OOO #91: Outfits, Ohio, and Other Things I Like

I'm trying to keep up with the youths, chocolates, and a bundt pan!

Outfits

“Oh no, Ms. Romano… these freshman have gotten you to wear your socks over your pants. NO!”

Ohio

Valentine’s Day is nearly upon us! As I mentioned last year, I love Valentine’s Day and all of its accoutrements—flowers, pink and red decorations, paper valentines, chocolates—so this year, I figured I would share my favorite, local chocolatier: Winans!

Winans was founded in 1961 in Piqua, Ohio, which is north of Dayton and northwest of Columbus. Piqua is still home to the Winans flagship store, but the chocolatier has since expanded throughout central Ohio. I am lucky to live in walking distance from one of those locations, and I am there often during the summer. In the past, Winans has had lemonades and iced teas, which pair nicely with a summer walk around Schiller Park.

I love Winans for two reasons: their chocolates (duh) and their hours. Their chocolates are fantastic, and while I frequently give them as gifts, I also sometimes walk into Winans, buy a small bag of loose chocolates of my choosing, and then gorge on them on my walk home. I am particularly fond of the “Miss Clara,” which is a butter toffee chocolate, but it’s all delicious.

Winans also has super useful hours. Most coffee shops in my neighborhood close at 3, but sometimes I want to meet up with people at 3 or 4. Winans is open until 8, so it’s easy to invite someone for a chocolate and a coffee and not worrying about timing around the closing of coffee shops and the opening of bars.

I stopped by Winans this week to pick up a treat for a friend—my work bestie and I get treats for each other every other Friday. While I was there, I noticed that Winans carries baked goods from Freedom a la Cart, an amazing organization another dear friend told me about which employs survivors of sex trafficking and provides “practical job skills” in its workforce development program.

I am still thinking about the assorted box of chocolate from Winans that my husband bought my for last year’s Valentine’s Day (and if you’ve noticed that I say “I am still thinking about x” in most of my posts and x is nearly always food, congratulations! You have noticed that I, like a labrador, am deeply devoted to food. I have no shame about this, nor should any of us!), which is featured in the below photo. If you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day box of chocolates, go to Winans!

Other Things I Like

I had some people over last weekend to celebrate me finally finishing the Lord of the Rings book trilogy by watching the movie trilogy. As I had just finished the books, I was deeply insufferable during the viewing of the movies, but I tried to make up for it with good food. My favorite offering: this cake.

For some reason, I originally thought that the cake pan was shaped like a mountain range, and it was meant to imitate Caradhras and the Misty Mountains, but once the cake was out of the pan, I realized the cake was meant to imitate a pine forest. So, I called it Fangorn, drizzled icing over it, and called it a day.

My mom gave me the bundt pan as a Christmas present a few years ago, and for some reason (I’m guessing COVID), I hadn’t been inspired to use it until now. I was nervous to use it too, honestly, largely because I haven’t made too many bundt cakes before, but the cake turned out great (here’s the recipe) and I won’t let myself get intimidated by beautiful kitchenware again (I’m looking at you, mini round cocotte from Le Creuset that I bought to roast garlic bulbs in but I’m too afraid to use because it is so beautiful!!!).

That’s it! Have a great rest of your week!