wine

GIVEAWAY | Red + White on Thursday Night

January 7, 2016 by Rachel 8 Comments

Chad and I have had the honor of attending one of Akron’s most anticipated events, Red and White on Thursday Night, for the last 4 years in a row. And even though Baby Girl is expected to arrive just a week before this years event, I plan on my first post-baby outing to be the 19th Annual Red & White On Thursday Night, Thursday, January 28th, 2016!

The event will be taking place at Quaker Station in beautiful Downtown Akron, presented by the Cleveland Clinic Akron General, from 5:30PM to 9:00PM, and benefits the Arthritis Foundation of Northeastern Ohio.

The event, voted one of the best in Akron by AkronLife Magazine, is expected to raise more than $82,000. All proceeds support critical local Arthritis Foundation initiatives including advocacy and access, help and support, and research.

Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability and affects more than 50 million Americans and nearly 300,000 children. In Northeastern Ohio, nearly 1.3 million people of all ages have been diagnosed with arthritis. More than 108,000 of those are Summit County residents, according to 2013 figures.

Nearly 750 guests are expected to attend and enjoy delicious dishes from Akron’s top chefs and a variety of both domestic and international wines, while checking out offerings from the available silent auction. VIP ticket holders will have access to both general admission areas as well as exclusive access to special fare from Chef Dante Boccuzzi of DBA, specialty desserts and high-end wine pairings.

Participating restaurants include: Chef Dante Boccuzzi of DBA, Barmacy Bar & Grill, Bistro on Main, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, Cilantro Thai & Sushi Restaurant, Chocolates by Erin, Chowder House Café, Hudson’s Restaurant & Catering, Melt Bar and Grilled – Akron, Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar, Panera Bread, Saffron Patch in the Valley, Silver Lake Country Club, The Galaxy Restaurant & Banquet Center, The Pierogi Lady, The Taverne of Richfield, Thorpe’s Market Avenue Grill & Pub, and West Side Bakery! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it now!

Honestly, speaking from experience, this is one of the most anticipated date nights we have all year. Chad loves it, I love it, and we are always fed well and surrounded by so many fun people!

And one lucky reader will get a chance to win TWO General Admission tickets (valued at $85 each) to the event. I just ask that those who enter be local to Northeastern Ohio and willing to attend this amazing event on January 28th!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
General admission tickets are $85 presale and $95 at the door. VIP Lounge tickets are $125 presale, and $135 at the door. Purchase tickets online at www.akronredandwhite.com or call 216-285-2822!

** Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post, but did receive two complimentary tickets to the event. All opinions herein are my own. I just really really love this event and believe in this cause! **

Urban Farmer // #BloggerRoundup

September 16, 2014 by Rachel 2 Comments

It’s been nearly three weeks since my Single Week; and just as long since I had a meal where I wasn’t eating as quickly as possible to keep a toddler from begging me for whatever it is I’m scarfing down.

While I’ve learned that this is now the lifestyle I prefer (competing with a toddler for food > loneliness), I did manage to squeeze in the longest and one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had during my Single Week. I was lucky enough to attend a blogger/foodie event at Urban Farmer Cleveland. Urban Farmer Cleveland’s newest and most fabulous steakhouse, located in the Westin hotel on East 6th.

I arrived fashionably early. Is an hour early still ‘fashionably’ early? Probably not. But it did give me plenty of time to enjoy a happy hour cocktail in the very chic lounge.

If it were up to me, I would just call this drink “Delicious” on the menu; but it has a name. And it’s name is Rhubarb Daisy. Gosh, I love rhubarb season!

From happy hour in the lounge, we ventured to the patio for Oysters, Signature Cocktails, and Charcuterie.

It’s hard to believe I spent nearly an hour chatting with my fellow Ohio blogger friends while sipping on a tasty cocktail overlooking a city that I absolutely adore.

I was able to finally meet some blogger friends that I have “known” for years, but had yet to run into in real life (I’m talking about you Bite Buff!); and it made my heart SO incredibly happy to catch up with friends I’ve known for a long time (Poise in Parma, Eat Drink Cleveland, and Smitten In CLE — I’m looking at you!).

Before I knew it, Jaqquie from Cleveland Kiddos ‘challenged’ me to our first oysters. I know, pathetic I had never had oysters before. I had no doubts I would love it, but I anticipated being weirded out by the texture. Nope! (although my face would suggest otherwise on Cleveland Kiddos instagram! Ha!).

Shortly after my first oyster experience, we moved into The Pantry (Urban Farmers’ private dining room) for a five-course food & wine pairing. I’m not certain what my expectations were, but they blew me away. First of all, the dining room decor was adorable. In the worst/best way. Look at that lamp!

