Let's Go Fly a Kite: Bird For Bread Studios

This post has been long overdue. I've been following Amanda Hoffmann's blog Birdforbread.com for a very long time, and I have loved all of her jewelry designs.

Maybe it's the fact that I recently went to see Broadway Across America's MARY POPPINS, but I've been yearning to go out and fly a kite. It's just that kind of weather. I used to fly kites all the time as a kid. When I was a tween, my bedroom was decorated with an octopus kite that started on one wall and whose tentacles canopied the ceiling and spanned the four walls of my room. In science class, as a wee lass, we made our own kites. I remember thinking that my own kite flying experience made me a ringer for "best kite," but my homemade kite couldn't make it out of my hands without dive-bombing the ground. I was crushed

So when Bird for Bread studios posted a blog about Hoffmann's new kite-inspired jewelry designs, I couldn't help but feel a wave of nostalgia and NEED. I love these earrings on Etsy. My birthday isn't for another five months, but now you know...

Check her out on ETSY.

Ways to contact Amanda Hoffmann:

*facebook: www.facebook.com/AmandaHofmannDesigns
*blog: www.birdforbread.com
*website: www.AmandaHofmann.com
*twitter: www.twitter.com/cissyhofmann

Why Louisville Is Awesome...

This a snippet of an awesome infographic was tweeted to me last night and then emailed to me this morning. The sender must have known that if anyone would agree that Louisville is Awesome, it would be me. Unfortunately, I can't get it to embed properly, but clicky the linky, and you'll see the whole thing.

Very nice work by local tech company DBS Interactive featuring ten or so fun facts about Why Louisville Is Awesome.

Do you have more reasons why Louisville is Awesome? Contact them, and maybe they'll add your idea to their infographic.

I wish I'd had this when I was sending Flat Stanley back to Boston. Miss that guy.

Kilimanjaro's Ginger Orange Cocktail: Summer is Here!

I know I say this all the time, but it is worth repeating: I have the most amazing friends imaginable.

This weekend I was invited to a dinner party hosted and catered by the folks behind Kilimanjaro Foods. The three-course Ghanaian meal was delicious (although I had to skip the dessert course because it contained mango) and the conversation was delightful. But next to the fantastic company, the highlight of the evening was the ginger-orange pre-meal cocktail. With the weather turning summery oh-so-early this year (I worry that the Mayans had it right, and we might be on a slow cook right up til December then-- pfffth!), I intend to pick up a bottle of Kilimanjaro's Sunrise Ginger Syrup on my next trip to ValueMarket. 

It's always fantastic to find another Kentucky Proud product to add to my "must buy" list. 

Surprisingly, although it has a number of ginger cocktail recipes, the Kilimanjaro website doesn't include the recipe for the orange cocktail. I'm guessing, based on other recipes, but once I make my own, I'll fix this if it's wrong:

Ginger Orange Cocktail

1oz Sunrise Ginger Syrup

2oz Gold rum

4oz Orange Juice

a splash of soda water

Stir and serve over ice.

Design*Sponge Loves Kin Ship Press

My Google Reader is filled with some pretty strange stuff. Yes, I have loads of local bloggers on there and lots of Louisville news. But I also have at least a half-dozen blogs (most now dormant) that focus on LOST. A couple that focus on BSG news. I have lots of wine and booze blogs on there-- despite the fact that it's been years since I spent more than $12 on a bottle of wine.

More than anything else except local stuff, I have lots of film review and movie news blogs on my G-reader. I'm honestly not sure why.  But I read so much movie news that if a movie pops up and I've never heard of it before, I am stunned... stunned, I tell you.

[If you're wondering, my absolute favorites are Mary Ann Johanson's FlickFilosopher blog (feminist, pop culture nerd... loves her some Doctor Who... the only blog I have actually PAID to subscribe to) and Bob Chipman's MovieBob vlog (gamer, film nerd, geek, also a feminist, a pretty brilliant cultural critic... and also my cousin).]

