Food – Page 3 – Tepe Travels

Christmas, Exploring Ohio, Food, Holidays, Sightseeing

Exploring Near Home: Doscher’s Candies

Written by tepetravels December 3, 2021December 3, 2021

One of the things I really wanted to do when we got back home was to explore our area more, just like we would if we were visiting the area. Our year of travel showed me that we get to be complacent and set in our daily schedules when we live stationary.

I happened upon an article about Doscher’s Candy Company while scrolling through my social media feeds. When I saw that they were the makers of the French Chews that Nick loves to get at the grocery store, I knew we had to check them out!

We went on the boys’ next day off of school and got there right when it opened, but it was a lot busier in the store than I thought it would be on a Wednesday morning. Of course, it was the day before Thanksgiving. The store is currently in a cute antique home and has its own large parking lot.

I loved the interior of the store. It was set up incredibly well, and everything looked so appealing. We saw many different types of candy canes, including dye-free. The boys were there for one thing, and one thing only: French Chews. Normally we only see the vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate French Chews at the grocery store. However, Doscher’s store had so many different kinds including were several new, holiday, and limited edition flavors (candy cane crunch, birthday cake, green apple, blue razz, orange cream).

We had a lot of fun exploring the space and picking out some candy. The gift shop also offered non-candy gifts including candles, books, seasonal gifts, and locally sourced items. I may have went a little overboard, but how could I resist the cute mini-French Chews and all the different flavors? St. Nick picked out some candy canes for the stockings as well.

If you are in the Cincinnati area, I would check out Doscher’s! Of course, it’s fun to look and find candy all year long, but St. Nick’s Day and Christmas are coming up as well (wink, wink).

HISTORY:

Doscher’s is the oldest candy cane maker in the US. The company began in 1871 making candy canes. They currently make candy canes, Candy Buttons, French Chews, and caramels. The location we were at makes the candy canes, candy buttons, and French Chews. They still make the candy canes by hand! The caramels are made in Bozeman, Montana by a store they own.

How do you like to eat your French Chews? I like mine nice and soft, whereas Nick likes to freeze and then crack his into pieces.

DETAILS:

WHERE: 6926 Main Street, Cincinnati, OH 45244
HOURS: Tuesday to Friday, 11:00 am to 5:00 pm
PARKING: Yes
NOTE: Currently, they are not offering factory tours. If they open the tours back up, I would love to go.

SIMILAR POSTS:

Hammond’s Candy Factory Tour (Denver, Colorado)

Exploring Michigan, Food, National Park, National Parks, Sightseeing

Frankfort, Michigan

Written by tepetravels July 28, 2021November 30, 2021

Although we stayed in Bear Lake, we frequently went into Frankfort, Michigan. Frankfort was about 15 minutes away and was a cute town. There was a grocery store and gas stations near town. The main street had several restaurants, a bookstore, bakeries, and a neat beach area with a lighthouse. We found a Little Library and a Little Art Library.

There were several ice cream places in town as well, and the two we tried were both good. The bagels from L’Chayim were delicious, the ice cream cake from Kilwin’s was amazing (but expensive), and The Bookstore was fun to explore.

On Nick and Mom Day, we walked the jetty to the lighthouse. It was very foggy and you couldn’t see the lighthouse from the shore when we started. We spent some time on the beach at the swings. After telling Ben about the fun things at the beach, we all headed there the next clear day. The benches and swings all face the Lake! There were also a few sand volleyball nets. Restrooms were near the parking lot. It was a great place to relax. You could swim there, and some people were, but the water was too cold for us.

Frankfort was a nice walking town. If you are in the area, I would check it out!

Exploring Michigan, Food, Sightseeing

National Cherry Festival, Traverse City, MI

Written by tepetravels July 25, 2021November 30, 2021

The first day we ventured into Traverse City was a bit of a let down. We ended up going after work was finished, so a lot of places we wanted to check out were closed. The city was very cute and we wanted to explore it more. We happened to luck out and discover that the National Cherry Festival was coming up.

