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News

Fringe Festival party at the Know Theatre – 3/13

The Know Theatre is hosting a launch party for the Fringe Festival’s new website, and will be making several important festival announcements this Saturday, March 13. “Fringe for a Night” will get started at 6pm with happy hour drinks, followed by the debut of the new CincyFringe.com at 6:45pm, a special encore performance of David Gaines’ wildly popular 7(x1) Samurai at 7:30pm which will be followed by more socializing and drinks.

The new website was designed by Matt Steffen of Enin Productions and built by Shawn Mummert of Cincinnati Creative Partners.

“We’ve needed a website overhaul for a while. The stars finally aligned when Shawn and Matt agreed to help create a new site for us. They are both amazing at what they do and have been so generous with their time on this project. I’m so pleased to have them as a part of our Community,” says managing artistic director, Eric Vosmeier.

The launch party and Fringe Festival line-up announcement is free and open to the public, but tickets will be required for the encore performance of 7(x1) Samurai which was one of the most attended shows in Fringe Festival history and winner of the 2009 Critic’s Pick award.

“I had the greatest time at the Cincy Fringe Festival last summer,” says David Gaines. “So when Eric Vosmeier called me in DC to ask if I would come back for one special performance only, I said I’d be delighted to. I’m looking forward to a return engagement in the city that brought me the warmest and fullest audiences of my whole year’s touring.”

Tickets for 7(x1) Samurai are $12 in advance, $15 the day of the show and can be purchased online or by calling the Know Theatre (map) at (513) 300-5669.

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Business Development News

Skirtz & Johnston to bring old world bakery to Cincinnati

Stefan Skirtz and Andrew Johnston met at the nationally acclaimed Midwest Culinary Institute (MCI) just a few years ago and have maintained their relationship since then. Andrew started at MCI right out of high school while Stefan transitioned into pastries after working professionally for many years elsewhere.

“We were the only two guys in a program with 30 to 40 other women,” explained Andrew who went on to say that the pair wanted to bring a “masculine touch” to the pastry/bakery business and food world with Skirtz & Johnston Fine Pastries and Chocolates. Something else the two wanted to bring to Cincinnati was an old world bakery that focuses on fresh products made daily with local ingredients by expert pastry chefs and bakers.

“We’re really old school in the way we work, and the bakeries in town that operate in that fashion are at capacity,” said Stefan. “We found a great location and love Findlay Market, the people, and the other vendors.”

The new shop at historic Findlay Market will offer pastries, chocolates, bread, high-end cakes, sandwiches and other items all made fresh and from scratch in the old world fashion the two pastery chefs live by. The co-owners also see the new shop as a perfect fit for Findlay Market which has been in need of additional freshly baked bread.

Once open on the south side of the Market House, Skirtz & Johnston Fine Pastries and Chocolates will have two parts to their shop. The western part of the double store front will serve as the pastry shop where all the bakery operations will occur, while the eastern portion will initially serve as a bistro and gallery space for community gatherings until the owners are able to expand operations and create a confection and cake shop there.

“The possibility for future expansion made the space really desirable,” said Andrew. “But for the mean time the eastern portion will work well for meeting and lunch opportunities during the week and events during non-typical shop hours.”

The MCI pastry chef duo also plan on staying true to their pastry roots by working closely with pastry co-op students from the MCI program.

The future Skirtz & Johnston bakery sits quietly next to Kause’s on the south side of the Markethouse on a closed Monday afternoon at Findlay Market – photography by Jeremy Mosher.

“We wanted to create an opportunity to further our craft and future employment opportunities for Midwest Culinary Institute students where they can work with bread, cakes and everything else we do,” Andrew explained. “Some of our main goals include education and advocacy in addition to furthering our craft.”

As a result when you come in to the bakery Stefan says that you can expect to see bakers and pastry chefs at work in a “flour on the floor” style bakeshop, and that when you walk in you will see all the way to the back of the shop where the mixers are.

“We want people to see the craft taking place and we want to engage our customers,” said Andrew who also detailed the shops local approach by purchasing everything from local suppliers including a partnership with fellow Findlay Market vendor Churchill’s.

Andrew and Stefan are looking to be open in some fashion in time for the Opening Day Parade on April 5th with a grand opening sometime after that. Once open full-time, the shop will open at 8 or 9am on weekdays, 6am on weekends, and stay open throughout the day offering lunch in addition to their bake goods.

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News

This Week in Soapbox – 3/9

This Week in Soapbox UrbanCincy has the following nine stories that you must check out. Read about the American Sign Museum’s future Camp Washington home, Downtown’s new LEED demonstration center, Cincinnati’s NEP in Mt. Washington, green infrastructure projects, the Covington Neighborhood Summit, the growth of Cincinnati’s first gelato company, a local PR firm telling the city’s story, and two tremendous feature stories.

If you’re interested in staying in touch with some of the latest development news in Cincinnati please check out this week’s stories and sign up for the weekly E-Zine sent out by Soapbox Cincinnati. Also be sure to become a fan of Soapbox on Facebook!

