| Filed under Entertainment Food
Thought I would show off some of the dishes we’ve been making lately. Enjoy
Panzanella Salad Bite
Mushroom, Pickled Onion Bruschetta
Naan Rising in Oven
This became sangria
Porchetta, Brussels Sprouts, Creamed Leeks
Citrus Watercress Salad
Citrus Panna Cotta
Pork Belly
More Pork Belly
I know, I know it’s been a while since I have blogged. I don’t have a very good excuse either! A lot has gone on since my last one so here’s a recap:
I got a job! Pretty much my dream job as well.
I passed my boards! That was a really hard feat but the worst parts were: a. going to take it in the middle of an ice storm and b. waiting a whole week for my results!
The husband-elect and I are embarking on one culinary adventure after another in our home and abroad. We’ve had a couple of dinner parties with friends in which we have broadened the horizons of our guests, then we have had our own minds blown in the most unlikely places such as Chattanooga, TN! St. John’s Meeting Place is an amazing spot there.
Our most recent adventures include that trip to Chattanooga to see Elton John and then to Savannah to finalize some wedding plans. Both trips were a lot of fun but they were both pretty action packed. The husband-elect and I are looking forward to a beach-do nothing vacation soon.
In more recent developments:
We have started a larger garden this year and E made me a couple of raised beds in which to grow our crops! We have radishes, carrots, sweet and hot peppers, brussel sprouts, te you, a host of herbs, tomatoes and lettuces. It’s going to be awesome! I hope we can keep the mice away this year so we can share this stuff with our peeps!
2 weekends ago was an especially exciting one as I went shopping for my wedding dress! I went down to Atlanta for the weekend to be with my mom, sis, and two of my very best friends. It also happened to be my sister’s birthday weekend so there was a lot of celebrating to do! I got to see my adorable niece whom I haven’t seen since Christmas and she has grown so much! She’s so adorable and spent all day Saturday with us as I tried on dress after dress looking for something that matched my unique personality. We didn’t have any luck Saturday but when Sunday came around I decided to give David’s Bridal a shot. We walked into the store, started looking at dresses, and there she was! The most perfect dress that I never thought I would fall in live with. Now, they did not have my size in the color I wanted but we clipped it to another one in a different color and I didn’t want to take it off! Needless to say, my mom and the rest of the crew loved it as well. I can’t wait to wear it in September!
Finally, this past weekend E and I hosted a birthday pizza party for his sister and cousin. This was not your ordinary pizza party though. We had mushroom crostini and arancini as the apps, a shaved asparagus and carrot salad, three different pizzas (mozzarella and olive oil, pesto chicken, and pepperoni with banana peppers), and we finished with a blood orange olive oil gelato, vanilla poppyseed cake with chocolate and a berry sauce. Everyone was well fed and we all had a lovely time. We even took advantage of the awesome weather and sat out by the fire for a while. It was a successful night!
I think that’s it for now! Thanks for reading and we will update again soon!
-M
| Filed under Destination Entertainment Food Wedding
Here’s some places to look if you’re planning a trip to Savannah soon:
Twitter:
Eat It. Like It
Well Fed Savannah
The Sparetime
Savannah Riverfront
| Filed under Entertainment Eric Travel Wedding
Wow – it’s just 7 months!! Almost everything is done (Oh except for our attire!). We have a short trip to Savannah scheduled for the end of next month to put the final touches on a few things. Hopefully Winter will be finished by then. It’s crazy here in TN… storms, wind, snow, spring-like 60° weather, floods… we’ve had it all this winter. But more and more days are warm… I know this because I get more and more days the top can go down on the convertible. You notice these things a lot more when you drive one.
So what’s been happening these last few months? Well, we got our Save the Date cards sent out. So those have links with relevant information like places to stay, agendas, etc. We have a caterer selected and I think we know where our dinner in Savannah will be held. We have a few surprises for the folks attending the ceremony with us. And so far, only a couple headaches have came up. But we’ve dealt with those the best we could. Remember folks, this is OUR wedding, not YOURS. We went to Nashville for a few days and saw the incredible William Shatner. He has a one-man show that he’s taken on the road. It’s basically an autobiographical stand-up. The man is amazing. He didn’t miss a beat during the whole show. So if he comes to your city, be sure to check him out. We had some amazing food at Midtown Cafe while we were there. Carlos Mencia was in Knoxville and we attended his hilarious (but too lengthy) show.
Mandee is well into her new career and loving it. She gets to stick needles into people and who wouldn’t like that! Soon she will get to cut people too. I envy her that!
On the agenda for the next month or so as I mentioned a trip to Savannah and also a few days in Chattanooga to attend Elton John’s concert there (If you’re counting, that’s 26 for me, 3 for Mandee).
Until next time. My best,
Eric
| Filed under Entertainment Food
OK, OK, this is supposed to be about our wedding preparation, I know. But we’ve had an exceptional week cooking some lovely goodies (the best was an arugula pesto pizza) but I wanted to share a recipe from my childhood.
Rhubarb Cobbler...Just like Mamma made.
2 C of cooked fruit (we started with about 3C of rhubarb and 1 C of strawberries)
1-1/2 C of Sugar
1 C Self Rising Flour
1 C Milk
1/2 C of Melted Butter
Pre-head oven to 350°
Cook your fruit with just a touch of water over medium high along with 1/2 C of sugar (more or less to taste). Until it reaches your desired consistency. I have texture issues so I like mine cooked pretty smooth).
