One Goal: End Cancer!

Each year thousands of bike riders join together and ride in Pelotonia, a bike ride for one goal: to end cancer. This year Katie decided to ride to help raise money for such a great cause! She pledged to raise $600, which will be matched by Victoria's Secret, and within literally one day reached her goal! No matter how much, every donation made a difference… 100% of every amount raised directly supports cancer research at the James Cancer Hospital at OSU. Cancer is such a devastating disease, and we have all known someone who has struggled, fought, lost or conquered their battle. The money raised will fuel more research to finally put an end to the cancer war.

Just wanted to give her a shout out and say good luck this Saturday when she rides in Pelotonia! Very proud of our little love bug :)

Katie and Elaine Taka Taka New York!

Last week while in New York for the photo shoot after a long day on set we decided to venture out for dinner. We stayed at The James Hotel in Soho (an awesome place to stay!) so there were many good places to eat within walking distance. A few blocks away we found somewhere called Taka Taka - Mexican Sushi & Japanese Tacos. We'd heard good things about this restaurant so we gave it a try.

First off - the drinks! Along with co-workers Kate and Jackie, we decided to get mojitos. Not too sure what they put in those drinks, but they were delicious - quite possibly one of the best mojito's any of us had ever had!

The cool thing about Taka Taka is that there was a conveyor belt with plates of sushi traveling throughout each table. Each plate had a number that you could reference from your menu to see what it was, then when the number you wanted went by you just grab and enjoy. On one of those nights where you are absolutely starved and just can not wait for the waitress to take your order, this would be the perfect place to go. The waitress just kept track of the numbers we grabbed off the conveyor belt and added them to our bill at the end.

The food combination's at this place were really interesting because they actually did combine some pretty unusual ingredients to create Mexican sushi and Japanese Tacos. We ended up eating tons of sushi and ordered lobster tacos. Everything was so good, and we left stuffed! This was probably the best meal we had all weekend - and the cheapest too! Although there is an endless number of restaurants to try in New York, Taka Taka is definitely somewhere we would go back to again and again!

A Bite-Sized Blog Post

Last week when Katie and I were in New York for the photo shoot, we were sent out to run a few errands. While walking around in Soho we came across a little cupcake stand called Little Cupcake Lover, a food card that carried bite-sized cupcakes for $1.50 each.

Katie decided to go with the peanut butter chocolate cupcake and I had the nutella mint. For $1.50 each we probably could have had at least 10 of these babies because they were so good! We decided against this because once we got back to the shoot we would have definitely felt like big fatties next to the super models. 

If you are ever in New York and are near the Victoria's Secret on Broadway you should check it out!

Summerland @ the LC

In case you haven't been able to tell by our lack of blog posts, the last month has been insane for Katie and Elaine - OK mostly for me. I spent some time in Boston for the HOW design conference, then I was in South Carolina visiting my sister, and between all of that Katie and I went to New York for a photoshoot. Anyways it's been crazy, but last week we finally got together again (outside of work - we do sit 3 feet from each other all day long) and went to the Summerland Concert Tour.

The bands at Summerland were: Marcy Playground, Everclear, Lit, Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray. We only saw Lit, Gin Blossoms and Sugar Ray because we got there after Marcy Playground had already finished and we didn't really care about seeing Everclear. It was awesome! After what seemed like weeks of 100 degree days in Columbus, Ohio, we lucked out and had perfect weather. Gin Blossoms were AMAZING and sounded so good but Sugar Ray stole the show. Mark McGrath was hilarious and talked the entire time, also they played only the hits. It was like a time machine took us back to 1999 when we were just awkward junior high kids who thought we were cool.

It was a fun night and if you haven't been to an outdoor concert at the LC you need to go! As the lead singer of Gin Blossoms would say, this is going to be our new theory on life: "We have come here tonight to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and we're all out of bubble gum." So let's kick some ass.

Also for anyone who is interested... The Gin Blossoms sing a song called "Hey Jealousy" not to be confused with "Hey Penelope". One of us (who will not be named...) began to sing the wrong lyrics when they played that song. To prevent that from happening in the future, just wanted to clear the air. It is called "Hey Jealousy."

The Perfect Start to Summer

Last Friday night Katie and Elaine ventured out to the LC Pavilion to see Girl Talk! We went with our co-worker, and former blog guest, Brittany Kress and her best friend/maid of honor to be Emily. Brittany and Emily had seen Girl Talk in concert before, and Katie and as you know - I are always up for something new to do. For those of you who aren't familiar with Girl Talk, he is a DJ who creates remixes. He mixes together mostly current top 40 hits, but will throw in some oldies but goodies as well.