TWIS 3/9/10:

  • American Sign Museum hopes to move into renovated Camp Washington building by 2012 – full article
  • GreenSource Cincinnati to celebrate grand opening downtown – full article
  • Acclaimed Neighborhood Enhancement Program rolls into Mt. Washington – full article
  • Cincinnati using innovative techniques to green city’s infrastructure – full article
  • Covington Neighborhood Summit to explore sense of community – full article
  • Cincy’s first gelato company expands with “Dipping Stand” – full article
  • PB&J promotes the good life in Cincinnati – full article
  • Cincinnati Wine Entrepreneur Finds Inspiration In Heritage (feature story) – full article
  • Let The Games Begin (feature story) – full article
Categories
News

Cincinnati’s air quality improves, named ‘Climate Showcase Community’

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “proposing to approve” a request from the states of Ohio and Indiana to redesignate parts of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in attainment of the national health-based eight-hour outdoor standard for ozone. The two-state request includes Dearborn County in Indiana, and Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Warren Counties in Ohio.

In a press release, officials from the EPA state that after three years of “complete, quality-assured, outdoor air monitoring data for 2007, 2008 and 2009 show that the area now meets the air quality standard.” The EPA is also proposing to approve Ohio and Indiana’s plans to continue to meet the air quality standard through 2020, and to approve motor vehicle emission budgets for the included areas.

Just days after the EPA’s air-quality announcement, Cincinnati was awarded a $500,000 federal grant that will help promote the city’s Green Cincinnati Plan as part of 20 Climate Showcase Communities nationwide. The grant money will specifically go towards funding advertisements, promotions and the development of a climate protection toolkit for use in local schools.

“The Green Cincinnati Plan is an innovative strategy to reduce greenhouse gases and cut energy bills for families and businesses,” said Cheryl Newton, EPA Region 5 air division director. “Taking action on climate change is one of EPA’s top priorities, and the EPA is pleased to support the city’s efforts to fight climate change.”

As part of the $500,000 federal grant, Cincinnati will contribute $250,000 in matching funds and has committed to acting as a regional leader by sharing lessons learned with neighboring communities. The Cincinnati Energy Alliance (CEA) will be tapped to provide energy audits for 20 nonprofit organizations and create a loan program to finance energy efficiency improvements.

Over the three-year course of this project officials expect to see Cincinnati’s greenhouse gas emissions reduce by 2 percent annually. CEA’s energy audits are expected to spur close to $500,000 in energy efficiency measures while saving 1 million kilowatts of electricity and 25,000 therms of gas.

“This is a tremendous achievement for our city,” said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. “Our Green Cincinnati Action Plan is a collaboration among dedicated citizens, community organizations and businesses in our region. Our partners all realize that making Cincinnati a ‘Green City’ is essential to making Cincinnati a successful city in the future.”

Do Your Share For Cleaner Air photograph by JasonTT.

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News

Meatless Monday: Potato Hash with Mushrooms and a Fried Egg

As a 10 year old, visiting my grandparents for the weekend was the equivalent of traveling to a foreign country. At four in the morning, when the moon was full and I was fairly certain it was still the middle of the night, I would roll over in bed to the sound of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen. The smell of bacon often came next, followed by the sizzle of potatoes in hot oil. I certainly wasn’t an early riser back then, but inevitably I would rub my eyes and wonder out into the kitchen.

My grandpa would be perched at the breakfast table, reading the paper with his thick-rimmed glasses resting on the very tip of his nose. He was a man’s man; he drove a truck for a living, brewed his own beer and lived for Notre Dame football. But in the morning light, he was a softie.

“C’mon, kid,” he’d say, as he’d pat the seat cushion next to him. I’d slide into that mustard yellow booth and together we’d watch my grandma, spatula in hand, fry eggs and potatoes over her tiny 1950’s stove.

Potato Hash with Mushrooms and a Fried Egg photographs by Courtney Tsitouris.

She was by no means a fancy cook. Her breakfasts involved straightforward, simple ingredients. But her fried potatoes were world class. Her trick was keeping them in the skillet, undisturbed, until a deep, golden crust developed on the outside. Then she’d stir them with a wooden spoon, mixing them with the crackling, salty bits that collected on the bottom of the pan. Those pieces were like hardened flavor bombs – the more they cooked, the deeper and more delicious they became. I still think about them, almost two decades later.

I’ve used her method for frying potatoes a lot over the years as a base for more involved dishes. What I really love to do is mix them with a bunch of onions that are cooked over low heat until they’re amber colored and sweet like candy. I like to add diced red bell pepper and minced garlic, too. I mix in sautéed chanterelle mushrooms for an earthy note and finish the dish with – and this is the one of the best parts – crumbled goat cheese. As the cheese melts ever so slightly on top of the hot vegetables, I top the whole thing with a fried egg (view full recipe).

The first time I served this dish to my mom as a main course, she did a lot of ooohing and aaahing. We discussed, far longer than necessary, its surprising complexity and how every lovely forkful was so different than the last. But we also did a lot of talking about grandma – about that old kitchen, about how she used to wake up in the dark and cook breakfast and about how she loved good, honest food. She may not have been a gourmet cook but she sure made a mean potato. And now, so can you.

‘Meatless Mondays’ is an ongoing series on UrbanCincy that explores one of the recommendations of Cincinnati’s Climate Protection Action Plan (aka Green Cincinnati Plan) – try to go meatless one day a week. UrbanCincy’s ‘Meatless Mondays’ series is written and photographed by Courtney Tsitouris who is a cook, designer and author of www.epi-ventures.com, a blog about dining in and dining out in Cincinnati.