Tootsie Yr2: Cincinnati part 2
Mar. 13th, 2023 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
taz_39**Long post, more adventures**
**DreamWidth is garbage for embedding video, so view this post on LiveJournal for the best experience**
I woke up before my alarm on Thursday. Bakery time.
Walked a mile to Moxy bakery and was disappointed to see two sad cookies in the pastry case.
The cashier explained that they were "behind" and would have the croissants out at some point later.
So instead I walked to Brown Bear Bakery, which has been around for a long time and is very popular with the locals.
Now THAT'S what I got up early for.
Choosing just one thing was freaking difficult, but I ended up with the everything bagel croissant.
It was crispy, like a super crisp crunch on the outside that sent seeds flying everywhere haha.
But it was so delicious, and chewy nearest the herbed cream cheese filling (which was amazing and perfect)
On the same block was Allez Bakery. It might seem counterintuitive to have two bakeries side by side like that, but Brown Bear caters to individuals and walk-ins while Allez supplies rustic breads to many Cincinnati restaurants as their main business, so they're not really competing.
Still, their pastry case was ALSO epic.
I had to get the orange blossom cranberry scone with candied orange and pistachios. I mean look at it.
I haven't tried it yet, that's for tomorrow.
I asked the cashier which bread was her fave, and she said the rye because it's so flavorful.
She specifically recommended the marble rye because "There is NO good pumpernickel in this city and that rye is the closest you're gonna get!" Good enough for me! They also serve sandwiches on their breads in the afternoon, so I made plans to go back later.
Back at the hotel I unpacked and had the croissant for breakfast and a small sample piece of the rye.
It was extremely good. Malty and chewy and indeed very flavorful.
Then some computer work and emails.
Then heck yes I walked back to Allez for a sandwich.
I'm sure y'all think that I should be 500lbs by now, but let me remind that
A) We're here for two weeks this time so I've refrigerated half the bread and it'll last the entire two weeks
B) I am cutting the two pastries (scone, croissant) in half and eating half at a time over the course of four days
C) If the sandwich is large I'll also eat half of that at a time
The sandwich WAS also large. It wasn't very photogenic so no pics, but it was a jambon-beurre with yellow Swiss added and herbed butter on a big hunk of baguette. The bread was still the star of the show. Half for lunch and half for dinner.
I tried to do some data entry but the company has just rolled out a new version that is not working quite right (not unusual for new tech I think) and they had everyone doing a sort of inventory to see what info had transferred where. It was kinda chaos, so I backed off and will try again later.
Our show went well, nothing specifically stood out that I recall (writing a day later it's always tough to remember).
When I got back to the hotel I didn't have internet, and that's been happening every day which has made it really hard to do my remote work and also just function online. After multiple calls to the tech support number that the front desk had given me I finally went downstairs at midnight, and happened to find their engineer there too.
He came up to my room to troubleshoot and immediately his own equipment stopped working too.
Ghost in the machine, apparently!
So the only solution that they had for me was to change rooms. ugh.
I packed everything up and put all the furniture back (when you're staying somewhere for two weeks there can be a lot of rearranging) and transferred everything--food, clothing, luggage, cooking equipment, toiletries, water, etc---to the new room. Which was absolutely half the size of the previous room :(
But hey, the internet worked.
I finished rearranging and unpacking around 2am.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Friday, a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo!
I was operating on like four hours of sleep, but excitement and coffee helped to keep me motivated.
I took an Uber to the zoo entrance and waited outside, keeping far away from the mobs of screaming children running around the parking lot.
Soon my friend Val came to get me. Val has been a zookeeper for 37 years!
I thought that he'd worked for Ringling, but it turns out he was not an employee but rather one of the local consultants/vet techs that the circus would bring in to evaluate their animals when we were in Cincinnati. And of course as such he saw us and our animals over the course of multiple years, and he knew a lot of circus people and animals who came before my time.
Val escorted me to the elephant barn employee entrance.
I was asked not to take pictures back there because there were big white boards with animal feedings/breeding schedules/medications and other, uh, "patient privacy" stuff on the walls. Usually nothing major, just who pooped when and who's getting what vitamins.
And the other reason was because the elephants are housed in stalls (just like horses and MANY other types of animals), and the stalls had big bars or slats that are a very useful visual for animal rights propaganda ("ZOO ELEPHANTS CAGED 24/7!! A LIFE OF CONFINEMENT!!", etc etc) and the last thing I wanted to do was contribute to that.
