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Havana Rumba: A Taste of Cuba in The Heart of The South

November 24, 2014 by

Havana Rumba is a small yet authentic Cuban eatery founded by Marcos Lorenzo, a Cuban immigrant who moved to the U.S. from Cuba in 2000. Lorenzo brought with him a love of Cuban cuisine and not much else, but he built the restaurant into what it is today through his exceptionally flavorful Cuban cooking.

The restaurant serves traditional empanadas, ropa vieja, and croquetas in impressively large portions, and appetizers like spicy tamales make great starts to any meal. The famous Cuban sandwich is another one of the eatery's most popular items. Havana Rumba is also known for its delicious drinks, from refreshing mojitos to Cuban beers.

The colorful, casual decor inside of the restaurant matches the authentic flavor of the food, and regulars love sitting outside on the patio on sunny afternoons.

Havana Rumba
4115 Oechsli Avenue
Louisville, KY 40207
(502) 897-1959
www.havanarumbaonline.com
www.yelp.com/biz/havana-rumba-louisville

Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: , ,

Three Cooking Substitutes for When You’re in a Pinch

November 20, 2014 by

Any seasoned cook knows that sometimes you have to get creative when sticking to a recipe, especially if you're short on some of the ingredients. The good news is that with a few easy swaps, you can make any recipe, even if you don't have the traditional ingredients on-hand. Here are three cooking substitutes for when you’re in a pinch:

  1. If you're missing brown sugar: Your craving for homemade cookies won't wait until you can get to the store for all the ingredients. If you’re short on one cup of brown sugar, you can substitute it one cup of white sugar combined with 1/4 cup of molasses.
  2. If you're missing butter: While no kitchen should ever be without this important ingredient, it tends to happen if you cook a lot. You can replace one cup of butter with one cup of margarine or vegetable shortening. If the recipe calls for melted butter, you can use the same amount of oil.
  3. If you're missing half and half: If your carton is empty, you can easily recreate this essential ingredient with 1/2 a cup of partly skimmed milk and 1/2 a cup of heavy whipping cream.

Top 3 Ingredient Substitutions [All Recipes]
Ingredient Substitutions [University of Nebraska]
Baking Ingredient Substitution Table [Joys of Baking]

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WHYLouisville: Why Not Visit This Artistic Local Shop

November 13, 2014 by

Located in the heart of Louisville’s independent business district, WHYLouisville is a shop that is dedicated to locally designed clothing and accessories, art, jewelry, and more. The shop itself is colorful and eclectic, with window displays created by guest artists and cube-style shelving filled with handmade curiosities.

Whether you’re looking for a unique, locally made gift or something fun to add to your own collection of Louisville memorabilia, WHYLouisville is always a fun place to peruse. All of the T-shirts are printed in the store, and they all pay homage to the city of Louisville in a unique way. If you want to print your own custom T-shirts, WHYLouisville also offers screen-printing to the public using its own high quality shirts and materials.

WHYLouisville’s Highlands location is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 6 p.m. Sundays.

WHYLouisville
1583 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
(502) 456-5400
www.whylouisville.com
www.yelp.com/biz/why-louisville-louisville

Filed Under: Things To Do Tagged With: , ,

Smoketown USA: Eat and Explore at This Eclectic Barbecue Eatery

November 6, 2014 by

In 2007, owner Eric David Gould opened Smoketown USA in a Civil War-era building located right in the heart of Louisville. The restaurant quickly gained in popularity for its delicious barbecue fare and a curious assortment of what the owners describe as “yard sale items” for sale throughout the dining room. Even the tables and chairs have a price tag!

If you just come for the food, Smoketown USA’s stick-to-your-ribs menu of barbecue sandwiches, marinated chicken, seafood, and half slabs of pork ribs won’t disappoint. The kids' menu even offers one free kids' meal per adult, so you can feed the whole family for a low price. Enjoy looking around the eclectic knick-knacks throughout the restaurant while you wait for your food at Smoketown USA, one of Louisville’s most unique eateries.

Smoketown USA is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

Smoketown USA
1153 Logan Street
Louisville, KY 40204
(502) 409-9180
www.smoketownusa.com
www.yelp.com/biz/smoketown-usa-louisville

Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: , ,

Sip an Artisanal Cocktail From a Mason Jar at Hillbilly Tea in Louisville

October 23, 2014 by

Hillbilly Tea is a hip and trendy dining destination in downtown Louisville. Exposed brick walls add a sense of warmth to the open, light-filled dining area, while recycled burplap menus are positioned next to antique oil lamps on the eatery's reclaimed wood tables. The dining room is likely to host 20- and 30-somethings catching up with friends over herbal tea or an artisanal cocktail—served in a mason jar, of course.

As for the food, expect homestyle fare with a gourmet twist. Hillbilly Tea is the kind of place that serves smoked catfish over a bed of arugula, and cornbread is offered to sop up paprika gravy on the braised beef shank. Vegetarians have more than a few options from which to choose, while brunch sees hungry diners arriving with a craving for the eatery's dish of gravy-laden poached eggs over buttermilk biscuits. Regulars insist you don't depart before savoring a spoonful of the restaurant's bourbon bread pudding.

Hillbilly Tea
120 S. First Street
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 587-7350
www.hillbillytea.com
www.yelp.com/biz/hillbilly-tea-louisville

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Check Out These Spooky-Fun Facts About Halloween

October 16, 2014 by

Although many people think that Halloween is simply a children’s holiday filled with spooky fun, others believe that October 31 stems from something more sinister. So what is the real truth about Halloween? Here are a few facts that you may not know about the year’s scariest (and sweetest!) holiday.

