Wild about Wine.

Last week's Wild About Wine has been rescheduled for next Monday, March 3. Same time, same place. Let's drink to the manatees!

These people make me feel like such a bum.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kristof.html

But there is a good point in all of this. Think of all the time and money being spent on all the political campaigns. All to elect a few people who will bicker with each other and, despite the potential, not get as much accomplished as the individuals in the article.

Restaurant Week

Go out and enjoy some of Greater Cincinnati's terrific independent restaurants!

This year's Restaurant Week will be March 3-9, when 29 locally owned restaurants offer a three-course prix-fixe dinner for $25.08, a penny up from last year.

Participating restaurants: Andy's Mediterranean Grille, Behle Street Café, Bella Luna, Brown Dog Café, Chalk Food + Wine, China Gourmet, Daveed's at 934, deSha's American Tavern and Grille, Dilly Deli Wines and Gourmet, Greenup Café, Holy Grail Tavern and Grille, Hugo, Jag's Steak & Seafood, Jimmy D's Steakhouse, Kona Bistro, Mesh, Mike & Jimmy's Chophouse Grille, Molly Malone's Irish Pub (Covington), Nicholson's, O'Bryon's Irish Pub, Polo Grille, Pompilios, Primavista, the Pub at Crestview Hills, the Pub at Rookwood Mews, Red, Tink's Café, Universal Grille, Vineyard Café and Washington Platform.

http://www.gcindependents.com/restaurants.php

I want to try Hugo, Bella Luna, Chalk, well actually I want to try any that I haven't been to before. I can recommend Kona Bistro, the Pubs, Nicholson's, Tink's. Oh, why bother trying. They're all good.

Got Plans?
If not, here's what to do this week:
Feb 21 Wild About Wine
If you’re wild about wine, then this is the event for you! February’s event has an Australian theme at the Zoo’s Manatee Springs. Guests will sample eight Australian wines courtesy of the Party Source and have the opportunity to watch a special viewing oft "Planet Earth" in the 4-D theatre. The event features delicious appetizers, animal encounters, tours, music, a silent auction and wine education. All proceeds benefit the Zoo’s Lindner Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife (CREW) - the umbrella for all local and international conservation and research efforts of the Cincinnati Zoo! 6-8pm. $25/person, $30 at the door. Call 513.559.7754 or email wildaboutwine@cincinnatizoo.org

Feb 22 - Members Opening Party: Sol LeWitt: Structure and Line at the CAC
Free for Art Museum and CAC members, $15 at the Art Museum for the general public. Light hors d'oeuvres and cash bar.
6-9pm at the Cincinnati Art Museum
7-11pm at the Contemporary Arts Center
The Daniel Liebskind exhibit also opens at the CAC on Saturday.
Feb 23 - Bellydancing at Andy's Mediterranean Grill
Donna/Myrrah is my former belly dancing teacher and she is the best! She usually starts dancing around 8:00. Let me know if you're coming and we can reserve a table.

What do I have in common with Jane Goodall, Oscar Robinson and Erich Kunzel? We all support the zoo levy! Jane Goodall said, ""I am honored to have the opportunity to share with the leaders and residents of Hamilton County how respected and admired the Cincinnati Zoo is throughout the world."

We are so cool!

Don't you hate it when bloggers don't keep their blogs up to date? I do. I hate when I have to let mine lag because my computer is misbehaving! Bad computer! The screen keeps going out. For no apparent reason. So frustrating. It's not a software or system problem so I have to take it somewhere to be fixed. Aaaugh.

The cold, snowy weather has not slowed things down around here. Last Tuesday I went to the launch party for the new website Soapbox Cincinnati. The party was at the Mercantile Library which is one of downtown Cincinnati's great little secrets. I had only been there once before for a lecture. If you like to lounge in a traditional-looking library surrounded by books, you might want to check out the Mercantile.

You'll also want to subscribe to Soapbox. It's a new weekly on-line magazine about what's new and exciting in Cincinnati. There is a lot of material for them to cover. http://www.soapboxmedia.com/default.aspx

Last weekend, I saw Red Light Winter at the Know Theatre. It was pretty good, although a bit slow in parts. The sex and nudity was only a small part of the play and was not graphic or gratuitous. Still, Taylor said it was the most action she had gotten in a year. Which really does not reflect well on the dating scene in Cincinnati.

I'm looking forward to Wild About Wine on Feb. 21. I've been writing about the zoo a lot, but I really like the animals there. I do feel sorry for some of them in their confined spaces, but I think our zoo does a good job of educating visitors about the wild. And I think it's a great setting for a wine tasting. Wine tastings are everywhere these days and so overdone, but I don't know of any others that incorporate animals. Yay!

I Love The Zoo.

Support the Zoo levy. Vote YES on Issue 17!

And go to Wild About Wine on Feb. 21.

Still Winter.

I don't have Spring Fever yet. I know this because I was at DSW today. They have rows and rows of sandals out. I wasn't interested. I barely looked at them. Craving new sandals is usually one of the first signs of my Spring Fever.
I still want to go somewhere warm.

BOOKS

Allison asked me the other day if I could recommend any good books for her to take to Mexico on her vacation. I offered to personally deliver a few to her in Mexico ;)

I suggested something by Isabel Allende. She is a beautiful writer. Although the books aren't a light or quick read, I think they are entrancing enough to supplement a vacation. When I got home later that evening, I perused my bookshelves, and book piles and stacks, contemplating the best Isabel Allende books to lend Allison. I think I ended up with Daughter of Fortune and Eva Luna. But I couldn't stop there. I wondered if she had read Bridget Jones' Diary. That is a great, light beach read! So I grabbed Bridget's Diary, and the follow-up The Edge of Reason. Then I included The Spy Wore Silk and The Spy Went Dancing. These are books 2 and 3 of a series by Aline, Countess of Romanones who was an American spy during WWII. I think the first book is the best, but you can read the others without having read the first. She fills you in on what you need to know. The books are so interesting, its hard to believe they are true! They sound almost like any other spy novel.

Lastly, I included A Mighty Heart by Marianne Pearl. I heard Marianne speak at one of the Smart Talk lectures a few years ago, and really enjoyed the book. If you don't remember, Marianne's husband Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002 and later beheaded. He was a journalist for the Wall Street Journal. Marianne is also a journalist and the book is wonderful. It's one of those stories that are hard to read because you know that the ending is not a happy one. But it is also heartwarming to hear her tell of the people who helped her get through the ordeal. My copy of the book included some of the letters that she received political leaders and from total strangers after Danny was killed. It was very touching. A Mighty Heart was also made into a good movie last year starring Angelina Jolie. I think you would get more out of the book, but the movie is worth seeing.