Farmer Shed – Tuesday lunch

Jan1

I was on my way to Savannah and was driving through Lexington, SC at lunch time. How fortuitous for me! I decided that I needed to stop by Farmer’s Shed for lunch. I was all ready to order the cranberry pork chop, when the lady taking my order said "That is Wednesday’s menu. Today is Tuesday."

Oh.
I was in a quandary now. I did not know what I wanted to order. I finally decided to get the chicken pot pie, collards, and squash casserole. The collards were very tasty as usual. And the squash casserole was equally wonderful. However, for me, the chicken pot pie was just okay.

(1) I thought I was going to order pork chops. I was so thrown off, that it did not really matter what I ate. The enthusiasm that I had going in was gone.
(2) Even though there was a lot of good flavor in the pot pie, there was so many peas. I don’t like peas. I spend more time picking peas out of the pie than actually eating it.
Complaints aside, the crust on the pie was flakey, delicious goodness. There was a lot of meat which made this very filling. That being said, the peas are a deal breaker so I would not order again. I hate peas that much.

If I do, I will make sure of the day’s menu so I can avoid taste bud disappointment (that has to be a first world problem). All in all, this a Triple D pick that was on point. Sometimes his suggestions can be hit or miss. I am not above giving credit when credit is due. Good going Guy Fieri!

Amerigo’s

Jan1

Amerigo’s
Nashville, TN
Italian

While visiting my bestie Nashville, we all went to Amerigo’s because their menu looked delicious and we were hungry for Italian food.

First item that caught my eye was the cheese fritter. There was a blurb on the menu saying that they were given an award by Bon Appetit for their cheese fritters. I had to try these to see what all the fuss was about. About the size of a large hush puppy, it was fried cheddar cheese served with marinara and honey mustard sauce. I like cheese and I like fried foods, but this was a little too rich for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was good but I don’t know if I will order that again. It was kind of heavy as an appetizer.

On the other hand, the crab cake appetizer was TO DIE FOR. I can describe it is two words: No Filler. It was pure chunks of tender, flakey crab meat in the center of a some sort of salad with corn, white beans, and other stuff. I loved the crab cake.

For my main course I ordered Gemilli and Sausage in vodka tomato cream sauce. Instead of gemilli pasta, I substituted angel hair. The dish contained ground sausage, peppers, onions, and asiago cheese. I topped with a mountain of Parmesan cheese. YUM

I love angel hair spaghetti and this sauce was cheesy deliciousness. There was so much sausage, it seemed that every bit had a piece in it.
Some Italian restaurants serve dishes with sauces that are kind of bland, but that is not the case with Amerigo’s. This entrée was full of flavor from the tomatoes, peppers and onions while the sausage provided hearty, meaty goodness.

And even though I did not have any room, I ordered dessert. I had been told that their tiramisu was really good. That analysis was correct. The ladyfingers were not totally soaked but moist enough to provide texture to the dessert. The mascarpone cheese had a hint of sweetness that complimented the chocolate sauce that was on the plate. I so full from dinner that I ended up taking most of it in a to-go box but it was gone by morning. After having a dream about it, I woke up during the night to finish it off. IT. WAS. THAT. GOOD.

Overall: Go to Amerigos for dinner (and possibly a crab cake) but make sure to save room for tiramisu.

Closing 2012 with THE Opinionated Woman awards

Dec31

Opinionated Woman Awards for 2012

As year 2012 comes to an end, I decided that as part of my reflection over the past year I will give awards based on categories that I chose. There are two main categories: Literary and Foodie awards. I know these awards have little significance, but since this is my blog I make the rules.

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Literary Awards

Favorite author of the year – Brenda Jackson

Her books have consistency and predictability in a good way. I have liked all of her books so far. The characters were alike in many ways but different enough so it was not the retelling of the same story over and over.

Favorite book of the year – The billionaire wins the game by Melody Anne

This book is super sweet. I love the story of Amy and Lucas. They are wonderful characters and their story is heartwarming. This book has become my go to novel when I went to read something pleasant and comforting.

Favorite thriller of the year – All for one by Ryne Douglas Pearson

I had so many emotions reading this book. A bully is murdered and his victims are the suspects. Even though I wanted justice to be served, I was sympathetic to his victims and part of me did not want them to be found guilty even if they were. The author did a wonderful job of weaving an engaging story.