It's a shame I couldn't share this part because it was a really cool space, and I got to walk directly into the stalls!
All of the elephants were outside getting fresh air so I got to actually be in the feeding, play, and socialization areas.
The slats/bars of each stall are large with big gaps in between, so big that a human can easily walk between them.
Here's a picture of the Houston Zoo's barn...Cincinnati Zoo's barn looked a lot like this, with a big door to the outside that the elephants could walk through to get to their yard.
The floors had just been washed, but the musky smell of elephants and poop and hay were still very strong.
It was a nostalgic smell. The many times that I walked into arenas directly into the animal area and was hit with these smells, or catching a whiff while standing on the vestibule of the train (the elephant cars were directly behind the engine for the smoothest ride, so we got the backwind).
As we walked Val showed me misc elephant toys and areas and described the history of the barn. It's a registered historic site, so they're not allowed to make major changes to the building or grounds. But a new elephant park is being built on the opposite side of the zoo, it looks to be at least twice as big and will have lots of great new facilities for elephants and humans to enjoy :)
We also swapped circus stories of course, and commiserated about animal activists, and how much more the whole Ringling/Feld organization might have done to keep the circus from having to close. Griping about it after the fact doesn't accomplish anything of course. But the thing is, there are precious few people that either of us can talk to about such things. If you start spilling circus beans in front of average people who have never spent more than an hour under a circus tent, they're going to look at you like you're an alien from Mars. At least that's been my experience.
Anyway, it was great to hear some of Val's experiences and share our circus time with each other as we made our way to the ladies, who were outside having a morning snack and dusting themselves.
As I approached Schottzie, I was once again awed by the size of elephants, the sheer bulk and strength and the fact that she had more muscles in her trunk than I did in my entire body. And the softness of her huge feet...how silently and gently she moved closer to us on feet that looked like they should shake the earth.
I stepped into her field of vision so that she could look me over and have a sniff if she wanted.
She looked me up and down, then held her head high and opened her mouth. "Treats? Tongue rub?"
There was a female handler out there with her who obliged Schottzie with treats and told me I was free to touch the elephant anywhere on her body from the ears back. So I did! Here is the video of that.
From then on I got to explore the rest of the Cincinnati Zoo.
It was around 40F but the windchill must have put it close to 35 or 30F, because I found it very difficult to keep warm and had to keep ducking into buildings to warm up. Most of the mammals were indoors due to the crummy weather, but I did still get to see a lot and spent probably 2.5 hours enjoying the animals and insects.
Everyone is obsessed with the Cinci Zoo's hippos, so I had a look.
They ARE very cute, and very active! CLICK HERE for video
The baby is Fritz, and the larger one is Bibi.
Fiona was off to the left showing off for her audience while I captured this cute playful moment.
The wild dog pack was out and running around, nipping at each other.
They went back in shortly after this video, though. CLICK HERE to watch
Red ibis. I came into the bird area to get warm, but it was also humid in there so when I stepped back outside I felt even colder :p CLICK HERE to watch
Ostriches and other African savanna birds.
Sadly for me that was pretty much it for "creatures spending time outdoors". But I could hardly blame them!
I spent the rest of my zoo time in the Insect House and Reptile house, which were very interesting and enjoyable.
There were naked mole rats, a big orchid spider eating a fly, and way too many cockroaches for comfort :D
(If you don't like BUGS or SNAKES here's your cue to scroll past!)
.
.
.
Close-up of a tarantula.
There are two HUGE bugs in this habitat, can you see them both?
The face of a stick bug.
Cookies n' cream booplesnoot.
I was starting to get hungry, so made my way to the gift shop.
I was surprised that little of the merchandise had to do with the elephants...everything is hippos, hippos, hippos everywhere you look.
I found the ONE keychain with an elephant and bought it, for the memories and to support the zoo.
---------------------------------------------------------------
From there I took an Uber to Drunken Bento. I felt frozen from my fingertips to my toes, and nothing sounded better than a piping hot, crackling bowl of dolsot bibimbap after this wonderful zoo adventure!
"Dolsot" means "stone pot".
Bibimbap is a Korean dish of steamed and pickled veggies, seasoned meat, and rice topped with a fried egg.
So, dolsot bibimbap is bibimbap served in a heated stone bowl.
Turn up your volume and CLICK HERE to hear the rice crackling!
My bibimbap had tofu, carrots, soybean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach, topped with a fried egg.
