Tag: environment

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Increasingly urban Hamilton County Fair goes green

Last year’s 155-year-old Hamilton County Fair saw its return to relevance, with a 56% increase in fair-goers, but it also saw the debut of the GoGreen Area. The GoGreen Area of the Hamilton County Fair focuses on environmental and sustainability awareness and educational opportunities, and it got its start thanks to the frustration of a Carthage resident.

“I didn’t really like what was going on with the fair,” said Jennifer McWhorter, GoGreen Area chairwoman. “I live down the street and I really wanted to see things change and get better [at the fair], so I thought I should share some of my ideas.”

That’s exactly what McWhorter did, and with that, the GoGreen Area was born at the 2009 Hamilton County Fair. For the first year, McWhorter was able to have 23 recycling bins placed around the fair grounds in addition to the extremely popular Kids Day activities focused around her concepts.

“A lot of people out there want to go green,” explained McWhorter. “So I thought, why don’t we bring this to the fair and help make a positive change in the community. I wanted to create educational opportunities for children and other residents so that they could learn how to go green.”

McWhorter was able to do this in part because she is certified as a Master Composter and Gardener by Purdue University. She also is a practicing vermicomposter – a composting process that uses red worms. In the end, McWhorter just wanted to share her talent and passion with other people in the community.

GoGreen Area at the 2009 Hamilton County Fair – images provided.

McWhorter continued, “The Hamilton County Fair is leaning towards being more of an urban fair nowadays, and while there is still a good amount of agriculture in Hamilton County, there is a strong desire amongst people wanting to be sustainable in their urban communities throughout the county.”

This year fair-goers can look forward to GoGreen Area partnerships with Building Value, Findlay Market’s urban gardening program. The 2010 Hamilton County Fair will take place from August 10 through August 14 and will once again include the GoGreen Area. McWhorter is looking to grow the impact this year by engaging other Hamilton County residents to come up with ideas for green events that they want to make happen by contacting gogreenwiththehcfair@gmail.com. The GoGreen Area is also looking for a sponsor and volunteers for this year’s Kids Day.

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Cincinnati’s air quality improves, named ‘Climate Showcase Community’

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “proposing to approve” a request from the states of Ohio and Indiana to redesignate parts of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in attainment of the national health-based eight-hour outdoor standard for ozone. The two-state request includes Dearborn County in Indiana, and Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton, and Warren Counties in Ohio.

In a press release, officials from the EPA state that after three years of “complete, quality-assured, outdoor air monitoring data for 2007, 2008 and 2009 show that the area now meets the air quality standard.” The EPA is also proposing to approve Ohio and Indiana’s plans to continue to meet the air quality standard through 2020, and to approve motor vehicle emission budgets for the included areas.

Just days after the EPA’s air-quality announcement, Cincinnati was awarded a $500,000 federal grant that will help promote the city’s Green Cincinnati Plan as part of 20 Climate Showcase Communities nationwide. The grant money will specifically go towards funding advertisements, promotions and the development of a climate protection toolkit for use in local schools.

“The Green Cincinnati Plan is an innovative strategy to reduce greenhouse gases and cut energy bills for families and businesses,” said Cheryl Newton, EPA Region 5 air division director. “Taking action on climate change is one of EPA’s top priorities, and the EPA is pleased to support the city’s efforts to fight climate change.”

As part of the $500,000 federal grant, Cincinnati will contribute $250,000 in matching funds and has committed to acting as a regional leader by sharing lessons learned with neighboring communities. The Cincinnati Energy Alliance (CEA) will be tapped to provide energy audits for 20 nonprofit organizations and create a loan program to finance energy efficiency improvements.

Over the three-year course of this project officials expect to see Cincinnati’s greenhouse gas emissions reduce by 2 percent annually. CEA’s energy audits are expected to spur close to $500,000 in energy efficiency measures while saving 1 million kilowatts of electricity and 25,000 therms of gas.

“This is a tremendous achievement for our city,” said Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory. “Our Green Cincinnati Action Plan is a collaboration among dedicated citizens, community organizations and businesses in our region. Our partners all realize that making Cincinnati a ‘Green City’ is essential to making Cincinnati a successful city in the future.”

Do Your Share For Cleaner Air photograph by JasonTT.

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Meatless Monday: Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto

I have a tendency to remember the big details in life but to forget the small ones. Recently I woke up from a night’s sleep to find that I had not only neglected to lock the front door, but I had also forgotten to close it. Which explained both the freezing living room and the little ledge of snow piled inside my entry way.

In a quest to become the kind of person that always remembers to water the houseplants, I’ve been relying on quite a few to-do lists lately. Last Monday, somewhere between “fill gas tank” and “figure out why phone is buzzing,” I’m happy to say that I added “make risotto recipe.”

It’s just a torn, crinkled scrap of paper stained with droplets of stock and splashes of olive oil. But for me, the recipe is pure gold (download recipe here). I jotted it down from Gourmet Magazine years ago and adapted it along the way – adding my own twists to vegetables and adjusting the ratio of stock and rice to suit my taste.

Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto photos by Courtney Tsitouris.

The idea is to add a small amount of warm broth to a pot of Arborio rice over medium heat. When the rice swells and becomes absorbed with liquid, add more broth and wait for it to soak in. Repeat this process until the natural starches in the rice are released and the mixture becomes miraculously creamy. Luscious, even.