The concert was absolutely packed. If you have ever been to the LC, you know that there is an area where you can stand close to the stage or an area you can stand on up a hill. Most of the time, the area close to the stage turns into a mosh pit, and this concert was no exception. We chose to stand up on the hill because you could see more and you weren't in the middle of the craziness. (Also you were WAY closer to the beverage station.)

It was the perfect night for an outside concert, and as Katie said "It was the perfect start to summer." After seeing Girl Talk once, Katie and Elaine would totally go again. Fun night with Fun friends!

 

Cheeseburger Wednesday!

Last week Katie and Elaine took Brazenhead, which is located in Dublin off of North High Street. If you live downtown Columbus, there is also a Brazenhead in Grandview located on 5th Ave. Katie and I were in Dublin last week because we were both volunteering for the Memorial Tournament. My mom is in charge of courtesy cars, the committee in charge of driving the players around while they are in town, so we volunteered for her. After taking Katie on a little tour of Dublin to get ready for driving around town, we met my mom for dinner.

We chose to eat at Brazenhead because it was Wednesday, which is $4.50 cheeseburger night. On a typical Wednesday it can get pretty crowded so you have to wait for a table, but we sat right down. There are 4 cheeseburgers on the menu, but you can also get whatever you want on it if you don't like those options. Brazenhead burgers are awesome, but they also come with the most delicious homemade chips EVER! If you order chips, be sure to ask for the white dipping sauce. We aren't sure what is in it, but there is definitely garlic - and garlic is never a bad thing.

Here is a secret tip for your next Brazenhead trip: they used to have a burger on their menu called the Western Burger. It had cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and bbq sauce. For some reason they took it off the menu, but if you know about it you can still order it. Katie and I both did just that, and added sauteed mushrooms. It can get pretty messy, but it is SO GOOD. My mom ordered the standard cheeseburger - cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion. If you're looking for a good cheap meal next Wednesday night, Brazenhead is the place to be!

We KNEAD to Start Running

Last Saturday Katie and Elaine somehow managed to get their butts out of bed to go watch the Columbus Half Marathon. You might be thinking that watching a bunch of strangers run wouldn't be that fun. Well - you would be correct. Lucky for us, our friend and co-worker Josefa was running so we were on a mission to find her.

After scouring the city near and far to find Josefa, we failed. Turns out she was a speed demon that day and finished before we were able to see her. Although we didn't run 13.1 miles like the half-marathoners, we did walk over 2 miles to the finish line at the Columbus Commons so we were hungry. We decided to just pick a place on our over 2 mile walk home, and that place turned out to be Knead. The cool thing about Knead is that every ingredient they use is locally produced and locally grown.

We got there around noon so we could have chose from their lunch or brunch menus. Katie's roommate Anita was with us, and all three of us went for brunch. Anita and I both decided to their one of their specials for the day: frittata's with arugula, garlic and onion with a side of potatoes. They were fantastic! Anita is somewhat allergic to eggs, but still loved them even after she began to feel the side effects! Katie went with the french toast. It looked and tasted phenomenal!

Our first Knead experience was a success! After watching all the marathon runners and how happy they were as they crossed the finish line, we all decided that is something we should do in the future. For a good breakfast, try Knead, and beware - if you go watch a marathon you will undoubtedly feel the KNEAD to start running as well!

Important Business Dinner - See You at Tip Top!

Last Friday night Katie & Elaine took one of our favorite restaurants in all of Columbus - Tip Top. Tip Top is a small bar on Gay Street in downtown Columbus where you can get good drinks and good eats. All the food is good, but they are especially famous for their sweet potato fries. If you like sweet potato fries - this is the place for you. What makes the sweet potato fries so yummy is the spicy mayo sauce that comes with them. Not too spicy, but delicious when dipped with a sweet potato fry.

We went to Tip Top with Alison, Kate & Derek from work before heading down the street to CCAD to judge final projects in one of their 3-D design classes. We all started off with drinks - beer for the ladies and a rum and diet for Derek. Katie and Alison had Original Sin and Kate and I had Bell's Oberon. For my second beer I had Lindeman’s Peche/Peach. IT WAS FANTASTIC. I love anything peach flavored - and to have a peach flavored beer! I was opened up to a whole new world that night. 

For appetizers we ordered sweet potato fries, of course, and corn fritters, housemade fritters of corn, peppers and spices, topped with a dollop of sour cream. The corn fritters were awesome, and lucky for me no one else really wanted them - so obviously I helped myself. Wouldn't want those babies to go to waste would we? 

