A Second Dinner Party, Trivia, and a Good Luck (and Sad) Send-Off

[Note: Found this old post that I never published. Sorry!!]

After last week’s Valentine’s dinner, we decided to try to make it a regular thing. The original plan was to take a week or two off, but at the last minute a second dinner was planned for Sunday. My friend Steve hosted, but I still cooked. Part of my menu really needed some new kitchen toys, so I headed to Lit Saturday morning. I REALLY love this store. If you need utensils, serving platters, peelers, ramekins, plates, party supplies, salt shakers, bread baskets, heavy duty sinks and fryers, and even industrial size bags of shrimp – this is the place to go. Just make sure to give yourself enough time to browse the aisles… and then go back and look again just to make sure you didn’t miss anything. I went for two things and came back with eight. I didn’t take any pictures of the inside, but don’t be fooled by the unadorned exterior. It is definitely worth a visit.

After a trip to TWO grocery stores Sunday morning, I prepped all day, making another huge (but fun) mess in my kitchen. Then I packed it all up and headed to South Main. Steve was an excellent sous chef, helping with whatever I asked (and pouring the wine!). As others showed up, everyone pitched in to help – whipping eggs whites, stuffing chicken, seasoning asparagus. That is when dinners seem the most fun – when everyone cooks together. Plus, we had delicious hors d’oeuvres of stuffed mushroom and a lima bean dip to keep us going.

We finally sat down to dinner a bit late than anticipated, but at least we the Olympics on all night to entertain us while we waited. The first course was a bacon and poached egg salad with corn muffins (I got inspiration from a Circa dish I tried a few weeks ago). Then came the main course of chicken stuffed with a garlic herb cheese, toasted almonds, and fresh parsley. The sides were roasted asparagus and butternut squash with curry, honey, and raisins. Dessert was a chocolate cheese pot and “bread & jelly pancakes”, which I made up one night (after drinking obviously) and are thick, chewy, and delicious!

Another fun night with friend and good food! I love my downtown family.

After a full and fantastic weekend, we had a bittersweet Tuesday night at trivia. Our friends, Nick & Sarah, are moving away from us. To celebrate their time here in Memphis, we all gathered at the Saucer for cake, cards, and memory sharing. Best of luck to Nick & Sarah! We will miss you. Just know we will all be coming to visit you in Chicago… well, when it gets warmer at least!!

Soup Sunday

Two weeks ago was the annual Soup Sunday fundraising event for Youth Villages. Over 30 local restaurants participated, offering up their best soup, gumbo, bread, dessert, or specialty item. Each had a booth set up in the concourse, forming a huge circle of food! For a $20 donation, you go to taste it all, then vote on your favorites.

We arrived about 15 minutes before it started to find the lobby already completely packed, everyone anxiously awaiting the tasting to start. From attending in past years, my friend and I had our game plan ready. They opened the doors, we grabbed our trays, skipped the first few booths, and each collected a few samples. When our trays were full, we met back up to share. If you don’t mind it, sharing is KEY at this event or you will get too full too fast!

I made the lap around the Forum, making sure I didn’t miss anything, making notes on my handy guide. When finished, I am not going to lie – I went back and gathered my favorites for a second round of tasting so I could make an educated vote!

After retasting, I had my soup vote narrowed down to three – Bahama Breeze’s seafood chowder, Grove Grill’s creamy French onion soup, and Royal Panda’s hot & sour soup. In the end, I voted for the Panda. I have had many variations of the hot & sour before, but none have ever compared to this one. Plus, I felt like I could eat more of it compared to the creaminess of my other two finalists.

My other votes: Flying Fish in the gumbo category; A Moveable Feast’s roasted zucchini, garlic, and parmesan dip in the specialty category (SO refreshing, unique, and delicious); Dixie Café’s homemade rolls in the bread category (incredibly soft, moist, yeasty); and Paula Deen’s Buffet’s strawberry cake balls in the dessert category (melt-in-your-mouth creamy, covered with a thin layer of white chocolate).

Yeah, I definitely laid on a couch for 9 hours after the event, deliciously happy and full. What a great event to raise money for such a worthy cause. Plus, you get to try food from restaurants you might not get to otherwise.

And bonus! Since Royal Panda had provided so much of their delicious soup, I got to take a cup home. It didn’t even make it to the next day. Somehow I found room in my stomach to eat it for dinner. If you didn’t make it to Soup Sunday this year, become a fan of Youth Villages on facebook, follow them on Twitter, and check back on their website for next year’s date.

PICTURES! (click to see larger)

The crowd anxiously awaits, the first round of tasting, The Memphis Doctors Dance Band provides live music.


The concourse was lined with booths, full trays of tasting with friends, the Sweet Potato Queens volunteered.


Gathering up my favorites, my top 3 soups, the TALL stack of cups after tasting.

