Kate's Random Musings

Money Honey

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 01 May 2013 12:18:00 +0000

Money makes the world go 'round. That's what Sally Bowes said in the Broadway musical "Cabaret". And as trite as it sounds, I'd tend to agree with Liza's character. Money gives you freedom, opportunity and the security of knowing you can stay afloat during a rainy period. I remember my...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Those People

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:43:00 +0000

"Why do those people downtown even want a trolley?" It's a statement some whisper under their breaths at dinner parties, dripping with condescension and disdain. On lush, kelly green golf courses, at book clubs and beauty salons, people around Greater Cincinnati critique and criticize...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Grab A Seat

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

What is old is new again. Many of the residences in Over-the-Rhine are a blend of antique features and modern trimmings. My own home is a melange of distressed oak floors, brick walls dating back to 1877, and shiny, silver duct work. It's a beautiful space that blends old and new, and it...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

It's the Wurst. Really.

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:10:00 +0000

Cincinnati is in love with its sausage. From the homemade links at Avril Bleh to Bockfest's much heralded Sausage Queen competition, the Queen City is infatuated with its wieners and franks. Enter Wurst Bar in the Square. We strolled down Linwood to this new gastropub a few weeks...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Sex and Feeling Sexy

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:22:00 +0000

So, I got this book in the mail last week. Not Tonight Dear, I Feel Fat is available beginning May 7. A PR rep offered me an advance copy and I quickly accepted; sex and body image is something every woman can relate to easily. It's my duty to review this, right? Some of us spend hours...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Have Taste Buds, Will Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:15:00 +0000

Wanderlust is a funny thing. Once you get your first taste of far-flung adventure, it's easy to spend the rest of your days dreaming of new lands to discover, new cultures to savor. No matter how much you love your hometown (and, boy, do I), we travel bugs seem to have a one track...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

No Vanity in Clapping

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:13:00 +0000

The crowd roared to a fever pitch. Clouds sailed overhead in a big, azure sky. More than 20-thousand people waved and clapped, celebrating at a game of baseball. An American pastime stitched with tradition and determination and revelry. The baseball players, the fans. The guys in the press...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Globetrotter

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:09:00 +0000

What shoes do you wear when you're circling the earth? It was an innocent question our department intern recently asked me. She was getting ready to gallivant to Europe for more than a month, and her adventure made me wistful I didn't do much traveling during and right after college. But it also...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Palm Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 01:51:00 +0000

Mother Nature must be going through the change. The calendar says we're two weeks away from spring, but this morning's snowfall would lead you to believe otherwise. I couldn't help but think of Lent and Easter when coming across this palm in Washington Park. Its lemony leaves were a...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Teasing Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 18:08:00 +0000

The cooler months have brought me in touch with my inner Domestic Goddess. The desire to nest and hibernate has revived a relationship with my kitchen. My stove, my pantry, my cluttered refrigerator, my Professional series KitchenAid mixer (the only really nice thing in my kitchen) - I've...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Post No Bills - Jack Wood Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:49:00 +0000

Week by week, 14th and Vine becomes the new 12th and Vine. Kaze and Quan Hapa have already put down edible roots in that section of Over-the-Rhine, joining established businesses including Mannequin (really, the first retail business in these gentrified parts), Pet Wants, Reser Bicycle and...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Born to Serve

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 18:24:00 +0000

I never thought someone would invoke the name of God to justify being a cheapskate. A few weeks ago the interwebs buzzed with the flap of a pastor who stiffed a server over an 18 percent tip, claiming she only gives God ten percent, reasoning the server didn't deserve the gratuity. A note here:...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Not Bad, Just Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 23:18:00 +0000

"That's a hotel for bad girls," my dad explained. It's the comment he'd make on our rides from Cincinnati to Youngstown - family treks to visit my grandparents and other relations in the rust belt town. We'd pass a brick and cement structure just south of Columbus, its grounds wrapped in chain...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Say What You Want To Say

