Houston

I flew into Houston a couple months ago, and flew near some of the big fires engulfing Texas. One of the fires was so massive, I could not see the ground through the smoke for probably 100 miles. There was another one outside of Houston that made it hard to breathe while I was in NW Houston. There were smaller brush fires all over Texas that just burned on. I have never seen anything like the Texas fires ever before. Well, here are some lighter side photos from Texas.

the dog, waiting to be petted

the kid, waiting to ride the BMX course

the Chinese style pork belly

Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce on the side

braised pork belly with bitter melon

It is Chili Garlic Week!

Starting today October 24th, it is National Chili Garlic Week! How are you going to celebrate?

I am going to celebrate by giving away one bottle of Cholula Chili Garlic Sauce! Yes, that's right, you have a chance to win this super yummy liquid. The flavor isn't too hot, and it has a lot of garlicky goodness infused throughout each bottle. The Cholula Chili Garlic Sauce would be great to drizzle on most anything like a hamburger, fried chicken, pizza, salad, soup, turkey, green beans, salad, you name it, try a few drops of Cholula Chili Garlic Sauce on most anything dish. It is so good, I could drink this stuff! Well, honestly, I did drink some of this sauce last a few days ago because I really like the tangy and garlicky flavor so much! It isn't too spicy hot, so you can really taste the complete flavor profile without burning out your tastebuds.

You can check out Cholula Hot Sauces in a bunch of different ways,

You can go to the website http://www.cholula.com/

You can LIKE on facebook at facebook.com/cholula

you can get on the tweet at twitter.com/cholulahotsauce

Go to the Facebook site right now and get your $1 off coupon by clicking on the coupon link. It is fast and easy! Then, for those of you in Mid-TN, go use that coupon at your local Kroger, BiLo or Piggly Wiggly and pick up some of this delicious chili garlic sauce.

I will pick a winner by randon number based on the comment number you are!

1) All you have to do is leave a comment, leave you NAME and EMAIL, and tell me your favorite spicy and garlic dish!

2) To increase you chances, go and LIKE Cholula on Facebook, and leave another comment with your NAME and EMAIL here telling me you LIKE Cholula on Facebook.

3) To increase your chances again, get on Cholula's tweet at Twitter.com, and leave another comment with your NAME and EAIL here telling me you got on the tweet!

This contest ends on Nov 2 at 11:59 pm, and the winner will be announced on November 3rd.

Now, go out and eat some chilis and garlic, and some chili garlic to celebrate this week!

Taste of Nashville

THANK YOU! The contest is now closed.

Folks, get ready for "THE" autumn foodie event of Nashville
Taste of Nashville
brought to you by the Phoenix Club of Nashville benefiting
the Boys and Girls Club of Middle TN

When: Friday November 18 7:00 pm - November 19 1:00 am
Where: The Cannery Ballroom, 1 Cannery Row off of 8th Ave So.,
Tickets: $50 in advance, $60 at the door, $75 VIP

100% of the proceeds from this event goes directly to
The Boys and Girls Club of Middle TN

I am so excited! I have 2 tickets to this event that I want to give away to you! All you have to do is leave a comment to this blog post with your NAME, EMAIL and what you think is the best hidden gem restaurant in Nashville and the best dish you have tried at the restaurant.

I will have a random number generator choose the comment number for the winner of the 2 tickets to this fantastic food party! The contest will run through November 2nd 11:59 pm. I will contact the winner by email on November 3rd. If I don't hear back from winner withing 48 hours, I will move on to the 2nd winner, and so on. One comment per person please.
Even if you don't win tickets from this blog post, you can still attend by buying tickets in advance here.

