• Dog Walking
• Farmers Market
• Black Kite Coffee Shop
• Back Home
• Beer Brewing
• SoundTrek

A full, rich Toledo day - Sat, Jul 19, 2014

Walking, shopping at the farmers market, lunch at a coffee shop, gardening, brewing beer, and enjoying great music downtown.

I started the day, making French press pot coffee with Bea's Blend coffee beans that we buy at the Toledo Farmers Market on Saturdays. The press pot is our primary method to make coffee at home. Occasionally, DD uses the Aeropress. If we have leftover coffee, I pour into an ice tray. I've been drinking the hot press pot coffee with two or three ice cubes added, which smooths the taste. No need for anything additional. Fine for summer time even with our cool temps.

I treadmill-walked for 45 min while watching the movie Matrix Reloaded, which I have never seen before. I've watched the first Matrix movie many times. Thus far, the second one does not measure up to the first, but that's not a surprise.

Dog Walking

I walked Barney around the neighborhood.

Barney was excited to meet a buddy.

Sycamore trees are shedding.

Farmers Market

DD and I shopped the Toledo Farmers Market. We bought lettuce greens from a local producer, the company who wants to expand inside one of the Erie Street Market bays. We also purchased: eggs, two loaves of Proof 419 bread, onions, squash, Bea's Blend coffee beans, sunflowers for display in our dining room, and I think that was it.

Inside the market, it was less crowded by the time that we arrived, which was later than normal.

A cool, fall-like day at the farmers market in mid-July.

The farmers market is located across the Erie Street Market, which houses the Libbey Glass outlet store.

On the other side of the farmers market parking lot is Swan Creek.

Walking along the north side of the Libbey outlet store. We like viewing the brick buildings in the Warehouse District.

Black Kite Coffee Shop

We ate lunch at the Black Kite coffee shop. DD and I shared a farmer's scrambled egg mashup, comprised of numerous veggies. We also shared cherry almond scone made by a Sylvania business called Earth to Oven.

Toledo's weather Saturday morning into early Saturday afternoon was cloudy day with low, hefty, fall-like, blue-grey clouds, light wind with temps in the low to mid 70s at Noon.

While at Black Kite, DD and I browsed her book on canning and preserving foods for possible new things to try this summer and fall in addition to our favorites that DD canned in the past.

We left Black Kite at 1:30 pm.

Back Home

We stopped at the Art Supply Depot to buy advance SoundTrek wristbands at $10 a piece. I wanted to shop inside the store for other items, but the Mud Hens played a mid-day baseball game, which I think was a makeup game. Anyway, no parking spots were available, unless we wanted to pay $5. I dropped DD off, drove around the block, and we were on our way.

We got home at 2:05 pm.

The WTWS reported 72 degrees at 2:15 pm. Sky was still cloudy with low clouds. Temps actually dropped between late morning and early afternoon. Now this is my perfect weather.

Toledo express airport:
Jul 19, 2014 1:52 pm
Weather : Overcast
Temperature : 70 F
Humidity : 71%
Wind Speed : E 5 mph
Barometer : 30.08 in
Dewpoint: 60 F
Visibility : 10.00 statute miles

I tended to our backyard garden for a little while. We could use the rain.

Our square-foot garden as of Sat, Jul 19, 2014.

Beer Brewing

At about 3:30 pm, we started the process to brew a one-gallon batch of Belgian Dubbel. The recipe came from the new book by the Brooklyn beer shop duo.

We started the mash at 3:35 pm. I forgot to take a photo of the mash process. Basically, the grains steep in the water. The water barely covers the grains. Water temp is maintained between 144 to 152 degrees.

Sparged for around 15 minutes.

The wort has a brown color, typical of dubbels. Trippels have yellow colors.

The boil started at 5:14 pm.

While brewing, we drank our excellent Belgian Trippel that we brewed last month, and we ate the Proof 419 bread from this morning's farmers market visit. That bread uses beer from the Maumee Bay Brewing Company.

The wort-chilling process began at 6:15 pm, and it was done chilling at 6:44 pm when wort temp reached 72 degrees. Close enough. Book said to chill to 70 degrees.

Once cooled, we poured the wort through a funnel and into the carboy, added the yeast, shook the carboy to distribute the yeast, and added the cap.

I moved the carboy into the dining room. I added the blow-off tubing at 6:58 pm.

