Pizza comes in lots of shapes and sizes, with tons of options for sauces and toppings. It can be traditional Italian with minimal cheese and fresh toppings, loaded with cheese, or anywhere in between. It can come from a national chain like Pizza Hut, a regional chain like Cincinnati's well-loved  LaRosa's  or one of many wonderful locally owned and operated pizerias. Batesville is known for fried chicken and pizza, but on National Pizza Day, I just knew I had to celebrate our local deliverers of deliciousness. Pizza Haus  used to be part of Schmidt Bakery. The same pizza oven that was used at Schmidt is still in use today. You know the crust is amazing! Even with this, Pizza Haus is even better known for its toppings. Have you ever tried sauerkraut on pizza? Because you really should! Classic Pizza  has locations in both Batesville and Sunman, Indiana. If you check out their website you won't find much. But honestly, it's because they don't need to say much. Their f...

I mentioned Langen in a  previous post  but didn't have a lot of experience there yet. Now that we've lived in Batesville for a while (a year yesterday!) we've had more opportunities to check them out and I'm SO glad we have! Langen Meats first opened their doors in Cincinnati 1924 in and has grown to 3 locations on Cheviot Road in Cincinnati, Harrison Avenue in Harrison and Pearl Street in Batesville. I love how they've grown while still maintaining their local feel.  When you walk in, you're greeted by a friendly face, delicious meats and loads of local products. Hubs loves the pickles and the jerky and I can't wait to try the Bourbon Barrel Raw Honey. Can you think of anything better?! In addition to great cuts of meat, housemade deli sides and local products, the biggest thing I love about Langen is how much they make in house. The twice baked potatoes and homemade soups make having a homemade weeknight meal so easy!  The smoked potatoes are AMAZING and ...

I remember as a child, sitting in the back of my dad's truck at the farmer's market, nibbling on sweet corn, raw and shuck still on the end. His veggies were THAT good. Although my family no longer grows sweet corn, we've had a huge garden down at the farm as long as I can remember, and spend countless hours growing, weeding, watering, canning and freezing our tasty crop. Needless to say, it takes a lot to impress me when it comes to produce.  Thankfully, with a farming family comes farming connections and when my dad stopped growing sweet corn, we started getting it from his friends, the Webers.  Dare I say, their corn may even be better than Dad's. Just don't tell him!  Like my family, the Webers have been farming for generations. Unlike my family, they got away from the farmer's market format and started a farm stand, which is still going strong. Weber's grows tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, you name it.   But they're best known for their sweet cor...

When Hubs and I sold our last house we were going through a major life transition.  He was starting a new job with a mix of travel, time in the office and work from home.  His direct supervisor worked out of the Chicago office, so we thought Hubs would be spending a lot of time in that area.  We were weighing the pros and cons of being close to family versus close to work and trying to figure out just how much time Hubs would have to spend away from home.  Because of this and the fact that I can work from anywhere, we decided to go ahead and sell our home and live in our (very large and quite comfortable) camper while we figured out his next steps.   We had planned to live in the camper for a few months while we figured out Hub's new work/travel situation, but couple the work transition with our VERY specific house wishlist and it took us nearly a year to get into our new home.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm so glad we did it, but let me tell y...

My parents may not be as adventurous of eaters as Hubs and I are, but when they tell you a place is good, you can bet it's going to be yummy.  And when they tell you it's good food AND good wine, you can bet Hubs and I are going to check it out! Last week my mom texted my sister and I that Holtkamp Winery in Sunman, Indiana was serving brick oven pizza and hosting live entertainment on Sunday and wanting to know if we all wanted to meet there for the afternoon.  The response was a resounding yes and I'm so glad we went!  The pizza and wine were delicious, the weather was beautiful and the music was fun and upbeat without being too loud.  It made for a perfect Sunday afternoon and I can't wait to go back. Holtkamp Winery opened in 2013, a full 11 years after Doug Holtkamp started making wine independently.  He teamed up with Jeff McCann, who had over 35 years of experience in wine making and grape growing, and the two have become a great team making even greater ...

I have wonderful childhood memories of camping every summer with my extended family.  We all met in the middle of nowhere at my mom's cousin's farm.  They had a lake with zip lines, paddle boats, a floating dock, a water slide and the biggest firepit I'd ever seen.  It was truly a magical place.  After a long weekend of late nights under the stars and bathing in the lake, we'd all pack up our tents and campers and head back home.  The drive was so long, the whole family - aunts, uncles, cousins and friends alike - would stop at this wonderful fried chicken place for one last dinner together before we parted ways. Of course, when I grew up and realized this otherworldly gathering place was just on the other side of Oldenburg, Indiana, the drive didn't seem so long.  It lost a little bit of its magic, but that fried chicken place no longer has to be just a summer stop! Wagner's Village Inn opened their doors in 1968  and as of January, they are now...

With a (mild) wheat allergy, pizza has to be really  good for me to be willing to deal with the inevitable side effects, but Strong's Brick Oven Pizzeria is totally worth it.  There are a lot of good pizza places in Batesville, many of which offer gluten free (no, I'm not gluten free, but gluten free means wheat free) options.  I'm sure there are some I haven't tried yet that may rival Strong's, but at this point, when I'm willing to deal with the wheat headache, Strong's is the best and most worth it I've ever had. I do try to eat local, but having grown up in Bright, Indiana, I will always consider Lawrenceburg to be local, no matter where I live.  Because of that and the fact that Strong's is locally owned, it's an "eating local" favorite for my family, and definitely worth the drive! Bonus - because Strong's has four Greater Cincinnati locations, no matter where you are, you're not too far from a Strong's to consid...

