, there are all kinds of different options for rooms, from your basic hotel room to the family villas.

The suite we stayed in was the Bright Angel Point Grand Canyon and cost $499 for the night, but with taxes it came to $599.  It comes with 12 indoor waterpark passes.  The passes are good from 1pm of your check in day.. and extend to the end of the day on your check out day (check out is 11am, but there are lockers that you can change in after you swim if you have checked out).

You can get day passes to the waterpark also. They run $26.99. (prices may vary)

Be sure to visit.. and tell them Sandy from Explore Ohio with Sandy sent you!

Thank you Fort Rapids… we had a wonderful time!

Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark Resort
www.FortRapids.com

4560 Hilton Corporate Drive
Columbus, OH 43232

877-33-SPLASH (877-337-7527)

Disclosure: Our 1 night stay in the Bright Angle Point Grand Canyon suite and 10 waterpark passes were provided at no charge. We paid for our own meals. The pictures, video and opinions are my own.

 

Geneva on the Lake

The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva On the Lake, Ohio

Dave and I were invited to visit The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva On-The-Lake and I was more than thrilled! Living less than three hours away from Lake Erie, you would think that I would go up there more frequently.  But alas, other than our visit last year, this is only the second time I’ve stayed on the lake.

It is the perfect place for you to stay if you enjoy wine country – it’s in the heart of Ohio’s wine country, directly on Lake Erie just east of Sandusky. There are over 20 wineries near by to enjoy.  The Lodge has a wine shuttle that will take you several of them. But you do have to be sure and reserve your spot on the shuttle early because it sells out.

Here is a video that shows you are weekend visit.

Looks great doesn’t it?

It was Easter weekend and cool, but sunny and pretty.  Dave is hoping that we’ll get a chance this summer to come back up. He wants to take the kids on a fishing charter on the lake.

We drove up to the area Friday evening so we could visit with his niece, Jamie and her husband Brian along with Dave’s childhood friend Kevin and his wife Kym. They suggested the winery Ferrante, which is close to the Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.  We had a really nice meal, along with some fun wine tasting at the restaurant.  We wondered why the restaurant wasn’t very busy when it was so nice, but realized later it was because it was pre-season and things were pretty quiet.

We drove over to The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake on Saturday.  The town of Geneva was really quant, but we didn’t stop anywhere, we just drove through.   We found the Lodge, but it was still too early to check in. We then went on past the Lodge and found the strip of Geneva on the Lake. It reminded me of Virginia Beach or Myrtle Beach. I could just picture people walking up and down the sidewalks with all the open air places to eat and visit. I bet it is so fun! Other than being warm enough to take a boat on the lake, being able to enjoy this area I missed.

We found the Firehouse Winery open and had lunch there.  There was a small room on the second floor with just a few tables that over looked the lake.  We first thought that the winery was in the blue building, but discovered it was in the red barn looking building to the right in the picture above.

Picture this Ferris wheel with all the seats attached going around….  what a cool view that would be of the lake.

We walked along the lake, back behind the winery.  What a beautiful day!

There is plenty to do and see in the area, even off season

We went back to the Lodge and checked into our room.  Walking into the lobby you immediately had a feel of … “wow, this is a nice place”.

There are several places that have groups of comfortable seats.

Then we had to check out our room.  The room was very nice.  We had a king room with a balcony and great view of the lake. Loved that!  There are other rooms that have options such as whirlpools, family rooms with bunk beds and a couple recently upgraded two-room suites.

Check out the view we had from our balcony! See the gazebo? Guess what happens there?  Yes… weddings! Wouldn’t that be a beautiful setting? You wouldn’t have to worry about the hot sand of a beach wedding! lol

The Lodge at Geneva also has an indoor pool and hot tub (although we didn’t indulge on this trip) along with an outdoor pool that looks out on the lake.

We ate our dinner on Saturday night at the Horizons Restaurant in the lodge.  You walk into the restaurant to a really cool fireplace and buffet. It is really inviting.

 Then you look behind the fireplace and see an entire wall of windows looking out at the lake and the gazebo.  When it gets dark the gazebo is all lit with white lights… nice!

I thought it was cool to see this couple sitting out by the water on the bench. The whole feel of the lodge feels romantic to me.

We had the breakfast buffet the next morning (Easter Morning). We did not stay for the Easter bunch that was taking place in just about an hour or so.  Our breakfast was nice, not spectacular but good. . My omelet was fine, but Dave said his french toast wasn’t very good. But the coffee and atmosphere were awesome.  I’m thinking the focus might have been on the brunch since it was such a special event and not the regular breakfast.

