Ah, The Grilled Cheeserie, you slay me.
I was sitting at Crema browsing Twitter when I saw a tweet from TGC saying they would be parked at Crema today. Turned around, and there they were.
I ordered a breakfast grilled cheese with heirloom tomatoes, pesto, scrambled egg and mozzarella. Yum. And it came with marinated watermelon cubes!
Follow the Grilled Cheeserie on Twitter or text CHEESE to 88000 to locate the truck.
What are you doing inside and online? It’s beautiful out there. Also, the Franklin Main Street Festival is happening right now in the ever-charming downtown Franklin. The festival takes place from 10am-7pm today and features 200+ artisans and crafters, live music, carnivals, and you better believe lots of food.
What’s awesome about Franklin events are the two free parking garages downtown. I mean, in a list of awesome things about Franklin events that’s obviously pretty low, but it definitely takes a lot of stress out of the picture. Higher on the awesome list is the historic main street with it’s lovely little shops and restaurants, the variety of vendors that come out in the main circle, and the amount of friendly visitors and locals soaking up the art and festivities.
First Tennessee, the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County and the Downtown Franklin Association are to thank for this festival. If you can’t make it today, you can also go tomorrow from 12pm-6pm.
Hello! I hope this post finds you well, enjoying all this beautiful weather and blossoming Bradford Pear trees and the like. I also hope you’ve found a copy of the Local Table Spring issue that just hit the stands!
Just a quick update to share my fantastic experience this morning at Feast Together in East Nashville.
Feast Together is a non-profit organization with an inspiring mission: to collaborate with local chefs, farmers and the neighborhood and create nourishing meals for others. The goal is to provide good food to those who may not normally get it, while also educating community about the importance of healthy, sustainable food choices. The community provides the kitchens, local farmers provide the food, and talented chefs and volunteers provide the meals.
This morning I showed up at Sophia’s Heart in East Nashville and spent the morning in the kitchen with a few wonderfully kind and talented people. We made meals for patients in a mental crisis unit that shares the building, an ongoing Feast Together project. I learned how to make meatloaf, enjoyed a delicious lunch under the sun with the rest of the cooks, and went home with a block of onion chive monterey jack cheese. A soul-nourishing day. There is so much joy in cooking together and sharing a meal. That Feast Together makes it a mission to do this every day is inspiring. Check out the website (and our new issue) to see how to get involved or even order meals for you and your family.
Happy Valentine’s Day! The cheesiest holiday of the year, and somehow I still love it. The kid version though – with the decorated shoe boxes and Disney-themed Valentines cards. Okay, and bouquets of flowers, if you really want to get them for me.
Yesterday, in honor of Galentine’s Day, my roommates and I made dinner and dessert and watched You’ve Got Mail. I could go on about how much I adore Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks and what I would give to have a bookstore like The Shop Around the Corner, but I’ll spare you. Instead, I want to share the recipe we made for dinner. A simple recipe with quinoa and fresh vegetables and of course, feta cheese to top it off. So good.
Spicy Roasted Broccolini Quinoa Salad
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Cut broccolini into bite-sized pieces, about 1 1/2 inches
3. Place broccolini on a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Squeeze the lemon over the raw broccolini and season with salt, pepper and the red pepper flakes. Toss to make sure each piece is coated.
4. Roast for 15 to 18 minutes in the pre-heated oven, until stalks are tender and the heads of the broccolini are just lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside.
5. In a medium-sized pot, combine the quinoa and vegetable stock. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Let the quinoa cook until all the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes.
6. Once the quinoa is fully cooked, fluff with a fork, and toss in the roasted broccolini, crumbled goat cheese and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
We started off with rosemary olive bread and aged Apple Cheddar cheese we found at the Franklin Farmer’s Market from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese. We’re big on cheese and carbs in our house. Yes, I’m aware that was a poorly-phrased sentence.
Attention local wine and food lovers! Also, attention men who still haven’t planned their Valentine’s date and/or single women like myself who really have no need for a Valentine and are perfectly fine treating themselves, thank you very much.
Really, this event isn’t even on or associated with Valentine’s day, so back to business:
Sky Blue Cafe (another personal local favorite) is hosting “The Perfect Pairing”, a three-course dinner and wine night. Perl Catering created the menu and local wine-enthusiast and blogger, Lisa Mays has chosen wines from 100% Italiano to accompany the meal. That’s a lot of awesome local businesses pairing together (just look at all those links) for what sounds like a delicious and educational night.
Check out Lisa’s blog for more details and the menu. This “delicious culinary adventure” will take place Feb. 20 at Sky Blue Cafe at 700 Fatherland Street from 6-9 p.m. and costs $69/person + tax and gratuity. Sounds like reservations are a good idea, so plan ahead!
Food trucks + local music + local artists = no, no, not heaven, but I understand your confusion. It’s Meet n’ 3 at the Nashville Farmer’s Market tonight!
Lightning 100 is sponsoring the event and many of our favorite food trucks are participating: Riff’s Fine Street Food, Love Shack, The Grilled Cheeserie, Hoss’ Loaded Burgers, Blackbird Heritage, Smoke Et Al, Yayo’s OMG, Wrapper’s Delight, Jonbalaya Catering and The Latin Wagon.
Throw that in with 20 local artists and crafters, live music by Striking Matches and perhaps a glass of wine or beer, and you have yourself a lovely Friday evening in Nashville.
The event takes place tonight from 6-9 p.m.and you better believe I’m getting there early to hit as many of those food trucks as possible.
The Frothy Monkey twitter has been taunting me with photos and updates about their new dinner menu and kitchen reconstruction. I have yet to make it there for dinner, but my friend, Sandra and I did stop in for breakfast today and The Monkey didn’t disappoint.
I ordered the Julie (a bagel sandwich with local eggs, feta, basil and tomatoes) and Sandra ordered the French toast. I’m a sucker for anything with feta and The Julie had the perfect ratio of feta to basil. Delicious. The French toast was a bit skimpy but also good – the light maple syrup and visual presentation made up for the comically small slices of toast.
The Frothy Monkey is one of my favorite spots for the atmosphere, great coffee and variety of local choices. Extra points for serving breakfast until 5 p.m. and allowing patrons to bring their own wine for dinner. I should also mention that one of my favorite musicians was ordering coffee as we left (I love you, Nashville). I also love you, Frothy Monkey. I’ll be back soon for dinner.
Photos by Sandra Amstutz.
Check back soon.
