Greetings from Nashville, TN!

[vraiblonde]

I love TN anyway and have visited a few of their cities - Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Gatlinburg - so I'm really looking forward to exploring Nashville.

We're staying at an Extended Stay and I appreciate the space. Tonight we went grocery shopping, which may not thrill everyone but I was dancing in the aisles. The Kroger here is like a Whole Foods - there's even a little bar where you can stop off for a beer or glass of wine, or park the man while you shop.

Had dinner at a place called Vittles in Brentwood. I had a fried chicken breast that was lightly battered and fried up crispy, with real mashed potatoes (!) and fried corn (!). Monello had pot roast with turnip greens, carrot souffle (!), and fried corn.

Our list of things to do is a mile long. The Hermitage; the Country Music Hall of Fame; the Johnny Cash museum; plus my grandson's other grandparents live here so we'll be visiting with them as well. There is Hot Chicken to eat and whiskey to drink, and we have six days in which to do it all.

 

[Bann]

I love TN anyway and have visited a few of their cities - Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Gatlinburg - so I'm really looking forward to exploring Nashville.

We're staying at an Extended Stay and I appreciate the space. Tonight we went grocery shopping, which may not thrill everyone but I was dancing in the aisles. The Kroger here is like a Whole Foods - there's even a little bar where you can stop off for a beer or glass of wine, or park the man while you shop.

Had dinner at a place called Vittles in Brentwood. I had a fried chicken breast that was lightly battered and fried up crispy, with real mashed potatoes (!) and fried corn (!). Monello had pot roast with turnip greens, carrot souffle (!), and fried corn.

Our list of things to do is a mile long. The Hermitage; the Country Music Hall of Fame; the Johnny Cash museum; plus my grandson's other grandparents live here so we'll be visiting with them as well. There is Hot Chicken to eat and whiskey to drink, and we have six days in which to do it all.

Okay, I saw the carrot souffle on the FB post and I am so stuck on that! Would love to have the recipe. Think they'd part with it?

 

[Bann]

Oh, and of course - can't wait to hear all about Nashville.

 

[vraiblonde]

Okay, I saw the carrot souffle on the FB post and I am so stuck on that! Would love to have the recipe. Think they'd part with it?

It wasn't a "souffle" like we think of it - it was more of a casserole. Not smooth or light, it was chunky and hearty. If I were going to try and recreate it, my first attempt would be to follow this recipe - http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-souffle - but mash the carrots and leave lots of nice chunks.

 

[Bann]

It wasn't a "souffle" like we think of it - it was more of a casserole. Not smooth or light, it was chunky and hearty. If I were going to try and recreate it, my first attempt would be to follow this recipe - http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/carrot-souffle - but mash the carrots and leave lots of nice chunks.

Mmmm. Sounds good, will have to try it out.

 

[DEEKAYPEE8569]

Vrai, are you interested in the non-digestible also? It's not all tasty food and country music in Nashville. There are some cover bands that are worth going to see. I could suggest one, if you like.

 

[stew77]

I love to read about these..Keep up the good work! Thanks!! I went to the Hermitage my last trip to Nashville and loved it!

 

[vraiblonde]

I went to the Hermitage my last trip to Nashville and loved it!

This is on the To Do list. We - and by "we" I mean "I" - also want to see the Country Music Hall of Fame. Yesterday we went to their Beale Street/Bourbon Street - here its called The District - and it was extremely cool. Live music and roof top bars everywhere, lots to see and do. They have a drunk bus that's more of a moving bar that the patrons pedal through the streets while they enjoy a libation. It's right on the Cumberland River, which is gorgeous, and across the river is Titans Stadium.

We toured the Johnny Cash museum and even Monello enjoyed it. Tons of memorabilia and exhibits of Johnny's life and career. Then we walked across the Shelby Street Bridge, which connects downtown to the stadium.

We found a pizza place called Blaze, with wood fired pizza that was super super good. Wait for it....

It's a chain.

And the good news is that there are locations in two of our upcoming destinations.

We are madly in love with Nashville so far and wish our friends were here with us to bar hop.

 

[vraiblonde]

Also - sorry to post this - but yesterday was a beautiful sunny day here and tons of people were out shaking off their cabin fever. And today promises to be more of the same.

 

[GWguy]

Also - sorry to post this - but yesterday was a beautiful sunny day here and tons of people were out shaking off their cabin fever. And today promises to be more of the same.

SO MUCH rain here. Looks like it's going to clear tomorrow/wen for about a week. BUT.... I'm heading to AR for a week, and guess what the weather is predicted for there!?!?! Rain and t-storms all week!!! And it looks like as I arrive home, those storms will be getting to MD for ANOTHER week of rain.

 

[belvak]

This is on the To Do list. We - and by "we" I mean "I" - also want to see the Country Music Hall of Fame. Yesterday we went to their Beale Street/Bourbon Street - here its called The District - and it was extremely cool. Live music and roof top bars everywhere, lots to see and do. They have a drunk bus that's more of a moving bar that the patrons pedal through the streets while they enjoy a libation. It's right on the Cumberland River, which is gorgeous, and across the river is Titans Stadium.

We toured the Johnny Cash museum and even Monello enjoyed it. Tons of memorabilia and exhibits of Johnny's life and career. Then we walked across the Shelby Street Bridge, which connects downtown to the stadium.

We found a pizza place called Blaze, with wood fired pizza that was super super good. Wait for it....

It's a chain.

And the good news is that there are locations in two of our upcoming destinations.

We are madly in love with Nashville so far and wish our friends were here with us to bar hop.