Itta Bena

My wife had never been to Itta Bena and we had a baby sitter on a Saturday night... SCORE! On our way out the door, I snapped a pic of us enjoying our escape for the night!

We decided to walk since it wasn't as cold as it has been and made a stop at S.O.B. for a few drinks, caught up with some friends there and then made our way to Beale St. and Itta Bena.

Itta Bena is located on the 3rd floor of B.B. King's and is a great place for a romantic dinner. Many thanks to @briand137 for food suggestions!

We had our great waiter, Mark, take a picture of us after eating most of our dinner (don't worry, I finished mine after this photo). I must say, we were stuffed! They have very large portions and you won't leave the place hungry, that's for sure!







After dinner we met up with some friends at Dyer's Burgers on Beale St. (no we did not eat anything else, in fact, we didn't eat again for about 15 hours) on our way to the New Daisy Theater to wish some friends in the band New Science System good luck before they took the stage. Make it Metal!

Soup Sunday 2010: This Sunday!

Soup Sunday is this Sunday, should be great! For more information:
http://support.youthvillages.org/site/PageNavigator/SoupSunday

Time Flies Catchup 2

After a busy four days, I decided to take a break to stay in and watch the Olympics and other reality TV Wednesday and Thursday nights. I had hoped to make it poker at Calhouns, but it has become quite popular, so all the spots had been filled. But… it gave me the opportunity to rest up for my awesome Friday night.

My apartment building does events for residents from time to time and recently has really stepped in up to plan some great fun things. The first was a wine tasting Friday night! With NINE wines, cheese & crackers, mini sandwiches, and some hot hors d’oeuvres, it was a perfect way to mingle with neighbors and start a weekend.

After meeting some new friends and catching up with old neighbors (and feeling a bit tipst from the tasting), I headed to the Primetime bowling alley… with my pink bowling ball!! It was surprisingly not full, so that gave us the opportunity to get two lanes next to each other. What a night! 8 people, $4 per game, $5 beer pitchers…. For a three hour evening of bowling with constant beer pours – we ended up paying about $30 a person. Not bad considering we bowled four games and went through about 14 pitchers of beer!! Well, I will also say some of us spent a bit more with our bets on the games. It started with $1 per game, but quickly evolved into side bets on full games, singles frames, and even one ball tries.

Pictures: Everyone is gearing up to bowl, Betting pool, feeling happy after an evening of bowling!

Saturday night was a birthday celebration for Stephanie at the Flying Saucer. I helped by sneaking the cake in! After a low start to the night, the bar got crowded and the beer was freely flowing by the time the basketball game was over and the Forum crowd made their way out. I think the birthday girl had a great time!

Time Flies Catchup 1

Wow! How time flies when there is SO much going on. If you follow Downtown Memphis on Facebook and Twitter, I am sure you have seen all the places we go and what we have been up to. But going to all these things keeps us so busy! I apologize for not having the time to actually blog about it. I will do my best to catch up now and stay more up-to-date in the future :-)

I guess when I left you last, I had just seen Jersey Boys. The next weekend I decided to stay home Friday night to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. I must say I have a bit of an obsession with the Games. My DVR is hating me right now with 4 hour blocks being recorded every night. However that Saturday ended up being a BIG night. We started off at the Flying Saucer celebrating our trivia team wins. With over $400 to spend, it certainly got a little crazy. Once the tab was spent (we must have been drinking FAST), a bunch of us headed to Calhoun’s for their annual Mardi Gras party. Not only did they have a bunch of beads and such to hand out, there was also the gumbo contest! Four local downtownians had each made a huge pot, and for $5 you got to taste all of them and vote on your favorites! Delicious night! No pictures from Saturday? Oops, I plead the fifth J

Sunday I spent the day grocery shopping and cooking. I decided to host a dinner party at my apartment for many of us without dates on Valentine’s Day. And what a dinner party it was. I may live in an 11^th floor apartment, but there is still plenty of room for an 8 person dinner table! After two kinds of hors d’oeuvres dips, a homemade red bell pepper soup, baked catfish with spinach and mushrooms, cauliflower mash, sautéed green beans, a savory sweet potato dessert cakes, panna cotta with blueberries, several bottles of wine, and half bottle of rum, everyone was full and feeling good. We continued the evening watching Sunday night TV shows and the Olympics.

Monday and Tuesday were trivia nights – first at Local Gastropub, then at the Flying Saucer. With only two on our team Monday, we placed (a close) fourth but still had fun. Also, as much as some of their food is a bit underwhelming, I will say they make amazing French fries! I forgot how we placed Tuesday, but I think that may have been the week we finished out of the money. With a big party just past, I figure its ok to take one week off from dominance and give someone else a chance! LOL! At least we had some King Cake, it being Mardi Gras and all. A big thanks to my mom for bringing back a real one from New Orleans!