And despite the fact that I have not an ounce of handiness or decor-intelligence in my body, next to film news in non-Louisville-related-blogs-on-my-Google-Reader, I have the most blogs about design and crafty things.

My favorite of these is Design*Sponge (despite the cringe-worthy name... I'm kind of of the mind that nothing should be called an anything sponge, unless it's a contraception).

And Design*Sponge loves our local Kin Ship Press (which, by the way, is an example of an awesome name).

Today the blog featured Kin Ship's new customized mugs.  (I love them, but I'm partial to their non-customized mug that reads "Time to Get Stuff Done."

Grace Bonney from Design*Sponge has featured Kin Ship's products before. Last July she featured my favorite Kin Ship product: their adorable pillow cases.  See the July mention here.


From the Kin Ship Etsy bio:

Kin Ship Press is Dan Davis and Hillary Harrison.
We live and work in Louisville, Kentucky.
We screenprint. Illustrate. Photograph. Design.
We like to make things.
For us and for you.

We are inspired by our family & friends, slowing down, countrysides, music, critters, and folk art--among other things.

We design and hand-print home goods and apparel.

We work hard to find and use quality fabrics and supplies that we ourselves would want.

Congrats to Kin Ship for great design exposure!

Leave it to an Irishman to make a Great KY Beer

So last week, in my beverage and horseracing tour of the Lexington area, I also had the pleasure of stopping in on the Alltech Kentucky Ale brewery right in downtown Lexington. Really, they should start calling it a "brewery and distillery" because right in time for the World Equestrian Games (of which they're the primary sponsor) they'll be rolling out their own whiskey (Pearce Lyons Reserve), and eventually bourbon, distilled right there in the downtown campus.

Is it a blessing or a curse that I just can't stand cheap beer? This hasn't always been the case. I was raised on cheap beer (somewhat literally, I had four young uncles when I was growing up, and they got a kick out of sneaking "the kid" a few sips of their Bud during gatherings). In college, I drank Rolling Rock when I was feeling flush and PBR (without a hint of irony) when I was broke. In fact, I distinctly remember one day my senior year having just under $10 left on my credit card (explains my history of poor financial management) and using it to buy a case of PBR and a small box of Grape Nuts.

So I'm the worst kind of beer snob. Expensive taste with absolutely no knowledge. But I like what I like. (see: my taste in wine)

Two nights before my KY Ale tour, Roommate and I popped into Mellow Mushroom near UK's campus to watch the Red Sox game. They lost, but it turned out it was trivia night and we came in second (from way behind on the final question-- I take no pride that I was the only person in the bar that could successfully match the type of animal to the person who it either mauled or killed). We earned a $25 gift certificate which effectively paid for half the night. Of course this has nothing to do with anything; I'm just bragging that we came in second in a trivia night packed with young whippersnapper college kids.

Oh wait, it is relevant. I brought it up because it was the first time I'd tried Kentucky Ale. And, in short, it's really good stuff. I like what I like, and I like it a lot.

I wish I'd taken notes. I didn't think it would take me more than a week to get a blog post up about the tour. So, as usual, pardon the ramble.

Alltech-- the parent company of KY Ale-- is a company founded in the early 80's by Dr. Pearce Lyons who moved from Ireland to the US. They make animal vitamin supplements, primarily with yeast-derived products. On the website, Dr. Lyons says, "People often ask us why a global company that’s in the business of science also owns a brewery. Well, to make a long story short, my forefathers in Ireland had their hand in the brewing business and crafting beer casks when barrels were made out of wood. Today, my own family is in the business of making yeast that happens to also go into the making of beer. So, it was a natural for us to revive the brewery that has been in Lexington since 1794."

So Lexington Ale has been around for more than 200 years, but it has changed hands a bunch of times. The last time it went out of business, in 1999, Lyons snapped it up. The first beer they produced was the KY Ale-- a blend of an Irish Red and an English pale ale. Since then they've added KY Light, which is a German style beer, and Bourbon Barrel Ale, which is KY Ale aged in a used bourbon barrel.