We checked out the marina on Saturday.  It seemed strange seeing a marine without any boats. Come May it will be full of boats.

What a nice place to visit! It is actually just a walk from the Lodge at Geneva on the Lake.

There are so many things to do. Obviously boating and fishing, but there is also canoeing, hiking, nature walks, golfing, a tour of historic covered bridges, lighthouses, museums, Underground Railroad sites, restaurants and entertainment. wow!

I would not hesitate to recommend The Lodge at Geneva on the Lake to anyone and I am recommending it to all of you!!

 

The Lodge & Conference Center at
Geneva on-the-Lake
4888 North Broadway
Geneva-On-The-Lake, Oh 44041

440-415-1527
www.TheLodgeatGeneva.com  

 

Our Saturday night stay, dinner and breakfast at The Lodge & Conference Center at Geneva on-the-Lake. This did not influence my opinions. The pictures and video are all my own and are not to be used without my permission. (You are welcome to pin the pictures on pinterest though)

Dunkin Donut Review

Dunkin Donut in Worthington, Ohio

Who doesn’t love donuts? I know I sure do! I was lucky enough to get to go as a part of the Tastecasting  to the new Dunkin Donuts in Worthington, OH
We got to taste donuts, coffees and breakfast sandwiches. I know I got an education to what they had. I never thought of anything other than the donuts…(which is usually enough in MY book!!) Ok…I will let you drool over the next couple of pictures…


Ok..we all know how wonderful their donuts are right?
But they also have some other really great products….some of which you can eat without feeling guilty

There is a menu of items called the DD Smart menu. They are a healthier option with calorie counts below 300 calories. This is the Egg White Turkey Sausage Flatbread Sandwich. It was really good!! Very filling and I just had a portion of one to sample. I will be getting another one of those for sure. Ok…so if I get one of those along with my donut it would be better than just eating donuts right?

I tried an iced coffee with cream and a shot of blueberry syrup in it. Now that was fun too. I sipped that all the way home and really enjoyed it.

This was the cutest little sample cup of their really yummy coolattas. These are on special until July 14th for only $1.99. Now…do not think they are tiny like my sample….look at the site. These are 16 oz sizes. I tasted the strawberry and vanilla. I do have to say that my favorite was the strawberry..although the vanilla really tasted good too. You can have them made with skim milk and they can fall into the DD Smart Menu with only 140 calories for a small. Yeah!

SugarDaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties Review

SugarDaddy’s Sumptuous Sweeties Round Brownies!

Meet Mark, Tom, Allison and Brian. This is team Sugardaddy! (Minus Chef who was on vacation for our visit).
Mark and Tom are the creators and owners of all these goodies!
Tom would make up these wonderful brownie creations and Mark loved them and encouraged him to take his love of baking, his marvelous brownie creations, and creativity to the next level.

Together they formulated the name from Blondies their light or butter, brown sugar based brownies and Brunettes from their chocolate brownies. So what worked better than SugarDaddy’s Scrumptious Sweeties?


There are 17 flavors of these round brownies and blondies. For instance you have the Dark Berry, Auburn Original, Rich Mint, Tahiti, Fiery, Zanzibar, Chai Spiced and many more.

I have to say that the Rich Mint is my favorite…although I loved all the others too. I don’t think there would be any of all that I tasted…and I tasted a lot!!! I was trying just one bite of about all of the items.

Why round?

Tom and Mark did a lot of research and found that the majority of people do not like the brownie crust. They want the moist inside of the brownie. So they bake their brownies and then cut them round.
I think this is great. They do not let ANYTHING go to waste when it comes to their deluxe brownies.
They use the pieces that come from in between the round cuts to make 1 lb bags of “pocket change.” These little pieces of brownie are great for munching, using in a trifle, or paring with ice cream.

For those of us who love the crust…we are not forgotten!! They take the crust and double bake them to come up with Brownie biscotti! Oh…are these good! Brownie taste, crust taste, but so light and great with coffee.

So you think they would be finished right? Nope…more small pieces of brownie are used to make these fabulous Brownie Truffles! Oh my gosh!! Loved these too!!
They are color coded so you know what you are getting.

Here are a few that I got to taste. (Wish I had one right now as I am writing this!!)

This is the Auburn Original. It has triplet chocolate, chocolate ganache and kahlua.

