NORTHERN KENTUCKY'S VELOCITY BIKE & BEAN

Velocity Bike & Bean
Tues-Fri 8a-5p; Sat 9a-4p

Welcome to Velocity Bike & Bean! You may remember when I (read: my sister) discovered this life changing find HERE. & if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I'm here a lot.  Velocity happens to be less than a mile away from my office. Located on Burlington Pike in Florence, KY [map], it's actually just one half mile away.

In the back of the building, Velocity is a full service bicycle shop. In front, it's serious coffee. There is a really relaxed air at Velocity. Chill music & tinkerings of bicycle fixing all about. Every table is adorned with a coffee decoration: Teapot Lamps, French Press Terrariums, Burlap Bean Chairs, the list goes on. 

What I love about Velocity is how it brings together two things that, at least here in the Midwest, don't usually come as a pair: cycling & artisan coffee. It's a place where cyclists & coffee drinkers are both welcome. 

Best of all, it's a total family affair. Velocity was started by Mark & Lisa Ball. It's their family who still staffs the front & back of the bike & bean. & guess who they just so happen to be friends with? The Carabello's!! Remember them?!? (If not, read more HERE.) In fact, when the Carabello's first started roasting, it was in an empty room at Velocity. 

Makes it no surprise that Velocity still serves the delicious beans today.

It's a really neat place, Velocity. & lucky for me, they don't mind when I come with my work computer to knock out a few hours of a script off site. God bless everyone who introduced me to this Northern Kentucky Gem. 

YOGURT BANANA BREAD

Good morning!!! I don't know about you guys but when the weather turns cool like this, I turn to warmer foods (like spicy veggie chili) & BREAKFAST BAKED GOODS. Okay, okay. You guys know me. It doesn't have to be cold for me to turn to baked goods in the morning... but I sure do appreciate a warm slice of banana bread on a cool fall morning. YUM.

I obsess over banana bread. I think it might be genetic. Or maybe it was a learned behavior. Seriously though, for my entire childhood I lived with Katie & this banana bread -- I was bound to become a banana bread obsessor. What's really cool about this banana bread is that the secret (or not so secret because I just posted it to the internet) ingredient is.... drumroll please....  YOGURT! It makes the bread extremely moist, soft & delicious. 

Here's the rest of our characters:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 t(easpoon) baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 container regular vanilla yogurt (NOT light or greek)
• 1/2 t vanilla extract
• 3 ripe medium-large bananas, mashed 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (or both!!)

Let's get started!

Just for you to note -- we doubled this recipe so Katie could send one loaf home to our littlest sister, Colleen & I could still keep one too :) Anyway, the instructions & recipes are for ONE loaf, but my pictures are from two. Confusing? Sorry, but I really wanted to keep a loaf to myself.

Preheat the oven to 325. 

Grease 9 x 5 x3 loaf pan and dust with flour. 

Combine flour (2 cups), baking soda (1 t) & salt (1/4 t) in a bowl. Set aside.

With a hand mixer, mix egg (one), sugar (1 & 1/4 cup) & vegetable oil (1/2 cup) until well combined. This will be about 2 minutes.

Add the flour mixture you set aside into the egg mixture. 

When blended, add the yogurt (one container), vanilla (1/2 t) & mashed bananas (three). Mix well (but don't over do it!). 

Fold in walnuts (or chocolate chips if your name is Annie). Like I said, we doubled all the ingredients & did one of each.

Pour into pan & top with more walnuts.  Bake 45-60 min or until toothpick comes out clean.        

Are you drooling? I demolished this bread in just a few mornings. Banana bread is my elixir. What other morning baked goods do you indulge during fall?? Tell me. Baked goods are the biggest part of my diet.

XOXO guys! Thanks for reading!!

CINCINNATI'S BLOOMS & BERRIES

Blooms & Berries Farm Market
Sept 20-Oct31 / 10a-7p Mon-Sat / 10a-6p Sun

My sister Claire has been living in San Francisco for the past six years. Lucky for me, she's still a Midwesterner at heart. Which is why when she was in town this past weekend, we wanted to do something especially Ohio-an. Welcome to Blooms & Berries(!) a farm market in our hometown [map]. I'm so happy Claire chose to came home when she did because the "farm" part of Blooms & Berries is only open for a short six weeks of amazing fall activities.

