Oldham County Wired

Foxhollow offers cooking classes

Scott Hack — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:19:29 +0000

Cooking Classes Winter 2009

About Foxhollow

Foxhollow Farm Center is a not-for-profit Education, Conference and Retreat Center. We are located at the heart of Foxhollow Farm; a lush 1300-acre grass fed beef and vegetable farm located just North of Louisville. Our core values of ‘living in harmony with the earth’ and ‘developing harmony and balance within ourselves’ are the founding principles of our educational programs.

Our Vital Foods Program offers healthy cooking classes and earth friendly gardening workshops using organic and bio-dynamic methods. Chef Derek Kelley is committed to cooking food that is locally grown and filled with the vital nutrients that nature provides.

Saturday January 17th 11:00-1:00
The Art of Stocks. In this class you will learn to produce your own beautiful stocks that you can freeze, if you’re feeling adventurous—can it. We will be making chicken stock, beef stock, vegetable stock, and fish stock that you can use to make a soup, enhance a dish, or just sip as a warm broth. $35

Tuesday January 20th 6:30-8:30
Sourdough and Long Fermentation Breads
Participants in this class will learn some of the science and history behind sourdough breads, and why they are still a good choice for today’s home bread maker. Chef Derek will demonstrate and discuss how to start and maintain a sourdough starter. He will also demonstrate mixing, kneading, shaping, and baking of several different varieties. Menu items include traditional sourdough, herbed sourdough, and old-dough Crown loaf. Participants will get to enjoy fresh warm bread and take home a sourdough starter to begin their baking at home. $40

Saturday January 24th 11:00-1:30
The Winter Soup Pot in this class we will explore the art of soup making in the winter. It’s easy to forget about all the vegetable that are available in the winter in this class will be using several to make great tasting soups. Winter vegetable soup with barley, mixed bean soup with sausage, Beef and potato soup. We will enjoy these soups with warm bread. $35

Saturday February 7th 11:00-1:30
The warm slice of bread. Everyone loves fresh baked bread and in this class you will see how easy it is to make your own bread at home. We will be making yeast raised dinner rolls, 100% whole wheat loaf, and raisin cinnamon bread that’s perfect for toast. $35

Saturday February 14th 4:00-7:00
Date Night. An Asian adventure. In this class couples will learn to make several easy to prepare dishes. We will learn to prepare a fresh spring roll, eggrolls, egg drop soup, stir-fry rice, and rice pudding. In this class couples will work together to prepare their vegetables, bring some knives. $70 per couple
Feel free to bring a bottle of wine.

Starts February 21st ends March 14th Saturdays 11:00-1:00
Hands-on culinary basic skills course. This is a 4 week course to that will take you through the basics in cooking. We hope you will become more confident and proficient in the kitchen. In these classes you will begin with general knife skills and special cuts, then move onto soups and stocks where you will utilize those skills. The next class we will be preparing several different starches and vegetables, and the last class we will put our new skills together as a finished plate. $160 *Bring your cutting knife and apron to class

HSOC - Abel

Scott Hack — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:23:20 +0000

Cutest Puppy Ever

Meet Abel, a puppy found wandering the streets when he was just 7-8 weeks old. He is about 4 mo’s old, a terrier/beagle/poodle mix and has a very happy and laid-back nature. He would make a wonderful new forever-friend for dog-lover/s of any age . He is neutered and vaccinated and heart-worm free. Please call the Humane Society of Oldham County at 502.222.7537 if you would like to meet Abel.

Oldham County Parks - Holiday Walk

Scott Hack — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:13:20 +0000

Holiday Walk benefitting Teddy Bear Tree Scheduled for December 13th

Great Opportunity to Walk the New Wendell Moore Park Trails
and Benefit the Teddy Bear Tree Program

The Parks and Recreation Department in partnership with Tri-County Community Action Agency is sponsoring a 2-mile charity walk on the new Wendell Moore Park trails. The event begins at 9:00 am. Proceeds will go to help needy children this holiday season.

The cost is $10.00 pus a new, unwrapped toy. Participants will receive a T-shirt.

Interested participants can download the registration form at http://www.oldhamgreenways.org

Australia

Suz Griffin — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:06:20 +0000

After viewing countless films on a regular basis, cinema fans come to recognize their favorite directors much the way casual movie goers recognize their favorite actors. For me, Clint Eastwood gives us gritty realism, Ron Howard will often show us how even a ‘usual Joe’ can live an exceptional life, Michael Moore will no doubt show us something we would rather not see (or know) and Baz Luhrman… well that usually means I’m coming away from the movie with a headache. Baz Luhrmann gave us “Moulin Rouge” with it’s beautifully color saturated scenes unfortunately edited by what I have often referred to as “a rabid hamster on crack”. He’s a lover of the millisecond edit cut and zips about his movie scenes as if he’s directing on a turbo-charged segway. So it was with reluctance that I sat down in the theater to view Australia. The lure of Hugh Jackman as a cowboy was just too much to resist.