The American Beauty with double chocolate, peanut butter, roasted peanuts, chocolate canache and creme de cacao. Soooo good.

So you would think there wouldn’t be anything left right? They take the smallest parts of the brownies and smash them and use them in the crust of their cheesecake!!
We got to sample it…yummy!

They have also begun to make ice cream and are working to develop more flavors. So that will be fun to see what new flavors they will be coming up with!

Ok…here is a really cool part. Not only do we like them….but they have already been discovered!
Tom beat Bobby on Bobby Flay’s Showdown, (you can find the video clips at the bottom of their home page.) enjoyed by Ellen’s Guest in her Green Room, used as the Snack of the Day on Rachel Ray and has tons of write ups.
They have been in business for only 4 years and have accomplished all of this so far!! Can’t imagine how big they are going to be in the next 4 years!
Here is the brownie that Tom beat Bobby with. It is the Tahiti Blondie: Roated Coconut, Sugardaddy’s special curry spice blend and roasted cashews. Now how is that for a blondie?

They have the cutest store!! This was just completed in February of this year. It feels so comfortable. There is a coffee station

Places to sit and eat and drink your coffee.

They have the cutest wrapping station gift bags and lovely ways to personalize your gifts.

Look at the cute personalized Gift Bag options you can send your goodies in to people!! Also note the Brownie cake sitting on the shelf. You can have this made with several days notice and I hear it is the bomb!!

I could go on believe me! But you need to visit their site..and investigate. What a nice alternative to the normal “flowers” that people send.
They only overnight their products. Why? Good question…because it is the only way to be sure their products are as fresh as can be. They bake them package them and send them the same day and then only overnight ship them. Here is another thing that is very unusual. They call you when your order has been delivered. Now how often does that happen?

Visit SugarDaddy’s web site to place your order!

Creekside in Gahanna Ohio

Just to share something a little different today. A little light, fun and romantic place near my home town.

I went with my hubby to dinner last night in little ole’ Gahanna, OH. I had not been to the area they had completely built up as Creekside yet. Pictures looked nice and @creeksidenews is on Twitter, saying how nice it was, so we decided to give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised. We decided to pick Wine Guys Wine Shop for dinner. We were able to eat out at one of the tables outside. We did not have a creekside view, rather a street and fountain view…but it was still so quaint to sit outside and eat. They had wine tastings. Wait…they called them wine flights. You get 4 small (I think it was 2 oz) glasses of four different wines in the same grouping to taste. Then you can order after that if you choose. These equal about 1 1/2 glasses of wine and that is plenty for me.

They also serve food in tapas sizes. They are smaller portions than normal, so that each person can order 2 or 3 tapas and try different things. We ordered a bread plate, salad to share, pizza and the special which was steak kabobs. We had pizza and steak to bring home.
I kept telling my husband as we sat outside that it made me feel like I was on a vacation. I didn’t feel like I was in Ohio anymore. Isn’t that the ultimate complement?

We then took a walk along the creekside and here are some pictures of that. White lights decorated some of the trees along the way.


See the baby ducks? Look close!
Of course we had to stop and get ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery!!
We really enjoyed this. I told my hubby it was the perfect date night. I look forward to coming back.

Bob Evans New Summer Menu!

The Tastecasting Group and the Chefs who fed us tonight!!

We were treated to a feast tonight at the Bob Evans at Graceland in Columbus Ohio. This Bob Evans got a new remodeling job. This is a prototype with the “Eat-In Kitchen“. It is a new comfortable feeling to it. (I didn’t get a very good picture of it….very nice though)
There were 20 of us there and we were treated to the new appetizers, main course and dessert along with ice cream floats. We had the chefs come out and talk to us. We had marketing, public relations, General Manager and several other people from Bob Evans there. They were checking out this new form of marketing that Tastecasting was offering them. We were checking out the new restyle of Bob Evans and the yummy food they were coming out with.
The new menu will be launched this Thursday May 14th. (except for the supreme pie which will be out in mid June)

These are the new Appetizers!
They are:
Itsy Bitsy Sandwiches – sausage with cheese and a pickle and the Bob-B-Q pulled pork sandwich with a pickle.
Loaded Baked Potato Bites – breaded and fried potato bites stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon. It is served with ranch dressing.
Wildfire Chicken Quesadilla – grilled flour tortilla filled with chicken and all kinds of other goodies.
Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Fries – Battered and fried apple pie fries dusted with powered sugar and served with caramel dipping sauce. *My favorite*

Here is my plate! I did not try the quesadillas because the Wildfire BBQ sauce scared me off. But guess what…I tried it and it is not too hot at all. It is a sweet sauce with just a little bit of spice. Believe me…if I can eat it, it isn’t too spice. I am a spicy whimp!! (and I liked it) By the time I realized it, the quesadillas were all gone. They were popular and from what I heard, very good.