They also have a private room that is dedicated to everything they’ve pickled! (I feel like I was the only person who kept thinking “We can pickle that!”). UF uses local veggies that are left unsold at local farmer markets for pickling purposes! Genius! Right? My husband would have been thrilled. He LOVES pickled everything.

The first course was Beef Tartare with Deviled Egg (pairing with Charles & Charles Rose). As a semi-foodie (which really means someone who will try any food once, but will still show some hesitation), I was nervous for my first tartare experience.

But I remembered this: I was once nervous for my first sushi experience, too. This is the same. The result? I freaking loved it. Love, love, loved it. I could eat this beef tartare every single day. True story.

The second course was a chilled lobster salad with tomato, avocado, fennel, mint, and verjus sorbet (pairing with Mayu Pedro Ximenez). Lobster is a food I’m completely down with. Chilled? That’s a new experience for me. But delightful, light and flavorful. White wine is not something I typically choose to drink, but I was impressed with the pairing.

The third course was a seared scallop with corn, candied bacon, a corn fritter, and tomato (pairing with Pine Ridge Chenin Blanc/Viognier). The entire course was flavorful and texturally contrasting — which is awesome. But I could eat pounds of that candied bacon. And the corn fritters were perfection!

The fourth course was a 21 day dry-aged strip loin with boulangere potato and summer squash (pairing with Lock & Key Meritage — my personal favorite). Chef Brad lost me in a food coma when he started talking about how the potatoes were cooked. I’m a sucker for beef. And potatoes (this has not always been the case — my pregnancy with Moosh changed me. It made me a beef + potato lover!). I knew that I wanted to eat this entire course; but I was far too full to eat all of it all at once (thanks to the most extravagant, most delicious 5-course meal I’ve ever eaten, and for our incredibly attentive server for packing the rest of this up for me to go!). Sidenote on the wine: I sent texts & tweets the next day to all of my blogger buddies. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember the name of this red wine. And I searched for it. High and low. Nada. Can’t find it anywhere. So the search continues!

The fifth and final course was a Great Lakes Malted Barley Custard with malt balls and honeycomb. I’m pretty much a dessert junkie. Especially delicate and well-paired desserts. The malt balls and custard were the perfect flavor combination. And I saved the honeycomb until the end. Because like my gal Sarah, from Cooker Girl, reminded me — the honeycomb was pretty much a slightly harder piece of sponge candy! O. M. Yum!Guys, I over-ate in the best and worst way that night. On my way back to Akron, I called my mom and said “I need you to get me a gift card to Urban Farmer for my birthday so I can take Chad for a dinner date.”

Huge thanks go out to the staff at Urban Farmer Cleveland! Keep up with their Facebook page HERE, follow them on Twitter HERE and Instagram right HERE!

DIY Cork Yardstick // Get Crafty!

May 7, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

I’ve been saving corks from wine bottles ever since Pinterest came into existence! Ha! So as soon as I accumulated enough (it’s been a looooong time!), I started on my makeshift-corkboard project, armed with a glass of wine and all.

How I did it:

There’s always a thicker end of cork from a bottle of wine. I arranged the corks so that on each side it alternated thick-thin. It worked out well to make sure that the corks were in a straight line.

Before starting lay out the order in which you want the corks to appear (I tend to switch up my wines quite often, but did have a few ‘repeat’ corks so I made sure they weren’t one right after the other). If your yardstick has metal clasps on the end (mine did), carefully remove. You may have to wedge a screwdriver underneath the metal clasp to get them off, but it definitely works.

This project takes a lot of hot glue, so make sure you have plenty on hand!

Apply the hot glue directly onto the yardstick about 2-inches or so down the stick at a time, starting at from one end. I held the corks down for about 30 seconds before releasing them to make sure the hot glue had time to settle.

I’m happy with how it turned out and it’s already found a home in our kitchen!

As teeny tiny as this project may have been, it feels good to focus some energy creatively! <3 More craftiness to come, for sure!

recap // Red + White On Thursday Night

February 8, 2014 by Rachel 1 Comment

I can’t believe this event was already TWO weeks ago! Time flies, y’all.

First of all — I love date nights! We haven’t had a real date night in ages! So it was just nice to just get out of the house and spend time talking to each other (as opposed to talking at each other about Ari).

The event was at the same venue as last year — Quaker Station at Quaker Square.

But it was better than last year. Which I wasn’t sure was even possible until it happened!

We went straight to the VIP lounge after checking in.

Here’s what made this years VIP lounge even better than last years:

It was open for the duration of the event. Last year the VIP lounge was only open for a couple of hours. This year? 5:30-9PM!
A VIP bar with signature drinks. I didn’t expect a wine event to have signature mixed drinks, but they did. And they were delicious!
There were fewer servers with hors d’oeuvres. But also a better spread at the buffet section (which included prime rib and a full ice cream sundae bar!). All of the catered food was delicious.
More seating available. Last year I remember trying to juggle my wine glass and a big plate of food on a teeny table top. Not a problem at all this year!