“Australia” takes place in the time frame of World War II. The primary story-line is about a priggish English woman (Nicole Kidman) who comes to Australia to confront her suspected, philandering husband. In her mind, he’s simply not wrapping up business fast enough in arranging the sale of their down under ranch. She travels to the ranch in order to speed up the process only to find, after she arrives, that her husband has been murdered. Finding herself with an undervalued cattle ranch, 2000 head of cattle and no one to help her drive them to the dock she wonders if coming to this strange, far away land was a mistake. Enter Hugh Jackman as Drover the driver. Now, to be honest, at this point I got a bit distracted because Hugh Jackman takes his shirt off and all I remember in the way of dialogue was “blah blah blah, NO! NEVER! blah blah blah, Not if you were the last woman on earth! Blah blah blah, something something, Oh look! A kangaroo! Something something ” Then Jackman puts his shirt back on and the movie continues. (Hugh Jackman makes me feel like Homer Simpson eyeing a ham. And no, I have no shame in this regard.)

Our heroine soon finds herself in care of a young, Aboriginal orphan played by new comer Brandon Walters.( Note: Keep an eye out for this kid. He’s a great little actor and has the face of an angel.) She then gets thrown into the position of boss lady of the ranch, and the object of contention with a competing rancher. She withstands numerous trials including a cattle drive through a vast wasteland and the bombing of Darwin, Australia by the Japanese. It’s a whole lot like “Gone With The Wind” except with Kidman and Jackman in the roles of Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable and substitute WWII for the Civil War. And, just like GWTW, Australia is epic in size and nature with multiple conclusions. They could in fact put out a 2H movie, a 2:20 movie or the as seen in theaters today 2:45 movie depending on where they choose to end the film.

So, do I recommend seeing Australia? Sure, why not? Even though it’s not a fantastic movie it’s a good movie to see on the big screen. It is a beautifully filmed, loving tribute Australia that will, no doubt, make its tourism industry explode. And, like I said earlier, it has Hugh Jackman… as a cowboy… he takes his shirt off. Why aren’t you in line for this yet?

Quantum of Solace

Suz Griffin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:41:10 +0000

Some movies are judged by what we come away with after viewing them. With a Bond film I think most people go in with certain expectations of what they’ll see, what they experience and how they will be left feeling after all is said and done. You expect action, intrigue, some really cool gadgets, some beautiful women and some great cars. That’s the formula. Well, this Bond film has the same formula but it’s been tweaked a bit. Everything is still there but in different quantities making a bit of a different movie.

In this Bond flick our boy James is out for revenge; set on evening a score with those responsible for the death of his last love, Vesper. The trail leads him to Dominic Greene, a corrupt businessman out to seize the natural resources of third world nations under the guise of a sham environmental group. Villain - wise Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric) was a bit on the anemic side. Not near ‘dastardly’ enough. Not much offered plot-wise either. But what we don’t get in story-line or intrigue we get in action… lots of action. Action action and more action. In fact, there is so much in the way of car chases, fist fights and explosions that there’s little else. It’s like rushing through a buffet line to get to a cheap dessert and it is somehow not satisfying. We never have a chance to know any of the characters so we really have no motivation to root for anyone (other than Bond). There’s no pleasure in Bond trouncing the bad guys because we never really see how bad the bad guys are until very late in the film. To detract even more from the film, director, Marc Forester, uses the ever-so-popular hand held camera shoots intended to put the viewer in the action and instead just succeeds in irritating the audience. Forester also uses parallel sequencing in almost every fight scene (showing alternate action scenes of the same time sequence juxtaposed against each other). Once was a good idea; twice means he just ran out of other artistic ideas.

Despite these blunders, the movie still has some redeeming aspects. The Bond girls are beautiful, smart and sexy without being trampy. The cars are pretty OK (an Alpha Romero, an Astin Martin and an aged Peugeot) and there’s a great old motorcycle that looks like either a Bultaco or maybe a Sherco. There are no gadgets in this Bond film but there is a fantastic computer screen made even more marvelous because the technology for them is already on the market . Think iPhone with a four foot screen. Very cool.