We came back a couple of days later for the Festival. Our first stop of business was the breakfast pancake flip tent. Ben had done this before, but it was the boys and my first time experiencing catching our breakfast. We walked into the tent and there were three large griddles lined with pancakes. We grabbed a plate and got in line. Once you are at the front of the line, they would flip your pancakes out to you and you had to catch them. We all did pretty well catching ours. You headed down the next line of tables to pick up butter, syrup, sausages/bacon, juice/milk/coffee.

After enjoying breakfast, we wandered around looking at all the other booths. We grabbed a cup of fresh cherries, split a slice of cherry pie, and found some cute souvenirs.

After the Cherry Festival, we walked around Traverse City for a little bit and saw the Open Space with a water feature/playground, a nice area to sit and rest facing the water, and lots of fun shops to explore.

Next, we went to Costco. The closest one was right next to the airport. When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a lot of people standing in the parking lot, in the field/tree area between the store and the airport. We realized that President Biden must be arriving soon, so we waited a few minutes just happened to be able to see Air Force One land! We didn’t get to see President Biden, as it was a little bit away (and we thought pulling out binoculars while peering through the trees was probably a bad idea!), but it was really cool to see the plane.

Exploring Michigan, Food, Sightseeing

Tiffany’s Cafe in Empire, Michigan

Written by tepetravels July 24, 2021November 30, 2021

Ben and I went on a little date and stopped at Tiffany’s Cafe in Empire, Michigan. It was a warm day, so we each got a shake and a chicken cherry wrap to share.

I got a coffee shake and Ben tried a Boston Cooler. The Boston Cooler was ginger ale and vanilla soft serve. It could be served like a root beer float or blended into a shake. We got the Boston Cooler shake and it was surprisingly good! We didn’t have high expectations for a ginger ale shake, but it was nice and refreshing. It’s something that we want to try making at home!

If you are in the area, it’s a cute spot to stop.

Animal Sightings, Exploring Ohio, Food, Sightseeing

Geneva On The Lake

Written by tepetravels July 12, 2021November 30, 2021 1 Comment

Ben and I drove over to Geneva On-The-Lake for our anniversary dinner. We found a location on the lake that had an outside dining area.

We ate at the Old Firehouse Winery. There was live music playing and the views were great of Lake Erie. There were a lot of tiny birds around looking for crumbs.

The food was tasty, although a little slow coming out. Ben got a steak wrap and I got the burger on a pretzel bun.

The town must be very busy during peak tourist season. It reminded me of a smaller Gatlinburg/Myrtle Beach type of town.

Exploring New York, Food, Newbie Mistakes

Eating New York: Tomato Pie

Written by tepetravels July 1, 2021November 30, 2021

We were at Wegman’s grocery store and saw something called a tomato pie. It was in a cardboard box, so we couldn’t see it very well, other than it had crust and a tomato based topping. We thought we would give it a shot.

We got home, unpacked, made dinner, and thought we would try the “pie” for dessert. Did you catch the quotes there? Yup, it was a pizza pie, as in a pizza with no cheese. What?! Who in their right mind makes pizza without cheese.

You would have thought I had learned my lesson that New Yorkers, who are supposed to have great pizza, are weird and don’t always put cheese on their pizzas. Nope. A few days later, I was ordering pizza online from a restaurant down the street from the campground. I ordered a few different things, including and “Old Fashioned Pizza” with half pepperoni. Guess what? No cheese! The other specialty pizza we got had cheese listed, so I just assumed that cheese came on all their pizzas (like it should).

So, if you are in New York and ordering pizza, make sure you ask if it comes with cheese (no matter how ridiculous you feel asking, because pizza without cheese is just sauce bread.

Exploring New York, Food

Eating On Grand Island: Adrian’s Custard & Beef

Written by tepetravels June 29, 2021November 30, 2021

The boys and I picked up lunch from a restaurant down the street from the campground called Adrian’s. Every time we drove by, there were people there, so we figured it must be good!

We picked up a few things from the menu: hamburger, cheeseburger, chicken finger sandwich, roast beef sandwich, and some custard. The beef sandwich was called a Beef On Weck. The weck is the bun, a bun topped with salt and caraway seeds. The sandwiches were delicious and I loved the taste of the weck bun.