Blooms & Berries is the perfect place to bring your family. Yes, even your grown children (like me & Claire). During the fall they open their farm for a fall festival. Think: corn maze, hay rides, pumpkin picking, apple cider tasting, petting zoos, & (my personal favorite) a SUNFLOWER FIELD. 

Seriously. I'm not joking. There is a sunflower field. Can you think of anything more magical or dreamy in the entire world? I dare you! 

I had a fabulous afternoon reminding Claire why Ohio is so great. We didn't really have the time for the hay ride or fall activities, but we did love  touring the farm. I even stopped by the market, which is open year round, for a half gallon of delectable apple cider & fresh cuts to take home. 

P.S. I'm using that cider for a delicious fall drink later this week!! Check back!

P.P.S... I didn't tell you all, but I got bangs! Xoxo & thanks for reading, Annie

SEPTEMBER FAVES

Some really exciting things happened in September!

Early on I had my first professional photo shoot for a feature by Cincy Chic. It was super fun + you can read the full article here.

Keeping with my Cincy Chic week, I also attended a great Fashion Show downtown where I met a whole host of local fashion bloggers + got to talk shop with some of the coolest :) You can read more about what we did here (spoiler: those amazing teal heels bottom center played a part!) Also, I didn't tell you! We decided that it was a great idea to start a Facebook page so you lovely readers can follow the Cincy Style Bloggers all together! That link is here.

I started a cooking series with my sister + have never eaten so well in my life. We have a TON of fun recipes coming your way in the coming weeks (& have already posted a few: here & here!).

I got to spend time as Cousin-Aunt Annie (one of my favorite things).

I obsessed over this song + listened to it on repeat for an entire two days. (Seriously. So magical, right?)

At the very end of the month my sister came into to town from San Francisco & we got to take a trip to Blooms & Berries for a walk through the Sunflower Fields (post coming tomorrow!). It was seriously cool.

I also Beer Fest-ed in Fountain Square & then Oktober Fest-ed the next weekend (I'm a true Irish-German at heart). I traveled a whole bunch & saw a lot of fun cities: Detroit, DC + Dallas to be exact. Also, this list. You know me, always trying to single handedly determine the best brunch spots in the city. Cincinnati Refined did some nice research to consider.

It's officially fall + I am officially loving it. Cheers with an apple cider + champagne mimosa (my friend at Book Club taught me about this drink. It's to die for.) Love you, guys! Xo Annie

BOOK CLUB: THE CUCKOO'S CALLING

For the month of September our Book Club book of choice was Robert Galbraith's (JK Rowling's) The Cuckoo's Calling,  a murder mystery.

Guys, it wasn't so good. I don't know if it's because I was expecting Harry Potter quality reading here, or whether it's because I waited until the Sunday before book club to buy the book at O'Hare, or maybe just that it simply was so slow.. but I *confession* didn't even finish it. I felt terrible, until I found out only two people in our entire book club actually finished reading in time (smirk emoji).

Rachel was our host, we all sat around her fireplace with apple cider champagne (recipe coming soon!!), chips & dips, & cakes & muffins & mac n' cheese cups & vegan chocolate moose galore. & we even did spend a few minutes on the book. Here were our thoughts:

Cormoran Strike 
What did you think about Cormoran Stike? He seemed pretty normal to me. There was nothing surprising. Really, there wasn't really anything to him at all. He seemed awfully boring! Maybe things got a little deeper past page 200?

Lulu Landry
Now she was multi-faceted. & I did think that was really cool because she developed entirely through other people's unveilings of her. We only got to know her through Strike's questions. There's some Harry Potter quality writing, Galbraith! Do you think so?

The set up
There are two things I wanted to say about the set up of this book. I thought it was pretty neat the way Galbraith rotated between p.o.v's. One second we would be seeing the world through Strike & the next chapter was Robin. I enjoyed seeing their contrasting views of the same moments.

Which leads me to part two: pretty traditional mystery set up, right? Lone man, young woman side kick. What did you think of Robin? Do you think Galbraith is trying to prep them for a romantic relationship? I really felt like we were getting a ton of hits that it was in the future. What do you think?

Sequel
Lastly, Galbraith has several books in the works all featuring Strike. Will you read them? I'm going to try to finish this one & then maybeeee I will check them out. Maybe. If there is a sudden pick up in these lsat 200 pages.

Next up: Not That Kind of Girl by (producer of HBO's GIRLS) Lena Dunham. It is absolutely brand new & comes out tomorrow  if you would like to follow along in October!