Blog Downtime

I must apologize for my lack of posts as of late, but my grandmother passed away Monday, March 15. Since I live in her house, I played host to my uncle all week, did "family" business and had more people in this house than I've ever seen in my 31 years.

In honor of Grannie Jean, I will be cooking her Easy Chicken Pie later this week or possibly this coming weekend.

Here are a few pictures of Grannie Jean with all of us.

Atlanta College of Art Graduation Lunch May 2005

Papa, Grannie Jean and Myself circa 1982

I would cook this week, but I'm heading to Atlanta for a few days. With Wednesday being St. Patrick's Day , I'll be spending the day at Limerick Junction in the VA-Highlands area of Atlanta. Why? Well for several reasons...A: it's where my drinking club meets on Wednesday nights anyway, and B: it's the oldest Irish pub in Atlanta. Doors open at 11:30am, kiddos!



Everyone have a great week and I'll be back soon!!

The 2008 Great Miller Lite Chili Cook-Off

My dad and i went out to Stone Mountain to go to the 29th Annual Miller Lite Chili Cook-Off this past Saturday. And it was AWESOME!!

First off, I've never been to a cook-off and secondly, it was the most redneck thing i've done in awhile. Man, i love reconnecting with my southern roots!

My favorite was by a group called "So Fine Bovine". I don't know if they won or not, but it was good and they got my vote. There were an incredible 295 booths!! I think randy and i might have to enter next year b/c there were definitely some lame chilis what i know we could beat hands-down! Also, how fun would it be to camp out for two days, drink beer and serve people chili? I'm being serious by the way! :)

Memphis, TN - the land of BBQ

So while in Memphis, my friend Jenn and I hit up a couple of the more famous bbq places there, Corky's and Central. Friday lunch was Corkys.

Corky's Bar BQ
5259 Poplar Ave
Memphis, TN 38119
(901) 685-9744


First out came these great rolls with honey butter.

Then the entree! I had the pulled pork plate with cole slaw and baked beans. Its funny though b/c just up until recent i would NOT eat cole slaw - now i won't eat it unless its on top of something [ie: bbq or hot dog]

This was THE best bbq, i've ever had in my life. It literally melted in your mouth. It was fantastic! The slaw was pretty good and the beans were...meh. The sweet tea was good though!

Saturday afternoon, we hit up Central BBQ for lunch. This was my favorite, by far!

Central BBQ
2249 Central Ave
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 272-9377


Central was my favorite b/c not only was the bbq great - but my tea came in a plastic cup and i LOVE take-home plastic cups. lol Here are a few pics of the interior of Central BBQ.

If you read the menu board carefully, they offer a bologna sandwich. I SO wanted to order the bologna sandwich, just to see what it would have been like. But atlas...i did not.


Then out came my food and it was AWESOME. I ordered collard greens, mac n cheese and the pulled pork plate. SO GOOD! And i loved how they sprinkled the mac n cheese with paprika...ooh fancy mac n cheese!

This bbq was equally as tender, but Central had a better choice of sides. They also had better sauces than Corky's.

Saturday night, we went to eat at the restuarant where Jenn works downtown, called Spindini. And i'm going to preface this with - "Holy crap! that place is expensive!" and this is coming from a girl who lives and goes out in Atlanta!

Spindini
383 South Main Street
Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 578-2767


We both had salad. She had the caesar salad, but it wasn't a traditional caesar b/c it had an orange tinge to it - i believe it may have had some tomato something or other in it. I, on the otherhand, went for a classic wedge of lettuce with bleu cheese and bacon. This thing was HUGE and really very very good! I would definitely recommend it.


After that, we decided to split an entree. I wanted the manicotti, but Jenn wasn't feeling that so we split a good ole' standby - Chicken Parmesan.


It was very good too, but i couldn't help but feel that it had been beaten to death in the back. It was a very thin chicken parmesan. And i'm not saying i wanted this giant chicken breast, but maybe they could have not smooshed it so very much. All in all - it was very good, but i just can't justify the prices we paid - even with her employee discount...

So that's it for the food adventure part of Memphis! There was a lot of other things that went on, but drama isn't the name of this food blog! lol

Memphis is a nice city - but i'm SO glad to be back in Atlanta.

Recipe tomorrow! I don't know what i'm cooking yet for dinner, but i've got chicken thawing. So who knows!

Lots of pictures tomorrow!

I went to Memphis, TN this past weekend and had lots of good bbq! I took tons of pictures and will be posting them tomorrow! I'm still recovering today and too lazy to even worry about it.

I did do some shopping too though - 3 words. William-Sonoma Outlet. I bought Calphalon Infused-Anodized 5-Qt. Deep Sauté Pan for about half of what it retails for... i love finding a bargain! Also got some MATCHING [shocker, i know] small plates to replace the mismatched ones i've had since college. ADULTHOOD HERE I COME! lol



On a different note, CONGRATS to my co-worker, Randy and his wife Darci on their new baby girl, Sydney Claire! Randy became officially responsible for another human life on Saturday, July 28 at 5:26 pm EST - Lord help us all! lol

Kidding, Randy and again.. congratulations!!

TOMORROW FOOD FOOD FOOD!
UPDATE:
Here are a couple of pics of Randy, Darci and Sydney.