Selasa, 28 Desember 2010

Goals for a healthier new year, and a chance to win $100!

I'm still trying to adjust to life as a Southerner after our move to Nashville last year. One of the biggest adjustments has been the food. Southern folks LOVE their food, and rightfully so: it is delicious. But traditionally it is delicious in that fried, smothered and soaked in sausage kind of way. Which is to say, not so kind on the behind.

Visit my skinny gourmet reviews blog and read my

Selasa, 07 Desember 2010

Food Photography Workshop at Southern Food Blogging Conference

The astonishingly gifted Jennifer Davick, food photographer for Southern Living, has put a call out to emerging food photographers! She's teaching a food photography workshop at @foodblogsouth. Interested? Contact Jennifer Davick on Facebook.

You can see more of Jennifer's food photography, and hear her take on the life photographic on her blog.

Minggu, 28 November 2010

Just Have Fun and Enjoy Your Life!!

We all complain about our lives from time to time. An unexpected expense comes up or we get laid off from our jobs. So many things can happen to us in even just one day. Unfortunately, complaining is a waste of time. It is a grown up version of whining, and yes, we too have tantrums. The key to enjoying life is in how we react to the events and mishaps in our daily lives.

Rabu, 20 Oktober 2010

Music City Signature Chef's Auction 2010

This year's Music City Signature Chef's Auction will be held on Monday October 25th at the Franklin Marriott Cool Springs, and, as always, benefits the Tennessee Chapter of the March of Dimes. This fundraiser event begins at 5:30 and allows guests to sample a wide variety of signature offerings from the primiere chefs of the greater Nashville area. There will also be live music and a silent

Jumat, 24 September 2010

Cupcake-palooza: All you can eat cupcakes for $10!

Late in life I have developed a passion for taste tests. I suspect this could be some nostalgia for a childhood in the 80s where roving Coke vs Pepsi taste test vans dominated the suburban mall experience. Or maybe its just that I like the subtle thrill of the uncertain. Lately in our house we've blind taste tested brands of pickles, cottage cheese (where Kroger brand was a surprising hands-down

Senin, 13 September 2010

Restaurant Week Sept 13-19th: Get three course meals for a steal!

It's baaaack! Book your babysiters, grab your date, your friend, your coworker...anyone! Restaurant week, one of my favorite innovations, is once again returning to Nashville's independent eating scene. Restaurant week in Nashville is organized through Nashville Originals a group of local dining establishments.

Restaurant week is a great time to try some of Nashville's best known dining spots. A

Jumat, 10 September 2010

Bacon: 10 lessons learned about the fine art of hosting a bacon party

As some of my readers already know, when we lived in Chicago we would occasionally throw bacon parties. That's right. Social gatherings entirely devoted to that gluttony of all gluttonies: bacon. And because our friends were adventurous little foodies, we would always challenge friends to come up with the most delicious and creative dish they could. After a few parties, this started to take on

Rabu, 25 Agustus 2010

Will calorie counts change the way we dine? Economic sociology takes a peek at nutritional transparency

Among the many provisions in the loved and decried Health Care bill ("Obamacare to its detractors) passed by congress last year is one that requires restaurants with more than 20 stores to provide calorie information printed on their menus for all regular menu items. Although these regulations nominally took effect in March of 2010, the Food and Drug Administration is still working out guidelines

Jumat, 30 Juli 2010

Tropical "Grillswith": Grilled donuts with the best caramel sauce you'll ever make



Yeah, that's right. I just did that to you. There you were minding your own business at your computer, you probably thought "what the heck is a grillswith?" and now you are drooling all over your keyboard like a drunken sailor. You might even be babbling a bit. It's okay. The grillswith does that to me too.

I just couldn't resist sharing this photo with you all. It is probably the best example

Selasa, 06 Juli 2010

Individual Spinach Provolone Frittata -- Brunch yourself swanky!

This puffs up and has the look of a faux souffle with one tenth of the work. I love eggs but my husband doesn't eat them, so I've plenty motivation to experiment with single serving egg dishes that are low work for a fast and delicious morning breakfast. This Italian inspired version, studded with creamy provolone cheese and earthy spinach, is one of my very favorites. This is the perfect way to

Senin, 07 Juni 2010

Sights and Tastes of the Nashville Farmer's Market

The Nashville Farmer's Market is a stubborn beast to characterize. I first came to know it only from afar as three enticingly large buildings called the "farmer's market" and open 365 days a year. Somehow my brain convinced me that it was reasonable to think lush, local produce could cover three football fields and that farmers somehow found alternates to sell their produce all the time. This was

Rabu, 19 Mei 2010

The Silly Goose in Nashville, TN

The Silly Goose1888 Eastland Ave.Nashville, TN 37206615-915-0757Tuesday-Saturday 11AM to 9PM Have you ever had one of those moments where you realize that something truly fantastic has sprouted in your neighborhood and you didn't even know it? When we moved to East Nashville last August I could swear this storefront was empty. And now? A mix of funky, eclectic, charm crammed into a small space

Jumat, 07 Mei 2010

10 ways to conserve water in the kitchen (and beyond!)