I try to feature restaurants that I believe are #worththedrive no matter where in the Greater Cincinnati area you're from but with the current social distancing and more people cooking and eating at home, I thought now was the time to go a different direction. Who among us hasn't watched Cheers (oops, my age is showing!) and wanted that special place where everyone knows your name?  Would you believe I have that at a butcher's shop?  I grew up going to Stehlin's with my parents and to this day I think it's the best around. There are some very good meat markets closer to home, including a really good one right here in Batesville, but no one's smoked meats and sauerkraut compare to Stehlin's Meat Market on Colerain Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio.  I know I'm a bit biased because of my experience, but everyone I have sent to Stehlin's says the same thing, so I'm thinking I may be right on this one. Stehlin's Meat Market started as a meat wa...

So here's the deal - Feature Friday is late this week.  I started writing around 10:00 this morning and here it is 9:10pm and I'm just now sitting down to finish my article.  Want to know why?  It had been a while since we'd been to Sushi Samurais, so I was having to dig for pictures.  And of course, each one looked more delicious than the last.  The more I wrote and the more pictures I found, the more I wanted sushi!  So, Hubs and I finished work for the day and started our 52 mile, 50 minute (each way) treck to Sushi Samurais.  You're probably also wondering why I haven't found a sushi place closer to Batesville when I always talk about eating local.  Trust me, I've tried.  But Sushi Samurais truly is #worththedrive Hubs and I do not celebrate what we call the Hallmark Holidays, but on Valentine's Day 2014 we actually went out to a nice dinner.  We were both working in the same part of town, which happened to be almost an hour fro...

I see so many people looking for ways to fill the time during the quarantine, so I've created a virtual scavenger hunt! The first three people to complete the scavenger hunt will get a free Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) of your home once the threat of COVID-19 has passed. If you're interested in listing your home in the future, this will help you know where your home stands and what you can do to add value. If you're not interested in listing, it's still fun to know. Plus, I've done these for people who ended up using it to get a BIG cut in their property taxes! If you're not local, I can still do a virtual CMA, but it's less likely to hold up in a tax dispute. If you're interested in that service, I can connect you with an agent who's local to you, so still play along! And if you're not currently a home owner and a CMA can't help you, there are plenty of other services I provide, so still play and we'll find a great ...

Having lived in small town Indiana my whole life, I'm used to the only delivery options being pizza places.  Imagine my delight when Batesville ToGo opened and we can now get Skyline, Izzy's at Hillcrest, The Sherman and...wait for it... Big Four Cafe delivered! Admittedly, in this time of social distancing, I have not yet talked to the owner but I can't imagine they would mind a little free promotion.  Unfortunately this means that my information and my pictures are a both lacking, but I did get a little background when I talked to the owners of Big Four Cafe. Batesville ToGo is owned by the same family that owns The Cell Guy.  Arriving home from work particularly late one night, The Cell Guy had no desire to cook, but also no interest in the delivery options available at that time (hello, pizza).  He realized that Batesville had a lot of wonderful restaurant options, but no way to get those options delivered to his home, and the idea for Batesville ToGo...

In these times of uncertainty and social distancing, my usual lighthearted tone feels a little flip and disrespectful.  That said, we're hearing about Coronavirus everywhere  and I don't need to be one more person reminding you to wash your hands.  What I will do, though, is take this opportunity to talk about community. Real Estate is a social industry.  We bring in business by getting our name out there, building relationships and earning trust.  Our clients become friends, our friends become family and everyone becomes a potential client.  We go to local businesses.  We forge partnerships.  We blog about those businesses and they share our blog for a type of cross promotion.  We have a deep respect for small businesses, because we are one. I have been working with Susan Knabe of Haus & Home , an online magazine, for several weeks now to get my Feature Friday posts published with their magazine.  It has been a long, educational...

Eating local doesn't only apply to restaurants.  Today I got to meet a fellow Girl Scout at Amack's Well in the Batesville Shopping Village and they proved that having a great place to drink (coffee!) local is also a valuable part of our community. In the 1830s Teunis and Nancy Amack, two of the first settlers of Batesville, dug a well that served the early settlers of the town, as well as providing water to the railroad, putting the community on the map.  Like the name suggest, Amack's Well is still a place for friends and neighbors to gather for a drink.  And the water is still free. The coffee shop brews Deeper Roots coffee beans, which I like for two reasons.  First, Deeper Roots is not only ethically sourced, they call themselves relationally sourced.  Check out their website for more information, but the bottom line is they focus on people and communities and not just the bottom line.  Second, Deeper Roots is actually roasted very cl...

Growing up in Dearborn County, I heard tales of these amazing, almost implausible pastry treat a few towns over.  But in my 30-ahem years living less than half an hour from Batesville, I never actually tasted a Cherry Thing-a-Ling. What, you ask, is a Cherry Thing-a-Ling?  According to the  Schmidt Bakery website , " A Cherry Thing-a-ling is a fritter type donut that has cherries in it, instead of the typical, Apple or Blueberry (which we also make). It is fried to perfection and then topped off with a cherry glaze!"  which is served warm for 5 days only, during President's Day weekend.  The tradition started as a one day treat in the 1970s and has grown to a 5 day Batesville holiday! Thankfully my allergies are mild enough that I can sometimes splurge, and fritters are definitely worth it to me.  We missed Cherry Thing-a-Ling days because of a poorly timed vacation, so you can imagine my delight when I stopped in the other day for blueberry fritters ...