OK! Now, here is more about the event! There are going to be over 30 restaurants strutting their stuff including The Patterson House, Merchants, Paradise Park, Steve's, Pied Piper, Zumi Sushi, Maggie Moo's Virago, Whiskey Kitchen, Tavern, Fidos, Sam's Nashville City Club, Melrose Pub, Puckett's, Noshville, Sambucca, Frothy Monkey, Miel, Corner Pub, 1808 Grille, The Standard, Boscos, Local Taco, Kayne, Whitfields, Chappy's, Mere Bulles, Arnold's, Sperry's and More! There is something for everyone. You may have seen me at many of these wonderful establishments because I really like the food or beverage of most of these restaurants. With all these restaurants, and more to come, offering tastes of their yummiest yums, Taste of Nashville is going to be the Nashville food event of the year!

The Phoenix Club of Nashville, the organizers of the Taste of Nashville, is really a wonderful organization with a really cool mission: To significantly impact the direction of our community youth by raising funds in a social setting that challenges young professional men to be community leaders. I need to say, the Phoenix Club of Nashville knows how to throw a food social party, and last year, this single event raised $16,000 for the Boys and Girls Club of Middle TN! Now that is a lot of funds, food, and fun!

Now get your typing keypad working, and leave me a comment with your NAME, EMAIL and best hidden gem restaurant in Nashville, and enter to win a change at 2 tickets to the Taste of Nashville 2011.

Pickled Green Tomatoes

some of the last take from my organic garden

green tomatoes, cayenne and basil

fresh green tomato pickles

OK. I went to hear Sandor Katz last weekend and he is the Wild Fermentation author, and kraut, yogurt, vinegar, food preserver extraordinaire! Well, I really learned a lot, and I am not scared to try and make my own now. Basically, all one needs to make pickles is salt, liquid and cucumbers. Any veggie will do he says.

Well, I went home after the workshop, and started to close down my veggie bed. I had a bunch of basil, cayenne and green tomatoes. I thought I would like to make some fresh green tomatoes. I found a recipe on the internet, and here it is.

Boil the jar.

Rinse the tomatoes and cayenne.

the ratio is

1 pint water

1/2 cup vinegar

2 tablespoons salt

1 minced garlic

dill

bring these to a sturdy simmer and make sure all the salt is dissolved

Put tomatoes and cayenne in a sterile jar

pour hot liquid over the tomatoes and cayenne

cool on the counter

close the lid and put in the fridge

Wait at least a few days before eating

Eat within a few months

Watch for mold etc, and don't eat if mold develops

Decisons!? Which one?

Decisions Decisions! Which one?! 2nd Annual Music City Chili Cookoff at Centennial Park, OR the 10th Annual Leipers Fork Chili Cookoff? Remember, we went last year to Leiper's Fork - Delicious and fun! Oh which one?!

(L)Erin of Erin's Food FIles,

(L) Vivek of Vivek's Epicurean Adventure

The winner of today's lunch is the 2nd Annual Music City Chili Cook Off at Centennial Park. I had a bunch of errands to run this morning, it was getting late, it would take too long to get to Leiper's Fork, so we went to the short 2 mile trip to Centennial Park. Plus, 2 of my favorite food bloggers are showing chili at the 2nd Annual Music City Chili Cook Off, so I wanted to try their wares. Erin of Erin's Food Files made a seasonal autumn chili with pumpkin in it. Vivek of Vivek's Epicurean Adventures made a dual brisket and pork chili flavored with home made ancho chili powder. AND! Who should I see in line at Erin and Vivek's table? Tabitha food blogger from Life A La Mode. Tabitha and I were having a ton of fun trying everyone's chili!

There were a lot of other chili offerings from Susan, Bellaterra, Wild Cow, Radio Free Nashville, Nashville Peace and Justice Center, 107.5 The River, Ryan, and many more. I wonder who is going to win. My votes go to Erin, Vivek, Susan and 107.5 The River (really it is the radio station's promotion manager putting a good spoon forward for this even).

Delicious! Thanks for tasty bites everyone! I loved every single bite!