For dinner Kate and Katie got one of our all-time favorite Tip Top meals, the avocado-Honey-Shallot chicken salad on a pretzel roll bun with sweet potato fries. I had the mac-n-cheese, rotini noodles with sauteed poblano peppers, red onion and corn tossed in the creamy cheese sauce. Derek had the Smoked Salmon Fritters, smoked salmon, risotto, herbs and cheese lightly breaded and fried, served with Dijon-horseradish dipping sauce and Alison had the Tonya's Herbed Goat Cheese Salad, goat cheese rolled in fresh herbs and lightly grilled served over mixed greens with tomato wedges  and their own balsamic vinaigrette. 

Tip Top, as always, was delicious. We are never disappointed when we go there. If you are looking for an intimate but fun atmosphere and a good meal with drinks - Tip Top is the place to go!

NASH-ATTACK! Girl's weekend in Nashville 2012

Last week Katie & Elaine traveled 6 hours away from our little Columbus home to take NASHVILLE! It feels like months ago we were randomly scouring Southwest.com for flights anywhere but Columbus because we needed a getaway. Well - we found flights to Nashville for $45, so Nashville it was! The planning had been going on for so long that when it finally came time to leave we were PUMPED! Our friends Michelle, Gillian, Krysti and Danie came along for the ride to help us take Nashville. We were only going to be there for less than 3 days - how much damage could we really do? 

The week before our trip was my birthday and the day after we arrived was Krysti's birthday - so basically we used that as an excuse to celebrate all weekend long. Our first day we explored close to our condo and went to the Opryland Hotel. In our future lives when we are trillion-billionaires we will stay there - it was so pretty! We ate at the Jack Daniel's restaurant - YUM! That night after some daytime pool time it was time to start the party. Girl's weekend was officially a go.

 

The morning of day 2 was spent by a few of us recovering from night 1. Michelle, Katie and I woke up at the crack of dawn only to hit the pool and take a nap. Sidenote - HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRYSTI! After mimosa's and breakfast we headed out to do some shopping in Hillsboro Village. Being graphic designers, of course we had to hit up the paper store, Social Graces. I think we all made at least one purchase then we had lunch at Boscos. They had live music playing while we ate - it was so Nashville of us. We also stopped at Pinkberry Yogurt on the way home - OMG YUM.

For Krysti's birthday we went on a ghost tour - not quite what we were expecting as it was more of a history lesson than getting scared, but either way we had a good time. Afterward it was time to find food and the on with round 2! We got ribs for the birthday girl then went to check out Tootsies. It wasn't really our crowd (full of old people). Unfortunately, from the moment we stepped off the plane, Krysti's allergies went crazy so she wasn't feeling good. Her and Danie went home but for Katie, Michelle and I the night was young. We wandered around for a while not really knowing where to go, so we decided to check out The Stage. Remix to Ignition, Purple Rain, What's Love Got to Do With it? - Oh boy were we in for a treat. We stayed there all night, got on stage TWICE, and rubbed elbows after the show with the band. GAAAHHH!

It was the best night - EVER. The next day the only thing on the agenda was to visit Hatch Show Print. We came, we bought lots and lots of screen prints, we left. We ate at a place called Burger Up - so good, kind of reminded all of us of North Star. Also, they carried Jeni's ice cream - what's not to love? Our last night wrapped up with going to the Mercy Lounge to watch 8 bands compete on the Road to Bonnaroo. The place was awesome and the music was fantastic! That night we also may or may not have met up with a certain keyboardist/guitarist/singer from the night before :) 

 

Hopefully this is the first of many girl's trips to come. Thanks Nashville it was real - we had a blast!

A "Suite" Time with the Columbus Blue Jackets

2012 has been absolutely crazy for Katie and Elaine, so we apologize for being slower to post than we would like. This story begins last year around Halloween when Limited Brands had a pumpkin decorating contest. Teams were instructed to decorate pumpkins then set them out for people to vote on the best. Votes were cast with money and all of the proceeds went to charity. Being part of the creative team, we were challenged to not only enter this contest - but win.

Well obviously we were more than up for the challenge along with the help of our friend/co-worker Krysti Kalkman. Our idea was to transform our pumpkins to look like they were walking down the runway of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. We chose 4 outfits to mimic from the previous year's show for our pumpkins - and we WON! The "girls" looked great and we were able to raise a lot of money.

The winner of the contest got to choose a game for the Columbus Blue Jackets to sit in the Limited Brands suite. Not only did the winning team get to go, but 18 of our closest friends as well. They gave us the entire suite - it was SWEET. The Blue Jackets played the Carolina Hurricanes and won 5 to 1. Although this year, like most years, was more than a struggle for the Blue Jackets - the game we went to was super fun and very exciting!