You're supposed to mix all of these things together in the bowl with some gochujang and sesame oil.
This is the golden-brown, crunchy rice from the bottom and sides of the bowl.
The absolute best part of dolsot bibimbap!!
They also gave me a small dish of traditional Korean sides: kimchi, a slice of steamed egg roll, and fish cakes.
Everything was incredible, all the textures and fresh veggies and spices and seasonings combining to form the absolutely perfect meal for a cold day. I ate half and saved the rest for later, then Ubered back to the hotel to rest before the show.
Our show went well, though a lot of the male cast are out due to injury or illness or LOA so it felt like we were all a bit hesitant.
These things happen, and we still put on a great show :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday I was thrilled to catch up on sleep a bit before typing this massive post out. Phew!
We had two shows, and three male cast members out.
The rest of the cast covered so well. I admire how hard they all work...but I hope they get a break on this upcoming Golden Day!!
Sunday was another two show day, and Josh's last day as our MD.
Next week we will have our other MD, Soto, back.
They're both awesome people and musicians :)
I'm excited to have Soto back, but will miss Josh, who was a friend before we both joined Tootsie.
The coolest photo of Josh that I could find.
Both shows went well. I was distracted with excitement for visiting Jungle Jim's tomorrow, and also didn't go to the bar with everyone after the show to bid Josh farewell. I hate bars, I hate being around drunk people, I hate being right next to people I want to get to know but not being able to hear them over the racket in a bar. So I hugged Josh goodbye in the pit and said, "See you down the road!", traditional circus parting words that imply parting is brief and we will meet again.
Then back to the hotel to sleep, because tomorrow is an early, exciting day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking back on this post...wowzers.
Visiting the circus train, finding amazing bakeries and restaurants, visiting the zoo, performing shows, and having to switch hotel rooms in the middle of the night made this an action-packed week for me.
Week two in Cincinnati should be slightly less crazy, but there's still a lot of fun ahead!
- Spending the day at Jungle Jim's International Grocery!
- Visiting with my boss Brett one more time
- Having lunch with a trombonist buddy of mine
- Laundry, shows, sending souvenirs home for family and such!
I'm so glad to have made wonderful memories in this city <3
**DreamWidth is garbage for embedding video, so view this post on LiveJournal for the best experience**
I woke up before my alarm on Thursday. Bakery time.
Walked a mile to Moxy bakery and was disappointed to see two sad cookies in the pastry case.
The cashier explained that they were "behind" and would have the croissants out at some point later.
So instead I walked to Brown Bear Bakery, which has been around for a long time and is very popular with the locals.
Now THAT'S what I got up early for.
Choosing just one thing was freaking difficult, but I ended up with the everything bagel croissant.
It was crispy, like a super crisp crunch on the outside that sent seeds flying everywhere haha.
But it was so delicious, and chewy nearest the herbed cream cheese filling (which was amazing and perfect)
On the same block was Allez Bakery. It might seem counterintuitive to have two bakeries side by side like that, but Brown Bear caters to individuals and walk-ins while Allez supplies rustic breads to many Cincinnati restaurants as their main business, so they're not really competing.
Still, their pastry case was ALSO epic.
I had to get the orange blossom cranberry scone with candied orange and pistachios. I mean look at it.
I haven't tried it yet, that's for tomorrow.
I asked the cashier which bread was her fave, and she said the rye because it's so flavorful.
She specifically recommended the marble rye because "There is NO good pumpernickel in this city and that rye is the closest you're gonna get!" Good enough for me! They also serve sandwiches on their breads in the afternoon, so I made plans to go back later.
Back at the hotel I unpacked and had the croissant for breakfast and a small sample piece of the rye.
It was extremely good. Malty and chewy and indeed very flavorful.
Then some computer work and emails.
Then heck yes I walked back to Allez for a sandwich.
I'm sure y'all think that I should be 500lbs by now, but let me remind that
A) We're here for two weeks this time so I've refrigerated half the bread and it'll last the entire two weeks
B) I am cutting the two pastries (scone, croissant) in half and eating half at a time over the course of four days
C) If the sandwich is large I'll also eat half of that at a time
The sandwich WAS also large. It wasn't very photogenic so no pics, but it was a jambon-beurre with yellow Swiss added and herbed butter on a big hunk of baguette. The bread was still the star of the show. Half for lunch and half for dinner.
