Most days, we do our best to eat smart. We cook from scratch often, eat out from chefs/farmers we know, eat in season, avoid processed garbage, etc. We all know the drill by now. But those darn cheese slices – that’s one area I haven’t been able to get Jamie to throw in the towel. Until he heard from a much more credible source that his beloved slices actually contain NO REAL CHEESE.

We received tickets to the second annual TEDxCLE event this year, and once again, were blown away by the passion, enthusiasm and visionary minds we listened to. And no surprise here, my favorite discussion was by none other than chef Jonathon Sawyer. Instead of me trying to capture his thoughts and challenges to all of us, take a few minutes and listen for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

And do yourself another favor, make sure you attend TEDxCLE next year. Eric and Hallie do an amazing job organizing this event. There’s something for everyone – it’s most definitely an afternoon well spent that will stick with you, and hopefully, inspire you.

TEDxCLE is an independently organized TED event (technology, entertainment and design), an annual gathering bringing together the world’s leaders and doers discussing what they are most passionate about. The local event is organized by my friends, Hallie Bram and Eric Kogelschatz. They started this event last year in an effort to bring about change and innovation to our city. They are truly a dynamic duo and I am inspired by their devotion to Cleveland and commitment to organizing, what I think, is an afternoon not to be missed. I attended last year and didn’t want the conversation to end. I know it will be more of the same this year.

There’s an impressive group speaking nest week,  including: chef Jonathon Sawyer, Ari Maron, Jeff Siegler, Valerie Mayen, Matt Hlavin and Paul Hill, Jr. Visit here for a complete list of speakers and topics.

The conference, taking place once again at the Capitol Theater on Friday, April 15^th, is sold out. However, thanks to Eric and Hallie, I have two tickets to give away. But wait, there’s more! What better way to digest the thoughts and passion shared throughout the event than over a pint (or six) of Jeni’s Ice Creams? That’s right, I have two tickets to give away AND six pints of glorious Jeni’s! Jeni Britton Bauer is a huge TED supporter. And in celebration of her first Cleveland store opening up in Chagrin Falls in mid April (as we all happily know by now), the organizer of TEDxColumbus has agreed to sweeten the pot – literally.

To be eligible for the tickets and ice cream, just share your idea for Cleveland within the comments of this post. Specifically, if you were mayor of Cleveland for a day, what’s your big idea for the city? What would you change, improve upon, get rid of, etc.? You have until noon on Sunday, April 10. A winner will be picked via random.org. Good luck!

My week started by spending an evening with a bunch of really witty and engaging  Cleveland bloggers by way of a shopping spree at NEXT in Beachwood Place (I didn’t shop, sigh. Instead, I played the part of social media maven and organized this soiree. I sometimes do some PR/social media freelancing for friends, etc). They had fun shopping; I had fun catching up with some old friends and meeting a few new ones, too.

The next night, I went to bed a very happy woman followed by a fabulous dinner on E 4th courtesy of  The Greenhouse Tavern and Lola. My company is hiring for several positions (at one point we had 15 open spots; not sure where we currently stand). The one candidate we are really interested in is a fellow foodie. A very serious foodie at that. He and his family would be moving to Cleveland from Denver so he wanted to get a sense of the food community here. I can appreciate this.  It’s a tough job, but I mustered up the energy, along with Jamie (we work together for those that don’t know) and ate our way through a Wednesday night. We had apps at GHT and finished the meal at Lola. Highlights include the beef tartare at The Greenhouse (I could eat this daily; and our guest commented that it’s some of the best tartare he’s had), plus the beet and pear salad at Lola for me (such a simple dish but perhaps giving the beets at Lolita – my current favorite – a run for its money). Our guest enjoyed the braised Berkshire “bacon” and scallops and was quite impressed – especially with the belly. The table also enjoyed crispy bone marrow with six accompaniments courtesy of the kitchen (cilantro salsa and lemon my favorite).

The best part about this night (aside from the obvious) — the city was packed. It was a snowy Wednesday evening and all the restaurants were filled with  people out and about enjoying a great February night in Cleveland.

The following day, Cleveland Foodie won a bronze for its new logo at the annual ADDY awards (advertising industry thing). Jamie designed it for me last year. To me, it won  gold. The new ad is currently on our Facebook page)

Yesterday morning, we spent the day being inspired and moved via TEDxCLE at the Capitol Theater. We listened to a group of interesting, passionate and smart individuals share their vision and what specifically they are doing to affect positive change on our city.  It was the first independently organized TED event for Cleveland and I hope it’s the first of many. The organizers, Hallie and Eric, should be very proud of themselves. They did an amazing job and I’m beyond happy that I was in the audience – and will be each year they hold this.

Every discussion was enlightening, but for me, stand outs include: Terry Schwartz of Kent State and Pop Up City sharing ideas on how to fix broken cities; Aaron LeMieux of Tremont Electric discussing alternative energy and his personal energy generator (seriously – we’d buy stock right now if he was selling);  Michael Ruhlman talking about how people need to get back in the kitchen and cook and what type of positive impact this has on all of us; our friend Danielle DeBoe on how her passion led her to Room Service and how she is connecting with her community; and finally Patrick Perotti, a Cleveland lawyer that had many of us choking up over his stories of how he’s helping children keep their fight alive – specifically via class action lawsuits and how we all can help by simply signing this petition.

Images courtesy of  Kyle Roth. Check out all his images from the event via his Flickr page. And visit the  TEDxCLE site in a few days where all the videos from the day will be made available.

And my week isn’t over yet!  So Forbes, while  I have several suggestions as to what exactly you can do with your article and silly little title, you are entitled to your opinion (even if it’s not based fully in facts). And so am I. I am proud to call Cleveland home. I choose to live here. Just one question for you though. Why even bother to write this kind of article in  the first place, regardless of who’s in the top 5? I just don’t see the point. Instead of focusing on the negativity, why not spotlight all the positive changes taking place everyday in all types of cities?

On February 26, from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, Cleveland will host its first independently organized TED event.  The purpose is to draw attention to the many positive changes taking place within our community and to spotlight some of the people responsible for that change. Topics include art, urban revitalization, health care.

One speaker in particular that Cleveland Foodie readers may be most interested in is Michael Ruhlman. Ruhlman’s topic, ‘The Cooking Animal’, will discuss how cooking has advanced mankind and makes and keeps us human. He’ll share his thoughts on how turning this needed ritual over to corporations puts us in danger.

Other speakers/topics  include my friend and favorite boutique owner, Danielle DeBoe, who will talk about turning a desire into a reality; Terry Schwarz / fixing broken cities; and Dana Myers / the future of the electronic vehicles (I’ve met him and a few years ago and even test drove his car when it was at the agency – very cool and very interesting). Visit here for a full list of speakers, topics and to learn more about this event.

Event organizers, Eric Kogelschatz (my coworker) and Hallie Bram single-handedly brought this to Cleveland. These two don’t just talk about improving our city, they work at it each day. Kudos to them for all their hard work and for putting together what will no doubt be an intriguing and insightful afternoon.

How would you change Cleveland? What is your idea, big or small, that you think could help improve any area of our city? What has inspired you when visiting another city that you felt could easily work here? We are all Clevelanders and are passionate about the place we call home. But it’s not perfect, and we all have thoughts as to what we’d like to see fixed, or wonder if only city leaders would do… Share your thoughts for a chance to win two tickets to this sold out event. A winner will be  picked end of day Thursday. Good luck and hopefully I’ll see you there.