Spring Kittens!

Well well well, we finally changed the clocks! Aside from waking up when it's really dark out, I love daylight savings. I'm pretty much a zombie in the morning anyway so I'd rather have the daylight when I can enjoy it, like after work. I'm always invigorated when I come home and there is still sunlight. It makes me want to run longer, cook, clean, anything that doesn't involve me plopping down on the couch.

And speaking of running, I had my longest run yet this Saturday- 9 miles in East Nashville. East Nashville is VERY hilly and possibly the worst place to run (unless you like punishment and pain). I was really nervous about this run because I was doing it by myself and I've never pushed myself so far. But you know what, I did it. The last two miles were painful (they sucked hardcore- let's be honest) but when I finished my loop I was so proud. I have to give a big thank you to Steve, who drove along the route, found me at mile 7 and showed up with water and a smile. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I gulped down an entire water bottle!

So this weekend we were able to run some errands that we had been putting off for a while. We are still getting into the swing of cohabiting and even though the house is looking so much better there is still a lot of little stuff that needs to get done. Steve and I have a very impressive amount of concert posters so we decided this weekend to frame a bunch of them! Now if only we have time to hang them!

On Saturday night I went over to the Stone Fox to see Steve's band Scale Model. It was a great night of hanging out with good friends and hearing good music. Also on the bill was Ponychase who I LOVE. Not only are they super talented and make amazing 80s synth ballads but they are all super nice people. Their EP is very good and I highly recommend giving them a listen.

I spent the first Sunday of our new-found longer days working at a local coffee shop and attending a cook out with friends. It was perfect grilling weather and the fact that it stayed bright until 7 just put me in such a great mood. Have I mentioned enough times in this post how happy I am for longer days?!

Now on to the outfit! Isn't this super cute? I picked up this dress from Modcloth a while ago and actually wore it to my birthday party. But because it's made of very light material it's a spring/summer dress for sure. But how cute is it?! When I wore this dress I got several compliments from dudes who loved the kittens and wished that it was more socially appropriate for them to wear kitten clothing. This dress just makes me so happy!

Dress: Modcloth

Tights: Gift

Belt: So old- no idea!

Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

Necklace: Kelsea Echo

Food Friday Louisville Edition: 610 Magnolia

I have a bucket list of restaurants at which I want to eat before I die. The list gets longer every year and I have started making trips to certain cities based on food. While I haven't made it out to the French Laundry just yet, I've been hitting a good chunk of my southern favorites. When my sweet friend Lauren asked me to go to Louisville with her to celebrate her birthday and left dinner reservations up to me (what a good friend!) I knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Enter 610 Magnolia. I'm a pretty big Top Chef fan and I like to try to eat at the restaurants of some of my favorite contestants. During Top Chef Texas I was a big Edward Lee fan. Even though he didn't win (robbed I tell you!) he was my favorite of the season and thus, his small restaurant in Louisville ended up on my must-eat list.

610 Magnolia is not your normal dining experience. For starters, they are only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. The place is teeny-tiny and reservations are hard to come by. When I called to make a reservation I was told they were totally booked-up. I asked to be put on a waiting list and pretty much decided it wasn't going to happen. Two days later I got a phone call and we were in for a 6pm slot! The food gods were smiling down upon me... or so we thought, until we were on the way and discovered the highway between Nashville and Louisville was totally closed due to a major accident. We were able to figure out a back road route, but we knew we would be way too late for our reservation. I think I left the saddest voicemail in history on 610's answering machine: "We are coming from Nashville! Highway is closed! It's my friends birthday! PLEASE?!" I was elated when they called me back and agreed to hold the table for us until 7:30. The customer service at this place is top-notch! But what else would you expect from a Top Chef? And to add to the "BOOYAH" factor, they gave us complimentary glasses of champagne to toast Lauren's birthday!

After our complimentary champagne courtesy of our kick-ass waiter Chad (PS: love you Chad) we decided to order some cocktails. Since we were in bourbon country I opted for an old fashioned. It was really good and not overly sweet. Plus there was a nice fat cherry waiting for me at the bottom. Steve had their version of a Singapore Sling and it was light and refreshing.

The menu at 610 works like this: you pick a 3 course or a 4 course dinner, and you select from a list for each course. Those are your only options. Because I am an A+ eater I opted for the 4 course meal. Actually, both Laurens did 4-course and our man friends did 3. LADY POWER. The first thing brought to us was an amuse trio. On the left is whipped celery and mashed potatoes with a crisp potato chip- their take on chips and dip. The center was a mixture of clams and greens with a dried ham chip. HAM CHIP is my new favorite phrase and term of endearment. On the right was their version of a BLT, but honestly all I could taste was the porky goodness from the minced pork belly in the center.