View attachment 113177

Keep the updates coming!! I'm loving all the pictures on Facebook too!!!

SO MUCH rain here. Looks like it's going to clear tomorrow/wen for about a week. BUT.... I'm heading to AR for a week, and guess what the weather is predicted for there!?!?! Rain and t-storms all week!!! And it looks like as I arrive home, those storms will be getting to MD for ANOTHER week of rain.

So, I finally know who has the rain cloud firmly affixed over their head!! When did this rain cloud affliction first start affecting you? I don't remember rain like this for a long time! I hope it leaves you soon!

 

[GWguy]

So, I finally know who has the rain cloud firmly affixed over their head!! When did this rain cloud affliction first start affecting you? I don't remember rain like this for a long time! I hope it leaves you soon!

 

[Bann]

This is on the To Do list. We - and by "we" I mean "I" - also want to see the Country Music Hall of Fame. Yesterday we went to their Beale Street/Bourbon Street - here its called The District - and it was extremely cool. Live music and roof top bars everywhere, lots to see and do. They have a drunk bus that's more of a moving bar that the patrons pedal through the streets while they enjoy a libation. It's right on the Cumberland River, which is gorgeous, and across the river is Titans Stadium.

We toured the Johnny Cash museum and even Monello enjoyed it. Tons of memorabilia and exhibits of Johnny's life and career. Then we walked across the Shelby Street Bridge, which connects downtown to the stadium.

We found a pizza place called Blaze, with wood fired pizza that was super super good. Wait for it....

It's a chain.

And the good news is that there are locations in two of our upcoming destinations.

We are madly in love with Nashville so far and wish our friends were here with us to bar hop.

<img src="http://forums.somd.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=113177"/>

That moving bar/bus looks like it could be great fun for a Friday night get together!! Oh, the situations we could get into! The

 

[vraiblonde]

Yesterday we visited the town of Franklin, TN, which is about 20 miles south of Nashville and has a beautiful historic downtown. It's what Leonardtown is shooting for with their future planning.


Then we visited several neighborhoods and city parks in Nashville. Nashville is quite large, with many urban amenities but it still retains a small town atmosphere. I have never seen so many huge beautiful churches in my life. It seems like there's a megachurch on every corner - they call Tennessee "The Buckle of the Bible Belt" and it has the most megachurches per capita in the country. Nashville alone has 11 megachurches and probably about a million smaller ones.

We visited Bicentennial Mall State Park, which is right downtown and looks up to the Capitol building. There's also a "farmer's market" right alongside it, and that's in quotes because it's more like an indoor/outdoor food and shopping market.




Next we visited Centennial Park, which features The Parthenon, which is a Nashville landmark created for the 1897 Tennessee Centennial Exposition and is now an art museum. It, too, is right smack in the middle of city and has a beautiful pond.



Nashville is a walking city and you see people out all over the place, but it's not crowded. They use their city parks here - both of the ones we visited had a good number of people out enjoying them (on a Monday!).

 

[belvak]

Great pictures! Glad you two are enjoying your stay in Nashville!

 

[vraiblonde]

Yesterday was the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and afterward had dinner at Puckett's in the village of Leiper's Fork.

The CMHoF is seriously interesting, even if you don't particularly care about country music or any of its offshoots. There is a ton of memorabilia of stars from Jimmie Rodgers to Blake Shelton, and exhibits showing the evolution of country music from Granny's porch to the Grand Old Opry to sold out stadiums. They have a tribute to various session musicians, and a whole wing dedicated to Sam Phillips and Sun Studio. There's plenty of kid friendly exhibits and activities, and you'd easily spend a couple hours in there.




Leiper's Fork is just south of Nashville, one of their many tiny little towns with interesting commercial areas. This particular area, the commerce is a couple of local artist stores and Puckett's bar/restaurant/grocery, where we munched on pulled pork and cauliflower casserole and drank beer on the patio.




Tonight we're going to my grandson's other grandparents' home for dinner and I wanted to take them a little "thank you for feeding us" present. So this afternoon we went back to Bicentennial Mall to the market so I could put together a goody basket. We had lunch at Bella Nashville, which is hippie pizza (made by real hippies!). The 'za was so good, it's our choice for last Nashville meal tomorrow (and I take back what I said about Blaze being so wonderful - THIS pizza is wonderful).

 

[lovinmaryland]

If you have time for two last meals LOL you should hit up this place. We went in December when we were in Nashville it was excellent! http://thesouthernnashville.com/menu/#evenings

 

[vraiblonde]

If you have time for two last meals LOL you should hit up this place. We went in December when we were in Nashville it was excellent! http://thesouthernnashville.com/menu/#evenings

That looks really good!

I meant to hit Prince's Hot Chicken Shack, but we just didn't get there. Monello has been good about letting me get my way that I told him he could have that pizza again.

 

[vraiblonde]

And we did end up at Prince's instead of pizza again. It's in a rough neighborhood - rough for Nashville, not rough for Baltimore - and it's just a tiny little hole in the wall with limited seating and a limited menu, but people come from all over the country for this chicken. There are six levels of heat and since I like spicy I chose "hot", which made the counter lady raise her eyebrow. So I asked her, should I go down a level? And she said, well, it's pretty hot so it depends on how hot you like it. There were two levels hotter than "hot", so I thought what the heck - go for it.

Holy cow.

A couple of bites in my mouth went numb. A few more bites and it felt like my lips were all over my face. The chicken comes with white bread and pickle slices, and I'm glad I got extra pickles because it helped quell the napalm this bird was apparently coated with. But it was delicious so I ate it all up - a breast and a wing - and suffered the consequences. Next time I'd get the medium.