Last weekend Katie and Elaine took NASHVILLE - check back soon to hear about our trip!

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

So far in 2012 Katie and Elaine have been reading like mad women. Be it the cold weather or just the fact that we have realized it's not necessary to watch every episode of Sex in the City 300 times, we have read a lot. One story we have both been practically obsessed with is The Hunger Games.

For those of you who haven't joined this band wagon - The Hunger Games is a 3 part book series about a girl named Katniss who must save her family from starvation. Every year the capitol picks a boy and girl from each of the 12 districts to compete in what is called the Hunger Games, a competition where  children literally fight to the death, and the last one standing then becomes the winner. Katniss has a little sister, Prim, who gets chosen as the representative for their district, District 12. She can not possibly let little Prim compete because she knows Prim will get killed. Katniss volunteers to take her place, along the way falls in love, and goes on to (SPOILER ALERT) win the Hunger Games.

Because we were so consumed in the books we just had to see the midnight showing of this baby, so our friend Krysti Kalkman rounded up a group of friends to watch at the Arena Grand Movie theater. For those of you who might be confused, Arena Grand is downtown - NOT on OSU's campus. I may or may not have gotten them a little mixed up. Luckily Katie was there to save the day so we wouldn't be late to the movie. We also met up with many work friends who had also planned on seeing the midnight showing at Arena Grand: Cheryl Forcina, Anna Bonevac, Mollie Wells, Phokeng Dailey, and Sara Kreinberg.

Arena Grand was just that - GRAND. The theaters are multiple levels and you get to pick your exact seat. Also, if you are interested, this is one of the few theaters in the Columbus area that you can drink alcohol at while you watch your movie. $14 bought us a great view and a complimentary popcorn. The movie was incredibly close to the book, which as anyone who has read a book and then seen the movie knows this is usually not the case. Hunger Games was awesome and Arena Grand was great. For anyone who lives downtown, this would be a fantastic spot to walk and go see a movie on a nice night this summer. And always remember, may the odds ever be in your favor.

Katie and Elaine TAKE CLEVELAND!

This year for St. Patrick's Day Katie and Elaine decided to TAKE CLEVELAND. Luckily our bosses were in a great mood Friday and let both of us go early (Luck of the Irish - we think so), so we packed our bags and hit the road.

Friday night we made plans to meet up with some UD girfriends, Lauren Hauptman, Molly Feller, and Clair Labutta, at Barley House on West 6th in downtown Cleveland. The atmosphere was fitting for the day before St. Patrick's day - very calm but full of irish food and music. Also, being mid-march, March Madness was going on so we watched OU kick Michigan right out of the tournament!

The food at Barley House was phenomenal. Katie and I split Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese Pizza and it was TO.DIE.FOR. One of the coolest aspects of this restaurant was that in certain tables there were beer taps built right in. It charged you per ounce so if you wanted 3 ounces great.. or if you wanted 33 ounces awesome - you picked how much you poured. The Hubbard Grill in Columbus has beer taps built into some of their tables, and the one time I've been there the people sitting at that table were drinking wine. It made me mad that they wasted that table on non-beer drinking people therefore we decided we were obligated to drink out of our been table tap. We lucked out because the beer was Yuengling!

We woke up early St. Patrick's Day morning to mimosas, green eggs and green pancakes. Nothing like food coloring to coat the stomach and prepare you for your day! After getting our pretty on, we ventured the streets of Cleveland to the land of West 6th where we met up with more friends. The weather was BEAUTIFUL - we definitely could not have asked for a better day. When 1 o'clock rolled around we attempted to make it to the parade route, but with what seemed like millions of people  filling downtown we could barely keep our group from being separated. We headed back to West 6th to Panini's and ate yummy yummy pizza.

Because we started our day so early, we called it a pretty early night. Sunday we had lunch with the Kandrach family. Mr. and Mrs. K welcomed us into their home, made a delicious Italian meal, and sent us all home with left overs. We were exhausted heading back to Columbus, but we had a blast! Thanks Cleveland - YOU ROCK.

The LAB Open House

As most of our loyal followers know, Katie and Elaine work at Victoria's Secret home office. Being part of such a large company we have to work with many outside vendors - last week one of them had an open house for their new space in Columbus. Many of our co-workers joined in the festivities, including Melyssa Kirn, Erin Masur, Sara Kreinberg, Jackie Wessel and Emmie Graham.

The Lab is one of the numerous retouching companies we work with on a daily basis. The people are great and they do fantastic work! Their new space is super cool, kind of like an old airplane hanger that they spruced up to look very modern chic.