We live in Nashville, where the city is still recovering from the worst rains in the state's recorded history. The floods have taken one of the city's water treatment facilities offline, resulting in dwindling water supplies and impending water shortage. The city has asked all citizens to cut water consumption by half, and they haven't mentioned how long this water conservation effort will go on.

Selasa, 27 April 2010

Darling Aprons for Mother's Day: Your purchase helps an Ethopian Adoptee

"There are 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia. Help bring one home to her forever family." --Aprons for BedaAround the world there are thousands and thousands of children without parents, waiting to be loved. Lucky ones make it into orphanages, and even there many of them get by with meager provision and meager human contact. Even those orphanages headed by loving caring workers often find their

Rabu, 07 April 2010

Food Blogging for Babies! 5 ways to help prevent premature birth

A little over a year ago my first child was born premature. It was a total shock. The pregnancy had been going fantastically and there were no signs that anything was amiss until it was 5:30 am and I was on the phone crying with my OB because my water broke more than 6 weeks too soon.Liam, third day of life, in the NICU and on oxygenToday Liam is a warm, affable, generous toddler who charms just

Minggu, 07 Maret 2010

Saveur's Food Blog Awards

Saveur's first annual Food Blog Awards are here. These awards seem to be filling the vaccuum left by the Wellfed Network's Food Blog Awards which were among the first of their kind, and enjoyed a huge degree of insider status, though for perhaps the same reason (that they were run by food blogging insiders) they seemed to suffer by being held at dissimilar times each year, without a ton of

Minggu, 14 Februari 2010

A Vegetarian Insiders' Guide: Where to Eat at the Vancouver Olympics

You know how it is when you are visiting an unfamiliar city: you are faced with the unfortunate choices of going to lame world-wide chain restaurants, following the herd to a handful of spots in the ubiquitous guidebook, or taking your chances and just guessing. Well, I'm here to save the day. If you happen to be lucky enough to have tickets to the Olympic games in Vancouver...I'm jealous. But

Sabtu, 06 Februari 2010

Organic, Humane, Family Farm Milk Comes to Nashville's Farmer's Market!

Living in Nashville and looking to buy milk without creepy hormones made by cows who are treated well by family farmers? Well you are in luck!I know several adults who confess that after watching Food Inc. they had breakdowns in the grocery stores because they were overwhelmed by the vast variety of choices confronting them, especially when so few choices seemed to be things they felt good about

Minggu, 31 Januari 2010

Not your ordinary smoothie: highly nutritious fruit and vegetable smoothie

Leafy greens are amazing for you. From pregnant women to healthy adults and children, every time we turn around we seem to find another study touting their benefits. Women's Health Magazine recently reported, "A study in the journal Neurology reports that getting two-plus servings per day of veggies--especially leafy green ones like kale--slows cognitive decline by 40 percent."So if we know they

Selasa, 26 Januari 2010

Chicago Food Blogs I Love

There is something great about regional food blogging communities. When I first started food blogging I was living in Chicago, and always envious of what seemed to be the very active food blogger communities in places like San Francisco. At the time it sometimes felt like I was one of the few food bloggers covering the large, diverse, and fantastic food scene that is Chicago.Now that I'm in

Rabu, 20 Januari 2010

A Beginner's Guide to Minestrone Soup: How to Improvise Recipes

Minestrone has a certain kind of magic about it. Making it always makes me feel like I am channeling my imaginary inner Italian grandma. It is a very forgiving dish because you can put so many different things together, depending on what is conveniently at hand, and still wind up with something spectacular. And that is also its charm: when minestrone grows out of the joie de vivre of

Jumat, 15 Januari 2010

Last chance for a great dinner on the cheap: My picks for Nashville's Restaurant Week

I love restaurant week. Its one of those great concepts that makes my life a better place. Restaurants offer special prix fixe menus for really great prices, and it entices me out to try new places that I might not otherwise have gone to. You get a top notch dinner for much much less than you would normally spend at that restaurant, and the restaurants get exposure and hope to entice you to