The sweet, concentrated flavor in the recipe comes from roasting diced butternut squash in the oven for an hour or so and then adding it to the rice at the end. It’s a wonderfully tender, homey accent and virtually any vegetable can be substituted with the same result.

The step that creates body and texture, the one that makes the dish better than your neighbor’s version (but don’t tell them I said that) comes at the end. When the mixture is creamy but still a bit loose and the rice still has some chew to it, add a handful of good quality cheese plus two tablespoons of butter and stir until everything is melted together and glistening. The result is nothing short of heaven.

I adore its rich flavor and the way it glides across the plate but still maintains structure. I love the way it becomes impressive enough for a dinner party but is hearty and simple enough for a cold Monday night. I dare say, in its spell-casting wonder, this risotto might even help you sleep better.

Just remember to shut the front door before bed.

‘Meatless Mondays’ is a new series on UrbanCincy that explores one of the recommendations of CIncinnati’s Climate Protection Action Plan (aka Green Cincinnati Plan) – try to go meatless one day a week. UrbanCincy’s ‘Meatless Mondays’ series is written and photographed by Courtney Tsitouris who is a cook, designer and author of www.epi-ventures.com, a blog about dining in and dining out in Cincinnati.
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Meatless Mondays: Getting Saucy at Riverside Korean Restaurant

“What’s in this incredible sauce?” I innocently asked the waitress. In response, she threw her head back and cackled the way people do when they know something but have no intention of letting you in on the secret. Clearly, it was going to take more than a sweet smile to get this woman to talk, but more on that later.

The dish I was asking about was the Mae Un Du Bu Bok Um ($14.95) at Riverside Korean Restaurant – a tofu and vegetable stir fry that had me reeling from the first bite.

“Reeling?” you ask. Yes, if that’s what you would call me clutching my heart and repeating the word “wow” over and over again. My husband ordered the Dolsot Bibim Bab ($15.95), a popular rice and vegetable entree that’s served in a hot, stone bowl and topped with a fried egg at the last minute. His food was delicious, but it was the stir fry that had me threatening to storm the kitchen so that I might steal the recipe.

Mae Un Du Bu Bok Um dish from Riverside Korean Restaurant – photo by Courtney Tsitouris.

First of all, the food looked as beautiful as it tasted. A stack of perfectly julienned vegetables – pan-fried and obviously lovingly cared for — wrapped around each other in a glistening, messy swirl of color. The tofu was so soft it looked more like melted cheese than a soy product.

And then there was that pool of sauce. The sauce whose recipe I tried to weasel out of the waitress, the sauce I’d probably eat on my breakfast cereal if I could. It entrenched the fried cabbage, long hot peppers, and vegetables with sweetness first and then heat.

People who write about food love to talk about umami, the mysterious fifth taste said to be found in many soy sauce related dishes. I’ve never been one to notice, but in this sauce, the savory sensation overwhelmed me in a lingering, almost haunting manner.

Banchan sides from Riverside Korean Restaurant – photo by Courtney Tsitouris.

I proved to be a particularly poor dining companion when the banchan arrived. The half dozen or so complimentary small bites were, as my husband tried to tell me, meant to be shared alongside the meal. But sharing was difficult when the sweet, honey potatoes melted so quickly in my mouth and the spicy kimchi was so finger-licking good. Each one, more visually sophisticated than the next became a carnival of flavor and a fun counterpoint to the main course.

After all of our plates were empty and our bellies were full, I thought I’d give it another go with the waitress. “So, this is a soy based sauce, right?” I asked her in a hopeful tone. “Yes,” she said, “soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and some other ingredients.” Her voice trailed off as she made way back to the kitchen. I guess that was going to have to do for now.

Riverside Korean Restaurant is at 512 Madison Avenue in Covington (map). Make reservations at (859) 291-1484.

‘Meatless Mondays’ is a new series on UrbanCincy that explores one of the recommendations of CIncinnati’s Climate Protection Action Plan (aka Green Cincinnati Plan) – try to go meatless one day a week. UrbanCincy’s ‘Meatless Mondays’ series is written and photographed by Courtney Tsitouris who is a cook, designer and author of www.epi-ventures.com, a blog about dining in and dining out in Cincinnati.
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This Week In Soapbox 12/8

This Week in Soapbox UrbanCincy has the following six stories that you must check out. You can read about how The Model Group is restoring Covington’s historic East End neighborhood, $1.5 million in new solar energy grants for Cincinnati, expanded hours at a popular new Downtown eatery, six new board members for Downtown Cincinnati Inc., the region’s first Brothers Bar & Grill, and a great feature story about redefining the workplace.

If you’re interested in staying in touch with some of the latest development news in Cincinnati please check out this week’s stories and sign up for the weekly E-Zine sent out by Soapbox Cincinnati. Also be sure to become a fan of Soapbox on Facebook!

TWIS 12/8:

  • Cincinnati-based Model Group restoring historic Covington neighborhood – full article
  • Cincinnati captures $1.5M for solar electric projects throughout city – full article
  • Mayberry announces expanded hours at popular new Downtown eatery – full article
  • Downtown Cincinnati Inc. gets six new board members – full article
  • Brothers Bar & Grill enters Cincinnati market with Newport location – full article
  • Redefining the Workplace (feature story) – full article