The tour reveals a tiny facility where they brew and bottle the beer and distill the spirits (which are casked and aged and bottled in Bardstown). But this year is a huge year for the Brewery; they're not only sponsoring the World Equestrian Games but unveiling a new facility that will more than double their space. We were shown the plans, and it looks gorgeous.

At the end of the tour, we were shepherded into a tiny Irish pub and given generous tastes of all three of the beers. The KY Ale remained my favorite. I'm not a fan of German style beers. And while the reviews of the Bourbon Barrel Ale are fabulous and it's won a ton of awards, I wasn't a fan. One of my fellow pub-goers said that it tasted like "bananas," and while I didn't really agree, that sorta stuck with me.

I had no idea that Kentucky Ale products were only available in KY and OH. Part of the reason for the bigger facility is so that they can expand distribution. And I'm just loving their sponsorship of the World Equestrian Games-- even though I know nothing about horsey stuff, I know that this event is a big deal and means lots of money for and eyes on the region. Whenever I can, I like to "drink local," and heretofor BBC products have been my go-to beers. But now I'll add Kentucky Ale to my drink dance card, happy to support a true local brewery that's committed to the state.

**disclaimer: I was led to the brewery by a blog/twitter reader who works in PR for the brewery. I took the standard 3pm daily tour. But I was given a couple of souvenirs at the end of the tour. They didn't, however, influence me in the slightest. No t-shirt is ever gonna make me blog about bad beer.

Buy Local: Kentucky Blue Box Elk Creek Wine!

I know I've gone on record (@loueyville) as saying something along the lines of: "It would make my NCAA Tournament if Cornell kicked UK's butts in the Sweet Sixteen." But c'mon, I come by this sentiment fairly honestly.

First off, I'm a fellow Ivy Leaguer (oh yes, don't let this pretty face fool you; I also come by my nerdiness honestly and have the sheepskin to prove it). And seriously, I thought the only Ivy Leaguers who "got game" were on the fencing or crew teams.

Secondly, when you move to Louisville, you pretty much have to decide if you bleed Red or Blue. And I "Bled Red" before I even moved to this city. Back when Roommate and I were dating (you forgot we used to be a couple, didn't you?), he used to have one of Pitino's inspirational books in his bathroom. So I read up on Rick in the loo and thought: "This guy seems to really have it together. What a nice man with good moral character. I think I will be a fan of his team." (*spit-take*)

Thirdly, how do you NOT love a man named Tubby? That's all I'm sayin' about that.

But, oh you dear Elk Creekers, you did it again! Back in October, Elk Creek Vineyards sent me three bottles of their Halloween wine to try. And this month, they sent me their newest themed wine right in time for the NCAA Tournament. And I have to say, these people know me.

Just look at the picture! Don't you just want to hug it?

As I mentioned in my first review of the Elk Creek wines, I don't know what the heck I am talking about. A good 75% of the wine I drink at home comes from a box. And dammit, I LIKE wine from a box. It stays good longer, it's better for the environment, and there's LOTS of great boxed wine out there. And I'm happy to say that "Tailgate Red" is one of them. And with prices starting at UNDER $20 for the equivalent of FOUR bottles of wine. You can't beat that with a stick, folks.

But not only is "Tailgate Red" good red wine (I'm drinking a glass now and loving it), the packaging is frigging adorable. If you look closely at the picture, on the left there's a hoop for ping-pong ball basket ball and on the right is a goal post for table football. And they include a ping-pong ball and a sponge football in the box! I know I seem unreasonably excited about this: but this is a BOX of WINE that has BUILT-IN drinking games! How can you not LOVE that?

According to the Elk Creek website, you can't buy this everywhere, so here's a list of the stores that sell the Blue Box. And there are seven varietals available, Tailgate Red & White, Concord, Vidal Blanc, and Sweet Mellow White (that's good stuff-- I remember that from Halloween) for $19.99, and Cab and Chardonnay are $10 more. Elk Creek is located just an hour from Louisville. Mama's thinking it's definitely time for a road trip to visit them.

