Category Archives: food

Franklin Frolics

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Philanthropy, where your money does good.

Philanthropy, where your money does good.

I want to live in downtown Franklin, Tenn. And have lots of money. Well, a girl’s gotta dream, right? But even without lots of money, it’s still fun to go to Franklin. So many cute stores! Visit http://www.historicfranklin.com/ to learn more about this historic, renovated, shopper-friendly downtown. Some of my favorite stores include Philanthropy, www.philanthropyfashion.com, a clothing and gift boutique full of creative pieces from around the world, like these candles that look and smell unlike any others. You’ll also find jewelry, handbags, notepads, T-shirts, swingy skirts, throw pillows, party goods and other treasures there. Part of your purchase price goes to causes the store supports, so you can feel even better about shopping there.

Homemade soap at Bathos.

Homemade soap at Bathos.

At the bright and airy Bathos, www.bathosonline.com, you buy soaps, scrubs, lotions, oils and other goodies in a shop set up like an old-fashioned grocery store.

Grocery store or soap shop?

Grocery store or soap shop?

In fact, this reminded me so much of a tiny grocery near my gandparents’ house in Effingham, Ill., when I was little that I felt as if I’d time-traveled there. Other downtown Franklin spots I love to linger in are Rare Prints Gallery, www.rareprintsgallery.com, where you can wander around and admire and learn from the knowledgable staffers who are happy to talk about their museum-quality offerings and Franklin Tea, www.franklintea.com , a calm and serene sanctuary of international tea. Also try Bijou, a home and gift shop with cheerful fabrics and nature motifs. And this was only one block on one side of the street! Everyone is helpful and friendly — a great day or weekend trip for anyone who needs a break.

Tupelo Travels

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I’ve passed by this eye-catching yellow concrete-block building that advertises “pottery and ironworks” on Highway 72 in Burnsville, Miss., about a million times and wondered what it was. Today was the day I stopped to find out.  The business is called Image Wholesale Inc., and it’s made up of four or so barns full — and I mean stuffed full — of pottery and iron pieces from Mexico and Texas. This is a place to spend hours poking around on a treasure hunt, whether you’ve got a house to furnish or an outdoors spot to decorate. There were urns, vases, tables, chairs, candelabras, wall pieces, fountains, figurines, statues and all sorts of things that I didn’t know what to do with since my own personal style of decorating is Cat Hair Contemporary interspersed with Vintage Newspaper Stackage (Southern Living, are you interested?). Anyway, this place is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays — just make sure you’ve got plenty of room in your vehicle to transport your finds!

And then, in Tupelo, Miss., I found the first ever Western Sizzlin Express I’ve ever seen. It’s at the Horizons gas station at the Eason Boulevard exit off Highway 45 South, which only has been opened a few weeks. This is like a grab-and-go mini-Western Sizzlin. You order at the counter — the menu has the usual steak and chicken entrees and sandwiches — and then you sit down at a booth or table or a bar-like counter and the waitress brings your food on actual plates with real silverware. Or you can order takeout. I was there at about 1 p.m. and the place was hopping. Folks who work around that area don’t have much to choose from when it comes to lunch, so they’re glad to add this option in to the meal mix. Plus, it’s great for travelers. You don’t often think of steak as fast food, but apparently it’s working here. Wonder if we’ll see more of these pop up?

Hold the Bacon, Please

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Huntsville, Ala., is bursting with fun places to eat — it’s really a joy to be hungry in the Rocket City.

A calzone at Moglie's, from the July 17, 2008, review at al.com

A calzone at Moglie's

 So when my older daughter Liz with her almost-five-months son Nolan and a friend of mine and I ate at the Italian pub-bistro Moglie’s in Huntsville today for the first time, I was enthusiastic about trying a new place we’d heard good things about. The verdict? Good cheesy food. Poor service. Here’s what happened: 1) We didn’t get waited on for almost 10 minutes — no water, no menus, no sign anyone knew we were there, no nothing. Luckily, my friend and I were catching up so intently it wasn’t a problem. But still. 2) Our appetizers came after our entree salads and several long minutes after the waiter promised “they’d be right out.” 3) Worst of all, the salad that two different waiters swore had no meat in it whatsoever came with bacon. We sent it back once and asked for a replacement, which also turned out to have bacon. We finally figured out that the bacon was in the dressing, not the salad, but the wait staff should have alerted us, especially since we specifically told our waiter the salad was for a vegetarian. Frustrating. I’m going to give the place the benefit of the doubt (New waiters? Problems in the kitchen?) and try again, but I need to be convinced. Our garlic bread was delicious, however, and the spinach dip was different than any other I’ve had lately: Whole spinach leaves in melted cheese surrounded by pesto — at least that’s what it seemed like to us. Moglie’s is in the shopping center at the Airport/Whitesburg intersection next to the Dollar Tree and is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.

