BalletMet Columbus is doing its part to aid in the Haiti recovery efforts and you can participate!

Photo compliments of Flickr Creative Commons

BalletMet Columbus has announced that it will give all donations made at A Time to Dance Liturgical Dance Showcase 7:00 p.m. January 30th to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development fund. While the showcase, held at the BalletMet Performance Space, 322 Mount Vernon Avenue, is free and open to the public, donations to the Red Cross will be collected at the door. The concert features local liturgical dance artists and is presented with Ministry in Motion-Ohio Worship Arts Association.

BalletMet has also partnered with the American Red Cross to hold a blood drive 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p. m. Februay 2nd at the BalletMet Dance Centre, 322 Mount Vernon Avenue. Donors will be entered to win free groceries from Kroger as well as tickets to BalletMet’s Carmina Burana, March 5-13 at the Capitol Theatre. Those who wish to schedule an appointment should e-mail jsciantarelli@balletmet.org with their name, date of birth and blood type.

With Christmas almost here… you’re probably still looking for last minute gifts. Well a great idea is to shop local as many of my Columbus friends and Social Media lovers have been mentioning. While you’re shopping at these awesome local stores, you should take some time to learn about the SBB and ask these shops if they accept the SBB Community Card.

The Small Business Beanstalk (SBB) is a Columbus based organization that helps local businesses connect to one another so that they can utilize each other’s services and help each other grow. For example, say a local restaurant needs new menus printed. The SBB would connect the restaurant to a printing business in the area. With all these businesses connected together, it would help boost the Columbus economy, as well as cultivate a tight knit community of businesses working together to help one another succeed. It’s a pretty genius idea since Columbus is already a great community of people and businesses, that like to see each other thrive. When I learned about the group, I believed in their vision so much that I joined as a member and decided to help them with their social media efforts, though I’m not getting paid to do so. In the interest of full disclosure, however, in return for the work I do for them, they are helping me with their connections to find a more work.

One of the other great benefits of SBB membership is the Community Card. Card carrying members can visit the participating local businesses and receive discounts and specials. The best part is that the card is totally 100% free! You can sign up on the SBB website and have the card mailed to you or you can pick one up at one of these local stores:

MilkBar (Short North)
TigerTree (Short North)
LadyBird (Short North)
What the Rock (Short North)
Shine Me Up (Downtown)

Check out the website for a full list of stores and restaurants currently accepting the card and their deals. The SBB is currently expanding all over Columbus including Dublin, Worthington, and Clintonville, etc. so be sure to ask every local store you shop at if they accept the card.

You can also follow The SBB on Twitter (@thesbb) and become a fan on Facebook to keep up to date with the newest stores and restaurants accepting the card. Or if you’re a business interested in participating in the program you can contact Starr @ thesbb.com.

Happy shopping and happy holidays!

Its time to start planning your weekend for October 9th through the 12th, 2009. Why? Because Experience Columbus days will be here before you know it and there are a bunch of deals at Columbus hot spots that you won’t want to miss out on.

Save 50% at select attractions and 25% at Dine Originals Columbus restaurants during Experience Columbus Days, happening October 9-12.

Dine Originals Restaurants: 25% off

Experience great cuisine from 40 restaurants around the city. Present this flyer before ordering for 25% off the total food bill (excludes beverages) for up to two people from Dine Originals Columbus member restaurants including Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails, Katzinger’s Delicatessen, Black Creek Bistro, The Refectory, Elevator, DeepWood and many, many more. Get the flyer here.

Columbus Attractions: 50% off

Are you a die hard Buckeye Football fan? Do you collect Buckeye sports memorabilia with vigor and excitement? Do you proudly display aforementioned memorabilia?

Well here’s your chance to add to your collection! Or just meet a former Buckeye quarterback.

Many of you, I’m sure, still remember the Craig Krenzel days of football. Maybe the time he helped OSU to a big win against Miami in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl National Championship Game while also maintaining a 3.75 GPA in Molecular Genetics? Yeah, that guy. Craig is coming back to his old haunt here on the Ohio State campus and taking some time to meet some Buckeye football nuts. He’ll be stopping by College Town book store at 1770 North High Street on Saturday, September 26th from 11:30-1:30 and ALSO on Saturday, October 10th, 4 hours before the game.

Oh… and Go Bucks!

All are welcomed to the first Meet-2-Eat event to be held at the Tehku Tea  Company!  Meet-2-Eat is a Meetup group created to promote local restaurants while giving members a place to meet people and network. 

Inggrie of Tehku Tea Company will host the first Meet-2-Eat at her Tea house at 55 South High Street Dublin, OH.  Cost is $12 for the meal.  Inggrie is an expert on premium tea and will offer a tea tasting after dinner for $5.

Inggrie’s Menu for the evening:
Savory Green Tea Infused Rice with Organic Coconut Butter
Indonesian Javanese Chicken
Summer Farmers Market Salad with Fresh Raspberry – White Tea Infused Vinaigrette.  For vegetarians: the Summer Salad is vegetarian & vegan… and I will make vegetarian humus mini sandwiches served with fruit and market salad

Tehku Tea Company has hosted tweetups and a TasteCasting event in the past. Read the review:  Tastecasting

David Taffany, an OSU Grad student and Cancer Genetics researcher will be present to speak about the upcoming Paletonia annual bike tour to benefit cancer research at Ohio State University’s James Cancer Research Hospital, sponsored by NetJets.  $6 of the $12 admission and $2.50 of the tea tasting will be donated to Pelatonia.

For further details: Meet2Eat http://bit.ly/meet-2-eat

As much as we love our great city of Columbus, sometimes it’s nice to get out for a day. If you’re looking for something fun and different to do, you should consider taking a drive out to Buckingham Orchards in Sunbury, OH for a day in the country picking apples. Located about 30 minutes north of the city and a perfectly nice drive, you’ll arrive at a pristine orchard ripe for the picking.

I went recently this past weekend myself and had a blast. Being a bit early in the season and an overcast day in August, my fiance and I were the only people in the orchard. We were given a basket and told to make sure we tasted the tree before we picked and that we could eat our fill of all the apples we wanted. And when we were done, we were to bring back our basket to be weighed and it will be .90 per pound.

Buckingham Orchards spans many acres and has thousands of trees with tons of varieties of apples. Being the only people in the orchard it was quiet, peaceful, and beautiful. We saw deer running through some of the trees and wild turkeys grazing. There is also a pond in the middle of the orchard which would make a great picnic spot if you wanted. There is no rush and you can spend your entire day there if you’d like.

Being a little chilly last Sunday, there were hardly any bees in the orchard which is something you’ll want to look out for if you go. They don’t bother you because theyreally just want the fruit that has fallen but people with bee allergies should proceed with caution.

Don’t forget to bring cash or checks as the orchard does not take credit or debit cards. You can also buy things like syrup, jam, honey, baskets and other products at the small store. You can also pick blackberries when they are in season. Orchard hours are weekly 10am-6pm and Sunday 12:30pm-6pm. They are closed on Wednesdays and holidays. They have no website so if you have any questions you’ll need to call the orchard at 740-965-2427. For a bit more information and directions you can check here.

Feel free to email me as well if you are looking for a fabulous applesauce or apple crisp recipe. After walking out with 23.5 lbs of apples, I have become an apple cooking wiz. Enjoy and have fun!