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 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...

You may wonder why a blog that focuses on Real Estate and supporting local would feature a chain restaurant, but not only is The Capital Grille a small chain with only 58 locations across the entire country, it is unlike any other chain I've ever experienced.  While most chains focus on quantity and consistency, The Capital Grille focuses on quality and experience, making it worthy of the #worththedrive seal of approval.  Hubs was introduced to The Capital Grille by a client several years ago and fell in love with the food, the service and the atmosphere.  He took me there for our next anniversary, and it quickly became our "special occasion" destination.  Over the years, we have celebrated birthdays and anniversaries with The Capital Grille and they always find a way to make it special.  They even send Hubs an email reminder to schedule our celebrations.  We enjoy exceptional service, a card and confetti adorn the table and there's alwaysa little something...

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 ...

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...

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...

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 ...

As a Realtor I work really weird hours.  It's not uncommon for me to work in bed from my phone as soon as I wake up, work off and on throughout the day and be on my phone again as I lay in bed at night.  A lot of people don't understand how or why I work all the time and from everywhere, but I truly love what I do.  I have to be honest, my husband is a bit of a workaholic so it actually works out pretty well for both of us.  In fact, as I write this we're on a plane coming home from vacation...and we're both working! I've mentioned before that Hubs and I are foodies, but we sometimes take it to the extreme.  We've been known to plan days out and even vacations around whether we can get a great meal.  Hey, some meals are worth the drive!  This vacation was certainly no exception.  Don't worry, I'll post scenery pics over on my Instagram (@kpcrealtor), but I right now we're talking food! Every day was a different adventure.  We had a beac...