Last night, Matthew and I attended the Animal Attractions fundraiser at The RainForest at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
Hosted by the Cleveland Zoological Society, Animal Attractions raises money to support the Zoo and its various programs. This event has a little bit of everything, from food to wine to live music to presentations and chances to get hands on with some zoo critters.
We met up with Amanda and Scott for this wild evening. First, we dove right in to tasty morsels, like jambalaya and jalapeno cornbread from House of Blues, asiago chicken and potato pancakes from Creekside Restaurant, grilled shrimp from Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse, and hummus and tabouli salad from Whole Foods Market.
The favorite dish of the evening among our group was AMP 150‘s braised beef short rib served on top of goat cheese polenta. Not only was everything flavorful and cooked to perfection, but it was a nice surprise. AMP 150 is well-known at fundraisers for their delicious soups, so to get short ribs was an unexpected treat.
The mini cupcakes from The Cleveland Cupcake Company made a sweet end to our culinary safari, with inventive flavors such as orange jalapeno cream, Greek yogurt with berries, and blueberry lavendar.
After wandering through The RainForest and seeing everything from porcupines to lizards to bats, we stopped to listen to one of the many educational and entertaining talks. Our selection? “50 Shades of Gray” about elephant socialization and behavior.
Great food, wine, friends, a chance to see (and pet) some critters, and a chance to learn something, too? That’s all the makings of a fun night in my book!
The Cleveland Zoological Society has a ton of great upcoming events, from Breakfast with the Easter Bunny to a Photo Safari to Twilight at the Zoo. Click here for a complete list and make sure to check out one or more!
***Disclosure: I was asked by the Cleveland Zoological Society to help promote Animal Attractions. In exchange, I received two complimentary tickets to the event. As always, all opinions and decisions to pet snakes are 100% my own.***
Thanks for the shout out, Jen! I’m glad you had a great time!
[…] meeting up with Jen and Matt (read her recap here), we enjoyed jambalaya from House of Blues, grilled shrimp from Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and […]
[…] more convincing that Animal Attractions is a do-not-miss event? Check out my recap from last year’s event! I hope to see you in February, enjoying the Zoo in all it’s […]