Sustainable Food Summit 2011

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Andrea

Last week, on Earth Day, I had the great opportunity to spend the day learning about the future of sustainable food. The, What is Sustainable Food? Summit, was put together by the OSU chapter of Net Impact and Local Matters.

The goal of the summit was to discuss:

What sustainable food is.
The future of sustainable food.
What people are doing to support the effort.
Local businesses who focus on running a greener business.

It was an all day summit starting at 9am and running until 3pm. The event was put on for free and everyone was welcome to attend. This event was also a Zero Waste event meaning that everything used for food was either compostable or recycleable.

Attendees were also encouraged to bring their own water bottles and coffee mugs.

The summit was held in the 4H building at OSU. I didn’t get a chance to chat with anyone about the building so unfortunately I can’t provide any stats on it. I do know that it’s a new building and it’s OSU’s first green building on campus.

Making burgers with Josh Ozersky

Posted on March 4, 2011 by Andrea

If you recall my post from yesterday, I mentioned that Josh Ozersky would be at the Columbus Home and Garden Show on Thursday of this week. I got the chance to attend his burger making demo and had a great time!

Amy Weirick was my contact for the evening and I met up with her as I was making my way towards the demo pavilion. She told me to go right on back through the curtains and introduce myself to Tara, who was working with Amy, and to Josh.

I did just that and I think I surprised everybody! I tend to have that affect on folks.

I introduced myself and my blog and then introduced Scott. He was in charge of picture taking for the evening.

They were in the midst of making burgers when I entered backstage and I got a first hand demonstration from Josh on how to make his favorite burgers. We got to taste two, a cheeseburger and then an onion cheeseburger.

Josh Ozersky at the Home and Garden Show

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Andrea

Hey gang! If you haven’t made it to the Home and Garden show yet this week, tonight would be the perfect time to go! Along with seeing all the fabulous things that are new and upcoming for the garden this year, lots of guest appearances are being made at this event.

Tonight, Josh Ozersky will be there giving a demo on making burgers. He’s a food writer (James Beard award winner!) and wrote a book all about burgers.

We love us some burgers!

He’ll be giving a demo tonight at 6pm in the Bricker Multi-Purpose Building on the Giant Eagle Home Idea Stage.

Scott and I will be there tonight, so if you go, give me a shoutout and we can meet up!

Don’t forget the Home and Garden show wraps up this Saturday! So you only have a few days left to make it over there.

For more information about the Home and Garden show, click here.

Hiking Day

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Andrea

On Sunday, I skipped a run and opted to go hiking at Highbanks instead with Scott, our friend Bob, and his boys. We hiked the trail that took us out to the observation deck. Despite the fact that we did have snow recently, we’ve also had lots of rain and warmer weather. I fully expected the trails to be a total muddy mess and dressed accordingly. Old running pants and old running shoes.

What I didn’t expect was that there would still be snow and ice covering the trails. Whoops!

Had I known this I would have worn my YakTrax as well because the trails were really slick and you had to be careful when going up and down the hills. I also would have doubled up on socks because my feet ended up getting soaked making me cold. I would have liked to hike some more but sadly I was too chilly.

We were on our way to visit the eagle’s nest that you could see from the observation deck. Two bald eagles have been living there at least for a year but it could be longer. I was having trouble tracking down information. Last year from what I could find, they did have two babies.

Living with Tornado Watches

Posted on February 28, 2011 by Andrea

Moving to Columbus or just Ohio in general means that you will be dealing with the high possibility of tornadoes. This was something that I was not aware of when I moved here.

Ohio is considered the Midwest and the Midwest deals with tornadoes. However when you think about “The Midwest”, you think of places farther west like Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa. Kansas and Oklahoma as well. Places where the storm chasers live and where the chance of seeing Auntie Em’s house flying away is probable.

But Ohio is not immune to tornadoes and dealing with the crazy weather that brings them here.

I didn’t know this.

Oh I grew up with some serious thunderstorms and sometimes a watch would be issued but no one paid any attention to that because where we lived was not a tornado happy place. The chances of it happening were slim to none.