I tried to do some data entry but the company has just rolled out a new version that is not working quite right (not unusual for new tech I think) and they had everyone doing a sort of inventory to see what info had transferred where. It was kinda chaos, so I backed off and will try again later.
Our show went well, nothing specifically stood out that I recall (writing a day later it's always tough to remember).
When I got back to the hotel I didn't have internet, and that's been happening every day which has made it really hard to do my remote work and also just function online. After multiple calls to the tech support number that the front desk had given me I finally went downstairs at midnight, and happened to find their engineer there too.
He came up to my room to troubleshoot and immediately his own equipment stopped working too.
Ghost in the machine, apparently!
So the only solution that they had for me was to change rooms. ugh.
I packed everything up and put all the furniture back (when you're staying somewhere for two weeks there can be a lot of rearranging) and transferred everything--food, clothing, luggage, cooking equipment, toiletries, water, etc---to the new room. Which was absolutely half the size of the previous room :(
But hey, the internet worked.
I finished rearranging and unpacking around 2am.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Friday, a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo!
I was operating on like four hours of sleep, but excitement and coffee helped to keep me motivated.
I took an Uber to the zoo entrance and waited outside, keeping far away from the mobs of screaming children running around the parking lot.
Soon my friend Val came to get me. Val has been a zookeeper for 37 years!
I thought that he'd worked for Ringling, but it turns out he was not an employee but rather one of the local consultants/vet techs that the circus would bring in to evaluate their animals when we were in Cincinnati. And of course as such he saw us and our animals over the course of multiple years, and he knew a lot of circus people and animals who came before my time.
Val escorted me to the elephant barn employee entrance.
I was asked not to take pictures back there because there were big white boards with animal feedings/breeding schedules/medications and other, uh, "patient privacy" stuff on the walls. Usually nothing major, just who pooped when and who's getting what vitamins.
And the other reason was because the elephants are housed in stalls (just like horses and MANY other types of animals), and the stalls had big bars or slats that are a very useful visual for animal rights propaganda ("ZOO ELEPHANTS CAGED 24/7!! A LIFE OF CONFINEMENT!!", etc etc) and the last thing I wanted to do was contribute to that.
It's a shame I couldn't share this part because it was a really cool space, and I got to walk directly into the stalls!
All of the elephants were outside getting fresh air so I got to actually be in the feeding, play, and socialization areas.
The slats/bars of each stall are large with big gaps in between, so big that a human can easily walk between them.
Here's a picture of the Houston Zoo's barn...Cincinnati Zoo's barn looked a lot like this, with a big door to the outside that the elephants could walk through to get to their yard.
The floors had just been washed, but the musky smell of elephants and poop and hay were still very strong.
It was a nostalgic smell. The many times that I walked into arenas directly into the animal area and was hit with these smells, or catching a whiff while standing on the vestibule of the train (the elephant cars were directly behind the engine for the smoothest ride, so we got the backwind).
As we walked Val showed me misc elephant toys and areas and described the history of the barn. It's a registered historic site, so they're not allowed to make major changes to the building or grounds. But a new elephant park is being built on the opposite side of the zoo, it looks to be at least twice as big and will have lots of great new facilities for elephants and humans to enjoy :)
We also swapped circus stories of course, and commiserated about animal activists, and how much more the whole Ringling/Feld organization might have done to keep the circus from having to close. Griping about it after the fact doesn't accomplish anything of course. But the thing is, there are precious few people that either of us can talk to about such things. If you start spilling circus beans in front of average people who have never spent more than an hour under a circus tent, they're going to look at you like you're an alien from Mars. At least that's been my experience.
Anyway, it was great to hear some of Val's experiences and share our circus time with each other as we made our way to the ladies, who were outside having a morning snack and dusting themselves.
As I approached Schottzie, I was once again awed by the size of elephants, the sheer bulk and strength and the fact that she had more muscles in her trunk than I did in my entire body. And the softness of her huge feet...how silently and gently she moved closer to us on feet that looked like they should shake the earth.
I stepped into her field of vision so that she could look me over and have a sniff if she wanted.
She looked me up and down, then held her head high and opened her mouth. "Treats? Tongue rub?"
There was a female handler out there with her who obliged Schottzie with treats and told me I was free to touch the elephant anywhere on her body from the ears back. So I did! Here is the video of that.
From then on I got to explore the rest of the Cincinnati Zoo.
