finally got inspired by an art exhibition to put up some of my art and clean out a space to be creative in my room! even have a few new pics from spain!

This sunday night (after fun greek fest the night before!) i got the wonderful opportunity to dine at a farm where one of my favorite Nashville chefs, Margot, gets a lot of the produce for her restaurant. The farm is called Hungry Gnome and they also partner with Eaton's Creek organics. they have a CSA and also sell to Nashville restaurants. I think it was Margot's idea to do this dinner and cook, and have a picnic style dinner on the farm! we got to take a tour of their 75 acres and also bring our own wine. here's a picture of the first set of gardens and some chickens!

so i'm sad i didn't take more pictures of all the wonderful food at the Greek festival i went to last Saturday with Lindsey and friends, but i did get one with a label :)

Beth and I ventured to a Russian restaurant in Cool Springs called the Taste of Russia, and it was fabulous! everything is reasonably priced and I had heard it was good to try a few small things and share. so we did that, and got entrees too. :) it was a great sampling! for appetizers we got potato dumpling with sour cream and a "stew" that had some cabbage, bacon, mushrooms, onion... came out piled on a plate and not in a bowl. we were sortof confused by that, but glad because it was easier to share. i order the borsch for myself which was basically warm beef stew with potatoes and shredded beets. it was yummy! and also came with sour cream. Beth got the Kiev cutlet, which was a chicken breast stuffed with Russian farmer's cheese and tomato, and deep fried. she got the homestyle potatoes which had more than just a "whisper" of garlic! to quote carrington. but were delicious. i got the cabbage rolls, stuffed and rice and ground pork and beef, and the buckwheat kasha on the side that had a really interesting flavor, that is hard to describe! it was fluffy i guess wheat-y but had some flavor i couldn't pinpoint. i had a glass of moldova wine which is probably one of the sweetest red wines i've ever tasted (but not overly so, it was not syrupy or acidic at all) and beth tried her first pinot noir (i don't remember the maker) and she enjoyed it, too.

lindsay b and my cooking experiment! we used okra, carrots, green bell pepper from her friend's organic farm along with some brown rice and lentils from earthfare to make an indian feast! we also got some cauliflower to make separate using mainly curry powder and a few other indian spices:

 to give you an idea, we got a bound 30 page booklet with information about the wines we were to try and plenty of space to take some good notes!
some of the first wines we tasted we very interesting, as they are from israel! http://www.yardenwines.com/
i loved the Yarden Chardonnay, my note says very smooth, and my favorite Chard of the whole day. Dad tried the Galil Mountain Yiron, a red blend that was full bodied but not overwhelming. thought it was so cool that many of these wines were made close to Galilee!!  They also had the Golan Moscato that was very sweet and barely sparkling, so that was fun. lindsay b would like!

also have in my book Two Oceans Shiraz as Dad's favorite!! it is from South Africa, and reminded us of the Shiraz from the hilton head winery.
t
he only rose i tried was the louis jadot rose, and it was very nice, kind of off dry. not too sweet like some rose. and made from one of my favorites! beaujoulais!!

at the Spanish table we had Tapena Verdejo... i don't think i've ever had taht varietal before, but i liked it. reminded me of abarino but not minerality/acidic bite. dad liked it too.

Blackstone Sonoma Reserve Merlot we thought was flavorful, more interesting than most merlot. easy to drink.

Esporao Winery in Portugal - tried the reserva white and the reserva tinto. both smooth, easy to drink. mainly just fun bc from portugal.

YAY Arrington Vineyards! My favorite tennessee vineyard. i've had all these before but Dad REALLY liked the Red Fox Red (a blend). He called it the "perfect table wine"

I tried the Canei Lambrusco, a sparkling italian red, and i LOVED it!! sparkling reds are so fun. my notes say maybe good with dessert, MC would like.... only $7!!

Dancing Bull Winery in Sonoma, Zinfandel. dad and i both liked, easy to drink, but not like most Zin. lighter body. i thought people with varying tastes would like it and would go with variety of foods. want to try more wines from this winery. (but not NOT like the S Blanc)

Bridelwood Chardonnay - balanced oak/mineral? would go with lots of food too. (guess i was starting to get hungry by this point!!)
did NOT lik the Gascon Malbec... it was bitter and not endearing like the BenMarco Malbec that i love.