All this is not to say I didn’t have fun watching Quantum of Solace. I did. There were plenty of references to other Bond movies as well as a few nods to Alfred Hitchcock to keep you entertained. And for me, Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever. ( And I thought no one could be better than Sean Connery. ) So all the Bond elements are there, just the proportions were a bit off. Still, after it was all over and I was on my way home, I found myself unwinding my little Toyota full out in every gear while mentally making plans on where I would put my awesome four foot computer table when I got it. (Who am I kidding?!) In the end Quantum of Solace was a pretty good Bond film, just not as tasty as Casino Royale.

The Changeling

Suz Griffin — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:53:27 +0000

Just in time for Halloween… every mother’s nightmare.

Once again Clint Eastwood takes us to another time and another place to experience another person’s agony. He does this so well. Think “Million Dollar Baby” or “Flags of Our Fathers”.

In Changling we experience the heartbreaking story of Christine Collins as she searches for her abducted son. Taken from a series of true events known as the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders, Mr. Eastwood chooses to tell the bizarre and cruel story surrounding the mother of one of the abducted children rather than focusing on the murderer or his actions. Christine’s ordeal is nightmarish enough in its own right.

Having a child taken away from you is in and of itself a tragedy. To compound Christine’s plight, after five long months of unsuccessfully searching for her son, the Los Angles Police Department stumbles upon an orphaned boy and tries to convince Christine it’s her lost son. While Christine struggles to convince the police department that they have returned an impostor, the police decide that it’s easier to paint Christine as a negligent mother that is trying to shirk her maternal responsibilities. To cover up their own ineptitude they have Christine committed to a mental hospital to shut her up and make the inconvenience go away. (Did I mention this was a true story?) Christine refuses to be silenced and with the help of a radio minister (played by John Malkovich) she is not only released from the hospital but assists in uncovering the ramped corruption in the Los Angles Police Department. The mystery of her son’s whereabouts remained.

There is little to find fault with in Changling. Clint Eastwood always manages to get passionate performances out of his actors and this is no exception. I did find Jeffrey Donovan’s awful Irish accent annoying. Lucky for us, sometimes he used it, sometimes it was forgotten altogether. The real brilliance of this movie is found in the details. Hundreds of tiny details that help make the atmosphere of the 1920s come alive. From an old box of cereal to Ms. Jolie’s period piece wardrobe, hardly a single item was overlooked. You are, for the most part, looking a living aspect of the 1920s. I do think that the scope of this incredibly bizarre event in history was so vast that in trying to trim it down to 140 minutes to make it marketable for theaters we are left with a somewhat choppy feeling movie. But I’ll give Mr. Eastwood a pass on that. He came through for many women when he brought to light the fortitude through pain in one mother’s heart.

HSOC — Guacamole

Scott Hack — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:42:13 +0000

Guacamole

Hi! My name is Guacamole and now a 12 week old male neutered kitten. I was found as a tiny baby, not even weaned yet, in a sealed box with 15 other small kittens. Some were my brothers and sisters, some were from other families. It was cold and we were all hungry. Thankfully we were found and fed and taken in out of the cold. I was the smallest of the crew. My foster mom was afraid I might not even make it once when I stopped eating but I recovered quickly! Now we are all healthy and strong and have grown incredibly affectionate! We all love cuddling and giving kisses but know how to entertain ourselves when necessary too. As with all rescue kitties, it’s is now time for us to strike out and find our new forever homes. I’ll keep you smiling with my silly antics, and love on you when playtime is over. I know you won’t be sorry you chose me - I’ll be your best friend forever if you give me a chance. Call 502.222.7537 and ask to meet me - you’ll be glad you did. This pet is up to date with routine shots.

Varsity Pizza and Pints Chili Cook Off

Scott Hack — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:20:46 +0000

Oldham County Wired has received word that Varsity Pizza and Pints will be hosting a Chili Cook Off. Here is a quick run down on the rules and how you can enter. This sounds like a lot of fun. If you make it out, be sure to look for me.

You can download a copy of the application by clicking here.

Rules:
1.) Entry fee is $25.00 for individuals and $50.00 for restaurants.
2.) Contestants are accepted on a first-come-first-serve basis.
3.) Contestant must turn in application in advance of event; no walk-ins accepted.
4.) To accommodate crowds, contestant must bring at least 3 full gallons of piping hot chili.
5.) Chili must be prepared for event and table set up between 10:00–10:45 a.m.
6.) Contestants must stay and serve chili to guests.
7.) If chili runs out, contestants must stay until contest winners are announced at 4:00 p.m.
8.) Contestant can sample other entries.
9.) Varsity will provide all contestants with serving cups for chili and electric.
10.) Contestants must provide own table/booth for set up.
11.) Contestants are not permitted to sell chili during event.
12.) We encourage you to have fun, be creative, decorate your ‘space’ and wear a funny costume.

Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
Best Chili – Restaurant/Company Team Category
Best Chili – Individual (Red meat, white meat, vegetarian)
Hottest Chili Overall
Most Creative/Best Decorated Set-up Space
Best Overall Chili People’s Choice Award

To register, turn in application to: Varsity Pizza & Pints 6825 Central Ave., Crestwood, KY 40014
Or fax application to: Varsity Pizza & Pints, Attn: Tonya Parker at (502) 243-1106

Deadline to enter is October 31st!!

Oldham County Tourism Director - Kim Buckler

Scott Hack — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:57:33 +0000

Kim Buckler - Oldham County Tourism Director

1. What do you like most about living in Oldham County?

My absolute favorite thing about living in Oldham County is that it doesn’t matter where I go in the county or when, I know someone - or several. I love the spirit of the people and their willingness to help each other both in business and their neighbor next door. I grew up in Glendale, KY, home of the Whistle Stop Restaurant, and right next door to several Amish families.

After leaving Glendale when I was 18, I moved to Georgetown and then back to Louisville until I was 30. What I missed during those 12 years was the sense of community that I had grown up with. I have rediscovered that living and working in Oldham County.

2. How and why did you end up as the Tourism Director for Oldham County?

Before moving to Oldham County 9 years ago, I managed a marketing company in Louisville for 6 years through which I was a member of the Oldham County Chamber. I had several marketing clients in Oldham County at that time and spent a lot of that time in the county. When I moved to Oldham County, I opened ALLinONE Marketing, Advertising & PR and focused on the Oldham County business community that I absolutely loved! In 2007, Tourism was without a commission and without a Director so I was asked if I would put together a Commission and find a Director for the county, knowing that a Tourism Commission’s responsibility is to be a marketing entity for the county it serves. It took 4 months to interview and form a really good Commission made up of community business owners. At the end of those 4 months, I presented Fiscal Court with a really good slate of Commissioners who cared about what Oldham County had to offer its visitors. It was at that time that I was asked if I would be interested in being the part-time Director. The icing on the cake was not having to give up my own Oldham County business! That was April 2007 and rest is history! I couldn’t be happier!

3. Please tell me more about Oldham County Tourism, and what services it provides to Oldham County residents.

A Tourism Commission’s responsibility is to promote its county to tourists and visitors…to get them to PLAY in Oldham County, quite simply. We can be thought of as an ad agency whose only client is Oldham County as a whole! Specifically, I research the traveling habits of tourists within a 5 state radius of Oldham County and outside a 90-mile radius of LaGrange. I research their likes, dislikes, spending habits, attitudes, ideals, and lifestyles. I then promote Oldham County’s attractions, destinations and events to those travelers through advertising in the right media outlets to reach our target audience such as magazine ads, newspaper ads, TV commercials, group tours, and travel writer coverage. My goal is to entice them to spend the night at our hotels and bed & breakfast, stay as long as possible and spend as much money as they can in Oldham County while they are here.

Oldham County Tourism’s only revenue stream is the 3% hotel tax that the hotels collect from their guests (nearly every hotel in the US has this hotel tax though most times much higher than 3%). If I can entice a traveler to spend the night in Oldham County, I have created a need for them to spend money here in our restaurants, our shops, our attractions, our stores and our gas stations for at least 2 days. In a nutshell, tourism creates economic development for our county’s businesses. We support our businesses by advertising the county to visitors and residents alike.

From an Oldham County resident standpoint, tourism has taken on new meaning this year! With gas prices as high as they are, I really promote shopping and playing in our own backyards. There are so many really neat things to do here, you don’t have to drive more than 10 minutes to feel like you’ve gotten away. When I feel overwhelmed with life in general, one of my favorite places in the county to go is Bluegrass Country Estate Luxury B&B on a 10 acre horse farm in L’Esprit! Talk about feeling like a visitor in your own community! You really do forget you live 15 minutes away!

One of my newest projects for the community is “Treasure Hunting in Oldham County”. I’m calling on Oldham County residents who may be sitting on a hidden gem of their own! Do they have an interesting hobby to share with tourists, do they own a horse or alpaca farm that could be open to tours, do they have a really unique collection for display? I would really love to work with Oldham County residents to further promote what makes our county different and unique. I think there are enough longtime residents in the county that there has to be some great treasures hidden away just waiting to be discovered!