It was around 40F but the windchill must have put it close to 35 or 30F, because I found it very difficult to keep warm and had to keep ducking into buildings to warm up. Most of the mammals were indoors due to the crummy weather, but I did still get to see a lot and spent probably 2.5 hours enjoying the animals and insects.
Everyone is obsessed with the Cinci Zoo's hippos, so I had a look.
They ARE very cute, and very active! CLICK HERE for video
The baby is Fritz, and the larger one is Bibi.
Fiona was off to the left showing off for her audience while I captured this cute playful moment.
The wild dog pack was out and running around, nipping at each other.
They went back in shortly after this video, though. CLICK HERE to watch
Red ibis. I came into the bird area to get warm, but it was also humid in there so when I stepped back outside I felt even colder :p CLICK HERE to watch
Ostriches and other African savanna birds.
Sadly for me that was pretty much it for "creatures spending time outdoors". But I could hardly blame them!
I spent the rest of my zoo time in the Insect House and Reptile house, which were very interesting and enjoyable.
There were naked mole rats, a big orchid spider eating a fly, and way too many cockroaches for comfort :D
(If you don't like BUGS or SNAKES here's your cue to scroll past!)
.
.
.
Close-up of a tarantula.
There are two HUGE bugs in this habitat, can you see them both?
The face of a stick bug.
Cookies n' cream booplesnoot.
I was starting to get hungry, so made my way to the gift shop.
I was surprised that little of the merchandise had to do with the elephants...everything is hippos, hippos, hippos everywhere you look.
I found the ONE keychain with an elephant and bought it, for the memories and to support the zoo.
---------------------------------------------------------------
From there I took an Uber to Drunken Bento. I felt frozen from my fingertips to my toes, and nothing sounded better than a piping hot, crackling bowl of dolsot bibimbap after this wonderful zoo adventure!
"Dolsot" means "stone pot".
Bibimbap is a Korean dish of steamed and pickled veggies, seasoned meat, and rice topped with a fried egg.
So, dolsot bibimbap is bibimbap served in a heated stone bowl.
Turn up your volume and CLICK HERE to hear the rice crackling!
My bibimbap had tofu, carrots, soybean sprouts, shiitake mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach, topped with a fried egg.
You're supposed to mix all of these things together in the bowl with some gochujang and sesame oil.
This is the golden-brown, crunchy rice from the bottom and sides of the bowl.
The absolute best part of dolsot bibimbap!!
They also gave me a small dish of traditional Korean sides: kimchi, a slice of steamed egg roll, and fish cakes.
Everything was incredible, all the textures and fresh veggies and spices and seasonings combining to form the absolutely perfect meal for a cold day. I ate half and saved the rest for later, then Ubered back to the hotel to rest before the show.
Our show went well, though a lot of the male cast are out due to injury or illness or LOA so it felt like we were all a bit hesitant.
These things happen, and we still put on a great show :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday I was thrilled to catch up on sleep a bit before typing this massive post out. Phew!
We had two shows, and three male cast members out.
The rest of the cast covered so well. I admire how hard they all work...but I hope they get a break on this upcoming Golden Day!!
Sunday was another two show day, and Josh's last day as our MD.
Next week we will have our other MD, Soto, back.
They're both awesome people and musicians :)
I'm excited to have Soto back, but will miss Josh, who was a friend before we both joined Tootsie.
The coolest photo of Josh that I could find.
Both shows went well. I was distracted with excitement for visiting Jungle Jim's tomorrow, and also didn't go to the bar with everyone after the show to bid Josh farewell. I hate bars, I hate being around drunk people, I hate being right next to people I want to get to know but not being able to hear them over the racket in a bar. So I hugged Josh goodbye in the pit and said, "See you down the road!", traditional circus parting words that imply parting is brief and we will meet again.
Then back to the hotel to sleep, because tomorrow is an early, exciting day.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Looking back on this post...wowzers.
Visiting the circus train, finding amazing bakeries and restaurants, visiting the zoo, performing shows, and having to switch hotel rooms in the middle of the night made this an action-packed week for me.
Week two in Cincinnati should be slightly less crazy, but there's still a lot of fun ahead!
- Spending the day at Jungle Jim's International Grocery!
- Visiting with my boss Brett one more time
- Having lunch with a trombonist buddy of mine
- Laundry, shows, sending souvenirs home for family and such!
I'm so glad to have made wonderful memories in this city <3
no subject
Date: 2023-03-13 12:14 pm (UTC)As always the food looks amazing. I love bibimbap