We ate mini-sandwiches of all kinds, had wayyyyyy too much spicy shrimp, and devoured our mini-cheesecakes. The party was one of the first weeks of March, but because of how beautiful the weather in Ohio has been lately (THANK YOU GLOBAL WARMING) we were able to sit on their patio. We drank wine, did some mingling, and had DELICIOUS food. Next time we need a caterer we are calling our LAB contacts to see who they had because it was fantastic.

Hey LAB let's have another party - this one was super fun!

An Extra Day for Sushi & Wine

For Leap Day this year Katie and Elaine took Columbus at Sushi Rock. After eating at both Haiku and Sushi Rock, we were torn as to which restaurant we like better. Haiku definitely has a more laid back atmosphere, where Sushi Rock plays loud music and has the lights turned down to set the mood. While both have delicious sushi, so far Katie and Elaine have both craved sushi from Sushi Rock but not from Haiku.

When we arrived there was a 35 minute wait for a table, but we could sit down immediately at the sushi bar - so obviously we sat at the sushi bar. It was really cool because you could see the sushi chefs making their creations right in front of you. When we commented on how sweet it was to watch them make the sushi, the chef closest shot us a really strange look - therefore we decided to not talk about him again until he walked away.

Although it was only Wednesday it had already been a long week at work, so we ordered wine. The usual Malbec for Elaine and Reisling for Katie. Being creatures of habit, we also got our usual order of sushi. The Spider roll for Elaine: soft shell crab, crabstick, cucumber, broccoli & spicy mayo sauce, and the Crazy Roll for Katie: deep fried unagi, avocado, masago, cream cheese. One thing to point out about Sushi Rock's menu is that they divide the sushi by raw, cooked or tempura rolls. Katie is very adventurous when it comes to her sushi, but I prefer only cooked therefore it was really nice to know exactly what I was eating.

This was our first outing just the two of us, and it was the perfect night. Just a couple gals after a hard days work getting some sushi and drinks. Katie and Elaine won't be taking Columbus next week because Katie will be on vacation in DISNEY WORLD! It's sad we won't be able to blog, but she is going to a magical place. See you in 2 weeks!

I said NO CHEESE!

Last Thursday night, Katie and Elaine ventured outside 43215 again to visit Rancho Alegre in Grandview. For those of you who don't already know, Elaine could live off Mexican food. Katie LOVES love, and Elaine LOVES Mexican.

Earlier in the night, Katie and Elaine went to CCAD to help critique student's projects in an advertising design class. Our co-worker, Josefa Spiess, is a professor there and asked us to come in to watch presentations and offer feedback. We didn't know what to expect coming into this situation, and were both pleasantly surprised at the level of work put into each project. The presentations lasted a couple hours, and because of this we were practically starved when we got to the restaurant.

For the second time on this whirlwind blog tour we were joined by co-worker Kate Rohrer, but as an added bonus Mike and Maddie (super cute baby in the pictures above) decided to tag along as well. As with any good Mexican restaurant, we sat down to hot chips and salsa. In my opinion as a Mexican restaurant connoisseur - if they don't give you free chips and salsa it's not worth coming back. When it came time to order I went with my usual, some sort of fajitas - in this case veggie fajitas. And as always, what's Mexican food without a Diet Coke? Katie and Kate ordered chicken quesadillas, and Mike ordered a burrito. Side note Mike can not have dairy, so he asked specifically for no sour cream and no cheese.

Well... when it came time for our food to arrive everyone's looked great except for that Mike's burrito was covered in cheese! The waiter tried to argue that he asked for no sour cream or SALSA, which didn't make sense since we were all sitting waiting chomping on chips and SALSA the entire time. Who eats salsa with their chips then magically decides they don't want it on their meal? (Answer - no one.)

After a short argument, the waiter took Mike's burrito back and returned with a new one - minus the cheese of course. Although we had this little hiccup, Rancho Alegre is delicious and will be going back whenever possible. We weren't in a drinking mood that night, but if we had been - Rancho Alegre is known for their delicious margarita's.

Katie and Elaine are looking for a Columbus hot spot to visit this week week for Leap Year - let us know your suggestions!

Double Happiness, Double Happy Birthday

On Friday February 17th, a group of friends came together at Double Happiness to celebrate the 29th anniversary of JMG's birth (whose true identity will remain known only to those who know him). After hassling and harassing Katie all day at work, she finally agreed to join in the festivities - and boy oh boy was she glad she did!

