Taft Museum of Art, Act II: Journey to Freedom

After volunteering as Santa's elf on the Cincy Bell Connector today, I stopped by the Taft Museum of Art for the opening weekend of  Journey to Freedom: Art Quilts by Cynthia Lockhart.

Lockhart graduated from the University of Cincinnati and moved to New York City to work as a fashion and an accessories designer. Major retailers and boutiques the world over sold her unique accessories. She was tired of the hustle and bustle and decided to move back to Cincy, becoming a professor in UC's College of Art, Design, Architecture, and Planning for 25 years.

Her work is featured at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati Children's Hospital, and the University of Cincinnati as well as publications such as the Encyclopedia of African American Artists and Women's Wear Daily. 

Journey to Freedom tells of the heroic and joyful stories of Lockhart's ancestors. I looked at these quilts for the first time to snap the following pictures and took a second look to understand and learn more about myself. As part of my ongoing process of self development and self love, I have learned to embrace what the good Lord has bestowed upon me. As of 2017, I have said goodbye to hair relaxers and embraced my natural locks. These quilts have taught me to be comfortable in my own skin.

Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord, 2002

This one took me to church. Lockhart has been singing in church choirs for many years, thus inspiring this quilt.

Journey to Freedom, 2004

 

Runaway, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, 2019

Honoring Our Ancestors, Inspiation and Creativity, 2019

This one's my favorite. Honoring Our Ancestors calls us to "interact" with this work. In the three   baskets below, visitors write their own definition of freedom. I just had to give honor to this piece and appreciate my ancestors for the sacrifices they made to mold me into the person I am today.

Jazz On My Mind, 2008

This one took me to the Big Easy. Interesting enough, I had red beans and rice for lunch yesterday 🤣. This piece is the true essence of NOLA and the cradle of jazz.

Created To Be Me, 2017

Today, I walked away from this exhibit with a new sense of freedom and self worth. Go see this exhibit! Trust me, your life will be transformed for the better!

Live like a Belgian!

It's not every day that Tuesdays get as much love and attention as Mondays, Wednesdays, or the weekends. Today, with the gift card that I received at a Cincinnati USA CVB volunteer appreciation event, I decided to show some Tuesday love and treat myself to the Taste of Belgium for lunch.

ToB came to be in the early 2000s. Jean Francois Flechet brought back a 120lb cast iron waffle maker from his hometown of Liege, Belgium. He set up shop at Findlay Market inside one of the market's produce stores. His waffles became so popular that he eventually outgrew that space and, from there, he began a chain of these bistros. Today, with its five locations in Cincy and one in C-bus (Columbus), ToB has become a true regional staple.

Each waffle is made with buckwheat flour and infused with pearlized beet sugar imported from Liege, thus eliminating the need to put maple syrup on them.

Belgian Cuban with frites and chipotle mayo

This go around, I wanted to give a shout out to Yasiel "El Caballo Loco" Puig, former Afro Cuban right fielder for the Cincinnati Reds (P.S.& BTW, ToB is the official waffle of the team), by having the Belgian Cuban (for posterity and nostagia, here is a cool promo for the sandwich). Made with pork belly, ham, Havarti cheese, pickle, and mustard, this is a local take on the classic Cuban sandwich. The sandwich itself goes back to the mid 1880s. Both the cigar and the sugar industry were huge in Cuba, and Cubans, Spaniards, and Italians created the sandwich for their lunches. The cigar industry eventually moved to Tampa, Florida, and the Cuban sandwich came with it.

I know what you're thinking, but I had to get this key lime tart to juxtapose the heaviness of the sandwich. Don't judge, it's Christmas!

Now, you don't have to just feast on waffles alone. ToB also has an assortment of classic American fare, salads, and galettes (crepes), desserts, beer, and coffee, so you have pretty much the whole world right there.

ToB has also been featured in Diners, Dine Ins, and Drives, named Best New Restaurant (2012) by Cincinnati Magazine, and voted Best Brunch by CityBeat (2014, 2015, & 2016)

Today was starch and sugar overload, but who's cares? I just wanted to have some Europe with a side order of nostalgia.


If you want to go to a part of Europe without leaving the 'Nati', give this local staple a try! Trust me, you won't look at Belgian waffles the same way again!

Cincinnati Observatory: Lighthouse of the Sky

Last month, I was at the Cincinnati Observatory for a Star Gazers season finale party for former host and the observatory's resident outreach astronomer Dean Regas. From some of the episodes that I've watched, Dean has a gift of delivering astronomy with his good-natured Cincinnati hometown flavor.  Bummed to see him leave the show but happy for him on his podcast Looking Up; he is still going to deliver that same down home Cincinnati flavor.

Today, I just couldn't resist! The awesome brisk weather just pulled me to do a more in depth tour of the observatory. With its serene park like setting, I'm calling this another one of my happy places!


Considered the Birthplace of American Astronomy, the original observatory was established in Mount Ida, named after a local washerwoman. It was built by Ormsby M. Mitchel, with the cornerstone being laid by our 6th U.S. president, John Quincy Adams in 1843, who also gave the speech at the grand opening.