It's a 3.5 hour process to brew a one-gallon batch of beer when using the all-grains method.

Toledo temps at 7:00 p.m. were in the low 70s.

SoundTrek

SoundTrek 2014 Event Info

At 8:01 p.m. we parked in a lot across the Manos restaurant. The Attic bar exists above Manos.

Great evening weather-wise. The sky cleared some in the late afternoon and evening, so the sun was shining with scattered clouds, which always produces some interesting imagery in the sky.

We walked down Adams Street toward the Toledo School for the Arts.

Some food trucks were present.

Students from the TSA performed outside their building on the sidewalk along Adams Street. The students played steel drums.

Toledo-style rickshaws shuttled people around. Service provided by http://www.glasscitypedicabs.com -- https://www.facebook.com/GlassCityPedicabs

Like in South Toledo and in other areas of the city, some buildings on Adams Street contain large murals. Captured some yarn-bombing too in this photo.

Walking around on Adams Street.

Back to the Attic area.

By 8:32 p.m., we were at the Attic, drinking a LaTrappe Dubbel, made by a Trappist brewery. It's on tap at the Attic. Excellent beer.

We moved from the Attic to downstairs and onto the outdoor patio for Mano's.

We caught the end of a jazz group called Ruth Nichols Trio.

Then we listened to a bluegrass band called the Cottonwood Jam String Band.

On the patio outside at Mano's, sitting to the table immediately to our left was Tom Troy, the political writer for the Toledo Blade, and sitting at the table immediately to my right was former Toledo City Councilman Frank Szollosi.

At dusk, Chimney swifts zipped around, low. We heard Common Nighthawks a bit later in the evening.

At 9:50 p.m., we were inside the Ottawa Tavern ...

... listening to a garage rock band called Shmotel thunder the place. The female lead singer belted out powerful vocals. Great sound. Sometimes, it's good to get pounded by a hard rock band. One member of this band played a saxophone and a trumpet. Good touch.

At 9:59 pm, we were next door at Truth Art Gallery ...

... listening to a three-man blues group, called Dooley Wilson/The Staving Chain. Mississippi delta blues played in Toledo, Ohio near Maumee Bay. This group was excellent.

At 10:31 p.m., we were back inside the Ottawa Tavern, listening to an indie psych band called Hobo Stew. When I entered the OT, a female member of the band played a trumpet with one hand and the keyboards with her other hand. They sounded good too.

At 10:47 p.m., while walking along Adams Street toward Wesley's, we watched a guy sling flaming nun-chucks in a small open field. Another guy elsewhere along Adams Street played his acoustic guitar and harmonica while signing.

We briefly watched a good singer at The Moxie Live, located near Wesley's. The rock/R&B singer or group was called SQ'air.

We sat down on Wesley's patio at 10;50 pm. Great setting. The bands play on the dusty bocce ball court. The patio was surrounded by ivy-covered brick walls from the buildings on two sides, a wooden fence along the other two sides, and small trees existed along the edge of the patio.

Toledo Expres Weather:
Jul 19, 2014 10:52 pm
Weather : Fair
Temperature : 64 F
Humidity : 90%
Wind Speed : Calm
Barometer : 30.06 in
Dewpoint: 61 F
Visibility : 10.00 statute miles

At 11:15 p.m., the WTWS reported 67 degrees. Excellent weather.

The talented rock band called Nathan Roberts & The New Birds started playing at Wesley's around 11:15 p.m.. They ended at midnight. I think they played all original material. They sold CDs.

At about 12:30 a.m. at Wesley's, Irish punk band called Katies Randy Cat began playing. The four-member group featured Toledo City Councilman Steve Steel as the lead singer. Steel also jammed on the accordion. Fun band with an excellent sound. The patio was jumping.

A few of the songs that Steel's band played included: Molly Malone, Drunken Sailor, Foggy Dew, and I'm Shipping Up To Boston. Steve's band ended at 1:19 am.

At 1:30 a.m., DD and I were back upstairs at the Attic for another LaTrappe Dubbel. We left the Attic for home at 2:00 a.m. The Attic and the patio were still busy when we left.

All gone. Time to head home.

We got home at 2:16 a.m. Great night and a fun day in T-town.

#toledo - #home - #food - #garden - #beer - #music - #event - #blog_jr