Polka Dot Adult Pajamas

I had quite the busy weekend. The highlight was celebrating the love of Kaelah and Mike as they tied the knot. The ceremony was beautiful and I even teared up a bit. The party was held in a lovely old barn that was decorated with hay bales, antiques and tons of blankets.  Of course everything looked beautiful; I would expect nothing less of Kaelah. The lovely Lauren was my date who was fabulous as always. Also, I got to meet some really awesome people from the blogosphere, like Sarah from Arrow and Apple, Susanna, and Jenna. Miss Beca made the desserts and they were AMAZING. Tiny perfect macaroons and lots of fresh pies. I went back for seconds. (ok, maybe even thirds).

This shoot was taken last weekend while we were at Arrington Vineyards. The weather was really nice and I was able to get in one more warm weather outfit. This romper is perfect! It is made of material that feels very silky, so it feels like you are wearing your pajamas out in public. I felt comfortable all day.

Jumpsuit: Lalamagic (big sale)

Belt: Really old. The only one I wear

Boots: Old, purchased at a shoe outlet

Jewelery: Old. Thrifted.

Large Ad Space Giveaway!

Happy Sunday!

Did you know that the lovely Autumn Bee over at the Busy Bee is celebrating a Birthday this month? And she is celebrating by giving all her lovely readers a present! Now how sweet is that? This girl is a class act.

So head on over here to sign up for the giveaway. You can win a free large ad space on Old Red Boots for the month of November! (Plus lots of other goodies from lots of talented bloggers. I really hope that I win the personal digital portrait by Pony Chops. I love her stuff!) 

Nashville Food Friday: Otaku South

Sometimes it is really good to have foodie friends that keep their ear to the ground for new eating adventures. My friend Ana Beth is a true gourmand and an absolute genius with cocktails. Lucky for me she found out about Otaku South's first pop-up ramen dinner fast enough to snag us seats. The dinner itself was held at 12 South Taproom last Sunday night when the local bar is usually closed. Otaku had 3 seatings and we got into the later one. The idea is to bring good ramen to Nashville on a few select nights with pre-set menus. I think Otaku is doing pretty well for themselves because their follow up venture at the Catbird Seat ($75 a pop for yakitori) sold out in a split second. What I hope this means is that a brick and mortar may be in the future for the floating ramen shop.

One of the good things about this being a pop-up shop was that if you were a party of two, you would have to sit with strangers. Well, Nashville is too small to have strangers and AB and I wound up sitting next to my favorite rollergirl Hilda "Hildabeast" and her darling boyfriend Charlie. Lucky for us Mr. Hildabeast spent 4 years in Japan and was able to give us a true opinion on ramen and some fun facts about Japan. I always love those random nights with good people. Of course, we shared sake.

The first course was assorted pickles and japanese potato salad. I loved the pickled daikon, but there wasn't nearly enough on the plate for my taste. The marinated soy mushrooms were a little too pungent. Too much use of sauce covered up the naturally woody mushroom taste. The potato salad was delicious. To me it tasted like regular potato salad, just with a creamier consistency. On top of the potato salad were two tiny crazy hot peppers. I took one tiny bite and no more. I was not a fan of the really tiny hot peppers, no matter how cute they were.

I had the Pork Tonkatsu ramen and it was a star. The broth was thick and smokey from the pork. Our resident Japanese expert informed us that this broth was unusually thick compared to what he had in Japan, but that the flavors were right on. I personally think that this broth was magic, and possibly the best soup outside of my Mom's chicken soup that I have ever tasted. I couldn't get enough. The noodles were thinner than what I'm used to in ramen, more vermicelli than udon. But they had a nice thickness to them and were a good conveyor for the broth (which was really all I was looking for). The best part was the perfect soft boiled egg that came floating on top. The yolk was still runny and golden when it arrived at our table. Can I have the other half please? No, really. Full egg next time.

For dessert we were served a sake sorbet. I loved the simple but effective presentation of serving it inside of a ramen spoon. The small scoop of sorbet tasted more like coconut to me than sake. Perhaps it was the bottle of actual sake I had consumed by this point that was messing up my palate. Whatever the official flavor was, I liked it. It was a cool clean finish to that thick hot soup. The black sesame brittle that was served with the sorbet is now my new favorite thing. If Otaku made the black sesame brittle and sold it in little packages I would scoop some up to have with tea.