Due to the air pollution in Cincinnati proper, the observatory was moved to its current location in Mt Lookout in 1873.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

My tour guide Carl lead the tours in both the Herget Building, named after Dr. Paul Herget, an early director of the observatory, and the O.M. Mitchel Building, named for the founder of the observatory. Herget developed what is now an iconic American snack-keep reading to find out!

The rundown of the visit:

Herget Building, main observatory

Paul D. Nohr Sundial Memorial

Alvin Clark  & sons 16" refractor, 1904, Herget Building

Another view of the Alvin Clark & Sons 16" refractor

O.M. Mitchell Building

12" Mertz und Mahler Telescope, 1845, O.M. Mitchell Building

P.S. & BTW, this Mertz und Mahler telescope is the oldest professional telescope in the Western Hemisphere. Nicholas Longworth, who was the Father of the American wine industry, looked through this telescope and he donated 4 acres of land for use of the observatory!

Tip: To help make the most of the visit, there are planetary markers on the west side of the property to depict each planet's distance from the sun!

I was looking for the remaining two markers for Uranus and Neptune; didn't care about Pluto as it is no longer considered a planet.  I looked for about ten minutes for the other two markers but finally gave up, but if you happen to find them, kudos!


Now, some black history:

   

                                                   

George Robert Carruthers is an African American inventor, physicist, engineer, and space scientist. He is best known for inventing the ultraviolet camera/spectograph for NASA to use when Apollo 16 launched in 1972. He was born right here in Cincy, and when he was a child his family lived in Milford, just about 12 miles from downtown Cincy.  He currently teaches a two semester course in Earth and Space Science at Howard University in Washington, D.C.


Oh, I didn't forget...

This hyperbolic paraboloid has become the snack of icons that we know today, and we all can thank Herget for this! He designed the Pringles potato chips based on his orbit work in astronomy. The signature shape is user friendly and helps keep the chips intact during shipping. Now, did I blow you away with this one? 😆

More great ways to experience the observatory is to do the nighttime Astronomy Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, and Late Night Date Nights. Each of these are lead by an astronomer and includes guided stargazing, weather permitting. If history is your jam, Sunday Historical Tours are also available.  So, Cincinnati, if you need a release from the everyday, please check this place out! This is now one of my happy places, and it can be yours, too!

Until my next adventure, keep lookin' up!

William Howard Taft Historical Site

Happy December! I have an action packed week and season ahead: volunteer appreciation dinner, touring the Cincinnati Observatory, phone interviews, and personal projects, which I disclose at a later time, but it will be major for Cincinnati. Meanwhile, I used a portion of my afternoon to visit the William Howard Taft Historical Site as today marks the 50th anniversary of its National Historic Site designation.

Here are some highlights from the site, also the birthplace and childhood home of the 27th President of the U.S. and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Apologies for the appearance; I came a litlle bit too late to take the full picture!

This fireplace is of Rookwood tile

Tile depicting scenes from The Fox and the Crow, one of Aesop's Fables

.

George Washington Williams

Of course, I had to uncover some black history connected to the Tafts. George Washington Williams was an African American politician, historian, Civil War soldier, and minister who studied law under W.H.'s dad, Alphonse Taft. He served as pastor of the Union Baptist Church, Cincinnati's oldest black church, from 1876-1879, and also was the first African American to serve in the Ohio legislature. His big break:  He was the first African American to condemn the actions of Belgians, going into the Congo (formerly Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and discovering that King Leopold II of Belgium was using slave labor to bring out ivory, diamonds, and rubber. As a result of a letter he wrote to the king, "An Open Letter to His Serene Majesty Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Sovereign of the Independent State of Congo", nations around the world followed suit.

For all you movie buffs, Williams was played by Samuel L Jackson in the 2016 movie The Legend of Tarzan!

Cincinnati Black Restaurant Week: My Rundown

What a week it was! I, along with the rest of Cincinnati, have been gearing up for what will be one of the craziest and exciting times of the year. Before all of that, I needed to take some me time and go down home before reality sets in: the week before Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, 1st of the month...yeah, you see where I'm going with this!

The second annual Cincinnati Black Restaurant Week was a time for our Black owned restaurants to showcase and represent the down home goodness of the Cincy food scene without leaving the 'Nati. Most important, this was a time to support Black businesses and to show Cincy our rich black heritage. So much to choose from with so little time, but the joints that I visited somehow spoke to me. Everyone of them did not disappoint!

I won't say too much about these (I'll save that for future posts!), but you can take a look, salivate, and decide for yourself!

