Sunday evening the sky looked like this when Ted picked me up from work.
Nasty as this storm cell appeared, it produced nothing more than a few flashes of lightening and a quick sprinkle as we parked the car on a neighborhood street and walked our way to Glier’s Goetta Fest at the beautiful shore of Newport on the Levee.
I was pretty pumped to finally try me some Goetta – a Cincinnati original first produced in bulk by poor German immigrants new to the area way back when. It’s a breakfast sausage made of beef, pork and oats. Naturally, at Goetta Fest they jazz it up and stick it in as many unique offerings as possible.
One booth featured a series of map boards from countries all over the world with push pins so you could document where you were from and how far you came for Goetta Fest. I was surprised by how many states had multiple pins in them as well as the number of international visitors from Asia, Europe, and all over! Ted and I were proud to be the first visitors to pin Green Bay, WI and Boerne, TX – gotta represent! (Yes, Boerne was actually listed on the map!) We were also the first to pin Fruit Hill, our neighborhood in Anderson Township.
We walked past the goetta sausage roll vending machine. Where boetta to stock up on your goetta? (Ha ha ha)
A neat local band The Cincy Brass – a quintet self-described as “N’Awlins Soul meets Cincinnati Funk” – played a bunch of recognizable tunes from the classics to Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance with a jazzy/swing twist – it was really cool! The tunes were super fun to listen to while we relaxed by the river and a bunch of people were having a blast dancing it up in front of the stage.
We split samplers of the goetta mac n cheese (I will never pass up the opportunity to try a new mac!), the goetta fried rice, and a totally phenomenal goetta calzone made by Papa John’s Pizza. All three were absolutely delicious. Seriously tasty eats! I wish they were served somewhere other than Goetta Fest because they’d be best sellers! Sorry, no food pics – I was too busy eating & enjoying! To top off dinner we stopped by Cold Stone at the levee to try their new mojito sorbet because Goetta Fest ran out of goetta brownies. Mojito is a favorite flavor of mine so I was anxious to give it a try – thumbs up from me! On the walk back to the car we stopped to watch one of my favorite attractions at the levee – the hamster water wheel!
Yeah, it absolutely is just as dumb as it looks. People pay a whopping $8 to spend five minutes making a total ass of themselves in public as they attempt to walk, run, crawl, flip, turn, chicken fight, etc. in a baby pool while encased in a human-sized inflatable ball. They totally look like hamsters in a rodent ball running on all fours in the water. This, my friends, is serious entertainment at its finest. I love it! Fear not, they are available to rent for pool parties. When we build our dream house, you’ll know where to find me.
Then we went home and watched a mindless marathon of funny I Love Lucy episodes to commemorate her 100th birthday – you cannot deny that woman’s comedic genius or the quality of the show itself. It’s good stuff.
It was great way to end the weekend.
The next time you’re in Cincy let’s make a date to scope out some goetta and take a spin on the ol’ hamster wheel, deal?
Charyl knows the name of a pub/restaurant in Covington that is supposed to have amazing gourmet Mac ‘n Cheese – and at the levee you can stop by Tom+Chee – they specialize in Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese (including a Mac ‘n Chee Grilled Chee) – I definitely recommend it.