Here the crazy storms and such didn’t phase me. I grew up only three hours east of here, how different can it be, was my mentality.

Win Tickets to 2011 Columbus Home and Garden Show

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Andrea

It’s spring time! The weather may be damp and dreary but spring is just around the corner. And that means that the Columbus Home and Garden Show is here! This year’s theme is Gardens that Rock and all things that can be done with rocks and stones for your home.

For more information, you can read a Dispatch article on it here.

Want to go?

Lucky for you that OHC is giving away tickets to the show! Good for whatever day you wish to go! I’ve got plenty of tickets to go around so I’ll be picking a few winners via random number generator.

Here’s all the rules and info:

What: FREE tickets to the Home and Garden Show

When: Feb. 26th – March 6th (Closed Feb. 28th)

Where: Ohio Expo Center

RULES:

All you have to do is comment on this post explaining why you’d like to go to the show. I’ll pick a winner on Saturday morning and announce the winners then as well.

Slow Food Columbus

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Andrea

I recently attended my first Slow Food Columbus meeting. I have been to a few classes sponsored by Slow Food but this was my first official Slow Food meeting and I’m really looking forward to becoming more involved with this group.

Slow Food is the exact opposite of fast food. The Slow Food motto is “Good, clean, and fair food”.

For those of you that have been following me for a while you know that there are several things I support:

Cooking at home
Shopping at local businesses
Educating yourself on where your food comes from
Choosing to eat foods that are local and clean

Slow Food represents all of these things and I’m happy to have found a connection with like minded people. By putting on classes, creating tastings, and events that feature local farmers, Slow Food makes educating ourselves about the foods we eat a little easier. They show us how simple it is to eat well and eat local.

2011 Fantastic Frigid 5K

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Andrea

Two years ago I just started running.

Two years ago I was unexperienced and new to everything.

Two years ago I was under-trained.

Two years ago I wasn’t as strong.

Two years ago I said, “Never again.”

A lot has changed in two years.

The Fantastic Frigid 5k is a race put on by Columbus Running Company. It’s a January race at a park on the outskirts of Columbus. It’s a “trail” race in the sense that it takes place in a park that is unpaved. There are some pea gravel sections and a “wooded” section that is single track trail running.

It’s pretty flat with a few inclines and lots of loop arounds.

It’s meant to be a fun race and to get us outside in January. A nice way to kick off the start of the year and what will soon be spring half and full training for most.

Two years ago it was my very first race.

Read more on 2011 Fantastic Frigid 5K…

OEFFA Winter Warmer Fundraiser

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Andrea

Last Saturday night Scott and I had the wonderful chance to attend our first OEFFA event! As you know, I’m a big supporter of the Eat Local movement. About becoming more involved in being aware of where exactly your food comes from, who’s providing, and how they are getting it to you. I’m still extremely new and am constantly trying to learn more about Ohio and what all we have available to us.

It turns out that we have a lot! Being a Midwest state and having a varying climate along with a decent landscape means that not only is Ohio able to support multiple kinds of livestock, it can support agriculture as well. This means that we have access to some of the very best meat and produce in the country.

Not to mention, wine, fruits, and maple syrup.

Ohio has it all and I’m determined to learn as much as I can and pass along that information to you. This way we can all make better informed choices about what we eat and where we get it.

Dealing with the worst running injury, a dog bite

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Andrea

Friday, December 31st, New Year’s Eve Day 2010, started like any other typical vacation day. I slept in a bit and then got up to get my day started. The weather was warm but really breezy and I debated with myself for a while whether I was going to go for a run or not. I finally decided that I didn’t want to let this slide, I wanted a final run for 2010.

I headed out with the notion that I would play things by ear and see how I felt and let that determine how much mileage I would put in. I originally thought it would be a short run, 3.5-4miles but then I realized I wanted to finish the year strong and pushed on through to get in 6 miles.

As I was on the last section of my run, in a neighborhood across the street from mine, I heard shouting. Like serious shouting. To be honest I didn’t pay much attention to it because I couldn’t understand what the person was shouting. I could only make out sounds and not actual words.