Monday, October 28 and Sunday, November 3
The Week in Winter Food: The temperature dropped and it seemed like a great time to give Laszlo’s Iron Skillet in Withiamsville, a shot. They specialize in Eastern European Cuisine and the kill it with Schnitzels, Goulashes, Cabbage Rolls, spatzle, and sauerkraut balls. These are very filling dishes to begin with, but Laszlo’s double down and serves up big portions, too. I should eat this stuff in the summer where I have a chance of working it off, but I crave it winter so I can get that post-dinner hibernation feeling.
The Week in Commerce: Late Friday night I was sitting at Madonna’s Bar, one of the last old-fashioned, dark bars downtown. Suddenly, the bouncer appeared from outside, sat down next to me and dropped a backpack on the bar.
He said, “I just got this bag of meat for 10 bucks.”
Let me backtrack. The new Kroger store opened downtown a few weeks ago and, no surprise, sitting in a community of people in need, it is a shoplifter’s dream. The “bag of meat” turned out to be a pack each of bacon, hot dogs, and bologna, a pack of American Cheese singles, a pack of shredded cheese, and two king size tubes of biscuits. No one purposely buys that combo of goods and immediately turns around in sells it, right?!?
Anyway, at the bar we assumed the seller needed drugs so the whole thing is sad. But the bouncer said he needed cheese and his dog would eat some bologna. He also said he would sell the Northface backpack online and get his 10 bucks back. Sometimes it’s a weird, unfair world.

The Week in a Wonderful World…of Oz: With a nod to the 1939 film, this weekend the Cincinnati Ballet performed the Wizard of Oz. The costumes and lighting were just part of what made the show go by so quickly. Using a full slate of visual techniques, classic staging (like performers flying through the air), a modern, jazz-infused score, and an old-fashion marionette of Toto the Dog, the show was a delight to watch.