A Sneak Peek at Made in the 216 Summer 2013

Since I'm a lover of shopping and Cleveland, it should go without saying that I absolutely LLUUUUUUURRVVEE Made in the 216.

I love seeing all the amazing, unique artistic talent that our city has to offer, that frankly sometimes remains well hidden under the radar. This year is no exception.

The lovely Jennie Doran has done an absolutely wonderful job curating this year's selection, and I am SO incredibly honored and excited to bring you a sneak peek!!

Just a small part of a wall of LOVE

Artisan sauces and jams and general yummy goodness

A little something for cat lovers too... 

The curves of a vintage camera clad in cool concrete

Fun prints from grey cardigan make perfect engagement presents...

A little something for the hostess with the mostest....

Perhaps a little something for yourself....

With loads of bands + shopping, this year's Made in the 216 promises to be an absolute blast! I hope to see you there!!!

Food & Wine AND a Giveaway (for wine lovers!)

This contest has ended. The winner, as decided by Random.org, is #1, Fizzgig!  Congratulations Fizzgig! Please email me at cleshopaholic@gmail.com, with your full name, date of birth, email address, and preferred date of attendance (July 27th or 28th). Don't forget to take ID to the event!!


A few months ago, I was contacted by Chateau Ste. Michelle gauging my interest in reviewing a cookbook written by John Sarich, Culinary Director of  Chateau Ste. Michelle. I luuuurve Chateau St. Michelle wines and I enjoy cooking, so I figured, why not?

The book is set up sorta like a winery tour of the Pacific Northwest and California, featuring 10 wine estates in tool. Each estate is represented by a chapter giving some background, visitor details, and menus prepared the executive chefs at each of these estates, including wine pairings, obviously. You know the white meat = white wine rule? Well, the book helped bust that myth for me. Turns out that besides lamb, game, and beef, there's pretty much at least one white and one red that can be paired with your food!

Overall, I would say that the book seems suited to special occasion dinners, and by that I mean celebrations, date night, etc, not necessarily everyday food. I really like that each recipe gives you wine pairings (and not each recipe includes wine as an ingredient), so you could plan a TOTALLY FABULOUS dinner party with wine pairings for each course and DAZZLE your guests. Given that the book is west-cost based, there's a good number of seafood receipts for you seafood lovers.

I sampled a couple of recipes: the Oven "Fried" Chicken and the Avocado and Orange Salad, which I paired with the Chateau Ste. Michelle Chardonnay. While I would probably adapt the recipes if I were not serving it with wine, as presented they paired REALLY REALLY well with the wine.  You can see the results of my handiwork here (please excuse the lack of "prettiness", this is why I'm not a food blogger).

Overall, a winning combination! I'm looking forward to trying some more recipes in the upcoming weeks!!

Now, for the SUPER FUN part--- A GIVEAWAY!! This giveaway includes TWO TICKETS to the Cleveland Wine Festival on July 27th or 28th, where you will get to same Chateau Ste. Michelle for yourself (among other wines of course).

Here's what you need to do to enter:
1. Leave me a comment letting me know of your favorite wine (and leave me your contact info if I don't know how to reach you), or
2.  Follow @SteMichelle on Twitter and let me know that you did so in the comments, or
3. Tweet: I entered @cleshopaholic contest to win tickets to @CleWineFest via @SteMichelle http://tiny.cc/g9sphw

(You get 3 entries if you do all 3 things)

Rules: You must be 21 to enter, and should you win, you must provide your full name, date of birth, email address, and preferred date of attendance (July 27th or 28th).

The contest ends at 7:00 pm on Wednesday July 25th, with the winner announced later Wednesday night. Good luck, and Cheers!!

Disclosure: Chateau Ste. Michelle provided me with the cookbook in exchange for my review. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.  They also provided the two tickets to the Cleveland Wine Festival for the Giveaway. 

Getting Artsy this Weekend...

So if you've ever wanted to explore some of Cleveland's art fairs or local artists, this is the perfect weekend to do it!!

Starting this Friday through Sunday, Dredgers Union is hosting Made in the 216. If you're not familiar with Made in the 216, here's my review of last year's summer event. This year's event features 60+ vendors. It begins on Friday at 4 with an awesome kick-off party, and continues with a rooftop party at the Greenhouse Tavern.

Saturday is another fun event, but this one is right down the street from me- its the Clifton Arts Fest. Its on Clifton Blvd, between W110th-ish and W 117th. Lots of vendors and as an outdoor event, you can also enjoy what I hope is another gorgeous weekend! Some of the artists at the Clifton Arts Fest are listed here. This is the event where I first discovered Kate Bordine's awesome jewelry, so I'll be on the lookout for some new artists again this year!!

Hope you get out and enjoy at least one of these events this weekend!! Hang in there, it will be Friday soon! XO

St. Paddy's Day 2012

Ah, St. Paddy's Day. N and I took a car service downtown at 10:00 am- our journey included Moriarty's, Hodges (where we saw LOTS AND LOTS of friends), Thirsty Parrot, and then in a streak of EXTREMELY poor judgement, Taco Bell. For those curious, that Dorito taco is just ok- the volcano taco is way better.

The Moriarty's Series

Moriarty's alley "patio"

Inside Moriarty's

More from Moriarty's patio- Danielle and I clearly love Ohio and St. Patty's day! 