Day1: $9.00 buffet, Ollie's Trolley

Day 2: Jerk Fish sandwich, plantains, and ginger punch, Island Frydays

Day 3: Buckeye Basket, K & J Seafood

Day 4: Judas (chicken) plate, Just Q'In

Day 5: $5.99 Catfish plate with Red Beans and Rice and Peach Cobbler, Goodie's

Public Art to Celebrate a Cincinnati Heroine

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of attending the "Public Art to Celebrate a Cincinnati Heroine" forum at the Woman's City Club of Greater Cincinnati to learn about the soon to be first ever Cincinnati statue celebrating a woman: civil rights icon Marian A. Spencer. This organization is spearheading a fundraising campaign to build and install the statue, slated to be installed and make its appearance on what would have been Spencer's 100th birthday June 28, 2020 at the Women's Committee Garden at Smale Riverfront Park, facing the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge.

Spencer was a woman of many firsts- first African American female elected to Cincinnati City Council, first female president of the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP, and the first African American president of the Woman's City Club of Greater Cincinnati.

Her big hurrah came July 1952. Her two young sons were watching The Uncle Al Show on T.V. as he invited children to Coney Island waterpark to meet him in person. The boys asked her to take them to the waterpark to meet Uncle Al. At first, Spencer was hesitant, but she ultimately made the call. When the Coney Island rep answered, Spencer told her about the invitation and wanted to know if that extended to Negro children. The rep said that it did not. Mama Spencer wasn't having that! Spencer then shows up at the entrance and was stopped and turned away by an armed guard. She filed a lawsuit and won, desegregating Coney Island.

 At the meeting, biographer Dot Christenson showed a twelve minute clip of an interview with Spencer, and Jenny Ustick, professor in the Public Art and Placemaking Department at the University of Cincinnati discussed the role of public art plays in Cincinnati, memorials,  and representation of women (FYI: Ustick also designed both the James Brown and Ezzard Charles murals in Over the Rhine!).

The final two speakers of the night, Tom Tsuchiya, known for his statues at Great American Ball Park, and apprentice and co-sculptor Gina Erardi, who also collaborated with Ustick on the Ezzard Charles mural, are collaborating on the project.

Commissioned by the club, the statue itself was inspired by her children motivating Spencer to become a civil rights activist. Spencer is depicted as vice-mayor in 1984. The girl is a composite of the four Winton Hills Academy students who won a national contest for a book that they wrote about her. The boy was inspired by Erardi's employer's son. The work is allegorical as the children depicted are meant to represent all children.

The coolest thing about this: It will be interactive. The images will join hands and an empty space is intentionally left between Spencer and the boy so that visitors can join in!

So excited about this! Right now, I'm like a kid at Christmas! Hurry up and let June 2020 come!

Kombuchinnati

For most of my life, I have suffered some minor health issues, including seasonal allergies, and given my family history of cardiovascular disease, I have been looking for safe and organic ways to maintain good health. On one of my weekly trips to Findlay Market in 2016, I stumbled upon something that was way out of my comfort zone but hot and happening: kombucha. I stopped by what used to be DIRT Market and checked out a cold brew coffee kombucha by Fab Ferments (they have a tap room in Lockland!). I was so blown away by how awesome this is--right balance of sweet and tart.

For those who don't know, kombucha is a fermented probiotic tea that dates back 2000 years to Ancient China. As a probiotic soda, people drink it to improve digestive and immune health (80% of our immune system is located in our digestive tract).

Fast forward to Summer 2019. I buy a new brand called Kombuchinnati, and for me, this hits a very sweet spot. There are flavors such as Original, Ginger Pie, and my favorite, Berry Medley.

In October during BLINK, I finally meet the owner Ione Sally while trying a coffee cold brew. He is very passionate for what he does, and the brutha has a very inspiring story. Loved the cold brew, so I tried to convince him to do a matcha kombucha! So excited for what he will put out next!

Kombucha has great benefits, but one downside to this is that if kept warm for too long, it could overferment and increase alcohol content, so I used both bottles of the kombucha that I bought this weekend as a marinade for chicken.

That said, the recipe for Kombuchinnati Chicken with Honey Pepper Sauce


Kombuchinnati Chicken with Honey Pepper Sauce

Any part of chicken (I used chicken wings)

Two bottles of Ginger Pie Kombuchinnati

Salt

Sugar

Pepper

Margarine or Olive Oil


1. Bring water in saucepan to a boil. Remove from burner to cool for about 5 minutes.

2.  Remove chicken from package and transfer to a glass baking dish.

3. Transfer cool water to glass baking dish. With chicken in the dish, pour water so it covers just enough of the chicken.

4. Add salt and sugar and let brine overnight.

5. Remove chicken from the first brine, discard, and wash glass dish. Transfer chicken in cleaned glass dish and pour both bottles of kombucha and let marinade in the refrigerator for eight more hours.


6. Transfer chicken to clean plate and discard kombucha marinade. Pat chicken dry.

7.  Transfer chicken back to washed glass dish and oil with margarine or olive oil. Season with black   pepper.

8. Preheat oven to 400°. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.

9. If you like, remove the chicken and baste the honey pepper sauce (recipe below) onto the chicken. Place back in oven for 20 minutes.

10. Remove chicken from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Honey Pepper Sauce

1/2 cup of local honey

2 1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper


Combine all ingredients.