Village Lights and Bierberg Bakery revisited

We missed it last year: the night when German Village puts on a little show with thousands of luminaries along the sidewalks where stores and galleries stay open late into the night. It's a festive way of welcoming the holiday season, Columbus-style.



We missed it last year because it was cold. I know, it sounds a little sad that we wouldn't venture out just because the thermostat didn't peak beyond 20 something degrees. But remember, we were newbies to the midwest winter; our thin skin was adjusting to the drastic changes of the season. We took a rain check and promised to try it again next year.

And poof! Just like that, here we are a year later. That rain check became more literal than we would have liked. The precipitation started coming down in the late afternoon, testing our courage to experience our first Village Lights. The air was warm, however, despite the rain. We had no excuse. Besides, I needed to introduce my family to the best kept secret in Columbus this time of year (well, maybe not such a secret anymore!).

















No matter the temperature, or precipitation, dear fellow Columbus residents, the Village Lights in German Village, and a visit to Bierberg Bakery should be on your early December agenda (the former, you will have to wait for next year, but the latter, you still have until the rest of the year to experience).
The bakery will warm your body, and the lights, your soul. Here's an early happy holidays to all!

Village Valuables

Do you like yard sales?

Getting good deals?

Doing it all in a quaint, friendly, walkable neighborhood?

It was my first time at Village Valuables in German Village. A friend I bumped into there yesterday said "It's a rite of passage" of sorts for being a Columbus resident. And I could see why!

If I didn't have a young-one tagging along with me, asking to go home, to have more breakfast, to please Mommy can we go back...I would have spent all of my Saturday browsing the streets of this quaintest neighborhood in Columbus.

It started early, at 8am, although I am pretty sure that many people had an even earlier start than that.

I didn't do justice in taking pictures of the 'valuables' I saw at dozens of spots that we did manage to stop at. There was pretty much everything under the sun, from clothes, to pottery, to furniture, to books and toys.

The bad news is that we will all have to wait another year for this day to return. But it will be worth the wait!

Yosick's Last Days

Can you believe that I used to tell people that I didn't really care for chocolate? Maybe I was temporarily insane, or maybe I really didn't like it that much. Well, I have changed and gotten normal now. I do love chocolate. Yes, I do.



I had heard about Yosick's from a few people. In fact, when I was trying to get directions to Bierberg the other day, the lady at Katsinger's wanted to steer me to Yosick's. I politely said no, that's not what I was looking for. 


Until today, that is.



Columbus Underground posted this morning that Yosick's door is closing at the end of the year. This prompted me to look at the calendar, and soon after, jumped in the car.



After dropping off some more copies of Edible Columbus at the sweet ladies at Bierberg Bakery, I turned north, on the same street (5th) in German Village.

Yosick's sits in the corner, adjacent to a massage therapy office (hello...chocolate and then massage?! Too bad it was closed). The friendly store lady, Megan, greeted me and even offered to plate up some truffle pieces for me if I wanted to take photographs. Why indeed!



Not only did I take photographs, and chatted with Megan (a chocolatiere in the making herself), I purchased all those truffles you see in the first photograph up there. Presents for friends, I tell myself. Although, I did allow myself to taste one: a heart with some kind of rum filling. Heaven.

I am sad to hear that this sweet little spot will be closed for good comes Christmas Day. Megan assured me that Kristy, the owner and artist behind Yosick's, will continue to produce these beautiful and delicious chocolates that can be purchased online, and I believe, in some places within Columbus.

In the mean time, their door is wide open, and I can tell you that I would be a happy recipient of these morsels as a decadent holiday gift!

Yosick's
539 South 5th Street
Columbus, OH 43206-1203
(614) 223-9575

Bierberg Bakery

I might have found another favorite spot in the city.



It's been such a cold stretch, and I have had a sick child home with me the last few days. Now that he is back in school, I had a bunch of errands I needed to do out and about.



Before I headed out the door, I made a note to myself that a stop at this (infamous) little hidden gem had to be on my itinerary.



The secret about this tiny German bakery is no longer, especially if you have seen the article in the new Winter issue of Edible Columbus. Surprisingly, however, many people still don't know about it. Take the two people I asked for directions at Katzinger's who looked at me like I had three heads.

No matter, I put in the address into my GPS and a few minutes later, I was parked in front of a well signed and decorated, yet unassuming, store front: Bierberg Bakery.

An older German lady greeted me. She had a thick accent still, even though she and her husband moved here since the 60s. As I entered and regained my senses from the freezing cold temperatures (really Columbus, why so cold?!), I started to take in all the scents and smells of all the cookies that laid before me.

I did not count, but there must have been a few dozen different kinds of cookies. These special German cookies are only made here, in this tiny house, 3 months out of every year. Johanna, friend and baker, told me how busy they had been and will continue to be until the end of the year when she will again close up shop and retreat to her much deserved rest.

After I purchased some good-looking cookies, as well as a stollen, I asked if I could slip into the kitchen and watched them work a little.

Another lady in the kitchen, Cathy, is a family-friend. She helps out each year at the bakery. While Johanna and Cathy cut up more cookies to be baked, they recited to me their stories of how they ended up in Columbus (because you know, as a transplant myself, I am always interested!).

As it turns out, they were both sponsored to move to the States from Europe, Johanna from Germany and Cathy from Hungary. I listened with curiosity as Cathy told me the story about her family living in a castle in Germany where several other immigrant families took refuge.  Their hands never stopped working, but they seemed to enjoy reliving their past with me as their audience.

As I turned around to say goodbye, they wished me well in discovering my new home city. I told them that I was happy to have met people like them because that is what matters the most. Johanna agreed with me, and then she added: It's also what you give back, too. That's also very important. Don't forget to give back."

She is absolutely right.

Bierberg Bakery
729 S 5th St.
Columbus, OH

They will be open until the end of the year.