The Hodges Series 

Allison, Frank, Michelle, and friend

Danielle & I

The patio at Hodges

 

N & I

And this was the only pic I took at Thirsty Parrot- Dave and Jess

Overall, a gorgeous day in Cleveland, and although it was supposedly CRAZY downtown, I managed to miss most of it at our chosen haunts, which suits me just fine!! 

Made in the 216

So this weekend, East 4th played host to  Made in the 216. The events takes place twice a year- once in the summer, and then again starting right around Thanksgiving, giving Clevelanders the opportunity to purchase unique items made by other Clevelanders!! There's usually a wide selection of T's celebrating CLE pride, scarves, paper goods, candles, art work, beauty products and of course, jewelry. This year's summer event was no different:

The decor reminded me a little of an Indian wedding: lots of bright colors and lights: LOVE!!! If you're reading this on Sunday afternoon, you still have time to make it to the summer event: it runs through Sunday evening (see the link above for details). And if you missed this one, have no fear!! There will be another one later this year!!

Ingenuity Fest 2010

This past weekend, I went to one of the MOST FUN EVENTS in Cleveland; Ingenuity Fest held under the Detroit-Superior Bridge (easily the BEST SPOT in Cleveland). Music, Art, Design, lots of fun and interesting people, and one giant man-made waterfall combined for a great evening and fantastic weekend!

 If you missed this year's event, you should really really try and make it over to Ingenuity Fest next year!! If you did make it, what did you think? Better than prior years? What would you change? (personally, I would have pointed the lights up toward the ceiling; the lights pointing toward me were almost dizzying at points).

Shopping local: Bordine by Kate Bordine

Saturday was the Lakewood Arts Fest. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to visit all the booths, so I don't have a full review for you. I was on a very strategic hunt for Kate Bordine's booth. I love hoop earrings, and I especially love when they're slightly atypical hoops. When Kate was at the Clifton Arts Fest, I found a pair of silver hoops, that I've blogged about before. This time, I was on the hunt for some gold-tone hoops, and as usual, Kate didn't disappoint.

The Goddess hoop $42 in gold tone at the Lakewood Arts Fest

If you're looking to acquire a pair for yourself, its a bad-news-good-news situation. The bad news is that she's only doing festivals right now as she finishes up grad school. The good news is that she's working on getting her website up, and soon, you should be able to view her collection and order pieces here. This website could be a very good/bad situation for me ; )

This weekend in CLE: Krusty's, Lakewood Arts Fest, Warehouse District Festival

YESSSSSS! I LURVE happy surprises. Like this one: I love that my computer and therefore my blog are back and running ahead of schedule! A HUGE thank you to Amazon.com and USPS for getting my battery to me so quickly.

Since it almost the end of the week (I see the world as half-full : ) ), I figured I should let you know what's going on this weekend. If you're a reader of the plum's blog, then you already know that Saturday is Krusty's Summer Sauce Camp. Unfortunately, N and I will miss this awesome event. AGAIN! We're attending a wedding Saturday evening, and I have a feeling that Krusty's would definitely result in us missing the wedding. Instead, prior to the wedding, N and I will attend Lakewood Arts Fest. I'm particularly excited about visiting the Bordine by Design stand. Kate Bordine was at the Clifton Arts Fest earlier this summer, and I'm looking to pick up another pair of hoop earrings, this time in gold.

I LURVE these earrings!! I can't remember exactly how much they cost, but I know it was under $30.

On Sunday, N and I will be at the 6th Annual Warehouse District Festival. I'm really excited about this one; it will be my first time at this particular Festival, and its a great way to support Downtown Cleveland. There's also a cutest dog contest at 4:00pm, we'll be entering both Otto and St. Clair, obviously. Ooooh, and the Spazmatics are playing from 6:30-8:00 pm!!

Completely unrelated to this post (I'm experimenting with the Flip recorder N got me for my birthday), here's a video of Otto and Clair; we taught her to shake hands. We're very proud parents.

Music + Art = fun things to hang on your wall

This past weekend, I was at the Hessler Street Fair. I love street fairs in Cleveland; I love seeing so many people out and about, I love smelling the yummy food, the great music, and exploring all the stalls. I especially like looking for art; it tends to be less expensive than a gallery, and sometimes you can find some really unique stuff, like I did on Saturday. I stumbled upon Brooke Witt's stall: Jukebox Art. Essentially, Brooke's art is inspired by lyrics; she listens to music, and they inspire her to create art. She has pieces that have been inspired by Radiohead, Dave Matthews Band, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Beatles, and a whole host of artists. Here's the best part: she does custom artwork!!!! I think this would be a great gift idea; if you're looking for a gift for someone special, and you have memories related to a song, or have "your song" together, you could commission Brooke to create something special and unique just for your and your someone special! Her prices are really affordable too (take a look at the price list on her website). I picked up pieces inspired by Southside (Moby) and Under the Bridge (Red Hot Chili Peppers).

These pictures really don't do them justice.

If you want to check out Brooke's work, take a tour of her website above. She will also be at the Waterloo Arts Fest (June 26th), Lakewood Arts Fest (Aug. 7th), and University Park Art Fair (Aug. 14th).