Sun Garden Riesling - very sweet. MC would like. :)

Mosen Cleto Crianza - light-med body, in a cool speckled bottle. points for being Spanish.

cool winery Casa Lapostolle - in Chile, owned by a woman which is rare in South America, she was a pioneer. Loved the Chardonnay, "easy to drink by itself"

4 bears Cabernet - middle range for tannins. "dad's favorite Cab"
4 bears Chardonnay - "not acidic or annoying like most Chard" haha "fresh" would go with anything

last i regretted not being able to try any of the Madhouse wife wines since the marketing is funny, BUT they all go for about $9 so i can probably just try another time when i haven't tried somewhere between 30-35 wines. wow!! and we WERE standing and walking afterwards. we even went and made our final purchases at the expo!! :)

also meant to post about another really cool thing we got to try, guiseppe's pasta! http://Giuseppes1933.com/
made in franklin TN they have all kinds of fun kinds. i got to try the basil marinana sauce, tortilla soup, and black bean soup. i also picked out some rosemary champagne linguine and the olive fettucine on the owner's request. he was so sweet and we really admired his endurance... he was just as peppy when we saw him at 6 as he was in the morning :) i'm thinking of trying the olive first, with just olive oil and garlic or some brown butter sauce! i love lazarolli, too, but i suppose they weren't there since their pasta has to be refrigerated. amazing fresh pasta!!  and i guess i might try one of these sauces with my new fun noodles: http://www.lazzaroli.com/id22.html 

this weekend, dad came to nashville to humor me by attending the food and wine festival at the gaylord resort, sponsored by the food network! we met at the hotel friday night and i checked us in and i love my dad SO MUCH that i hand carried half a case of yazoo dos perros across the monstrosity that is the opryland hotel. as could be imagined, all the hotel restaurants were busy for reservation so we ate at the casual pizza place and sat on the patio near the fountain in the floor! all our food was actually pretty good and we had friday night pizza... i got a flatbread that had roasted veggies and feta! and not so tastey but tolerable chianti.

Saturday we started the day with light snacky breakfast in the little cafe downstairs instead of something big because we thought we would be eating all day.... we made it downstairs at ab 1045 and perused the expo. ie food heaven for a foodie. my favorite booths included the national peanut people! (giving out free reusable grocery bags, potholders, peanuts, AND peanut flour and parmesan encrusted chicken and peanut ginger cabbage slaw), the cocoa tree (heavenly mimosa truffle- orange, champagne, dark chocolate. one of the most wonderful things i've ever eaten!), haze and co salad dressing (my fav being the rosemary lemon!! yummm http://www.hazeandco.com/dressings/ they also make a honey cinnamon that would be good on like, everything), and lots of other specialty bakeries/ treat providers. at 12 we saw a sushi demo and tasted some afterwards, whereupon i learned that dad had never had sushi before!! the chef had made some california rolls, shrimp tempera and some others. we were amazed at how sticky his sticky rice was, he just threw it down on the nori and flipped it right over to make rice on the outside rolls. yeah right.
we were watching the clock to make sure we made it upstairs in time to see my hero, alton brown. live!!!!!!!!!! and yes he is witty and entertaining and hilarious in person. his topic for the presentation was fish, particularly trout. first he showed us his newest smoker that he made out of some metal box at an army supply store (he would) that he found for cheap, drilled holes in and painted with  crazy designs, including a stamp for each kind of animal he had made in the smoker so far (bunch of little painted fishes, some cows, some chickens). he used hickory chips and when they brought it back inside after it had been going the whole time (too much smoke production to stay inside!) it smelled DELICIOUS. he also made something called "rollmops" which are basically fish pickles. with mustard, wrapped around pickles or wrapped around pickled onions. submerged in pickling liquid. EW. but, interesting. last he made escabeche of trout, whole fish seared then marinated in aromatic vinegary broth. Spanish in origin. also looked delicious, and the thing i would most likely make if i felt like actually making a whole fish. he went over how to buy them and how it's really cheaper and better if you can stop being afraid of whole fish and breaking them down, and he had a lot of fun teasing everyone with the fish heads. he also took some questions and someone asked about whatever he made on a show one time where he fashioned a smoker out of a bowl instead of a cardboard box like he used on the episode of good eats or the metal one he had at the demo, and he turned to his assistant and said "hmm did we ever smoke something in a bowl?" because he couldn't remember the episode, but it took him a while to process why what he actually said was VERY hilarious. :) the other great question i think he answered was when someone asked who he would chose to pick dinner for him tonight and he didn't hesitate but said well, my wife! like, that was a silly question! and said he didn't think anyone could cook better for you than someone that loves you. and i thought that was sweet. i think he stayed longer than he was supposed to because we heard later that the meet and greet people felt a little rushed, so i don't feel too bad about not getting a book signed. i feel i will probably have another chance. ;) and congrats to AB for losing 47 pounds since March!!

