Only one weekend after the Bacon Fest in Des Moines, I found myself ponying up to the creamery…read morebooths at Jungle Jim's Cheese Fest in Cincy. I'm pretty certain my body is officially pissed at me. My fridge is loaded with recovery veggies as we speak. All this to say, wowzers, what a great deal and fun afternoon of cheese sampling and discovery. I walked away with a new favorite cheese from Cypress Groves in California - their cheese was a close tie with the Trillium and European Cultured butter from Tulip Tree Creamery in Zionsville, IN. For $15 you can sample your way through cheeses, charcuterie, olives and more. I loved the way they organized the space by origin (East Coast (primarily Vermont), European, regional, West Coast, etc.). And, if you're looking to kick your ticket up to the next level, for $25 you can sample wines and beers every few stations between the cheese. That appeared to be a heck of a deal as well. When it's all said and done, you can go downstairs into the marketplace to purchase your favorite frommage finds of the day.

What an awesome event! I've never ate so many cheese in my life! This was held at the Oscar Event…read moreCenter. Pricing was very reasonable. $30.00 VIP Early Admission, $12.00 (Adults) at the door, $2.00 Children. If you want to purchase $25.00 for alcohol, you get a glass which gets you unlimited wine and beer at the booths or bar. Good thing I purchased the tickets in advance because it was sold out once we got there. My boyfriend and I went on a Saturday afternoon. This is my first time attending so I felt like the lineup was great! So many vendors to choose from. Here is the line up for this year: Champignon North America Rutherford & Meyer Red Apple Cheese BelGioioso Cheese Tillamook Bertozzi Specialty Parmigiano Reggiano Fabrique Delices Cabot Creamery Columbus Les Trois Petits Cochons Olivia's Beer Cheese Fromi USA Deer Creek Cheese Fortune Fish & Gourmet Burnett Dairy & Valley Lahvosh Finlandia & Kii Natural Crisps Ambriola & Oil Salami Monte Nevado BrewCity Sausage Co. Carr Valley Agora Foods International JJ Fresh Mozz Mackenzie Creamery Montchevre Yancey's Fancy Beehive Cheese Columbia Cheese Minerva Dairy Laura Chenel/Marin French Sweet Grass Dairy Jasper Hill Farm My Artisano Foods Vermont Creamery Widmer's Cheese Cellars Ed-Mar Dairy FraMani. Kerry Gold Volpi Foods Howard's Creek Authentic Beer Cheese Forever Cheese There was 4 stations where you can try the Mac and cheese and vote for your favorite using a ticket. Photo station to take pictures, a raffle to enter to win prizes, and more! I felt like the beers and wines paired well with the cheese! I also felt like the event was very organized and lines went fast. This event is worth going to for the price! I highly recommend it if you are a lover or cheese!

No, no, no... it's not cannibalism of football players. Taste of the NFL is an annual event that…read moretakes place in hometown football stadiums across the country as a fundraiser for homelessness and hunger. The Cincinnati Bengals' Taste benefits one of my favorite charities: Freestore Foodbank. The event features 45 of the city's finest chefs and restaurants serving one or two delectable samples at each booth. The entire Bengals team and Ben-Gal Cheerleaders are in attendance at the event for guests to snap photos with and get autographs. There is also a gigantic silent auction, a live auction of event packages going for $2,000+, and of course, an open bar. There was more than enough food samples here to fill me up. Everything looked incredible; I wish I had room for more! Some of my favorites included: - Burnell's Restaurant: White bean hummus, shamander mutabal, and crispy flat bread. - Cincinnati Cooks! Catering: Cubano chicken, greens, bacon with fried cornbread. Spicy chicken cutlet on a sweet Hawaiian bun with paprika sauce. Key lime pie. - Sugar Cupcakery: Sweet corn cupcake with raspberry frosting. - Second Course: Seared shrimp & steak with lemon, cilantro and garlic. Gazpacho shots. - J. P. Chocolatier: Chocolate bacon truffle. - La Petite Pierre: Lobster ravioli with a saffron tomato sauce. - Aramark: Roasted garlic Dijon lamb with orange pepper risotto. - Jean Robert's Table: Spicy chicken confit salad with Mediterranean couscous. - Eat Well: Devils food whoopie pie. Pretty much everything was delicious. The only thing I didn't like was the martini from SkinnyGirl. The drink tasted watered down because they put ice in the mix to keep it cool. Bartending Basics 101: NEVER put ice in a martini! Price per person: $150.00 (Keep in mind, this is a fundraising event for charity. Every $150.00 provides 600 meals to those in need. And you definitely get your monies worth in unlimited fine food and free alcohol.)