  1. Halloween’s origins can be traced back as far as 2,000 years. The holiday stems from a Gaelic festival called Samhain, which translates into “summer’s end,” an apt name for this favorite fall celebration. Samhain was a time for the community to gather resources for the coming winter months.
  2. Halloween was far from sinister. Although Halloween and its predecessor Samhain held a few supernatural and pagan aspects, it was overall a very peaceful and community-oriented holiday.
  3. Halloween costumes derived from All Saint’s Day. While we wear costumes for Halloween these days, the costume aspect actually derived from All Saint’s Day, not Samhain. Druid leaders wore traditional costumes made of animal skins to celebrate All Saint’s Day, and because the two holidays fall so close together, they merged with one another over the years.
  4. The tricks led to the treats. In the 1920s and 1930s, American youth turned Halloween into rowdy block parties filled with acts of vandalism. In an effort to make the holiday more wholesome, community leaders attempted to ply children with sweets given out by neighbors, which eventually led to what we know as trick-or-treating.

Twenty Interesting Things About… Halloween [The Pioneer Woman]
13 Facts You Never Knew About Halloween [Business Insider]
History of Halloween [Live Science]

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The Alley Theatre: An Untraditional Experience in Louisville

October 9, 2014 by

The Alley Theatre is Louisville's home to innovative theatre. Here, you can experience both classic and experimental plays in an affordable and interesting venue. Fans love grabbing a beer at the concession stand and heading inside for a unique experience. The theatre offers a casual and comfortable seating arrangement (you can have a seat on a couch, for example).

Productions have included classics such as Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis as well as improv shows like 9 Plans for Ed Wood. Occasionally, The Alley Theatre actors interact with the audience, so be prepared to be part of the show!

The Alley Theatre always has a full calendar, so check online to see a list of upcoming shows. Young aspiring actors can practice their craft with one of the theatre's workshops.

The Alley Theatre
633 West Main Street
louisville, ky 40202
(502) 713-6178
www.thealleytheater.org
www.yelp.com/biz/the-alley-theater-louisville

Filed Under: Things To Do Tagged With: , ,

Technology Trivia: Three Important Chess Computers

October 2, 2014 by

Playing chess against a computer opponent is fairly commonplace stuff today. But the development of computers able to play chess competitively led to many important milestones in artificial intelligence, culminating (at least for now) with Watson, the famous Jeopardy!-playing computer, and Siri, the iPhone virtual assistant.

If you're interested in learning more about the history of artificial intelligence, here are three important chess computers:

Kotok-McCarthy
The Kotok-McCarthy computer was was developed between the years of 1959 and 1962 by a group of students at MIT. Advanced for the time, it was very slow by today's standards: it took anywhere from five to twenty minutes to calculate a single move! This computer also participated in the very first chess match between two machines, losing to a slightly more advanced computer from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics.

Deep Thought
Deep Thought was developed in a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University and IBM; it was named after a fictional computer in the book series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The computer won the North American Computer Chess Championship in 1988 and the World Computer Chess Championship in 1989. Deep Thought is perhaps most well known for losing two widely-publicized games to chess champion Gerry Kasparov.

Deep Blue
Deep Blue was developed as a successor to Deep Thought. In 1997, it beat Gerry Kasparov twice yet losing the match 4-2. The match was controversial, as Kasparov later accused technicians of making moves on Deep Blue's behalf. The match — and the controversy — later became the subject for a documentary called Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr/soupboy

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,

Mayan Cafe: Sustainable Fine Mexican Cuisine in Louisville

September 25, 2014 by

The Mayan Cafe is a farm-to-table restaurant specializing in authentic Mexican cuisine. The restaurant’s celebrated four-star chef creates inspired versions of traditional dishes that incorporate fresh, local, and sustainably-farmed ingredients from the Louisville area.

You might start your meal with an order of crispy empanadas, filled with spicy chorizo, potatoes, mozzarella, and a house-made tomato-habanero sauce. For an entree, try the slow-roasted pork pibil, flavored with achiote sauce and served with zesty pickled onions and traditionally prepared lima beans. The restaurant also features a menu of monthly specials that change with the availability of seasonal ingredients.

Mayan Cafe's chic and modern dining room is a nice setting for your special event, a romantic evening, or a casual meal with friends and family. The restaurant also offers private cooking lessons so you can learn to reproduce your favorite dishes at home!

Mayan Cafe
813 East Market Street
Louisville, KY 40206
(502) 566-0651
themayancafe.com
www.yelp.com/biz/mayan-cafe-louisville

Filed Under: Restaurants Tagged With: , ,

Planning a Wedding? Check Out These Apps for Apple Devices!

September 18, 2014 by

Planning a wedding is very stressful for most soon-to-be brides and grooms, but it doesn’t have to be. With a lot of organization, some great time management skills, and help from these impressive digital magazine apps, you can plan your wedding right from the convenience of your iPhone or iPad.

BRIDES Magazine
Conde Nast’s premier bridal magazine goes digital in this all-inclusive wedding planning app. By paying a small subscription fee you’ll have access to the digital versions of every issue of BRIDES magazine, or you can purchase a one-month subscription for a low rate. Swipe across your phone or tablet’s screen to browse the magazine’s wedding dress ideas, celebrity wedding coverage, planning tips, and much more. The magazine is ideal for the modern bride with an affinity for all things chic and glamorous.

Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine
If your dream wedding is more rustic than couture, you’ll love the content in Martha Stewart Weddings. The app version of the popular magazine includes all of the best features from each issue, from creative ideas for the wedding cake to the best ways to incorporate vintage elements into a modern ceremony. Martha Stewart Weddings even offers great ideas for a honeymoon on a budget.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , , ,
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