There were a ton of choices for the custard. We tried peanut butter swirl, peanut butter chip, and Kahlua Almond. It was all really good. We got the small, which had 2 scoops!

Exploring New York, Food, Sightseeing

Exploring Buffalo: Hofbrauhaus

Written by tepetravels June 27, 2021November 30, 2021 1 Comment

We drove around seeing what there was around Buffalo. We stopped at a Farmer’s Market in Clarence and picked up some buttermilk biscuits. We also explored Antique World, which was advertised at Western New York’s largest antique/flea market. There were a few indoor buildings, but most of the booths were located outside. We had fun looking, but didn’t buy anything.

After driving around downtown Buffalo and seeing some sites, we decided to stop in at Hofbrauhaus for lunch.

It was pretty empty while we were there, but everyone was nice and service was fast. They had live music going on, which is always nice. We tried the currywurst, schlachtplatte, and of course the large pretzel with beer cheese.

Our waitress Jordan was nice to talk to and we discovered she is saving with the hopes of traveling the US too!

Animal Sightings, Exploring Vermont, Food, School, Sightseeing, YouTube Video Link

Sugarbush Farm: Exploring Cheese and Maple Syrup

Written by tepetravels June 18, 2021November 30, 2021 4 Comments

We only had a short stay in Vermont and the main goal was to see…MAPLE SYRUP! We found a nearby working farm called Sugarbush Farm. They make maple syrup and cheese and offer free tastings.

We got to try 3 of the 4 types of maple syrup. The farm did not have a lot of the Golden Maple Syrup. The color of the syrup depends on the weather, so the quicker the weather warms up, the less they may have of a certain color/grade of syrup. All of the syrups were tasty. Ben, Nick, and I really enjoyed the Amber. It had a little different taste than the other types. The Dark was the flavor we are used to having (we normally buy the Grade A Dark syrups at the store). Will really liked the Very Dark syrup.

There were also several cheese types we could try. Ben’s favorite was the Extra Sharp Cheddar (aged 4 years), while Nick and I enjoyed the Sage Cheese.

The farm has a walking trail, goats, cows, and horses to see. There are picnic tables in case you brought a picnic. There were also two photo stand opportunities and there were selfie stands set up for those as well.

The maple syrup production area was not running while we were there, but there was an informational video and lots of signs explaining the process.

There was a store located in the tasting building and we went a little crazy buying cheese and syrup. We got to talk to the owner, Betsy. Everyone was incredibly nice at the farm and we really enjoyed our experience there. If you are in the area near Woodstock, Vermont (or Quechee, where our campground was), I would make this a stop on your journey. It’s amazing how much work goes into getting enough sap to make a quart of maple syrup. (Hint: Look at the picture above. It takes 4 1/2 buckets to make 1 quart.) The farm also does mail orders!

VIDEO: Boys Walking Around Sugarbush Farm

Exploring Maine, Food

Traveling Lobster

Written by tepetravels June 13, 2021November 30, 2021

One of the things everyone told us to do on the East Coast was to get the local seafood. Massachusetts’ lobster roll left the taste buds wanting and didn’t seem any different than what we could get back home in Ohio.

Maine was sure to be the mecca for lobster, but we waited quite a while to try one, as prices were high. All lobster (and seafood) items were at market prices. We were there early in the season and prices were still high.

After one of our hikes, we surprised Ben with a lobster roll from lunch from the Travelin Lobster, which was a cute roadside store only minutes from the campground. There were outdoor tables to eat at, or you could order it to-go. It was still expensive ($23.95 for a small), but it looked like a lot more lobster than the one we got in Massachusetts.

It came with on a bun, with a bed of lettuce between the bread and the lobster. It also came with a pickle and a bag of chips. Ben said it was cooked well (no “gumminess”) and tasted extremely fresh. The lobster was the star of the meal.

Their lobster is brought in every morning, so once it’s gone it is gone. I would definitely try them if you are near Bar Harbor!