For my first course I went for the raw tuna with lardo. Lardo is a fancy word for fat. So basically this dish was raw fish, pig fat, bacon dust and a chestnut veloute. This makes me want to go to a sushi place, order a roll, and then pull raw bacon out of my purse and slap it on top.

Steve chose the king crab dish for his first course. The chefs at 610 love to make things into jellies. The crab here sat on top of a coconut-banana custard square. (The soy sauce in my tuna dish was actually tiny dots of soy jelly). This dish was tasty, but I loved the presentation. I want to eat it with my eyes forever!

For our second course we both ordered the beef carpaccio. I love a good dose of raw meat but 610 upped the ante by adding shaved foie gras on top. So this is basically raw beef with duck liver on top. It was absolute heaven.

For my main dish I ordered the duck because I am horribly predictable. It was a fatty duck breast and duck leg confit served in a cranberry-bourbon jus. Look how pink the center of the duck is! That is how duck is supposed to be cooked. Just like steak, I like my duck pink in the middle. This particular duck was gamey and had a nice layer of fat. It was pretty much heaven on a plate. I'm really happy I stuck to my standard order!

Steve ordered the Scottish Salmon (line-caught!) in a brown butter-pistachio puree. The salmon was good, but my favorite part of this dish was the tiny fingerling potato rounds under the salmon that were mingling with some good old meyer lemons.

Ah, the dessert course. My perennial favorite way to end such a fabulously filling meal. Ordering dessert is such a splurge for me, but I expected greatness from 610 and they delivered. I ordered the chocolate mousse (that brown circle in the center). Because the 610 chefs love jelly, it was served with a white chocolate ganache gel (those tiny white squares). My favorite part of the plate was the little scoop of earl gray ice cream. When I used to live in Boston my favorite snack was the early gray ice cream from Toscanini's. I haven't been able to find a place that makes it since. So tons of good college memories came flooding back to me with one bite of 610's version. 

This dinner was a big splurge and not light on my wallet, but it was absolutely worth it. The staff was incredibly helpful and accommodating and our waiter (love you Chad!) was one of the best servers I have ever met. And I think it goes without saying again, the food is top-notch first-rate fantastic. This is the kind of place you take a lady the night you plan on proposing (guys- take notes).

BONUS PHOTO: The Laurens get all cavewoman on some boar chop bones.

Iron Fork 2013

If you are like me, you love a good cooking competition. I'm a long time fan of Top Chef and I always get sucked into watching Iron Chef, Chopped and whatever Gordon Ramsay happens to be doing at the moment. I dream of being a judge! How great would it be to tell someone that they over-salted your prawns or that no one ever wins with risotto. NO ONE EVER WINS WITH RISOTTO SO JUST STOP, OK?

Well lucky for me (and you!), Nashville has its own locally-focused cooking competition, the Iron Fork. Local chefs battle it out for the crown and you get to taste goodies from a plethora of other local restaurants. The chefs are fierce this year:

Kristin Beringson from Holland House
Jamie Watson from Café Fundamental
Kevin Ramquist from F. Scott's
Bart Pickens from Loveless Cafe
Jessica Benefield from Virago

Much like horse racing, can I place bets? I've eaten at all of these fine establishments (save for Virago, I know I know, something is wrong with me) and I can guarantee that attendees will be in for a treat.

The event itself is Wednesday, April 10th at Rocketown from 6-10pm. You can pick up your tickets here. 

Great Smoky Mountains

Last weekend Steve and I took a little getaway to a small cabin near the Great Smoky Mountains. The scenery was beautiful, and lucky for me I brought along a talented photographer! Check out some of Steve's photos from our trip below and don't forget you can pick some of these up in his Society6 shop!

* Check out Steve's Society6 shop!*

Lauren and Lauren do Louisville

This past weekend we had the chance to take a short trip to Louisville to celebrate my dear friend Lauren's birthday. I was lucky enough to meet Lauren 3 or so years ago when I started training for my first hula-hoop marathon. We were assigned to be on the same training team. Our friendship really blossomed when we realized during a Sunday morning training that we both went out on a date that week with the same dude. We both really disliked him, but the funniest part was that he thought we were the same person. Both Lauren, both sassy, both hula-hoopers. No wonder Lauren had a strange first date - the dude thought he was on his second!