For those of you don't know who the great JMG is, he is the boyfriend of former dinner guest and current co-worker Brittany Kress. At first sight, Double Happiness was pretty hard to find - therefore there was no first sight. It is located in the Brewery District of Columbus, across the street from Shadowbox Theater. It is a bar, but you can order food there as well - but because we were just celebrating the birthday, we only got drinks. The on-tap beer selection was quite limited, but it did have a unique variety of choices. Being at an Asian inspired bar, I decided to go with an Asian inspired beer, Sapporo. Katie went with one of her all-time favorite beers, Hornsby.

A few fun facts about this night, we were joined by many co-workers including Cherise, Sara, Alison and Phokeng. Also, because JMG is such a big deal there was a live DJ, Envelope. Katie and Elaine had a great time enjoying the Asian decor, spending time with friends, and listening to awesome music. If you want a Double Happy Birthday - Double Happiness is the place to go!

It's Valentine's Day and I Need Closure!

As many of our followers may or may not know Katie and Elaine are both single, so this year we decided who better to spend Valentine's Day with than each other. Another fun fact you might not be aware of is that Valentine's Day is Katie's absolute favorite day of the entire year. As of today the countdown to VDAY 2013 will begin (364 days left!). Katie LOVES love and Elaine loves Katie enough to tolerate all of the hearts/candy/flowers/everything else associated with Valentine's Day including chick flicks.

Taking all of this into consideration, we decided to venture outside the 43215 zip code to try the Movie Tavern which is located in Hilliard. The Movie Tavern is just like any other movie theater except for that you can eat dinner and drink while you watch the movie. Because it was Valentine's Day we gathered up all our single girlfriends and got tickets to see The Vow. For those of you who have not heard of it or seen the trailer, The Vow is a story about a husband, Channing Tatum, and wife, Rachel McAdams, who are in a car crash, and when the wife wakes up she forgets she is married. Throughout the whole movie the husband is trying to make her fall back in love with him. We won't ruin the ending for you, but the first words out of Katie's mouth when it was over were, "I NEED CLOSURE!"

Although we were slightly disappointed that this chick flick didn't live up to the high expectations we set for it, the Movie Tavern was fantastic. Being that it was Valentine's Day and all the stupid couples were out and about, we had to sit up in the front row. Even sitting that close we still had great seats and didn't feel as if our necks were going to fall off when the movie was over. The menu was actually fairly large with everything from burgers and pizza to wraps or salads. I ordered the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wrap with sweet potato fries, which the waiter said was one of the most popular items on the menu. It was delicious! It had the right amount of spicy without making my eyes water, and the portion was very reasonable. Not too much, but enough that I was full when I was done. And of course since we had the option to drink while watching the movie I washed it down with a couple Blue Moon's. Katie had the Thai Chicken Flat bread and it was "fahhh-nominal," also washed down with some Blue Moon.

Do we recommend seeing The Vow? Yes, but wait until it comes out in Redbox. Do we recommend going to see a movie at the Movie Tavern? YES, because it has reasonably priced tickets, food, and drinks!

Happy Birthday Momma Kalkman!

After a much anticipated return, we are back!

A few weeks ago Katie and Elaine ventured out into the cold to try Milestone 229, a new restaurant on the Scioto mile, and for the first time in the history of the blog we were out to celebrate! Friend and co-worker of ours, Krysti Kalkman, invited us to dinner for her Mom's birthday. The entire group included: Krysti and her boyfriend Jake, Krysti's mom, their friends Andrew and John, Elaine, Katie and our friend Gillian.

The night we chose was possibly the coldest day of winter thus far, but we immediately decided if we liked the restaurant we wanted to come back in the summer. Milestone 229, which has a large patio, overlooks the Scioto River and shows a very picturesque view of the city.

To start off the celebration, we each ordered our drink of choice. Most went with wine, but a few opted for beer. The menu was fairly large and full of many choices. Jake, Andrew and I each got the Roasted Gerber Chicken Breast: Ohio free-range chicken with mac ‘n cheese, skillet green beans and savory gravy. IT WAS DELICIOUS, and we would all order it again if we come back. Katie and Gillian went with the Skillet Mac ‘n Cheese: double-smoked hickory bacon, diced tomato and scallions. Krysti ordered the Grilled Barrel Cut Sirloin: a thick center cut steak with three potato hash, skillet green beans, whiskey steak sauce and Gorgonzola butter. Krysti's mom ordered the Blackened Mahi Mahi: dirty rice, braised collard greens and spicy tomato butter, not to be confused with the Maui Maui. Last but not least, John ordered the special of the night which was a fish fillet with roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.

