The first picture is from an in-store concert at Shake It Records for national Record Store Day. The band playing - that you can't even find in the photo - is Walk the Moon and we were pleasantly surprised at how good they were. I had never heard of Record Store Day, but it is a very cool idea where limited edition releases from all genres of music are released for the 1 day. We got really lucky and simply by accident (and my need for a nap!) made it to the small store in between performances. When we left after a few songs there was a line around the corner for people waiting to get in. It was pretty incredible. But this little local record store is just one of the many cool little gems in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati. It has been a really fun place to explore and can't wait for more places and restaurants to open in the growing, transitional neighborhood.
Now to the 2nd picture (and I apologize, neither picture is mind blowingly good in terms of photographic standards - they were both shot on my iphone and were pretty spur of the moment), this picture is of this insanely cool place called Jungle Jim's International Market. It is crazy! This is definitely a place you don't want to come to on an empty stomach and try and do some quick grocery shopping. They had everything you could possible think of in terms of food - every ethnicity, every brand, every size, everything!! Who knew there were so many different types of diet Root Beer! The really fun part is that it is like a little amusement park. There are little animatronic characters all over singing and telling jokes. They have award winning bathrooms where the entrance looks like you are going into an port-a-potty. And the cheese section alone was mind-blowing. I could have spent all day there really. We managed to find the few things that were on our list and then splurged on some exotic beer from their extensive beer and wine section. I can't wait to go back with some bizarre recipe and do the scavenger hunt to locate all the funky ingredients!
So all in all a very fun day in Cincinnati - saw the biggest international market (6 acres of food under 1 roof - for pete's sake!) and a smallish independent record store (only feels small when it is filled with groupies waiting for the band to play) and had the good fortune of capturing a birds-eye view of each unique place. Oh, and did I mention I did end the day yesterday with margaritas as promised? They were pink grapefruit flavored and they were from a cool Mexican restaurant call Nada and they were scrumptious...but they were not green. I did have a lot of guacamole and fresh lime on fish tacos...so my tribute to something green was not a total bust!