If I were a UK fan and I were planning a Sweet Sixteen watching party, I would so stock up on these things. They're-- as I said-- just too damn cute. AND when Cornell hands them their ticket back to Lexington, the party doesn't have to end-- you can play drinking games with the (I'm sure empty by now) boxes. Go Big Red! (sorry, I know I just made half of y'all hate me)

Disclaimer: I make no bones about the fact that Elk Creek sent this lovely, lovely thing to me for my consideration. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't have blogged about it. All sentiments herein are genuine. I learned well from Big Mama Lou: "if you ain't got nothing nice to say then shut the heck up." I liked this for real.

More on the good folks from Elk Creek here.

Mike Linning's Cocktail Sauce: Another local product I can't live without

Not too long ago, I blogged about Bluegrass Soy Sauce. Since then I've bought at least two more bottles. Love that stuff. But there's another local condiment I just can't live without.

Roommate and I try to always keep shrimp in the freezer. It's just such a lovely, and relatively healthy, treat to defrost a couple handfuls of shrimp and scarf down an ad hoc (and cheap!) shrimp cocktail. A couple years ago, we were buying cocktail sauce at ValuMart and decided to check out the local stuff. Mike Linning's Cocktail Sauce is far and beyond the best cocktail sauce I've ever had. I don't know what makes it so good-- but it's thick and spicy and somehow kind of "meaty."

Never been to the restaurant, but their cocktail sauce has put it on the "must visit" list for next summer.

You can buy the cocktail sauce in most local groceries or online, here.

Bluegrass Soy Sauce-- This stuff is SO good!

I just finished my bottle of Bluegrass Soy Sauce tonight. Used it to cook up some garlic and soy pork chops. I'm a big fan of soy sauce, but I don't think I've ever had soy sauce this good. This is what the bottle says about itself:

This sauce is from the only small batch soy sauce brewery in the United States. It's made from whole non-GMO Kentucky grown soybeans and pure limestone filtered Kentucky spring water. The result is a smoky, brothy sauce with hints of oak and a mild sweetness reminiscent of fine Kentucky bourbon.

The label is hand labeled with the batch and bottle numbers. And it's just so pretty. I love it when good stuff is in attractive packaging-- it means I can feel free to give it as a gift. The company is located on Story Ave, and you can buy the sauce at most local gourmet shops or online. I may never go back to Kikoman again!

DEWEY, the New York Times Bestseller by Louisvillager Brett Witter

Cross-posted from Lou Reads, my book review site.

I have an awesome idea for an animal book. It's very vague; I'm still looking for inspiration. But the general gist of it would be this: the book would be about an animal like a giant tortoise or a parrot, a tortoise or a parrot that is inspiring and brave and gentle and kind... AND LIVES FOR-FRICKING-EVER. Seriously, either of those animals are bound to outlive their owners. And most importantly, those animals are bound to live all the way THROUGH the end of their memoirs. The book could end: "And as I finish this book, I look out the window at Timmy the Life-Saving Tortoise, watching him carefully masticating a big bunch of kale, and I know that he has many, many years of good living ahead."

I'm just saying... I'd read it.

In a recent blog post I said that the fact that I was reading and enjoying DEWEY: THE SMALL-TOWN LIBRARY CAT WHO TOUCHED THE WORLD by Vicky Myron and Louisvillager Brett Witter was evidence that I am not as jaded and cynical as I maybe thought I was. And the fact that I enjoyed it all the way through confirmed that.

I didn't pick up the book because I am a pet lover. I have no pets of my own-- my lifestyle isn't condusive to pet mothering. But early readers of Loueyville may remember that the blog was named after a neighborhood stray cat, Louey, who hung out on my porch. After disappearing several times for months at a time, he got sick and had to be put down, and I was devastated. Now a neighbor's cat has claimed me as his part-time mother, and he comes and goes as he pleases. But that doesn't make me a cat person. (Methinks the lady dost protest too much... )

I picked up the book because shortly after we moved to Louisville, Roomie and I met Brett Witter and his family and some of their friends, and despite the fact that we all hit it off, we didn't really keep in touch. And then, two plus years later, DEWEY happened. And this really nice guy we had a really nice dinner with suddenly became a HUGE publishing success. So I had to get my hands on this book.