Everyone LOVED their dinner and cleaned their plates so we could get dessert. Andrew and I ordered the Pumpkin Cheesecake with gingersnap crust, pecans and rum caramel. IT WAS TO DIE FOR. I am quite the cheesecake connoisseur, and this might have been the best cheesecake I've ever had. Katie, Gillian and Krysti's mom had the Pecan Pie Bread Pudding with caramel sauce and Johnson’s triple bean vanilla ice cream. I'm not much of a bread pudding fan, but the girls loved it. And Krysti and Jake split the Rich Chocolate Cake served with a small jug of milk. It was the biggest piece of chocolate cake you've ever seen!

Milestone 229 was delicious and definitely gets the stamp of approval from Katie and Elaine take Columbus!

Dirty Dogs and The Dirty-D

This week Katie and Elaine took Dirty Frank's Hot Dog Palace, joined by former guests Gillian Curcio and Anita Shankar. From this point on, our view on hot dogs has been changed forever! Dirty Frank's is part of the Liz Lessner family of restaurants in downtown Columbus. If you remember, a few weeks ago Katie and Elaine took Betty's, which is also a part of this group. Her other restaurants include: Tip Top, Surly Girl and The Jury Room.

Dirty Frank's, like Betty's, is a very small restaurant with very limited seating, and would be pretty tough to eat there with more than a group of 3 or 4. According to our sources, DF's is always packed so we were warned to get there early. Lucky for us, we had to work late and were able to sit right down. Like our trip to Betty's, as soon as we got our order in the place filled up and there was a long wait for tables. These Liz Lessner places sure are popular with the late night crowd!

The menu at Dirty Frank's was overwhelming - we had no idea there were so many ways to top a hot dog! After taking so long that our waiter may or may not have been a little annoyed, we finally ordered. Tots and fried leeks, which are onion straws without the fried batter, to start. Gillian ordered the Cowgirl Carmen: hot dog topped with meat coney sauce, cheddar, & crushed Fritos. Anita got The Classy Lady vegan style: hot dog topped with cheese sauce & crushed potato chips. After long debate, Katie went for the West Virginia Slaw Dog: hot dog topped with coney sauce with creamy slaw & onion, and I decided on the Razzle Dazzle: hot dog topped with cream cheese, grilled peppers & fresh onion.

As weird as these combination's were, we loved them all! It was a unanimous decision that Dirty Frank's is Katie and Elaine Take Columbus' favorite stop so far. The food was delicious and INSANELY CHEAP. What started out as a cold, tired Tuesday night turned into a fun night with friends out on the town.

Also, I know you all have probably been DYING to hear about our trip to UD this past weekend. Turns out we had such a good time catching up with friends and visiting our favorite hot spots from the old stomping grounds that we didn't take very many pictures. Here are a few though - enjoy!

Who Needs Jeni's when You're Friends with Brittany?

Last night Katie and I were lucky enough to be invited to the Kress/Gibson/Nilla/Reese household for wine night and homemade Jeni's ice cream. Because Brittany was serving dessert, she decided it would be the perfect night to try out ice wine - and let us tell you, it tasted like fruit juice. It was so good it might be dangerous if it weren't so expensive to buy!

Apparently, making ice wine is more expensive than regular wine because wineries wait until the very end of the season to harvest the grapes when they are literally covered in ice. Because the grapes are so hard and cold, they produce less juice when squeezed therefore making a bottle takes more grapes than normal.

Treat number 2 for the night was homemade Jeni's ice cream, made from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home Cookbook, prepared with love by Brittany! It was a Christmas present from Joey, thank God for you Joey - IT WAS SO GOOD, like melt-in-your-mouth good. We had the choice of Dark Chocolate, Gouda with Vodka-Plumped Cranberries, Salty Caramel and Backyard Mint. Katie and I rated them as follows: Dark Chocolate, Salty Caramel, Backyard Mint, then Gouda with Vodka-Plumped Cranberries. Basically Dark Chocolate was an obvious first, and the other three were a tie for second.

First wine night was a success! And next time we have a craving for Jeni's ice cream, who needs it? You can find us at Brittany's!

Hello Restaurant week!

Hello Restaurant week! Call us trend-setters because apparently this idea of "trying new Columbus restaurants" is catching on quick! You should have seen our 9-person entourage last night as we tackled yet another Columbus hot-spot—Martini.

What better way to kick off the night than with a round of drinks (very strong drinks might we add)! Most of the group opted for wine, but two of us ordered their signature Martinis. The Pineapple Finlandia, pineapple upside down cake in liquid form... yum, came with fresh pineapple slices, whereas the Modern Martini, Martini's take on the classic dirty martini, came with a heaping serving of gorgonzola stuffed olives. HEAVEN. Our advice - order it EXTRA dirty... otherwise it will be EXTRA strong. You have been warned.

