cincinnati saturday

Since Cincinnati is about only an hour away from Lex, we drove up on Saturday afternoon to visit with my college bff and her husband and to meet their happy little baby Evy. We hadn't see them since our wedding four and a half years ago, so it was splendid to spend some time with them and catch some sights around the city.

I finally decided to trade in the old point-and-shoot for a brand new Nikon DSLR. Hurrah! After much soul-searching, I decided that my first lens would be the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. Sharp, super fast, and great depth of field—love it. But now I can't stop thinking about how much fun I could have with such things as a super wide angle lens and how nice it would be to upgrade my computer hardware and software to complete the package. I hate having expensive hobbies. I should just go outside and play with some sticks.

So the photo above is of a park bench in Eden Park, which we strolled by on our way to the 2010 Butterfly Show at the Krohn Observatory. The park is so nice—we saw a duck pond, playgrounds for the kids, and scenic overlooks of the city and the Ohio River. I bet it's a great place to watch the sun set.

The park also has a replica of the Capitoline Wolf. I was wondering what Cincinnati had to do with the whole Romulus and Remus story (perhaps the only thing I remember from all those years of Latin), but as it turns out, legend has it that Cincinnati, like Rome, was built upon seven hills.

The Krohn Conservatory was pretty cool. Of all the plant life, I liked the orchid display the best . . . maybe that's my fondness for Adaptation showing. I was hoping to see more butterflies, but they were more scarce than I expected. Could it be  . . . murder? Every time I got close to one some kid would barge over and make a grab for the poor thing. I understand that children of a certain age are curious, have limited motor control, probably don't mean any harm, and that butterflies are exciting and OOH PRETTY . . . but still. It was sad to see so many of these creatures poked and prodded to death, literally.

And of course, no trek to Cincinnati would be complete without a trip to Findlay Market for some Liège-style waffles (thanks to A + J for humoring me on this). These waffles are sweeter—they have a caramelized sugar coating—and are much, much denser than the typical Belgian waffles that we Americans know and love. The batter looks like a ball of cookie dough being smushed in a cast iron press.

The waffles are being ambushed by strawberries and whipped cream so you can't really see them in this picture, but they looked (and tasted) really, really good. On the flip side, at Findlay we also had the worst tacos I've eaten in my life. So bad that neither me (the least picky eater you'll ever meet) or TJ (who has never met a taco he didn't like) didn't want to finish them. If you ever find yourself there, do bypass the tacos and go for the gyros at Areti's, which were fabulous. The meat was flavorful and piled on high, the tzatziki was thick and a little garlicky, and the pita was soft and buttery and just a bit crispy on the outside. The gyros also had a good ratio of tomatoes and onions, which I appreciated.