After indulging in a chair massage in the VIP lounge, we ventured into the general admission room.

There were 18 restaurants/caterers and I literally lost count of the wine vendors. But I’m fairly certain I tried everything — well, at least all of the food. There was a LOT of wine! And if I had tried all of it, I would have been comatose.

I, of course, ate my dessert first! Salvino Dolci Bakery was back again with her amazing cupcakes, including a gingerbread Great Lakes Christmas Ale confection. Of course I didn’t manage to get a single picture of her gorgeous cupcakes (I was too busy eating them!).

My other favorite restaurants of the night include The Lockview (of course), Sushi on the Roll, and the soon-to-open Nuevo Mod Mex (which reminded me a bit of Momocho).

In regards to the wine:

I think I tasted every Cab/Cab-blend that was there. And the wine vendors were so helpful to choose the right wine to try (which, let’s be honest, isn’t too difficult considering I would tell them all I needed was a dry red).

Other items of note:

Attendance this year was noticeably more limited than the previous year. And I’ve got to say, that was an improvement. In 2013 we waited around a LOT for wine and for food. This year was much more intimate. There were fewer patrons, fewer vendors, but much, much, more relaxed and fun. We were able to visit each vendor multiple times; we were able to make conversation with them and really get to know their restaurant; and we were able to find a table to pause and eat at.
The bartenders (and the police officer! ha!!) in the VIP lounge were so sweet and so kind! They stood there waiting on all of us all night, so Chad & I brought them lots of food goodies that they were missing from the main room (sorry, Alicia! I’m not certain that was in the ‘rules’ but they were totally grateful!).
It was fun to run talk to restaurants/caterers one-year after ‘meeting’ for the first time last year. Chad & I love to support local restaurants/bakers and it was fun that some of them remembered us from conversations at last years’ event.

Giveaway // 17th Annual Red & White On Thursday Night — 2014 !!

January 9, 2014 by Rachel 7 Comments

The 17th Annual Red & White On Thursday Night is coming up on January 23rd and Chad + I cannot wait!!

We went to the event at Quaker Station for the food & wine tasting event, presented by Akron General and benefiting The Arthritis Foundation, Great Lakes Region, Northeastern Ohio and we enjoyed every. single. bite. and sip. and second of that night!

It was our first real night out after Ari was born.

And I am SO happy to be going to the 17th Annual event in just a couple of weeks!!

Plus I’ll be giving away TWO tickets for a lucky reader and their guest!

Here are the details on the event:

Sip and Sample at the 17th Annual Red & White On Thursday Night event: Akron’s premier wine and food tasting event. Presented by Akron General, this strolling wine and food affair benefits the Arthritis Foundation, Great Lakes Region, Northeastern Ohio and will take place on Thursday January 23, 2014at Quaker Station at The University of Akron from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m.

More than 750 guests will enjoy food from the area’s finest restaurants and tastings from international wineries. In addition, highlights of the event include a wine bottle raffle, silent and live auctions and much more.

General Admission (pre-sale): $85

General Admission at the door: $95

VIP Lounge (pre-sale): $125 (includes general admission to event)

VIP Lounge (at the door): $135 (includes general admission to event)

Join us in the exclusive VIP Lounge where the University Catering chef will be on hand pairing delicious food and wine tastings. Specialty cocktails courtesy of Brown-Forman and more await you in the VIP Lounge!

General Admission includes a hearty sampling of award-winning restaurants cuisine, plus a selection of delicious wine from international vintners.

Event proceeds will support local programs and services for the nearly 1.3 million Northeast Ohioans with arthritis and fund critical arthritis research conducted at local institutions in Northeastern Ohio.

Purchase tickets at http://RedandWhite-2014.eventbrite.com/ or by calling Courtney Winnen at 216-285-2829.

And here’s what *I* can tell you from my experience last year:

The wine is a-plenty! I expected it to be a small amount of wine vendors serving teeny sips of wine, but there were hundreds of wines to taste!

And it looks like some of our favorite restaurants will be returning to the event this year, plus some new ones!

Nuevo Modern Mexican & Tequila Bar is set to open this winter in Downtown Akron and I’m SO excited to see what flavors they have in store! It will be great to check them out.

And of course, Saffron Patch in the Valley (yummmm! Kashmiri Naan + tandoori chicken!), The Lockview (grilled cheesus I love me some cheese!), Sushi on the Roll (sushi burrito please?? :), & Chad’s personal fave — Chocolates By Erin.

OK, enough with the babbling about food + wine (which I could do all day!).

Enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter widget below! And see you there!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

** Winner will be announced within 24-hours of giveaway close. I was not compensated for this post, but did receive two complimentary tickets to the event. All opinions herein are my own. **