Hottest romance of the year – The Proposal by Brenda Jackson

It is no surprise that Jackson is bringing the heat. Jason and Bella have a super steamy romance and a wonderful story to go along with it.

Creepiest book of the year – Auld Lang Sigh by Jennifer Connor

In this story Ella and Lee hook up after she misses her bus going home. He owns a copy shop in the building where she lives. To me, he comes off like a stalker because he is super observant regarding the details of Ella’s life. He is a stranger but knows a lot about her lifestyle since he has been watching her. As he recounted many of his observations, warning bells should have been ringing in Ella’s head. Instead she sleeps with him! This is very risky behavior to me even if this is a nonsensical romance novel.

Foodie Awards

Favorite restaurant of the year – Chicago Grill

What can I say? I love the chicken Philly. The bread is wonderful, there is plenty of seasoning on the meat, and the peppers and cheese are scrumptious.

Favorite food truck of the year – Asada

Everything that I have tried from Asada has been delicious. I am following them on Facebook so that I know where they will be serving lunch when I have an opportunity to be in Greenville. And as I followed them around town, I hope that they will decide to serve empanadas that day since that is my favorite dish from their food truck.

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So even though it does not mean much, I congratulate all of the 2012 award winners. I look forward to trying even more things, reading more books, and sharing more opinions in 2013.

Sweet 16th a bakery – Nashville TN

Dec29

Sweet 16th a bakery – Nashville TN
I found out about this bakery from a foodie friend. He posted pictures to his profile and I knew that the next time I was in Nashville, TN I had to go.
When I entered Sweet 16th bakery, I was ecstatic. I wanted to sing. I wanted to order one of everything. Realistically, I knew I could not do that because I would weigh 500 pounds if I ate everything I saw.
In the end I settled for some macaroons, an apple crisp bar, and something called heavenly scones. These scones were definitely heavenly. A touch of sweetness and not overly crumbly. I ate them with strawberry jam and it was delicious. The apple crisp bar had a thick cookie-like crust with apples and granola and brown sugar on top. The macaroons were as you would expect. These were coconut version, not the fancy colorful French macaroons that you see everywhere now. Full of coconut flavor. They were tasty as well.

Best of all was the price. Everything was super cheap in my estimation. I think that when I see food of this caliber, I immediately expect to pay Panera/Atlanta Bread Company prices (If you don’t understand the reference, you can spend close to $10 easy for pastries/bread/sandwiches for one at those aforementioned places).

Sweet 16th has become one of my go-to bakeries when in Nashville.
My advice to you: Order your goodies. Order a cup of tea or coffee. And you are set for the morning.

Hey Cupcake – Austin TX

Dec27

Hey Cupcake – in a food truck park on Congress in Austin Texas
If you have not figured out by now, I love desserts especially cupcakes. When I was in Austin Texas I saw this on the converted it into a food truck selling cupcakes. I had to have one of course.

Of all the flavors, carrot cake cupcakes stood out the most for me. I used a couple of factors in determining my choice.

The difficulty or time involved for me to make myself. I like to bake so I know what goes in to baking a cake. So if I am going to buy a cupcake I like to choose flavors that are very complex and would require more time and effort for me to make myself.

The availability in my home town. There are several bakeries in my hometown that also serve cupcakes. If I’m going to buy a flavor of cupcake, I wanted to be something that I cannot readily purchase in my hometown.

So that being said, any time I can get a carrot cake cupcake I’m going to try that one (I don’t like spending all that time shredding carrots).

This carrot cake cupcake was so delicious. It had large pieces of walnuts in its which made me so happy. The cake was moist and full of carrot pieces which provided a rich flavor. The cream cheese frosting was also very tasty. It was super creamy with a consistency of room temperature butter. This was quite possibly one of the best carrot cake cupcakes that I have ever had. I did not ask the food truck vendor for the recipe for the cupcake (I think that would have been rude to ask for the recipe at a restaurant since they might think you want to make at home instead of buying from them) but the cake tasted very similar to a recipe that I downloaded from food network’s website. It was an Emeril’s carrot cake recipe.

Final verdict: When I am in Austin Texas again, I definitely have to stop by Hey Cupcake for more delicious treats.