Hungry Times Two

We're about to meet a friend in East Nashville for some drinks at The Family Wash. Supposedly, the place used to be a laundromat; now it's a bar and restaurant. I suppose that kind of transition is possible in gentrifying neighborhoods, as is having teenage thugs come in and rob everyone in the place of all portable things-of-value. (Yes, that's happened there as well, but oh well, let's hope we're lucky tonight and only have to face bad drivers on Gallatin Pike) Also, I sat in as a facilitator at a Mayor's Green Ribbon Committee on Sustainability meeting this morning and one woman at the table had an interesting insight: if you order beer on draft (or is it draught?), you're cutting down on waste as long as you get your beverage in a washable pint glass. Otherwise, bars and restaurants don't seem to have much incentive to recycle the oodles of glass they go through. Anybody know of any "green" bars, restaurants that actually recycle most o...

Just returned from a fabulous Friday lunch at Midtown Cafe. It's not groundbreaking, but it's good solid American-bistro style food. I enjoyed salmon with a pesto cream sauce, rice pilaf and asparagus. Yuuum . It's also our monthly birthday celebration today here at the office, so I have sweet stuff in store. I need to remember to pace myself... Last night I made a white lasagna for friends as we enjoyed The Office and 30 Rock, plus an unexpected showing of a Jonestown documentary. Don't drink the Kool -Aid, kids! Seriously some messed up stuff, but you can't say that about my lasagna. It rocked the house. How is it different from regular lasagna, you may ask? It substitutes chicken for the ground beef or sausage and a yummy cream sauce for the red sauce. It's not quite the Paula Deen lasagna , but it's pretty awesome. Here's the recipe . You're welcome.

Hope all the "Rent" fanatics catch on to this post title... I dined at Rumba last night with some friends and lo-and-behold their wine on Sunday eve is half-priced . I scored a bottle of red for $12 and, as I drank one glass there, they corked it for me and I took it home. Nice deal for a Sunday when the liquor stores are closed and you want a bottle for snuggling on the sofa and whatnot. ;-) Asheville's becoming quite the microbrew hot spot - back when I lived there (up until 2005) the best places to grab a homemade pint were Barley's, home of the Highland Gaelic Ale, Jack of the Wood for their Green Man line, and Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, makers of the divine Shiva IPA. Now there's a couple new games in town - Pisgah and The Wedge, to name a few. Didn't get a chance to try them, but I was amazed to hear about all the competition. I did check out a new watering hole, The Thirsty Monk, which specializes in Belgian beer, now occupying the former Almo...

I've been studying, and studying, and STUDYING for a professional certification exam I have on Monday, and hot tea's been accompanying me. At night, it's decaf or herbal. During the day, it's 6-minute steeped caffeine to the rescue. I've had decaf British breakfast, which an interesting side-note. The tea is Tetley's, which is British, but upon further investigation of the box, I notice "A TATA Industries company ." TATA ? Isn't that the same Indian company that's making those $2,500 mini-cars, The Nano? YES! It is indeed an interesting example of globalisation, and quite ironic that an Indian company is buying up a British company. That reminds me of an intersesting book I just read, The Post-American World . It's written by an Indian-American author, so there are plenty of parallels between the British Empire and America's current dominance. Anyway, back to food/drink. Oh wait, I can't get away from the topic of India sin...

Scott and I discovered the frozen pizza dough at Publix not too long ago (they hide it in a deli case) and since then we've used our pizza stone (a wedding gift oft left gathering dust til now) nearly every week to make some tasty sometimes veggie/sometimes meaty pizzas. { Sidenote : I'm delighted to know that not only does our new Trader Joe's have pizza dough, but it comes in crazy things like whole wheat and garlic and basil.} However last night I ran into a situation that has me puzzled. Toppings were pepperoni , fresh spinach leaves, canned artichoke hearts, sliced mushrooms, Dei Fratelli (great canned) pizza sauce and mozzarella. I like to sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pizza stone before I spread out the dough. Baked at 425 degrees, the pizza smelled lovely about 15 minutes into the baking time. I couldn't resist a peek, but when I did, I noticed it was leaking all around. The dough was all soggy and the oven was sizzling and popping from the liquid pouring...

Wow - truly a historic moment. Our 100th post on this blog. May the celebration and accolades commence. But seriously, I figured when we started this thing that I would be a bloggin' phenom, cranking out insightful, witty and oh-so-helpful blog posts every day. Turns out, it's harder than it seemed at the start. The great thing about blogs is that they go against virtually every journalistic principle I learned in my four years of college "edukashun." The who cares factor? Toss that aside. AP style? Forget that. The timeliness mandate? I can dig up old crap on the Internets from four years ago and if it's cool to me, I can write all about it. But as there's no editor standing over me going "Got yer copy yet, fool?" and no looming deadlines, there's no pressure to write daily. Obviously since this blog is over a year old, if Scott and I have only posted a mere 100 times, there's absolutely no self-imposed rule for freshly squeezed posts. This ...

I stand corrected - there's no wine shop at Nashville's new Trader Joe's, thanks to the dumb ass laws here in Tennessee. The rumor that they would sell wine separate from the store has been deflated. And now shopping there won't be nearly as enjoyable, I predict. Oh well. I still can get my unsulphured -unsweetened dried mangoes and Joe O's fixes.

Trader Joe fanatics, prepare yourselves, your wallets, and your pantry/fridge space: Trader Joe's in Green Hills opens tomorrow. Here's a photo gallery of the new digs. Being a claustrophobe and not one to enjoy the mad rush (made that mistake with Whole Foods, though I did score a LeAnn Rimes sighting at the opening - whoop de doo ), I will not partake in the madness that will be endless scores of foodies and cheapskates flocking to the aisles for 2 Buck Chuck and all that is so marvelous about TJs . I'm gonna wait it out one week at least. Anyone else?

Following up on my previous post, I'm thrilled to report that Jerusalem Restaurant on Church St. was a hit yesterday. Their buffet was plentiful, aromatic and had a nice variety of veggies and tasty meat dishes. I doctored my hummus with salt quite heavily, but it's some of the best I've had thus far in Nashville. The roasted veggies were awesome and indeed caramelized goodness - thanks for the tip, Carrington Fox - and their falafel was crisp and exactly what I hoped for. They also had a shepard salad of chopped cucumber, tomatoes and herbs that perfectly complemented all the warm offerings. Now another friend and I are trying Bombay Garden on Nolensville Road - can't get enough of the ethnic food this week. We're truly lucky in Nashville to have diversity in our cuisine - however, a greater acceptance of the immigrant community here has a ways to go. I for one think diversity is delicious !

This post-Election day, a friend and I are headed out for a celebratory lunch at Jerusalem, on Church Street. I enjoyed the building's former occupants, an Indian joint, but I'm a sucker for hummus, falafel and all the trimmings of middle eastern cuisine. It's a perfect way to celebrate what promises to be a spectacular new beginning for our country. Politics on a food blog - a first for me, but hell, it was bound to happen! My friend selected our lunch locale based on this Nashville Bites review. Let's HOPE it's as good as they declare it to be. I'll keep you posted!