I've had the pleasure of attending this event for the past 3 years in a row as a former Freestore…read moreFoodbank (FSFB) employee and loyal volunteer to the organization. Let me tell you this event does not disappoint. This event is one of the FSFB's most popular fundraisers for Cincy area foodies and football fanatics alike. The event is a great opportunity to get those Bengals autographs you've always wanted and the opportunity to eat and drink yourself into a food coma. At almost $200 for a ticket, you better believe that some of Cincy's best restaurants are showcasing what they've got. There are restaurants that I've seen represented every year, like my personal favorites Tom + Chee and Holtmans and of course Cincinnati classic Jeff Rubys. There are always new showings (or new to me showings) too. Some of the standouts to me this year: Taste of Belgium- They had a pulled pork and mango chutney topped waffle. Hello delicious. Alfio's Buon Cibo- The ravioli was spot on Nashville Hot- This was a new to me restaurant. It wasn't fancy or extravagent, just a tasty waffle with some tasty hot chicken. Jag's- I've sampled their food previous years and it's always tasty. Loved their creative smores dessert this year. Holtmans- You redeemed yourself from last year by not running out of donuts and from the previous years I've attended by providing FULL SIZED donuts (instead of donut holes) to us Tom + Chee- You'll have to wait in line for their delicious sandwiches but the owner is down to earth and keeps you entertained while you wait for your fresh and delicious DONUT GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH There were a bazillion other tasty bites but these are the ones I remember as standouts. PRO TIP if you come to this event- to make the most out of your ticket, definitely definitely have a "sharing buddy." This way you can try one of everything without having to toss half your tasting plate. Word of advice for the restaurants- While I love the larger portions this year, I felt like a lot of my bites got wasted because I only wanted a taste with over 20-30 other bites I needed to taste. It just seemed a bit silly to be wasting food at an event where the benefiting charity was a hunger relief organization. Can't wait to volunteer next year and all the years to come!

What an absolutely fun activity! I've never been to JCC before and never done zumba, either. Got…read moreto meet Cindy's new intern who was helpful and friendly. She offered us all a Hoist drink, delicious Kind Almond & coconut bars, zippy red water container & info on Green Bean Delivery Service. Thank you to Yelp for those goodies. The Kind bar was perfect for after the workout and the water bottle helped rehydrated me during the class. There was no lack of space to do the workout and there were lots of people who showed up! Because they were on stage, it was easy to see Rita and Beth leading us. Man, they whipped my butt with their energetic moves; it was fun and an intense workout!! It was a beautiful, well-maintained facility. A big thank you to all who put this on.

A great cardio start for Sunday morning at the Mayerson JCC! My first time ever doing Zumba and I…read moreabsolutely loved it. At first I was alittle off, but as you start to get used to the moves, you get right into it. The instructors Beth and Rita were very energetic and threw an intense workout. This Zumba class was a mixture of Latina and a twist of hip hop moves. My heart rate was definately pumping. We had a huge class and everyone was getting into the music. It felt like it was alittle over an hour with the last 5 minutes of stretching. The room itself was spacious and you didn't have to worry about bumping into someone. The time went by so fast because I was having a lot of fun. I burned a total of 562 calories. Definately drenched with sweat! Very intesnse and had a great experience. I may even consider going back in the future because I really loved the workout and the instructors. Loved the Kind bars, Yelp water bottle, and hoise drink. Greatly appreciated. Thank you instructors, JCC, yelp and of course Cindy for throwing a great class. You guys rock!

Since moving back to Cincinnati, I've hung out at Rhinegeist many times. Little did I know that one…read moreday I'd be doing yoga here! I haven't gone to a yoga class for probably a decade, and was feeling like a kid going to the first day of school ("everyone's going to laugh at me! do these leggings make my butt look weird?"). My fiance showed me a couple basic poses and off I went down the hill. I'm obviously no yoga expert, but Rhinegeist was a pretty cool place to have a class. It fit a lot of people, and although there were definitely some Very Serious Yoga People there, there were also a lot of obvious newbies like myself. I thought that was really cool. I really enjoyed what we did, and my body felt great afterward. I was towards the edge of the room, and the one bummer was it was really difficult to hear the teacher. The grandness of the main room means its also pretty echo-y. I'm not sure if a mic would have helped, but finding a way to deal with the sound issues would be important for future events. Great sponsors -- sounds weird, but the oranges that Green BEAN Delivery brought were some of the BEST I've ever had. And kudos to Yelp for the water bottle for checking in! This was such a cool event overall, and has definitely made me want to check out more yoga for the future. Cindy, thanks for putting this together!

While I was not in town for the actual "Yelp Quirks Out" event at Rhinegeist last year, I have been…read moreregularly attending Sunday morning yoga at Rhinegeist each week since pulling into the Queen City. I can honestly say that I thoroughly look forward to the 10:30 am session each Sunday. There is always an interesting mix of people and the instructors have always been very friendly and made the class very engaging, even with the size of the space and extraneous noises that come with holding any event in a brewery. Getting to stick around after for a post-yoga drink is just the icing on the cake! I definitely recommend the weekly sessions and I love that it has become part of my Sunday ritual. :) A little note about parking: Their lot fills up pretty quickly so be prepared to look for a spot on the street if you're coming anytime after 10:10/10:15. Luckily, there are lots of accessible spots and parking meters don't need to be paid on Sunday!