after ab we did the wine tasting that i will address in a different post because i'm getting a little tired. we rested and made some purchases after the wine tasting, then dad and i came into town to visit tayst, one of my nashville original favorites that i do not get to frequent as much as i would like to. :( we shared the gnudi for an appetizer which i had never heard of- it is like gnocchi, but made with ricotta and wheat instead of potatoes! interesting! it was delicious, served with blueberries and field peas. (taysty!!) what was most tastey was dad's bison.... i have never seen meat so tender. it was SO flavorful, it literally fell apart. i figured chef barlow had cooked it forever because, that's what someone like he does, but i also learned he marinated it in root beer before braising it for ages, so that probably added to some difference in the flavor. amazing. it also came with mushrooms and finely diced squash. i had local steak with fried green tomatoes, and the Justin Cab Sauv that was recommended to pair (due to the large amount of wine consumption earlier in the day, i opted for a 3 oz pour. i love the concept of tayst. :) we were too full for dessert, and went back to the hotel to crash pretty soon afterwards. that was one freaking amazing day of food.

i have an garlic, herb and sesame seasoning mix that i decided to finally use the other night. i cut the chuck of tofu in half and drained it for about 30 minutes, then patted the seasoning on there and seared it int my le ceuset (!!!!) until golden brown and delicious:




served w/pasta and tomato sauce! btw tofu is pretty much the cheapest complete protein that there is. i got this block for like $1.67 at whole foods, and lindsey and i each ate half a piece for dinner and i took another half for lunch at work the next day. YAY SOY!!

 also needed to post a pic of the initiation of my very first piece of le creuset, given to me from sven for my birthday:




a very unexciting blend of sauteed onion, squash and potatoes, with fresh basil on top. all but onion and garlic from this week's CSA.

i was going through emails and wanted to post this pic from the produce place, a small local grocery store on my way home. beautiful heirloom tomatoes!

 

i joined neil and anita at the wild iris in brentwood, the sister restaurant to the yellow porch (one of my FAVs). they had a 20.09 option and a 30.09 option and of course the $30 sounded WAY better. i HAD to go with the scallops, because they sounded so good, and the $20 ones were corn encrusted tilapia w/mexi type sides, penne with peas, prosciutto and smoked chicken, and some lobster blob. for the $30 you could choose between salmon w/rosemary grits, pan seared shrimp w/NOLA type sides, some other things, and the pan seared scallops with jasmine rice, asian veggies, and green curry coconut sauce - YUMMMM!! - which is what i had. i also got to have a spinach salad w/strawberries, goat cheese, and almond brittle, and i chose the bread pudding for my dessert which was chocolate, strawberry, walnut. we were all full so we shared dessert and it was great! i unfortunately did not take a picture of my food tonight but the presentation with the crispy rice noodles on top was fantastic. i was also intrigued by anita's fish, which was the special with five million descriptors, including: silk snapper with sweet potato, baby leek, pattypan squash hash, tropical fruit mojo and cranberry goat cheese creme fraiche. oh my.
feel free to drool over this menu: (even though it's out of date)

http://www.wildirisrestaurant.com/MenuDetails.aspx?MenuType=Entree

tomorrow, another new restaurant to mark off my list, jimmy kelly's!

so this is the best week of the whole year, restaurant week in nashville!!  many local places offer a set three course menu for $20.09, which most of the time is much cheaper than ordering these things individually since they are awesome places.

see this to drool over all the menus (and familiarize yourself with the coolest list of restaurants around, the nashville originals):

http://www.nashvilleoriginals.com/restaurantweek.php

my roomie lindsey, jennie bowers and i went to mambu last night and went for the wine special, too  (shared a bottle of Sanfi Pinot grigio) they both got the hummus and pita appetizer, and i got the shrimp gyoza. i am like all about the potstickers recently, and these did not disappoint! even though i have read bad reviews of them online. they were delicious.we all three (gasp!) got the same salad, a spinach salad with watermelon, crumbled goat cheese, champagne vinaigrette. lindsey got the salmon as her entree which had lemon scented polenta and was dressed with artichokes, roasted red peppers, and olives. jennie and i got the same entree (gasp again!) which was a wonderful pork chop with fresh corn, two potato hash, and sweet berry bbq sauce. unfortunately, these courses didn't include dessert, but we were too stuffed anyway. my food:

Which of these entrees would you pick?