I admit, I was skeptical when I bought it. Just because something is a New York Times Bestseller doesn't mean it's any good (TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, anyone?). But within a page, I was assured that this was no soft-read, fluff, glorified Hallmark card. The introduction of the book, called "Welcome to Iowa," is such a magnificently rendered description of a very foreign-seeming place that if I were still teaching a writing class, I would give it to my students as a gorgeous example of "setting." I didn't hesistate to plow forth.

Around thirty pages into the book, after Dewey the library cat shows up on the scene as an abandoned, nearly dying, frozen kitten and is nursed back to health by Vicky and the other librarians, I started to worry. How the heck are the authors going to get 240+ more pages of cat life out of this story? Cat makes friends. Cat has adversaries. Cat has quirks. Is there really more than 240 pages worth of that stuff to tell?

No. There's not. But that's not what this book ends up being about. Cat friends, adversaries, and quirks are entertwined with Vicky's family's story and with the story of the small, suffering town of Spencer, Iowa. And those stories are just microcosms for the struggles of the farm belt and small manufacturing towns everywhere. Whether it's Wal-Mart showing up in town or the card catalogue being replaced by computers, change sometimes steamrolls over the town and sometimes pushes the town forward. But Dewey is the constant.

DEWEY is a lovely book. It is a soft-read, but it's not fluff. It's exceptionally well-written. If you love books or love the rural Midwest or love cats, the book has something for you.

An Open Letter to Local Business Owners

My dear purveyors of good stuff,

Right now, I live in a hotel. And before you ask, the answer is: No, there's nothing glamorous about living in a hotel. I used to think living in a hotel would be sexy. Manny Ramirez lived in a hotel the whole time he played for the Sox. Kelsey Grammar's character in the tragically short-lived sitcom "Back to You" lived and loved in a hotel room. Heck, it worked for Zack & Cody for three seasons until they took their game onto a cruise ship. (Please don't ask how I know this. Let's just say that convalescing makes strange TV bedfellows. FYI: Dan Savage brilliantly eviscerated said show on This American Life last year, claiming Zach and Cody were turning his son into the worst kind of heterosexual.)

Alas, the Residence Inn is not the St. Gregory from that mid-80's Aaron Spelling show starring Brand Walsh's dad/Babs's husband (are they still married? is anyone still married?).

Last Friday, I came home from work to find that the housekeeper (and yes, having a housekeeper IS sexy-- that's the best thing about hotel life) had left a flyer for 32nd Annual Old Louisville Holiday Home Tour on my coffee table. And when I went downstairs to check about my mail, there was another full-color flyer for the Home Tour displayed on an acrylic stand. And I thought, "Oh how nice. I'm a little broke right now, but I can always hit it next year."

A few hours later, it dawned on me that I've been living in this *&^%^&* hotel for almost three months now-- Ooohh! No, today is my three month anniversary! I've now lived in a hotel for 1/4 of a year. Sigh.-- and that was the very first piece of local advertising I've seen pass through the doors of the joint. Sure, there's the obligatory "brochure shelf" tucked out of sight down an unused corridor, but the Home Tour folks put that full-color photocopied, attractive, festive ad in my face-- both in my room and right on the front desk-- all weekend long. And if I hadn't been a Villager, hadn't known that I'd have another chance to go at the 33rd Annual Home Tour, I would have jumped at it.

At least a couple times a week, I'll be hanging in the lobby or waiting in line at the front desk, and I'll hear some tourist or business person ask for dinner recommendations. If they're looking high end, the answer from the front desker is always the same: Jeff Ruby's. If they're just looking for something to fill their bellies, the front desker always directs them to... you guessed it: 4th Street Live.