Camping Out

We have some friends that are trying an experiment, the really big downsize from a 2 bedroom house to a 1 bedroom camper trailer. Their 2 bedroom house isn't big in today's mcmansion standards, but it was a typical 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen home. In today's words, their house was a good starter home for a double income no kids couple. Well, they decided to see if they can live even more stealthy, now they are in a 1 bedroom, small bathroom and one all purpose room camper. The bedroom is the size of a king sized bed with a double bed in it. That leaves about 1 ft on each side of the bed to walk around the bed. To get to the bedroom, you have to walk through the bathroom. There is a really small shower and a smaller than normal toilet. The multipurpose room a short couch, a dining table, a small kitchen and enough floor space to put a yoga mat. Living like this forces them to live minimally, live neat, live clean, and live with what really matters to them.

Our friends invited out to dinner at their place. It was really great! It was a nice evening, we sat outside, and we cooked out. Hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans and berry cobbler dessert. While we were cooking and chatting, some other neighbors took to the stage that is at one end of the camper park, and played all the good 70's and 80's standards. They were just far enough away that we could speak at normal levels, and the band was good enough that we really enjoyed having the free music while we relaxed. Our friends camper is near the laundry facilities, so other neighbors walking to do laundry came by to say hello. We had a good time chatting, eating, listening and saying hello to neighbors.

RV awning lights

fire ring

cooking on an open fire

dutch oven off the coals

cobbler inside the dutch oven

Best of Nashville 2011

Thank you so much Nashville Scene for the honor of a nice write up in the 2011 edition of the Best of Nashville (BON)! It is just an honor, and Thank You Thank You Thank You! I thank you for inviting me to the BON party too! What a trip! The party was catered by... who else?! The BON food winners! The party was catered by the best of Nashville restaurants! Now that is a fine catered party!

The Nashville Parthenon aka BON 2011 Party Central!

Beth from Beth's Eat.Drink.Smile blog.

Beth is #1 Food Blogger (tied with me) in my book!

If you want to know about food events and good food

in Nashville and where Beth travels, check out her blog!

Best Food Truck: Grilled Cheeserie was parked outside the food tent.

The man loves the tomato soup, and I love the gluten free grilled cheese.

Best Sushi: Samurai Sushi. I agree! Love your sushi!

Best Bagel: Star Bagel.

Best Cupcakes: 1.Gigi's, 2.Cupcake Collection, 3. Fiddlecakes

Fiddlecakes has a line of gluten free desserts, WOW!

Belmont Mascot: Bruin Bear. I took a photo of Bruin Bear because he is cute, not because he is part of the great Nashville food scene. BUT, I gotta tell ya, I have eaten in the Belmont Univ student cafe multiple times, and the pizza, the hot food options, the salad bar, ice cream bar,

skillet cook to order options are really good! The staff also eats at this cafeteria too because Belmont dining service is just that good!

Last Weekend

Nashville Culture Fest

Culture Fest: the food scene, there were a ton of food tents!

There were a Soul, Southern USA, Columbian, Thai, Japanese,

Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, BBQ USA, Mexican, Indian, Greek

Egyptian, Caribbean, Ethiopian, Cajun, and much more!

I will be there next year, so join me!

Culture Fest: Columbian arepas

Where can I get arepas in Nashville?

Culture Fest: Indian naan and curries

Culture Fest: panda

Culture Fest: singer

Slutwalk Nashville 2011

Slutwalk Nashville: Stop blaming the victim,

and blame the perpetrator of crime against women.

Look for Geeks!

Nashville's 3rd Annual Weekend-Long Event

October 21 - 23, 2011

Show Mid-TN's Non-Profits Some Love!

NashvilleGiveCamp.org

What is GiveCamp? GiveCamp is a worldwide weekend in nearly 50 locations, including Nashville, where tech geeks, programmers, coders, managers, tech professionals voluteer their expertise to their local non-profits and charitable organizations to help the non-profits with their computing and programming needs. Check out GiveCamp Worldwide for the wider view of GiveCamp.

What Nashville GiveCamp needs are volunteering programmers, web designers, tech geeks, developers, coders, project managers, organizers, logistics to help some of our local non-profits and charitable organizations with their coding, programming and computing needs. There maybe database building, programming, website building, or whatever programming needs crop up. Tech professionals please go to http://www.nashvillegivecamp.org/ to sign up! Sign up now for a few hours to all weekend!