While that’s cooking, mix 1 C Sugar, Milk, and Flour. Add in melted Butter. Pour fruit into a baking dish. Then pour fruit on top. Swirl it just a bit with a spoon. Top with some sprinkles of sugar to give it a bit of crunch.
Cook that sucker… until it’s done… Until the top is golden and crunchy. Take it out and be patient. It needs to rest a bit (this is the hardest part). 10 Minutes at least. Then you can dig in. Repeat after me, “YUM!”
I am remined several days a week usually how much i enjoy having someone to share culinary adventures with. Whether it is trying out new recipies, making up our own, or venturing out like we did this past weekend to explore new tastes. Here is some of our recent favorites that we have made.
| Filed under Entertainment Eric Food Mandee
We had a nice time last night at 31 Bisto with friends and family from Knoxville. A street singer was busking on the Square and we asked him to entertain us for a moment… hilarious. I’m quite certain he doesn’t even remember the encounter today. Hilarity!
| Filed under Entertainment
Last night, we had our very first taste (ahem) of a caterer’s food for our wedding… yeah, we are probably planning this a little early. Yum! A local caterer, Abner’s Attic, was hosting an open house. They certainly had some yummy food, but what most excited us was owner Rex told us he hated making the same thing twice and would really like to work with us on making our menu completely custom… THAT’S what we wanted to hear. Mandee and I are both foodies and we love to craft dishes as much as we like to eat them. So working together with someone to develop a menu really excited us.
~E
| Filed under Entertainment Eric Mandee
And so it begins… my last year in the 30s has started! I sit and write this on what would have been my dad’s 80th birthday. Wow, hard to believe. What a nice weekend it was, even though it started off a little rocky. Friday evening, my niece Taylor was sent to the emergency room. She has been suffering with a strange absess of a tooth that had migrated into her jaw and she needed emergency surgery. We’ve been thoroughly impressed with the care given by her surgeon, Jason Kennedy.
Mandee was going to cook a big dinner for friends and family on Saturday, but given that my sister and Taylor would have booth been exhausted, we decided to put it off until Sunday. As a backup, we joined Brian and Jerry for dinner and then cigars, drinks, and a great new local band, Taboo, at Baker Peters Jazz Club.
Julia Child Beef Bourguignon
| Filed under Entertainment
“At last, my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh, yeah, at last
The skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clovers
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to rest my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh, yeah when you smile, you smile
Oh, and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine
At last”
ETTA JAMES
Mandee prepping a beverage in the background.
Cee Lo Green lives about a mile from Mike & Melissa!
We had a relaxing day and a half there and dinner with Angel and Jason as well. It was nice to relax a bit. Mandee made a fantastic dinner (even though I forgot half the ingredients at Mike and Melissa’s… that’s how I roll). Then we started the long drive back to Knoxville.
Tuesday we went to my sister and brother-in-law’s house for what was expected to be a lighter lunch…I, of course, ended up in a chair asking someone to cut the stack cake and buckeyes out of my stomach to bring me some relief. My sister’s big gift to Mandee and I was a 2-year project she had been working on. A 3-volume collection of our family’s favorite recipies. What a great treasure. 
So all-in-all it was one of the best holidays ever! Now, it’s time to eat healthily and get 2012 started!!
(sorry about the weird image rotation problem in this post)
It’s almost Thanksgiving! The day that we sit around, stuff our faces, and be grateful the pilgrams gave the Indians (oop, Native Americans) small pox. I’m excited about Mandee joining my family on Thanksgiving and then on Friday, we drive South to Douglasville to spend a little time with Mandee’s family. It’ll be hectic, but fun. The poor doggies are going to be boarded so I’m sure they will be thoroughly traumatized by the time we return. I am making a potato dish and Mandee is making… wait for it… banana pudding! Yum! It’s a very warm Thanksgiving week by East Tennessee standards. Yesterday at 74° with Storms. Let’s hope this warm weather holds out a couple more weeks!
| Filed under Entertainment Eric Food Mandee
It was a pleasant, lazy, weekend for us. We took in Tower Heist at the theater, caught up on American Horriry Story (If you haven’t watched it, do so!), and made a video… not THAT kind of video! This is the first year that Mandee will not be home for Thanksgiving. We agreed to divide the holidays and we are going to spend Thankgiving here in Knoxville and then Christmas in Atlanta. Mandee is the designated ‘Dressing Maker’ for her family’s Thankgiving and it’s a tradition handed down from her Mema. So we thought it would be a fun idea to make a video tutorial of her cooking dressing as a treat for the family.
Check Out Mema\'s Dressing Recipie Here.
| Filed under Entertainment Eric Life
So I came home from work yesterday after some frustrations and Mandee had prepared the most wonderful meal of Lasagna in Bechemel Sauce and A Salad with homemade dressing. What a lucky fella!
I’m not old fashioned by any means. And neither is Mandee. But this simple gesture after a long day, meant to much to me. Thank you dear!
| Filed under Entertainment Eric
Loving this right now! Hmmmm
Antique Diamond & 18K White Gold Art Deco Engagement Ring
via Antique/Vintage Jewelry | Gesner Estate Jewelry/Antique Engagement Rings/Vintage Jewelry.