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 20:43:00 +0000

Sometimes I feel like I have a ball gag in my mouth. Bet that piqued your interest, eh? As much as my life has some excitement from time to time, I'm inclined to keep it to myself these days. And that's my point. I don't know if it's age, disinterest or a growing sense of modesty and...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

This Girl Is On Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:48:00 +0000

Thirteen has long been my lucky number. It started way back when I was, appropriately, 13-years-old. I was at a school carnival at the Edwin H. Greene Intermediate School with friends and trying my luck at the middle school, high-stakes gambling game of Cake Walk. For those of you not...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

2012: Looking Back and Letting Go

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 13:39:00 +0000

What a year it was. The past 365 days gave me a good many opportunities to learn, grow and make mistakes. But I also experienced a few points of celebration that will keep me going and pushing for bigger wins in the year ahead. A few of the highlights. I can run. I've never been regarded as...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

$5 to $500 - The Best Gifts For The Lady On Your List

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 20:19:00 +0000

It's the thought that counts, really. But when you get right down to it, the holidays can be a well intentioned horror flick full of stress, shopping mall road rage, and terror induced by Seasonal Affected Disorder. SAD, indeed. Rather than crunch the numbers and gnash your teeth over...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Bacon + Booze

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 13:15:00 +0000

"Guess what I had last night." "An Old Fashioned?" "Nope." "Some bacon?" "Well, kind of both of those." Metropole at the 21C Hotel is serving up a cocktail where two worlds collide: Pig in the...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Sleep No More

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:48:00 +0000

Spend any time in the Big Apple and you will likely have a moment when you exclaim, "Only in New York." A visit to the McKittrick Hotel will certainly prove to be one of those moments. This old hotel in Chelsea was built by a wealthy family right before World War II. The war kept its doors...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

36

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:38:00 +0000

What's in a number, anyway? A lot, actually. 36 is the atomic number for krypton, so that must mean 36 is as strong as balls. Or repellent for Clark Kent. It's also the ASCII code for the "$" symbol. I'm hoping that means 36 is rich - in wealth, experience, and value. There are 36...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Give A Little Bit Of My Love to You

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 18:00:00 +0000

'Tis the season to give back. On "Giving Tuesday," I was struck by the tender sincerity happening on Dalton Street. Workers at Cincinnati's largest post office are combing through hundreds of "Dear Santa" letters to find the ones from folks who really need St. Nick. Sure, some notes request...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Remember That Time We Had Drinks With Racists?

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 18:48:00 +0000

This is the story of two Cincinnati girls and a crazy exchange in the Big Apple. So, a couple weeks ago I jetted to New York City with one of my dearest friends. Candace has business in The City and currently splits her time between there and our hometown, so I decided to join her for one of her...

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Five tips for making a better pie crust: Tip #1 - Wine. And Lots of It.

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 18:50:00 +0000

There seriously is no magic secret for making pie crust. Everyone has a trick passed down from their Aunt Betty that they say is the key to a perfect, golden brown flaky crust of goodness. This holiday season, may you have copious amounts of wine on hand as you bake and enjoy time with loved...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Five tips for making a better pie crust: Tip #2 - The Golden Touch

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:39:00 +0000

Baking a pie isn't magic, but sometimes it sure feels like it. The flaky consistency, the richness of flavor. For bakers, pastry making is a dangerous proposition of science - both in areas of temperature and chemical agent. And the quest for a golden brown color is, too. Once you've...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate

Five tips for making a better pie crust: Tip # 3 - Cut Your Water

noreply@blogger.com (Kate The Great) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 20:38:00 +0000

In both confections and cocktails - water is not always your friend. Okay, so we've talked about fats. A pie crust requires only two other ingredients - flour and water. I like to use a good baker's flour when I tackle a from-scratch baking project (Gold Medal has several varieties...

This is just a taste! Please visit my site to sink your teeth into the whole story, as well as photos, my Twitter feed and other fabulous content. Cheers! Kate