After drinks came the bread, and who doesn't love a restaurant that offers you endless amounts of focaccia and olive oil? It even came with pesto dipping sauce which was DELICIOUS! Ok, now on to the best part... the menu alone was impressive and full of a variety of foods, but because of Restaurant Week we were also given the option to pick from their Prix Fixe Menu... a three course dinner including an appetizer with two main entrees. Between our party of 9, 3 ordered off the Restaurant Week menu.

First up, ROUND 1: Elaine opted for bruschetta, while Brittany and Gillian chose the Martini Salad. A few others went for a more traditional ceasar salad with croutons that literally tasted like little pieces of crunchy heaven.

And onto ROUND 2: Elaine decided to try the Butternut Squash Tortellini, while Brittany and Gillian went for the Veal & Spinach Ravioli. The girls said both entrees were delicious, and next time Elaine is back all she's getting the Butternut Squash Tortellini - IT WAS THAT GOOD!

Now time for ROUND 3: Melyssa, Anita and Katie all ordered the Pennette alla Vodka, while Erin went for the Chicken Carbonara. Brittany and Gillian ordered the salmon, Elaine got lasagna. Kate had Chicken Parm, and Jackie ate the Chicken Picatta.

When you get 9 girls together, 7 of which work together at Victoria's Secret, panties and push-ups are bound to enter the conversation sooner or later. After a night full of work-talk, friend-talk, school-talk, and of course boy-talk, we decided to head our separate ways. Katie and Elaine took Martini's and LOVED having so many dinner guests.

We haven't decided where we're going next week, but Dirty Franks has been thrown out as a definite possibility. Also - breaking news as of last night post Katie's martini - this weekend Katie and Elaine will be taking DAYTON! Check back for posts from our road trip!

Pin-ups and Cats

From the pin-up girls on the wall to the cat statues on top of the bar, Betty's was quite the experience. Joined this week by one of our favorite people, Gillian Curcio, Katie and Elaine took Betty's. We arrived and were seated at just the right time, because as soon as we did the place exploded with people and was jam packed!

This blog has been live for a little over a week now, and has already taken the internet like a whirlwind. Our many followers had lots of nice things to say about the Haiku post, but they wanted to hear more about the food. So here goes...

Betty's has a fairly large menu, filled with a variety of foods. They serve everything from soup and salad, to quesadillas, pasta, or sandwiches. Us girls started off the night with the Warm Three Mushroom Salad. We loved it, even Katie who just recently became ok with having mushrooms in her food. Before we could finish the salad our dinners were served! Katie got the Crab Cake Sandwich, crab cakes, shredded cabbage and carrots, red onion and jalapeno mayo in a grilled pita. Gillian ordered the Betty's Mac & Cheese, rotini pasta in a house made cheese sauce with poblano peppers, corn and red onions - it was delicious! I ordered the Chicken Tortilla Soup - Peppers, corn, tomatoes & chicken in a spicy tomato broth topped with sour cream, cheese and crispy tortilla strips. I also had a side of skillet green beans and corn. YUMMY!

After spending the night eating great food and catching up with friends, we took off for home. Betty's does not have many seats or tables, but it does have a fun bar. We decided when it comes to dinner, this is a great place for a small group of friends, but if we would have had any more than 3-4 would have been a pretty tight squeeze.  Spoiler alert - next week is restaurant week in Columbus so Katie and Elaine will be taking Martini. Check back to see how it goes!

Our First Adventure!

Outing #1 was an absolute complete success! Tonight Katie and I went to Haiku, poetic food and art, in the Short North for one of our favorite foods - sushi. Before even arriving at the restaurant we had a pleasant surprise because Miss Anita Shankar decided to join.

Katie and I both ordered wine, riesling for Kaite and a malbec for myself. Anita went for something fun and got the champagne cocktail. We all tried it - pretty tasty (but STRONG)!! After ordering we went to the usual topic of conversation, reminiscing about our glory days at the University of Dayton. We talked out former roommates, places we lived, and how mild our alcohol consumption has become. Call us old ladies - but we are now very happy with our glasses of wine.

When the food arrived it was time to DIG IN! Katie ordered the dancing eel, Anita splurged and got both the sweet potato tempura and squash tempura, and I had the specialty spider roll. It was delicious and scrumptious, so we decided Haiku is definitely a place to revisit. Haiku has a patio, so this will definitely be somewhere you can find the three of us come summertime.

Check back next week when Katie and Elaine take Betty's!