I Know it’s the Evil Empire, but they’re so cute….

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Look, I know true coffee drinkers refuse to enter a Starbucks and slow food/local food proponents shudder at the mere mention of the name, but you gotta admit the java giant sells some of the cutest coffee mugs around. Go ahead, admit it! (And admit this, too: If you had a chance at world domination, wouldn’t you take it? I thought so. Besides, Starbucks was once a lowly local coffee shop itself, you know.) Of course, given a choice between a local coffee shop and a Starbucks, I’ll take the local — as long as it’s good, that is. But I’ll always go in a Starbucks and check out the coffee mugs. Unless I find ones that I absolutely Have to Have At That Moment, I’ll wait until they go on sale — and it’s like The Gap: Everything eventually will go on sale. So I kept watching for these retro plastic glasses (left) to hit the clearance table, and I nabbed four this weekend when they finally did. Adorable! 

And here are a couple Starbucks coffee mugs I bought recently. The one with the swirly design was on sale, while the fleur-de-lis one was one of those gotta-have-it-now purchases. Why do I love Starbucks mugs/glasses so much? They’re good quality — hefty, solid and stable — and are made for coffee drinkers — substantial handles, varied shapes for cappuccinos, lattes, etc. Plus, they’re cute! And isn’t that the best reason?

It’s Fall, Y’all!

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Okay, it’s mid-August here in northwest Alabama/southern Middle Tennessee (and really I guess everywhere else, too) but there already are signs of fall. I saw these giant pumpkins in Tullahoma, Tenn., this past weekend at Dotson’s Farm Fresh Produce, on Highway 55 going east out of town. The woman at Dotson’s said she didn’t know anything about them, only that “some man” had brought them by. Is this normal to have humongous gigantic pumpkins like these in the middle of August? I have no idea, but I predict the unknown pumpkin-growing man will win some ribbons at the Coffee County Fair. Plus, I’ve seen other signs of fall: winter squash (acorn, butternut and spaghetti) at Food Lion in Manchester; and back in Alabama, autumn decor at Wal-Mart in Muscle Shoals (but no Halloween candy yet) and jackets and sweaters squeezing out swimsuits at T.J. Maxx in Florence. Can Christmas-tree ornaments be far behind?

Demos’ Comes to the Shoals

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The Shoals is in for a treat: Demos’ Restaurant (pronounced “dee-muss”) is coming! This Middle Tennessee family tradition will be a great addition to northwest Alabama dining. The Murfreesboro, Tenn., location — the original of now four restaurants and soon-to-be-five — is our go-to spot whenever my husband and I are in the ‘Boro, and that’s true for several Shoals folks when they head up that way. Demos’ is know for two things: Exemplary and prompt service and plenty of good family food with a Greek twist. It’s famous for its steak-and-spaghetti combos, too. Let’s hope all that transfers to Alabama. My favorite thing about Demos’ is that it’s one of those one-size-fits-all place– it’s good for quick workday lunches, Sunday dinners, family suppers and special nights out all at the same time. Plus, it’s one of the most popular restaurants in Murfreesboro. In fact, hanging out in the waiting area is a great way to catch up with ‘Boro news because sooner or later almost everybody in town is there. My family especially likes the stuffed potatoes (blackened chicken, seafood or chili), the lasagna and the chili spaghetti (my husband calls this Mexican spaghetti) The Florence restaurant is going up behind Books-A-Million and should be open early next year. Coming to Alabama is like returning home, the Demos’ family says in a press release, since the great-grandfather of company president Peter Demos first operated restaurants in Birmingham in the 1920s. Read more at http://www.demosrestaurants.com/ — and prepare to eat well!!!

Olympic Ads, or Where’s the nearest McDonald’s?

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Does anybody else have this problem?