Sometimes I stick my nose in. Sometimes I don't. I almost always stick my nose in when I hear folks mulling over dinner options in the elevator or in the hallways. (This takes a lot of effort as Mama is painfully shy around strangers.)

There are lessons to be learned here, Owner friends. First of all, there are 140 guest rooms in the Res-Inn. If the Home Tour people paid 15-cents per color copy, that meant that they spent in the neighborhood of $21 to blanket my hotel and get a brochure into the hot little hands of every single person staying at the hotel that weekend. A single, day-of-purchase ticket for the Home Tour was $30. If one Res-Inn resident hit the Tour, the Tour still made $9.

There are approximately 17,000 hotel rooms in the Louisville Metro area. That's a lot of color copies, sure. But if you're having a special event and you can share the cost with other businesses (Trolley Hops and Bardstown Aglow and Buy Local First and Louisville Originals folks, I'm looking at YOU), you've got quite the captive audience in hotel dwellers, whether they be tourists, businessfolks, or townies like me.

Secondly, if you're a local business within comfortable walking distance of a hotel, why don't you drop off some discount coupons for the front deskers to give out to arriving guests? It's only because I'm such a 'net nerd that I discovered the ill-fated Park Place's awesome Happy Hour deal. Heck, if Park Place had put a little ad in every Res-Inn welcome packet saying: "Hey, we're a high end eating establishment, but you can enjoy fine cocktails and appetizers at half price EVERY DAY and eat and drink like a classy person for the same price you'd pay at TGIFridays" they might have lasted a bit longer. Likewise, it's only through active interweb hunting that I've found out about the daily deals at the BBC Taproom and Artemesia. You don't even need to make it a discount coupon. Why is there no 1/4 page b&w photocopied flier on our brochure rack advertising BBC's daily specials? That's nutso!

And finally, I love me my front desk friends. They're a super sweet group of folks. I have no doubt whatsoever if you, Local Owners, scratch the front desk folks' backs a little, they'll scratch your backs A LOT. Just after Hurricane Ike, I was in a Highland coffee shop (Highland Coffee, to be exact) and a woman from one of the neighborhood Irish pubs came in and handed the baristas coupons for free beers on a particular night. I was behind her in line, so I didn't hear everything she said, but it was something along the lines of: we're thanking our neighbor businesses because we had power and were able to serve food during the dark days and our neighbors sent a lot of business our way. Aw. That's classy, folks.

There are approximately seven or eight people who work the front desk at the Res-Inn. Give them each a gift certificate for $25 at your eating establishment (you know they'll spend more than that). Give them a 25% off coupon for your store. If you're a tourist attraction, let them in free. And don't just do this once-- do it aggressively-- there's all kinds of turn over in the service industry, and you want to keep YOUR business at the front of their minds.

I'm still sick about the fact that I've seen six restaurants within walking distance of the Res-Inn go belly-up in the past three months: Primo, Market on Market, Melillo's, Jenicca's, Park Place, and Browning’s (she intones the litany of the dead). I’m trying to do my own broke-girl part by signing (and abiding by) the LEO’s Shop Local pledge. As soon as I’m finished with my work (if you can call this “work”), I’m heading over to Wild and Wooly to submit my 10 Buy Local receipts to enter their Holiday Passport contest.

But Local Owners, you gotta put yourselves out there a little more. Us Loueyvillagers don’t want to see you croak. We don’t like driving by the Spaghetti Warehouse (or whatever it’s called) and seeing it full to bursting, while 301 Bistro across the street has empty tables. It’s not that we don’t like the Warehouse—it’s yummy and cheap. We’re not unhappy that 4th Street now has a Panera Bread, as long as Panera doesn’t put Toast in jeopardy. Lou will probably end up spending her New Year’s Eve at one of 4th Street Live fine establishments. So, I’m not anti-chain. I’m just pro Local, for all the reasons one should be.

Rant over.

Lots of love,
Lou