Rack of Lamb  29

Marinated, Dijon Herb Crusted; Slow Cooked to Order

Duck   24

Ricotta Gnocchi, Arugula Pesto, Spanish Chorizo, Tennessee Wildflower Honey Reduction

Grilled 10oz NY Strip  25

Creamy Polenta, Roasted Garlic, Asparagus, Blue Cheese, & Smoked Paprika Chimichurri

Black Iron Pork Loin 18

Farmer’s Market Succotash

Copper River King Salmon   22

Caramelized, Mango Rum Glaze, Cucumber, Honeydew, Red Onion, & Mint

Artichoke Risotto    18

Mushrooms, Radish, Tomatoes, Pecorino & Fresh Herbs

Pacific Halibut “Casino”  21

Slow Roasted; Clams, Bell Peppers, Garlic, Pancetta, & Spinach 

Desserts 6.50

Crème Brûlée    Chocolate Elvis     Bananas Foster

Bravo Mango-Blood Orange Gelato    Strawberry Shortcake    Tiramisu
 

I went with the Salmon, and it was fantastic. Reading the descriptors again it wasn't that sweet, but the melon and cucumber were very interesting! the only thing twangy about it were the red onions, which I think were pickled in vinegar. the whole thing paired well w/my Viognier! Darden got the steak and the polenta and bleu cheese were very tasty. We shared the strawberry shortcake that had real whipped cream on top and an almond shortcake on the bottom... also had this chocolate crispy thing that he correctly identified as having orange peel in it, while i thought it was minty!! ugh! one day i will be able to pick out flavors without having to memorize the menu description first. :-P great place, with seasonal menu and local ingredients... quaint, old house feel, with art that changes on the wall, and red roses on every table. can't wait to go back!

i was lucky enough to hear about a wine and food pairing at the Standard, a very nice restaurant in the historic Smith house in downtown.... i've tasted a lot of their food at events but i didn't know where the restaurant was until last night- i thought it was over by metro center but it's actually really close to downtown so that is cool. i reminded me a lot of the troutdale. the chef there, chef joe, has a southern style of cooking but with lots of different influences. he uses everything he can including local meats from the farmer's market.  last night was italian themed so we had 4 italian wines that he actually used for inspiration to create the dishes (so he sort of went backwards).

Malvasia di Candia Ceci, 2006, Frizzy, flowery, aromatic. From Emilia Romagna
paired with sliced local melon with shaved country ham and mint

Chardonnay Pisoni, 2007,  Wine of outstanding quality, fruited with fragrance of ripe apple, dry, rich and persistent finish
Paired with ricotta stuffed manicotti with last year's heirloom tomatoes, Vidalia onion, and white wine soaked golden raisins

Valpolicella Bonazzi, 2007, A complex, robust, red wine with hints of raspberry and cherries, spicy ginger and pepper. Veneto
paired with braied chicken thighs alla cacciotora primi piatti

Barbera del monferrato Iuli, 2006, Fresh red, fruity, clean and easy to drink. From Piedmont region
paired with grilled leg of lamb with summer truffle risotto and sea salt (my favorite wine and dish)

before chef joe brought out the last dish, we said he was inspired while coming up with it... he thought to himself this is why i cook, that there are moments that transcend time and normal life when people are brought together around good food that has been prepared with thought and intention... something like that. and he was right. it was heavenly. :)
 

500 warm up
3 x 200 (on 3:30 or 3:45?)
200 pull
3 x 200
200 pull
4 x 100 on 1:40
200 pull
4 x 50 on :50 or :55
100-200 cool down

total: 3000

this is soooo my kind of event, but this year, where the HECK was the wine?! last time there were lots of wine stores or distributors with tons of things to try, and this year, it was only arrington vineyards!! not that i didn't enjoy their award-winning Riesling, the Chard and the Desert Rose, but, it would have been fun to try some different kinds!

