Tag Archive | food

Cupcake collection – Nashville TN

Cupcake Collection in Nashville TN

I like sweets. I especially like cupcakes. Even though I like sweets, I am still really picky. I don’t like just any type of cupcakes. They have to be done very well. There is two parts to a delicious cupcake. (1) the cake part (2) the frosting. If either part is not done well, it can spell disaster.
Yes. I know this is a first world problem – to have a cupcake you do not like, but that’s the way it is.
My friend told me that the best place for cupcakes in Nashville was Cupcake Collection. Of course, that means I have to go!
When I entered the Cupcake Collection, after inhaling the wonderful fragrances of the bakery, I looked around for any indication of the cost of the cupcakes. I could not find prices listed anywhere so I assumed that these cupcakes were three dollars. At the most $2.50 maybe (if I was optimistic)? So I only ordered two. To my surprise the price was less than $4. My eyes widened as I did the quick mental math. Cheaper than I thought. Instead of doing a dance to celebrate my good fortune, I decided I was going to get more cupcakes. Might as well make it an even six.

In my head, I was dancing.

Coconut cream with key lime frosting – it had a coconut cream custard in the center! I was not expecting that, and I usually do not like cream filled anything, but this cream was so good. It was had a light coconut flavor. It was the consistency of cold vanilla pudding. When I bit into the cupcake the cream did not ooze out and make a mess. The tart sweet key lime frosting complimented the light sweet of the cake and coconut cream.
Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting – this was good but did not have as much carrot pieces or walnuts as Hey Cupcake. However, it was still a worthy contender for carrot cake.
Yellow cake with buttercream frosting – This was the best yellow plain cake cupcake that I had. So simple and sweet.
Sweet potato with cream cheese frosting – this was good almost like a muffin instead of a cupcake. I could eat this for breakfast everyday if I lived in Nashville.
Coconut cream with cream cheese frosting – More of the coconut cream custard in the center. More yum-yum.
Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting – I could tell this was the REAL deal red velvet cake and not some white cake with red food coloring. The flavors were rich and complex as only a true red velvet cake can be.

And I feel like a little piggy telling you this but I ate all six of them. I could not help myself. They were THAT good. And then I was sad that they were gone and Nashville is 6 hours away.

Nomad dosa – food truck Austin TX

Jan7

If you are like me, you probably never had a dosa before. It is best described as an Indian crepe.
I was in Austin for dinner and I did not know what I wanted to eat. After driving around, I knew that I wanted something light because I did not feel like eating too much. I decided on the food truck Nomad Dosa.

I ordered crispy dosa Kerala Kokonut (butternut squash, zucchini, carrots, eggplant, cauliflower, avocado). I chose basmati rice and sambar lentil soup as my side items. The lentil soup was good. Usually I don’t like eating beans, but if they are pureed into a smooth milkshake-like consistency, it is palatable.

By accident, I ended up eating a purely vegetarian meal. It was so tasty that it was not until afterwards that I realized, "Hey I did not eat any meat." From the picture of the food, you can see that once I began to eat , the filling is not the most appealing looking food. Trust me when I say it tasted better than it looked. It was just what I needed too- something light, but filling. The feeling of fullness made me start to wonder if I should try to go vegetarian for the health benefits, but then I thought about bacon and nixed that. Mmmmm bacon. But I digress.

Overall, this is a dish that will appeal to meat eaters and vegetarians alike. It has enough depth that you won’t miss the meat. Like most Indian food, it was full of spicy (not heat) flavors that stayed with me after I finished my meal. I had to brush my teeth and rinse with mouthwash to regain feeling in my taste buds.

Grits and Groceries – Saylors Crossing

Jan3

If you don’t know where Grits and Groceries is located, is hard for me to explain. It is in the middle of nowhere between Abbeville and Anderson South Carolina. Yes there is a sign that says Saylors Crossing, but that means nothing to me. All I know is that when I want to go to Grits and Groceries, I have to travel on a two-lane road through a small town called Due West going for some distance through a speed trap at 25 miles an hour. About 15 or 20 minutes on the other side of Due West, there is an intersection with a large chicken statute as your landmark. And this is how you know you’ve reached your destination.

So why would I make the trek into the deep country? For the praline bacon, of course. The praline bacon is delicious. It is scrumptious. It is addictive. It’s sweet, salty, crunchy, and everything you would want a vice to be.

But one cannot live on praline bacon alone. I ordered the big breakfast sandwich. It is basically a couple of eggs, bacon, and cheese on Texas toast. It is way too much food for me, but it was sufficient.

The picture in the top right corner was what my friend ordered. It was rabbit with a tomato based sauce served over grits. I don’t like grits, but I did taste the rabbit and it was good too.

If you want to go to Grits and Groceries, it is best to go in the summer time so that you can sit outside while you eat your breakfast. If you go in the winter time, there is probably going to be a 45 minute to an hour wait because this place is always crowded (and they don’t take reservations). I have talked to people that have traveled over an hour just to eat at this restaurant.

My suggestion is to order the praline bacon definitely. If you feel adventurous, try one of their gourmet specials. Pretty much everything on their menu is good, but something are AWESOME while others are just okay. Did I mention the praline bacon?

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.