Ohio Adventures

So, I finally made the big move. Movers moved me out last Friday, and they arrived in Ohio today. I've been staying at my brother's in the meantime.

Move-in went pretty smoothly, except that we could not find all of the fasteners needed to put together my two Ikea bed frames. So that sucks. We think we found the missing parts on Amazon, but it's hard to figure out if they're an exact match. We'll see in a coupla days.

The bigger problem is that I have way too much stuff. Gotta seriously downsize.

As I've posted in my "Ohio is scaring me" thread over in politics, here are some low/highlights so far.

There is gas for under $3.

They make what sounds like a pretty dicey pizza,though fans swear by it.

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What is Ohio Valley-style pizza?

Ohio Valley-style pizza is renowned for the fact that cold-shredded cheese is piled onto hot tomato sauce, usually with cold pepperoni,atop a crackery crust that is cut and served in squares.

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Had lunch at an Arthur Treacher's, which I haven't seen in many years. Good eats. Nice fish and great fries.

Will post more as life moves on.

So long NJ. It was fun.

As someone who attended college in OH, whereabouts are you? (In my experience, you’re going to have an uphill battle finding pizza, Italian/French bread, bagels and Chinese food to fall in love with. Sorry…)

I'm in Cuyahoga Falls.just north of Akron.

pizza in squares on cracker (why??), same here in Wisconsin, but no cold cheese so far.

Great thread!  More Ohio Valley Pizza, less politics!

(Seriously, the pizza blew my mind).

I went to Kent. Spent time in Cuyahoga Falls - it’s lovely, and I hope your new adventure is a wonderful one! People make fun of Akron and Cleveland and that area, but they can actually be pretty great places to spend time. (Questionable menus and recipes aside, of course…)

I saw the North Coast Men's Chorus's  Christmas show tonight in Cleveland.

Great show in a beautiful venue.

My first (and last) Ohio pizza was 1972.... Went to Ohio with Scully to visit friends. the sauce was similar to Franco-American canned. 

It brings me to Lenny Bruce's take on Ohio. He imagined his Ohio citizens remarking positively about this new eyetalian meal called pizza (I pronounced as a small I). 

"It's Saturday night, Jimmy. What'da'ua wanna do?"

"Lets go down to Benny's garage and watch the grease lift go up and down."

"Nah, we did that last week."

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

My first (and last) Ohio pizza was 1972.... Went to Ohio with Scully to visit friends. the sauce was similar to Franco-American canned. 

 

That reminds me. Went in to a Giant Eagle supermarket the other day, and on one of the aisle signs was listed "Canned Pasta". Good to know where it is so definitively.

I don't know if this extends to Ohio, but I was in Wisconsin a few weeks back and one of the things that stood out to me was the entire row in the freezer section that was devoted to frozen pizza.  It seemed a bit excessive.

drummerboy said:

To be fair, I was always overwhelmed by Livingston Shoprite's yogurt section.

yes! It doesn’t even fit in one section. You have to go around the bend there to see the rest. As to pizza…my absolute favorite OH pizza is absolutely awful. A slab of dough, bland sauce and canned mushrooms. However, each time I visit Youngstown area family I HAVE to have a slice. It’s just a taste that takes me right back to age 12, I guess. 

On a pizza tangent, this line from Abbott Elementary was a laugh-out-loud distillation of shrugging Philly pricking of pretension.

“Philly-style pizza has five things: crust, sauce, cheese, maybe some toppings, and the last thing — it’s made in Philadelphia.”

drummerboy said:

Wow! Just got premium gas for 3.05!

lol, but you had to pump it yourself.

wedjet said:

lol, but you had to pump it yourself.

Got to pump it yourself, you mean.  In the three years since I left NJ, not once have I missed so called "Full Service" gas.

Heynj said:

drummerboy said:

To be fair, I was always overwhelmed by Livingston Shoprite's yogurt section.

yes! It doesn’t even fit in one section. You have to go around the bend there to see the rest. As to pizza…my absolute favorite OH pizza is absolutely awful. A slab of dough, bland sauce and canned mushrooms. However, each time I visit Youngstown area family I HAVE to have a slice. It’s just a taste that takes me right back to age 12, I guess. 