4. What do you hope to see for the future of Oldham County?

I really hope to see well-planned future growth. Many of us moved here for the schools and the lifestyle of Oldham County - the sense of community. I really can’t be in the marketing industry and be against growth in general, however, I would hope to see us manage it well. I just returned from a “visioning” trip to Hanover, VA. One of the things that struck me about that trip was learning that the Richmond area actually has commercial zones in their region - specific areas set aside for larger business growth - away from the more residential areas.

I hope to see a compromise in the rural living we love and the convenience of living and working in our community. I love the idea that Oldham County will one day have everything I need to live and conduct my business so as not to have to go to Louisville or beyond to get them. I would also hope to see us as residents utilize our Oldham County businesses more than we do.

I would also love to see us develop more tourism destinations in the county…something to be known for and proud of! I would hope for and love to see us as a community learn once and for all who we are and what we want to be when we grow up - and at least the majority of us be on the same page so we can move forward - smartly!

5. How do you spend your time outside of the office? Hobbies?

Hobbies? What are those? My stress relief is, and has always been, singing. I love to sing country music! Another of my favorite pastimes is trying new restaurants! I love food! I also love to travel - I call myself a Foodie Tourist! When I get to watch TV, I love forensics such as CSI Las Vegas, Bones, The 11th Hour and The Mentalist!

6. Are there any other comments or notes you’d like to share with the readers of Oldham County Wired?

If you have comments or suggestions for me concerning tourism or marketing in general, please feel free to call me or email me any time! I love to hear feedback and I would love to help where I can.

If you as a resident of Oldham County know of anyone who you think has a fascinating hobby or skill or might have something of interest to tourists or visitors, feel free to pass them on to me. I would LOVE to promote new Oldham County hidden treasures! If you haven’t already, check out our new tourism website: www.TourOldhamCounty.com. If you need me for anything, or would like a copy of our new Oldham County Tourism Map, I can be reached at 817-6043 or director@touroldhamcounty.com!

Appaloosa

Suz Griffin — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 20:00:19 +0000

What’s it about?- A western set in the 1880s. Appaloosa, a small, fictitious town in New Mexico, finds itself being bullied by a local outlaw and his brutal thugs. The town hires two professional lawmen to come in and restore law and order. While the law men are more than capable for the task at hand, everything is put a kilter with the arrival of a pretty widow. Lines are drawn, guns are fired, people get killed and an age-old friendship is put to the test. It stars Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renee Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons.

Let’s start at the back of the film, the part where the credits roll. In the theater where I viewed this flick, everyone stood up and clapped. I doubt that anyone left feeling ambivalent about the movie they had just seen. I was right there with them clapping madly with a big, stupid grin on my face. What fun!

Ed Harris wrote, directed and stars in this very satisfying western. While I don’t think anyone would consider this movie an epic along the lines of say, Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven”, this movie still has a great deal going for it. The first thing you’ll notice about the film is that it’s good-looking. Harris doesn’t spend a great deal of time lining up artistic shots or interesting camera angles, rather, he lets the beautiful New Mexico scenery speak for itself. You immediately find yourself in the warm, dusty atmosphere of a dessert town. Next is the dialogue. Viggo Mortensen opens the film with an easy going, laid back narritive that sets the scene and the pace for the rest of the movie. I immediately got the feeling I was in for a good story-telling. Harris’ writing was simple and straightforward but entirely engaging. I could on about how well written the screenplay was but even that isn’t the best part of this flick. The story itself is a pretty typical western… good guys versus bad guys, a call to arms against bullies. It does have an interesting note or two but here again, it’s the simplicity and straightforwardness of the story telling itself that makes it so enjoyable. The most exciting aspect of the film for me was the great friendship and chemistry between the characters of Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris. It harkens back on the friendship of Robert Redford and Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” or “The Sting”. They finish each others’ sentences, get each others’ jokes and are about as good as friends as any two people can be. There is nothing that happens in the movie that can’t be explained by saying, “Well, you know, they’re buddies, life long friends.” and that statement alone puts everything into focus. (I realize this may sound a bit obscure but i don’t want to ruin the nature of the movie for anyone.) What a pleasure it was to watch two of my favorite actors work so well in tandem with each other.

I do have to ad one final comment here, (and this is on a personal level… Ladies, I know you’ll be right there with me on this too…) my hands down, absolute favorite thing about this movie… there are no metrosexuals in this movie AT ALL! It’s a western so the whole thing is populated with real men! They’re scruffy, they’re dusty and most of them are sporting a two days growth of beard but by golly there’s no hair gel anywhere and no question how handy they would be around the house. There. I said it. Out loud. (Well, in print anyway.) I love westerns for the cowboys and maybe some of you ladies out there will too. So the next time you want to see a romantic flick with your sweetie, check out what western is playing and buy your guy some cowboy boots. Yippee ki yi yay!