What Nashville GiveCamp needs is to feed and hydrate all the volunteers for the weekend! If you can donate meals, snacks and/or beverages, please do! Contact Lora Stevenson-Obrohta to find out how you can donate meals, snacks and beverages. Lora.Stevenson@fireflylogic.com or give her a call at 615-962-3791 Also, if you donate, you WILL be recognized on the Sponsor page on the website, and GiveCamp will tell the world!

The Location in Nashville is sponsored by Goodwill Industries, David B Lifsey Career Solutions Center, 937 Herman St, Nashville, TN 37208 up near the Nashville Farmer's Market on Rosa Parks Blvd.

Which Charitable Organizations is GiveCamp Helping? Well, this years list has not been finalized yet, and will be announced on Friday October 21. But, here is the list of organizations from LAST YEAR, to give you and idea of some of our local non-profits:

• Agape Animal Rescue
• Community Resource Center
• Comprehensive Care Center
• Grandma's Camp
• NAPAS / TEAMS Institute
• Nashville Cares
• The Center For Family Development
• The Nashville Bridge

Come out, and help! Thank You!

Wild Fermentation Workshop!

Reserve Now!

Call 615-862-8580

Wild Fermentation Workshop

$15 for the cost of materials

Saturday October 8th, 1 - 3 pm

Beaman Park Nature Center

5911 Old Hickory Blvd

Ashland City, TN

(Bells Bend, Eatons Creek Area)

Photo of wine in bottles. The wine is made from grapes
Fermented with natural bacteria and yeast from the air.

Sandor Katz, famed author of Wild Fermentation, will be leading the workshop on Saturday. I have made various red wine varieties, I make diakon kim chee and yogurt, and I made (and still making) some red wine vinegar. I feel so accomplished making these at my home, but the reality is the bacteria are the ones doing all the work! I read a lot about making vinegar before I started, and it isn't that hard. I read Sandor Katz, Wild Fermentation. What I got from his book is that there are fermentation practices that have been going on for thousands of years because it is natures way. I can't wait to meet Sandor Katz and learn more about fermentation. I can't wait to learn how to make pickles! Mmm Pickles! See ya Saturday!

Nashville Food Bloggers Potluck

I am one of the Nashville Food Bloggers and I belong to the Nashville Food Bloggers group. It has been really nice meeting new foodie friends who like to blog about food like I do. When the Nashville Food Bloggers get together, the food is just amazing! There is no bulk S@m's or C@stc@ pre-made industrial food, it is all really well considered homemade dishes. Last week, Vivek hosted a Nashville Food Blogger potluck. It was delicious. Some of the dishes that I just was wowed about was a grilled shrimp and chicken dish with homemade marinade, homemade paneer in an Indian red curry, perfectly cute mini-macaroons, and homemade jalebi. There were other wowing dishes I was unable to photograph. Let me tell you, I ate like it was Thanksgiving. The recipes were wonderful. Vivek, when is the next Food Blogger party?

Vivek bring in Lisa's grilled shrimp and chicken

Melissa's bacon and chive toasted wrap

Vivek's charcuterie plate

My spicy gluten free (almost vegan except for local honey) peanut sauce & noodles

Cheese vegetarian lasagna

Grishma's jalebi

Tabitha's macaroons with lychee creme

Southern Fried

This is a recap of the Southern Fried Festival in Columbia, TN. What a really sweet festival. It wasn't too crowded. There festival was on Columbia Town Square which is a lovely town square. There was something nice for everyone from 1 - 101 yrs old. Next year, in mid-September, I will see you on the Columbia, TN Square for more Fried Goodness. If you didn't go this year, this is some of what you missed.

car mascot - Hamburgery waiting to get to the Southern Fried Fest

Stuffed chef welcoming us to the Southern Fried Fest

Fried food vendor showing their dishes

ribbon fries with processed cheez sauce

rib dog - pulled rib meat, sauce and slaw on a hotdog roll