we were lucky to get there right at 5 to avoid a lot of crowds, but it was ridiculously hot. my two favorite things i had were the Plum pork tenderloins on buttermilk biscuits from Germantown Cafe and Butterscotch Habanero Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce from cabana/sunset grill/midtown cafe (which, i guessed since they are grouped together are owned by the same person? i didn't know that) some of the things i tried were: smoked brisket and strawberry snowball maki (sushi with a strawberry on the outside, wrapped in rice paper!!), country ham wrapped shrimp w/jicama slaw from Sportsgrille (4th Ave), steak and avocado w/cilantro lime from omaha, and cranberry pecan cinnamon toasts from bread and company. after reviewing the cheat book i am REALLY sad i missed the cactus (nopales) salad from los rosales (place on my list!) and the smoked chicken, goat cheese, and avocado napoleon with arugula salad from the bound'ry :( 

the new sushi place on belcourt  called zumi sushi is now on my list too, it is relatively close to me, and their ginger tuna was REALLY good. the pics of the atmosphere at the restaurant look really neat too, so i'm going to try that next sushi craving i have! they also had a salad with chicken on top with some fantastic dressing so they seem to have a variety of asian fare as well. yumm!! www.zumisushi.com

I am lucky enough to be able to volunteer once again at Salud!'s cooking camps this summer! i got a big kick out of it last year, as the types of kids enlisted into cooking camp at whole foods are rather entertaining. 6 yr olds writing cookbooks, knowing the difference between parsley and cilantro, and teaching ME the correct way to chop fresh herbs. hilarious! last year since i could only come on one day a week, i was on Greek day... i got to rotate through the recipes including spanikopita, hummus, tabbouli, meatballs, and baklava. this year, my day is chinese day, and it is equally as tasty. the menu is sweet and spicy chicken with rice, ginger sesame fresh green beans (yumm!!), scallion pancakes, and vegetable wontons! last week i was with the chicken group and it was the younger ages, 6-9. so they LOVED chopping. we need to take up time so they wouldn't get done too early so we made them chop everything VERY small. haha! they did great and i think it was the favorite dish of the class. the sauce is SO yummy. and easy. this week i was in charge of the wonton group and was a little nervous since the week before was the first week i ever used wonton papers, and i never really got the hang of it. this week i had to teach them all how to do (after we chopped all the veggies of course!) and it went fine. the little boy in my group (who's dad is full-blood Italian but has lived in NYC and was a chef there, he informed me) taught me how to make some new shapes. his dad now owns cafe nonna, the best italian restaurant in nashville, in my opinion (even though i haven't tried very many!) AND it's on my side of town! like walkable. so i definitely need to go back there asap!! they serve the housemade lasagna with butternut squash puree inside and 2 sauces, a house marinara and shallot cream. o. m. g. anyway, i'm slowly mastering chinese day, and pray i don't have to be in the scallion pancakes group next time. WAY to much work (yeast dough) for something that's not really that tasty. i really enjoyed doing the wontons, though frying them and then steaming them seemed like a lot of work... would probably be easier to pick one method or the other. the kids got pretty scared when we had to put the water in the hot pan and it sizzled! i  also think we need a cooler dessert, something better than fortune cookies. idk what a traditional chinese dessert is though. i'm sure they don't actually eat rainbow sherbet like we get in restaurants? thoughts?

been researching romesco some, might be easier to cut a few tomatoes in half and broil for a few minutes, and forget the grill. (unless you're really making all those veggies!)

would be also good to broil/roast a red pepper to add. also, traditional recipes call for these! cute!

http://www.tienda.com/food/products/sp-10.html

i have some other dried chilies i need to use, maybe i could rehydrate them?

 all meals that begin with a field trip to whole foods have a great start! we bought fresh peppers and mahi mahi that was on sale to make this recipe:

http://deliciouslivingmag.com/food/recipes/entrees/fish/0401-roasted-halibut-sofrito/

or



i finally got to use my french steel pan i got from marche after going to cooking class at margot, where i was very inspired to make fish at home... we also made this romesco sauce to go with the veggies we had available to grill, a yellow squash from the farmers market, and sweet potatoes from my CSA this week. yay local ingredients. and YAY amazing romesco sauce. this was SO tasty, though we decided all steps (grilling tomatoes, toasting the almonds, are mandatory. DE licious.

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