Meditteranean Quinoa Salad

Just a quick post to share a great recipe I found via Tastespotting. I recently bought 4 pouches of red quinoa via Amazon and was dragging my feet with finding recipes to use it in.

I saw this recipe and luckily had most of the ingredients on hand. I made it last night with a few modifications. I didn't have kalamata olives so I used capers in order to still get that brine-y, salty flavor. I also omitted the oregano because I normally don't enjoy dried oregano (it makes me think of pizza!).

The result was pretty great. It had tons of flavor and was pretty healthy to boot!

And now for my first food photo since returning to blogging....



So yeah, not great. But better than nothing. Expect more crappy iphone photos in the future! I'm working on a big post on all the amazing food I ate while in Philadelphia last week. Stay tuned!

Beans & Greens

Beans and greens. A classic combo that is a staple in the South. Most southerners tend to make their greens with ham hock, hog jaw, or some type of pork fat. I am certainly not opposed to this and will never pass up greens at my go-to local soul food restaurant, Kleer-Vu. But sometimes you wanna lighten up. Enter Isa Chandra Moskovitz and her amazing recipe for "Hottie Black Eyed Peas and Greens" from the Appetite for Reduction cookbook. This recipe made me a believer.

Basically, greens are steamed and simmered in a combo of veggie broth, tomato sauce, and hot sauce (hello Cholula!). Black eyed peas are added and smashed to thicken the sauce. The secret ingredient, however, is liquid smoke. I've never used liquid smoke before and now I know what I've been missing. It has the power to infuse anything you cook with smokey-bbq-ey goodness. I highly recommend this meal as a quick and healthy supper. Also great if you need to up your fiber intake (and who doesn't?). MAKE IT TONIGHT!

PS- Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm still trying to get back into the blogging swing of things and haven't yet remembered to document my recent dishes.

Sushi Salad

Sometimes me and my boyfriend make sushi at home. We don't skimp though- we get the good stuff. Eel, smoked salmon, avocado, etc. But it's really hard for two people to use up all those ingredients in one go round and we're usually left with lots of seafood and veggies. Instead of making up another batch of sushi later in the week, I decided to try something new and make a salad with all the leftovers. And let me tell you it was good. So good that I ended a two year blogging hiatus to tell you about it. Here's what I used to make this magical salad:

-baby spinach
-carrots
-cucumber (peeled)
-smoked salmon
-imitation crab
-cilantro
-edamame
-green onions
-store bought ginger dressing

*Leftover sushi rice would be good too if you have it.

I highly suggest you try this salad or any variation of it. Hopefully I'll be sharing more recipes and food related information soon. If we're lucky, April will be chiming in as well.

It's been a long time...

So, we've majorly slacked off on updating this thing. We've been super busy doing all kinds of fun stuff. Here a quick list of what we've been up to over the last month or so:

Nicole-

- Elvis Costello at the Ryman. This was my tenth time seeing him and coincidentally my tenth year of fandom. Since I am really lame that was kind of a special show for me. He played for a long-ass time and pulled out a few rare gems such as "Beyond Belief" and "You Belong to Me".

- Dining Club. I'd been talking about starting a dining club forever and this month I finally did it. So far we've eaten Vietnamese food at Pho Yen Hoa and celebrated Seis de Mayo at Las Cazuelas. Both meals were kinda hit or miss for me but we had an excellent time just hanging out. I hope we can have many more meetings this summer.

- The Hives at the Wildhorse. This was seriously one of the best shows I've ever seen. The Hives have more energy than is humanly possible. High kicks abounded. At one point I turned into a 13 year old girl and had to touch the hand of Howlin Pele Almquist. Only criticism I have is that the guitar player has really freaky eyes. I can't explain it but he really creeped me out.

photo by flickr user groomsy57

April-

I'm so sorry that we left you without a dope beat to step to! I will make a greater effort to update this blog at least once a week, even when things get crazy. Scout's honor.

-The Kids in the Hall at the Ryman. Fabulous. Wonderful. Completely orgasmic. This Canadian comedy troupe were easily just as adorable as they ever had been (and, incidentally, were just as funny as they ever had been, too). They delighted me with some completely fresh material and brought back some of their most beloved characters (Buddy Cole, Gavin, etc.) in hilarious new situations. They also did one of my favorite skits word for word: the Chicken Lady as a phone sex operator. My face hurt at the end of the night from smiling so much. One of my favorite nights ever.

photo via Nashville Cream

-Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp. Both Nicole and I, as Assistant Directors, have been extremely busy contributing to this amazing organization. It is always the absolute funnest week of my summer and I am completely honored that they allow me to become more involved with the camp each year. But, sister, it's a lot of work! We are always in need of volunteers. To find out how you can contribute or to learn more about the organization, visit http://www.sgrrc.org/. Be sure to come out for the showcase at MTSU's Tucker Theater on Saturday, July 19th!

-Carmen's Taqueria. I know I already did an entry on Carmen's, but Jesus Cristo, it just keeps getting better. Their empanadas are, for lack of a better term, da bomb. Just go there. You'll probably run into me.

Fork off!

On Wednesday Nicole and I went to Iron Fork, a foodtastic event held LP Field club area. Basically, chefs from Nashville's most bangin' restaurants came and competed in an Iron Chef-style competition (secret ingredient: fiddlehead ferns). And, most importantly, there was free food. Well, a little bit of it.