This was SO FUN!!! I have never been rock climbing before so was excited that Cindy added this…read moreinto her Quirk-tastic week of events. The staff at Rockquest is really great - it's definitely a friendly and fun atmosphere with people of all ages and what I liked best is that you don't have to have ever done this before to go and have a great time. It's definitely a rush to get to the top! Thanks Cindy for putting together such a fun event (and for the sweet waterbottle :) ! I'll definitely be returning to Rockquest!

Another awesome event by Yelp Quirks Out. I've been wanting to go rock climbing for years now and…read morecould never coordinate the right time and the right people to do it with me. This was my perfect opportunity. I don't know what the rock climbing facility is supposed to look like but this establishment looked great to me. Lots of different levels or climbing based on your level of training and ability. Very nice, friendly and helpful staff. I knew this was going to be a challenge for me but I did it anyways even though I only climbed up 1/3 of the way and then climbed myself down. We've already gotten responses from family members to take them there when they come visit .

This was my favorite yelp quirks out events yet! :)…read more The instructors were all friendly and personable, and I liked how we were encouraged to move around to meet different yelpers. People were definitely hesitant to try the silks at first, but by the end of the class it was a lot easier to get outside our comfort zones. Very safe and supportive environment, with everyone applauding whenever someone mastered a trick! Aerial silks is something I never dreamed I would get a chance to learn. So cool that circus mojo is so closeby in ludlow, KY. I will definitely be back for another class, and will be bringing friends!!

WOW! WOW! WOW!!!!! I have wanted to try Aerial Silks ever since I watched Pink sing "Glitter in the…read moreAir" as she was gracefully dangling from these things I later learned were called silks. I have pictured in my mind a million times how graceful I could be as I twisted and turned and flipped about. When the event was posted for this amazing Quirk my trigger finger clicked that RSVP button so fast it was like a knee jerk reaction. I left super early because I wasn't sure how parking would be, and I'm glad I did. I found out my drive is close to an hour, but it was one million and one percent worth it. Driving into Ludlow with my GPS yelling out at me, I was keeping a watchful eye to my right, aaaand I blew past it. Oops... Oh well, I turned at the next street and it actually was a great thing that I did. I parked right in front of the place. When I arrived I was greeted by the teacher, and she asked if I was there for the Carpenter's Convention to tease me a bit. I assured her I was, and was led to the building that says Ludlow Theater next door to the Circus Mojo building. Check in was fast and easy and my excited self ran around snapping pictures to send to my honey so he'd believe I actually did it. I saw many new faces and chatted with as many people as time would allow to find out that I was in good company and not the only crazy one who wanted to try hanging upside down on these things! The first trick was the hardest, and I was taken back to my days of elementary school gym class of climbing the rope....except I didn't get anywhere and realized how out of shape I truly am. After the first trick though they had all of us learning how to do flips and how to sit up on the silks. Graceful I am not, and even I felt great by the time we were finished! We were also treated with Hoist flavored water and Kind Bars in 3 different flavors. YUM! The teachers were all very nice and funny. They assured us all that we were doing great for our first attempts, and there wasn't any bloodshed by the time we were finished!! Woooot!!!! I am so excited that I was able to go to this event, and if you've ever had any inclination to try this or any other circus related activities this is your place. It's a workout and a half and I promise you will surprise yourself. LOVED IT!

The events keep getting better and better! This was held at the Essencha Tea House. This hidden…read moregem is located in Oakley near Red Tree Gallery. I walked in and smelled the aroma of the teas as they were brewing. Before the tasting, I was able to mingle with new faces. We started off with a 101 from the owner Tracy. She gave us some useful tips and info on teas. Some I knew because I have been going to Essencha for years. But for the most part, I learned alot. After the lecture, we were able walk around taste the different kinds/types of teas, enjoy the small bites (Mochi (Japanese Rice Dessert), Brownies, Rollups, etc), and mingled. You were able to try different types of teas: Black, Oolong, Green, White, Roobibos. My favorites were the Tumeric Ginger, Walnut, Apricot, Lapsang Souchong, and Hot Mama (Cinnamon with a kick). After the tasting, we played a game that Cindy set up. We were paired with someone we didn't know which I thought was really cool. Overall, another successful and awesome event. Cindy, you did such a great job! I am always grateful when invited to these small intimate elite events! Thank you.

Sampling delicious teas was a great way to spend a bitter cold winter evening. The last time I…read morewent to a tea tasting (in another city), I was given tiny sips from medicine cups and also had to taste some teas with a plastic spoon while sharing germs with 20 strangers! eww gross! This tasting at Essencha was nothing like that previous experience. We were given our own individual glassware to sample the 5+ teas. Before the tasting, the owner Tracy gave us a quick history of how the tea shop came to be and also educated us on the basics of tea. I really appreciated how she presented tea as a very obtainable luxury and wasn't pretentious about it all. She seemed like a cool down to earth business owner with good knowledge about her products. My favorite tea of the evening was the walnut green tea. My favorite munch was the green tea mochibars. I couldn't get enough of the chewiness. I bought some of the walnut green tea and mochibars. The girl who rang me out was super friendly had very helpful with recommending teas in the future. I unfortunately had to skip out after an hour and missed the "Punny" portion of the evening. Thanks Cindy, Tracy, Yelp and Essencha team for a fun evening!