I’m watching the Olympics and not feeling hungry at all and then all of a sudden, the Southern-Style Chicken Sandwich/Biscuit ads from McDonald’s come on and all I can think about is driving to McDonald’s and getting one, which is very strange because I:  A) Don’t like McDonald’s, B) Don’t like fried/breaded chicken and C) Don’t like fried/breaded chicken sandwiches/biscuits. Yet, unaccountably, after watching the ads with the athletes digging into their yummy sandwiches/biscuits and enjoying every bite, I gotta have one. Paging Dr. Pavlov.

The need-it-now theory doesn’t work for me, however, when it comes to ads for Hummers, Boniva (you all know how I feel about Sally Field) and/or Obama and/or McCain.

Tuesday morning

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Hot, hot and more hot! Even though I love warm weather, 105 degrees on the heat index is a little much for me. Flowers are shriveling, grass is crunchy and everybody is wilting. Dog days, indeed.

Here are some new food nuggets from northwest Alabama and middle Tennessee:

1) Boskey’s Grille on McMinnville Highway in Manchester, Tenn. in the Willowbrook Golf Club — Had dinner here Saturday night with the Wood family. Menu focused on steak, pasta, chicken and seafood. The bar only had opened two weeks ago — no fresh mint for my brother’s motor and a limited wine/beer selection. Good variety of vegetable sides, including broccoli (cooked perfectly — enough to get the bitterness out but still crisp), asparagus, sweet potatoes and smashed white potato. My two vegetarian daughters had the Autumn Salad, which had fresh greens with a tasty apple vinaigrette. Prompt and friendly service. Here’s the link for Willowbrook, although the site doesn’t have restaurant info. http://www.willowbrookgolfclub.com/. Boskey’s Grille phone is (931) 723-7955.

2) The Nestlé Toll House Café, Athens, Ala., on Hwy. 72 next to Starbucks — This is the first Nestlé Toll House Café in Alabama and it’s been open since mid-July. This sounds like a super idea, doesn’t? I mean, a whole bakery devoted to chocolate-chip cookies!!!  But don’t make a special trip — at least, not based on our experiences. While the wonderful chocolate-chip baking smell hits you as soon as you walk in the door and we could see that actual cookies were actually being baked, we were disappointed in the flavor of the cookies we bought. My daughter got a triple chocolate cookie and my husband got a Turtle brownie and the chocolate taste in each of them seemed off somehow. I thought it tasted artificial –not pleasant at all. I got a chocolate-chip peanut-butter cookie half-dipped in chocolate, and it was okay. Nothing I’d drive especially to Athens to get, though. None of our choices had the warm and melty homemade taste, either. You can also get cookie cakes there and ice cream and other goodies. I’ll give it another try — maybe Sunday afternoons aren’t their best times — but they’ll have to work hard to impress me now. Here’s a story from the Athens newspaper about it http://www.enewscourier.com/homepage/local_story_205222544.html/resources_printstory and here’s the Nestle Cafe site: http://www.nestlecafe.com/. And, if you want the Best Chocolate Chip cookies ever, try this recipe from the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/091crex.html

3) Connors Steak and Seafood, Bridge Street Town Centre, Huntsville — Liz, Nolan and I ate here with some book-club friends on Monday. This is part of The Chop House chain (not the lone and locally owned Chop House in Franklin, Tenn., but the University of Tennessee-centric Chop House franchise from Knoxville) and carries out the Chop House theme of upscale casual dining centered around meat quite successfully. Liz and I ordered the Baby Spinach and Strawberry Salad (everything was fresh but my salad could have used less dressing — I’ll remember to ask for it on the side next time) and I added some pan-seared ahi tuna, which was cut a little thicker than I like but was still good (my all-time favorite restaurant ahi tuna is Outback — go figure!!!) Service was prompt and friendly and the place was packed with lunch-hour diners from nearby offices as well as Bridge Street shoppers. In fact, Liz and I had planned some shopping but it was way too hot for walking in the sun. We did manage some goodies from Chocolate Crocodile, though — of course!!! Web sites are Bridge Street, http://www.bridgestreethuntsville.com; Connors, http://www.thechophouse.com/connors; and Chocolate Crocodile, http://thechocolatecrocodile.com/

4) But the best thing I ate all weekend were the blueberry-lemon bars my brother and nephew made from their own blueberries. I could have eaten the whole pan — I tried, anyway! I’m still waiting for that recipe (Samuel?????) and will post it as soon as I get it. So, so yummy.

Happy eating!