This past Tuesday was the First Annual Taste of Hilliard and Business Expo put together by The Hilliard Chamber of Commerce.  Local restaurants and businesses gathered in historic downtown Hilliard at The Makoy Center to show off their services and to give you just a bite of what is around your neighborhood.

There were so many vendors that both of the rooms at The Makoy Center were needed! Everything ranging from local taverns, to insurance companies, to golf courses, to breakfast spots.

Scott and I were running a little bit late so we didn’t get a chance to get in as early as we would have liked to chat with vendors but we were amongst the first to arrive at what is bound to develop into a great Hilliard event.

Attendees not only got to sample food and talk with business owners, but there…

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending a tomato sauce canning class that was put on by Slow Food Columbus.  The class was taught by Rachel of Hounds in the Kitchen.

To give a brief description of who these folks are, Slow Food is a movement that started in 1989.  It’s goal is to get people to not only start cooking for themselves, but to support local suppliers, AND take the time to get to know who the folks are behind your local farms and businesses.  It’s a movement to counteract the idea of fast food and to help educate people on where food comes from and how to purchase and eat responsibly.  Most places across the US have a Slow Food chapter in their area!  If you are interested, take a look at the website to see where your…

Hello pretties!  Uh, guess what I did yesterday?  I got to hang out with other Ohio bloggers!  And y’all we had the most amazing time!  I’m calling it the Blog ‘N Bitch or The Double B.  I mean, people get together to knit and call that Stitch ‘N Bitch, right?  So why can’t we have a Blog ‘N Bitch?

Exactly!

So we got together to hang out, grab some grub, and chat it up!  In attendence of yesterday’s first meeting of The Double B’s was:

• Allison from Green Dog Wine
• Heatha From Mile 26 and More
• Ali from The Healthy Hostess
• Angela from Pretty in Orange

And of course yours truly with Scotty-Love and Rock Monster making random appearances.  Mostly for food.   The get together was at my house and Heatha and Allison came all the way in from Cleveland!  Now I feel special.

Hi gang! Scott and I were able to hit the Hilliard Farm Market this week and we were not disappointed!  I think this is the most I’ve bought yet!  I definitely wanted to go because I was in great need of some fresh tomatoes in my life.  Summer tomatoes have totally stolen my heart this year.  Here’s what was in my bag:

• Orange Tomatoes
• Red Tomatoes
• Blackberries
• Corn
• Green Peppers
• Zucchini
• Nectarines
• Whole Wheat bread loaf

Score!

• Green peppers came from Wishwell Farms, 2 for $1 which considering the size of these peppers, is a great deal.
• Orange tomatoes, blackberries (which are huge!), zucchinis, and nectarines all came from Hirsch Fruit Farm.
• Four ears of bi-color sweet corn and red tomatoes from Rhoads Farm.
• And finally the Whole Wheat bread came from Grammy’s Cozy Kitchen (no website).

I had some time on my hands last night to cook up a lovely…

Hi friends!  Three winners were picked by Random Number Generator for the Columbus Marathon iPod Armbands.  There are a total of 18 comments because one comment doesn’t count since the person is not local (I’m sorry Amanda!).  The winners are:

Comment #4: Jess

Comment #7: Kirstie

Comment #18: Barrett

Congratulations Winners!  I will need your mailing info to pass along to Columbus Marathon so they can mail out your new armbands!  Hooray!

Columbus Runners are any of you running the Columbus Marathon or Half this fall?  Are you starting a new running plan this summer?  Do you just want to hang out with other runners for an afternoon?

Then Run Fest is for you!  Run Fest is put on by the Columbus Marathon and is a day full of happening things for runners!  Let’s start with the basic details first:

What: Run Fest

When: Saturday, July 10th from 1-4pm

Where: Frog Bear and Wild Boar in the Arena District

Who: Everyone!

Cost: FREE

This is the official celebration for the kickoff to the start of training for the Columbus Marathon and Half.  This event is all about running!  There will be booths all focused on running.  Some will be local running stores, others will be running groups, and fitness experts.  There will be free food…

Hilliard has started its very own weekly Farmer’s Market.  This is great news to residents and near-by locals who will now have access to farm fresh products that they might not have been able to get before.  The market will be a weekly market held on Tuesdays from 4pm to 7pm and will feature local farmers and vendors.  Yesterday was the start of the market and thankfully the rain held off although it was still very hot!

The market is held in downtown Hilliard, the area referred to as “Old Hilliard” on the corner of Main Street and Center Street.  There is a parking lot there for the market and customer parking.  For those familiar with the area, it is located near the entrance to the Rails to Trails path.  Scott and I were out running errands yesterday and had a chance to stop by to…

Can you believe this is my first 10K? True statement. I’ve run two halfs and one 5K before and that is it.  I have searched high and low for a 10K because that’s a nice distance.  Long enough to be in the “long run” category but short enough that you aren’t running all morning long.  I finally found one!  And it just so happens it’s put on by my favorite running store and my friend James would be working the race.  Score! I signed up for it right away and then a few of my twitter friends signed up for it as well!  YaY!

I wasn’t going to do any sort of taper or anything leading up to the race but my right groin muscle was giving me some trouble and I did end up tapering a bit.  My last run was on Wednesday and it was 6 miles.  I didn’t run again till race day on…

Last Friday in order to kick off the Memorial Day Weekend off properly, Scott and I attended the Columbus Beerfest 2010.  This was the first official Beerfest (not to be confused with Beer Camp which was also lots of fun!) for Columbus with the focus on bringing craft beers and breweries the attention that they deserve.

If you know anything about me, you know I love a good dark beer! I prefer craft beers over anything else but I will drink a Sam Adam’s if that’s my only choice.  That’s as big business brewery as I get though.

The man behind Columbus Beerfest is also the man who is responsible for the Cincinnati Beerfest, so he’s done this before and has plenty of experience from what I’ve been told.

Ticket cost provided attendees with a 5oz sampling cup and 25 5oz tasting tickets.  I didn’t count,…

There is a small group of Columbus-ites who are discussing, drinking, and sharing well made craft beer.

The Beer Family.

Right now our numbers are small but there are constantly new additions announced and much rejoicing occurs.

I initially “met” James, The Beer Family Godfather (you totally are James!), via Twitter and we’ve been chatting for months about whatevers and also beer.  Sadly I’ve missed some of the Tweet-ups but I was able to finally meet him and other family members on Sunday when we attended Beercamp.

Even before meeting on Sunday, we had recently been talking about a Beer and Food pairing and how fun that would be!  It was decided that it would happen and take place the Monday after Beercamp.  The Family was currently celebrating Beer Weekend and decided to conclude it on Monday with the potluck.

We were unable to attend one of the Beer…