Floats!! I can’t remember the last time I had a good rootbeer float. They had cherry coke, coke and rootbeer floats. Very good. Hmmmm….think I liked it?


The Baby Back Ribs are slow roasted, fall-off-the-bone (and they really do) tender ribs glazed in the Wildfired Sauce. *my favorite*

Oven Roasted Chicken. This is oven-roasted, bone-in chicken breasts that are slathered in Bob Evans smoke-sweet wildfire sauce.

The Red, White & Blueberry Supreme Pie was heavenly! Rich cream cheese filling topped by a layer of fresh strawberries and blueberries and creamy whipped topping. This was soooo good!! It will not be out until mid June when the blueberries are at their peak. Can’t wait.

These were the two chefs that made this feast for us. Both were named Brian. Jules was in charge tonight for Tastecasting.

Make sure to visit a Bob Evans near you!!

The Suisse Shop Review

Social Media can be used in many ways. Dan Harris had a vision to help local restaurants get some attention to help their business and for us to get to sample some real goodies and to make some new friends.

Everything looked so wonderful!! It smelled great. The Suisse Shop is known for their Tortes and pastries. They normally sell them by the full torte. But for this week (and only one other during the year) they have their special, “Torte by the Slice”. It gives us all a chance to taste any of the over 30 tortes they make. They only cost $3.50 per slice! And only $2.75 for the cheesecake. If you think what you would pay for this wonderful piece of dessert if you were in sit down restaurant you would probably be paying about $8.50 a slice.

The Suisse Shop has been in business for 26 years and is owned by a Swiss baker, Therese Whitfield. She and her family run the shop. They are are opened from 9am-7pm Tuesday through Friday. Mondays are from 9am-4pm and they are closed on Sundays.

They make fantastic wedding cakes and have made over 1500 in central Ohio.

Look at the plate I sampled!! I tried Black Forest torte, Buckeye cheesecake, Lemon torte, yellow torte, chocolate torte, german chocolate torte, coconut torte. They were all really good. I have to say that I did have a couple of favorites. I really liked the yellow, lemon and chocolate tortes. They had a very light buttery frosting. These were not “heavy” at all to me. I think the peanut butter cheesecake was the richest I tasted. Fantastic, but I wouldn’t be able to eat more than one piece.

They use the same ingredients when they make their cupcakes. They looked really good too. They also have mini torte cakes. There are 5″ tortes, 8″ and 10″ tortes.

Doesn’t everything look great? Guess what…it was!!

Espresso Cafe in Powell Ohio

Espresso Yourself Music Cafe Review with TasteCasting

Last night I got to go to the cutest coffee house in Powell, OH. It was opened in an old church. There are bands that play and entertain you as you get to drink your coffee. They have a listing of bands and a menu at the web site Espresso Yourself Music Cafe.
The art work is all done by different artist and is for sale and changes regularly.

We were treated to a sample of a few different sandwiches. These were fantastic! I never really thought of a coffee house as having some really good food, but this one does! Eric who owns this coffee house and his daughter run it. He is very conscious of healthy food. His wife passed away 2 years ago of lung cancer and before she died they learned how to eat really healthy.
The smoothies have real fruit and antioxidants. I had the peach and it was wonderful!!! They also treated us to some (not as healthy..but hey, some of us still eat junk right?) warm chocolate chip cookies.
Thanks! I will for sure be back.

The Culinary Table in Grandview, Ohio

The Culinary Table Review with Taste Casting

I was able to go to my first Taste Casting event tonight. It took place at The Culinary Table in Grandview, OH. This is a combination of three businesses that come together to create pure magic when it comes to social events, corporate events, wedding parties, receptions, cooking classes or catering. Wine and beer tastings are also on the upcoming venue. It is a “One Stop Shop for Everything” as Emily of Bellisari’s catering said. It was a large room (can seat up to 60), but not too large and it felt very comfortable. The decorations were beautiful and done by Natural Designs, which design beautiful and original floral design and decorating. They were featured at The Decorator Show House.

It all tasted as good as it looked! If you live in the central Ohio area and are planning a graduation party, wedding reception or if you want to have a luncheon for business..you need to think about The Culinary Table.