Anthony Thomas Candy Factory Tour

My brother John flew from Philly to spend a couple days here to visit and to assist with adding a bunch of lighting to my kitchen. I have always been a bit upset with how little light there is in my kitchen, doubly bad because I do a lot of cooking. John and I spent two days on the kitchen and now there are tons of lights. I will show them off in a future post.

I am between jobs this week, so I have more free time than usual to do interesting things. I have watched more movies than normal, done some cooking, and worked on cleaning the house. Today John and I headed over to the Anthony-Thomas Candy Company for a factory tour. The factory is about 10 miles from my house and they are the source of many of the buckeye candies we eat during college football season. The company has been around since 1952.

The factory tour lasts about an hour and largely consists of walking on a high catwalk over the production floor. Today was a bit of a slow day in the factory, but we did see the making of peanut butter easter eggs from the mixing of the peanut butter dough to the final packaging. The factory is clean and packed with big machines. Lots of chocolate is around on various pallets waiting to be packaged. They do not allow photos inside the factory, so unfortunately I can not post any action shots.

Me with what may be the worlds largest buckeye candy. It is 235 pounds and can be yours for only $3,500.

From the website, "Walk along our comfortable, glass-enclosed suspended "Cat-Walk" and observe eight lines producing 25,000 pounds of chocolates per shift. Our experienced tour guides explain each process step-by-step, from our kitchens to the final packaging. View interesting sights such as our huge copper kettles where the centers are created, and our unique silver wrapped pipes that carry liquid chocolate throughout the factory. The tour finishes in our beautiful 2,500 square-foot retail shoppe. Our free Open House Factory Tours are every Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30 am. to 2:30 pm. "

Two more reasons to love Columbus

Every time I come to the conclusion that Columbus is a boring place and that there is nothing new to discover, I am proved wrong. Folks, I have made two major discoveries this past weekend. Both can be categorized as important cultural institutions that help the general populace expand their horizons.

My friends Stefan and Liz invited me Saturday to join him in cheering on the Buckeyes in their crushing defeat of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. (side note….Golden Gophers? Can they be serious?). Little did I know that Stefan was going to bring me to Bob’s Bar, “The Cultural Hub of the Midwest”. Move over Columbus Art Museum, Ohio State, Ohio Theatre. Bob’s Bar is THE cultural hub.

After experiencing Bob’s, I have to admit there is a legitimate argument. It is one of the best bars I have been to in a long time. It reminded me of Valhalla in New York, except it was much cheaper and had a better, less sophisticated feel. We counted 27 beers on tap and over 100 bottled beers. The variety was very impressive and it was fun to try a couple beers that have been on my “Need to Try” list. On game day they even hand out some free pizza. We decided that Bob’s is now the official new hangout for our posse.

I have not mentioned it much recently on the blog, but I am departing very soon for Uruguay for the EY CR Fellows Program. As such, I owed it to my wife, Elly, to take her out for a nice dinner as kind of a goodbye / thanks for hanging in there / hope you do not starve while I am gone. Some friends recommended Dragonfly, a very ambitious restaurant that serves an all-vegan menu. I was very impressed and wish it was cheaper so it could be a regular part of my diet. It is certainly on the special occasion list now.

The food was beautiful, artistic, and delicious. We started the meal with a roasted eggplant appetizer for Elly and for me a pairing of two separate soups in one bowl. Both were excellent. To accompany the meal we shared a bottle of Plotzer Pino Grigio from Fruili, Italy that was perfect balance of crisp and clean. For the main dish I had the lobster mushroom, which is a mushroom with a taste and texture that certainly brings to mind seafood. It came over risotto with fresh brussel sprouts. Elly had a roasted mushrooms with a strong sauce heavily influenced by the fresh basil from the restaurant garden. For desert, we had cookie sandwiches with a chocolate mousse in the middle. I have never had mousse that would so good, amazing considering it is non-dairy. In sum, Dragonfly wowed us both and we left knowing we would be back again. I would feel comfortable sending anyone to this restaurant, even those have a hard time imaging a meal without meat as the center of the dish.