So much yogurt and it's all bad.  Speaking as someone who grew up in Northern California, NJ yogurt is the culinary equivalent of Ohio Valley Pizza.

I visited Youngstown a few years ago, and expected far more devastation, from the closure of the steel mills, than appeared on the surface.  The housing stock in much of the town was in pretty good shape, the suburbs likewise appeared decent, and the college art museum was not at all bad, compared to what one might expect.  I even liked their Congressman, Tim Ryan, a talented guy, who unfortunately lost this time around, for Senator.  They also had a Jewish Deli, Kravitz, that has ben there for generations.  The only thing I didn't like were the sneaky traffic tickets that seemed to be given out freely to unsuspecting out of staters, of which articles have been written, and for which I received as a souvenir of my trip for going 7 miles over the speed limit on a county road .  Drummerboy, best wishes on your new home.

GoSlugs said:

wedjet said:

lol, but you had to pump it yourself.

Got to pump it yourself, you mean.  In the three years since I left NJ, not once have I missed so called "Full Service" gas.

Amen.  Worst law in New Jersey.

I changed the "home" location on my GPS and just wantonly deleted the old one.

I guess I'm here for good now.

Meanwhile, I can't get my Spectrum internet to work. Service tech was here for 90 minutes and basically got nowhere.

Other tech coming tomorrow. Hope he does better.

My brother ordered substitute hardware for the missing hardware for my bed from Amazon. Came in today. Hope it works.

P.S. The Ikea website SUCKSSSSSS if you're trying to find and order screws and such. Abominable. Did I mention the nearest Ikea is 2 hours away?

The tap water here is worse than West Orange's. Not sure if my water filter is up to the task. Might have to upgrade.

drift

GoSlugs, yes, the great wall of pizza in our Wis market abuts the similar wall of chips.  Between them they probably run half a block along one wall of a big store.

end drift

There is some decent pizza in Ohio in the 3Cs (Cincinatti, Columbus, Cleveland).  It's much better than the crap that was described in this thread, but still not as good as the NY/NJ pizza.

When you’re next in Cleveland, go to the Heinen’s grocery store downtown. In the former bank building. And prepare to say, “Wow.” 

Heynj said:

When you’re next in Cleveland, go to the Heinen’s grocery store downtown. In the former bank building. And prepare to say, “Wow.” 

Sounds like it's worth a trip.

I had a couple of wow moments when I was in Cleveland for the Saturday concert. One was for the concert venue, which was gorgeous, and the other was for the Cleveland Clinic campus, which was enormous.

There's nothing "full service" about gas in NJ.  Pumping gas is not the same thing as "full service".  I grew up pumping my own gas in Texas and if I had wanted to pay twice as much per gallon (back when a gallon was a dollar or less) I could have had that "full service" which included cleaning all the windows, checking the oil and possibly washer fluid, etc.

I fried my laptop's keyboard with an inadvertent spray of scotch.

It's in the repair shop.

Nothing to do with Ohio.

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So, the last few days have been spent commuting to the new apartment from my brother's place. About a 40 minute drive. I feel like I'm back working. I spend 9 to 5 unpacking and setting the place up. (OK, with a nap or two.) And cutting up and throwing away boxes.

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I think my car needs some exhaust work. Plus I hear squeaking from the front end.

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Today was the first time since the movers arrived that I haven't been to Walmart/Lowe's/Home Depot.

(Walmart and Lowe's are next to each other. Convenient.)

Progress.

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For some reason I thought the apartment had wooden floors, so I bought a bunch of felt furniture sliders a month ago.

Nope. Wall to wall carpet.

I hope the last few weeks of weather is not typical. It's been very dreary, hardly any sunshine.

drummerboy said:

I hope the last few weeks of weather is not typical. It's been very dreary, hardly any sunshine.

Winters in Ohio are not sunny. 

Just googled this:

What Food is Ohio Known For? Don't Miss These Iconic Ohio Foods

• Buckeyes.
• Goetta Sausage.
• Barberton Chicken.
• The Thurmanator.
• Pawpaws.
• Polish Boy.
• Sauerkraut Balls.
• Klondike Ice Cream Bars.

They make what sounds like a pretty dicey pizza,though fans swear by it.

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Had lunch at an Arthur Treacher's, which I haven't seen in many years. Good eats. Nice fish and great fries.