But here we are three years later. She's engaged to the wonderful and incredibly funny Matt and me cohabitating with the Steve. I don't think I would have been able to get to my current place in life without Lauren's friendship. She helps me calm down when I'm being super uptight and she can always make me giggle. I'm super lucky to have found her!

On Saturday afternoon we drove up to Louisville. We stayed at the Galt House, which was a pretty nice hotel. What we didn't expect was that Kid Rock was playing a concert next door at the KFC Yum! Center and apparently all his fans had booked a room at the Galt House as well. I have never seen that much Bud Light, tube topped women in 30-degree weather, or camouflage sweatshirts in one location. There was even something in one of the ballrooms called "The Kick Ass Redneck Party." I did not attend.

On Sunday we went to the abandoned Lynn's Paradise Cafe to shoot some photos. Lynn's was the place where everyone told me I needed to eat when I visited Louisville. I was too late, as the establishment shut its doors this January with no explanation. I was bummed that we couldn't eat there - but I was still pretty stoked that we could take pictures with all of the kitschy stuff they have in their parking lot!

Ok, I know I'm wearing white socks with flats. I'm not super happy about this fashion choice but it was freezing out and this was the only pair of socks I had with me on the trip. Lauren was much braver than me and wore her cute flats sans socks.

Lauren's Outfit

Sweater: H&M

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

This is yet another piece of cat clothing I picked up from Modcloth. I love the mint color and the pattern of sweet white kitties. The fit is just baggy enough to hide the food baby that I acquired from Cuban food lunch.

How wonderful is this claw necklace? I won it last month over on The Charley Girl (I love her blog SO much!). It's from Midnight Riders and is a recycled bullet talon! I'm so in love with this piece- I'm even wearing it again today!

My Outfit

Top: Modcloth

Jeans: J Brand

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Necklace: Midnight Riders

Nashville Food Friday: Wild Cow Vegetarian Restaurant

This post will be slightly different than my regular Food Friday posts. There will be no bone marrow, no fat and no cavewoman eating. This is because The Wild Cow is a vegetarian establishment. And I know what you're thinking, "I thought Boots ate exclusively meat." And folks, you would be wrong. There is only so much pork I can squeeze into my colon before my body cries "ENOUGH" and demands that I eat a salad. The Wild Cow is conveniently located in East Nashville and is the perfect answer to a night of not wanting meat.

The Wild Cow is small and usually pretty crowded. I'm personally not a fan of the paint color or the rock wall decor, but hey, it has no bearing on the food. The staff is young, hip and friendly (I always love what they are wearing). Steve and I come to this place pretty often, so here is a round up of some of my favorite goodies off the menu.

My personal favorite is the Far Eastland bowl. It's their take on Thai satay. It's a mixture of grilled tofu, kale, carrot slaw in a peanut sauce served over brown rice. I have never met a peanut sauce I didn't like and honestly, their tofu is pretty near perfect. It's just firm enough with a nice brown grill layer with all the flavor.

This is the Veggie Quinoa bowl, the Far Eastland bowl's younger sister. Seasonal roasted veggies are served on top of quinoa with your choice of tempeh or tofu and covered in garlic aioli. I usually pick the tofu because I have never been a tempeh fan, even if it's done right. This is a good option if  you want to order something that isn't the Far Eastland bowl but don't want to venture THAT far outside your comfort zone.

The Wild Cow has some nice vegetarian Mexican options. Their taco salad is pretty amazing, especially when you add the fajita seitan. This salad is REALLY big and that normally means leftovers for me. It is piled high with lettuce, rice, black beans, tortilla chips, homemade salsa and vegan sour cream. This is honestly one of my favorite salads in all of Nashville.

Another one of their Mexican offerings is their sweet potato and black bean tacos. I usually add avocado and vegan sour cream to these. They are pretty tasty and quite filling. This dish comes with your choice of side and I always enjoy their chickpea salad in all it's creamy vegan glory.

If you travel to Nashville and you don't eat meat- The Wild Cow will be on your itinerary, trust me.

Currently Enjoying: Foals

 

I listen to a lot of music, but I rarely talk about it on the blog. I know lots of really talented music writers and critics and I won't pretend to hold a candle to them. But, I figure it might be nice on occasion to share what I am enjoying, sans criticism.  Maybe people would like to check it out and make up their own conclusions. And thus, I recommend Foals new album Holy Fire.