I really hope Otaku South keeps popping up all over the place because more people need to experience this. If you are interested, sing up for their mailing list so you can be informed of new dinners. I really hope they get a permanent place soon because I would love to be able to have some hot ramen in the cold winter. Once again, special thanks to Anna Beth for thinking of me whenever food is involved. :)

Cat Love

I am currently going through a very busy time at work and a very bumpy point in life. Everything is good, don't worry. I just feel drained and uninspired today. So instead of boring you with some mindless prattle, here are my two lovely boys.

Farmer's Market #14

Farmer's Market #14? Really?! Have I really written about my food that many times? Sorry if this is getting annoying y'all but the growing season is almost over so you only have to hang in there a bit longer. I won't even know what to do with my Wednesdays after farm share season is over. Any suggestions so there isn't this massive blogging gap in my week?

So this week was a great little late season haul. I didn't even know that zucchini was still growing this time of year. Even though by mid-July I never wanted to see any squash again I am really happy to see it after a month long absence from our basket. Once again, that okra is my favorite thing ever. And more potatoes, ung. 

But that perfect little pumpkin? Yes please. We now have two pumpkins which is enough to make something out of. Although part of me really just wants to paint the whole thing in glitter and call it a day. Why are pumpkins so cute? Does anyone have any good pumpkin recipes that I should try that don't involve glitter?

A Trip to Arrington Vineyards!

On Sunday, Steve and I took a trip to a local winery, Arrington Vineyards. It is owned by Kix Brooks of the country duo Brooks & Dunn. And while I can't name a song that they did, everyone tells me they are really big deal. This makes me a pretty bad Nashvillian, right? The vineyard is located about an hour from our house and the ride is pretty nice, taking you past horse farms and rolling countryside. We went on a Sunday afternoon and the weather was perfect. Overcast, pleasant, and slightly warm but not hot. Arrington also has live music every Sunday afternoon and the day we were there it was light jazz.

And if you know me, you I wasn't going to go just to drink. Before we left town, we headed over to the lovely Porter Road Butcher to pick up some meats and cheese. We got a lovely smoked and cured beef bacon, a honey ham and some lardo. The lovely lady over at the Bloomy Rind (in the same building as PRB) recommended three lovely cheeses for us to try. We had a smoked goat cheese, a light goats milk blue, and a soft light cheese called a cumberland. The staff at PRB and Bloomy Rind were friendly and very helpful. We told them where we were going, what wines we would be drinking and they put it all together for us. When we arrived at the vineyard they were PACKED. We had to wait about an hour and half for a tasting, so we just picked up a bottle of the Antebellum and made a little picnic in the vines.

The wine tasting room calls you when they are ready for you. It was perfect timing because we had just finished our food. On a weekend they let you taste 4 wines, but on a weekday they let you taste 8. I've been during the week and it's more enjoyable. If you aren't a desk-jobber like me, I recommend heading there on a weekday afternoon. The wines themselves are pretty good!

Pink Flamingo Fall

Happy Fall everyone! October 1st pretty much makes it official for me. Even though the weather in Nashville has been really pleasant lately, I've found myself wearing pants, leggings and jackets most days. I had a pretty great weekend with just the right amount of activity. I took Friday night for myself where I caught up on TV and worked on a few of my crochet projects. On Saturday we went over to a friend's house for a BBQ cookout and some college football. While I don't know anything about football, I do know that the smoked ribs were delicious! On Saturday night I got to celebrate birthdays of two of my friends. I love birthday parties! And on Sunday we went to a local winery... but more on that later!

So I told you I wasn't done with my flamingo outfits. I'm totally obsessed with the leggings from Romwe. I keep ordering them in different patterns. Have you seen the Halloween ones with the bones?! I'm hoping I get a pair of those eventually to add to my collection. Can someone also tell them that they need to make some leggings with cats on them?!

Tunic: Free People, Old

Tights: Romwe

Boots: Old, broken but comfortable