I was really hoping that I would have some sprawling account of Wednesday's activities for you, dear ETTB reader. One packed with deliciously charming anecdotes. But the truth is that I was too caught up in the immensity of it all to really have anything particularly interesting to tell you. We went. We stood in lots of lines. We didn't get to eat that much free food because of the overwhelming and unanticipated turnout. Sure, we were a little disappointed when confronted with empty station after empty station, but the money went to a great cause (St. Luke's Community House) and I still had lots of fun.

Go visit Nashville Scene Bites for a more thorough and certainly more entertaining take on the event.

But, hey, here are a few pictures.

Wholefoods samples: a plethora of pestos (delicious), spicy ceviche (delicious), and sweet gazpacho (meh).Winning chef Deb Paquette of Zola during some slammin' Iron Fork Action.

No food from Flyte makes Nicole feel sad. She considered sampling from the scraps left in the pan.

Come to this show!!!

April and I both whole-heartedly support this event!

Come check out the first show at the Youth Culture and Arts Center's new space on the downtown square in Murfreesboro! It's at 25 North Public Square this Sat at 8pm sharp.

The Youth Culture & Arts Center Presents:

Turncoats- cultivators of world's largest sideburns
Rock Paper Scissors- past Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp-ers who love lawn gnomes (and unicorns!)
Kelly Kerr & The Distractions- the dude that used to work at Video Culture!



Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tall Grass, 25 N Public Sq, Murfreesboro
8pm, $5, ALL-AGES

The Nashville Scene wrote this about the event.

The New Pornographers/ Okkervil River @ Cannery Ballroom (with guest blogger Manley)- 4/18/08

I'm gonna skip the Okkervil River review. I ditto what Manley has to say below.

On to the main event...

I've seen the New Pornographers twice before and enjoyed every single second of it. The New Pornographers have been hyped as a super group for years because of the members' involvement in numerous other projects (Destroyer, Neko Case solo, AC Newman, Immaculate Machine, Fancy, Zumpano...). Dan Bejar and Neko Case were absent from the line-up in Nashville but the remaining members still managed to put on an enjoyable show. I was surprised that they played certain songs that prominently featured the absent members though. My jaw dropped when they invited the front man from Okkervil River to perform the Dan Bejar penned "Myriad Harbor". It was kinda like when I saw REM a few years ago and Pete Yorn replaced Patti Smith on "E-Bow the Letter". It just wasn't right to me. But hey, what do I know? Everyone there ate it up and was singing along like it was the best song of the night. On the positive side, I really enjoyed most of the selections played that spanned all four albums. For the encore, they did an excellent cover of the ELO favorite "Don't Bring Me Down" (available for download as a track off of their live album on iTunes). I also thought Katherine Calder did a good job filling Neko Case's shoes for the night. Her voice is not as powerful or distinct as Neko's but she held her own while trading parts with Carl Newman. All is all an excellent way to spend a rainy Friday night in Nashville. -Nicole





Most people agree that Bright Eyes sucks now. Sure, Conor Oberst’s sprawling, doom-laden, hyper-literate lyrics are still present, as are his songs with seemingly unrelated verses loosely tied to a theme of doubt, change, or end times, but gone is the drunken fervor and urgent musicianship that made Lifted… so believable. Last night, Okkervil River succumbed to the same fate. Perhaps, had I been able to hear Will Sheff’s similarly verbose lyrics over the Cannery Ballroom’s lackluster sound, I may have found the voice of a new poet laureate of indie rock. Instead, I saw a guy with lots of bangs over-emoting to songs composed around G, C, and D. The musicianship of the band just was not urgent or passionate enough to make up for Sheff’s squeals and honks. To be honest, I have only truly listened to his second record, Down the River of Golden Dreams, so I was not familiar with many of the songs he played last night. However, I saw on stage what I experienced when listening to the record – I was stunned the first time I listened, but upon third or fourth listen I found myself tuning out his somewhat pubescent vocal cracks and shrieks and trying to decipher the lyrics to see what he’s talking about. There were a few great moments at the show, at the beginning of the set, but they were few and far between. But, as I like to end everything on a positive note, I gotta give props to a backing band of bald dudes that want to rock without following any superficial trends. To a husky rocker like myself, they looked pretty cool and genuine. Rating: 2 out of 5 salty snaxxx.

Though the night started off slowly, at least musically, it ended with a bang. The New Pornographers rocked it. I must say I had high expectations when I saw their gear – Peavy Bass, Gibson Explorer, Guild Les Paul style, Nordlead synth, 2 macbooks, and Orange, Matchless, and Ampeg amps. Nice. This would certainly put the power in power pop. Like my experience with Okkervil River, I was only familiar with a couple of NP records, but in this case my inexperience was not a hindrance. NP were energetic, exciting, and fun. I really got into the second half of their set, which included “Sing Me Spanish Techno,” “Bleeding Heart Show,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” (a bitchin’ cover indeed,) “The Laws Have Changed,” “The Jessica Numbers,” and my personal favorite tune of the night, the title track off their new album, “Challengers.” They really brought the thunder with their set list, and essentially played only high-energy numbers that would keep a moderate fan like myself entertained and boppin’ along. I must say, NP’s secret weapon is their drummer, a slightly-tipsy Andy Serkis look-alike whose arsenal of big-rock drum moves and “Are you ready to rock?” (he really said that!) count-offs made for big fun. Some of his favorite moves with the stixxx were the finger twirl, the toss-and-catch, the bite-the-spoon, the play-with-one-hand-while-grabbing-a-Corona, and the pop-the-top-off-the-Corona-with-the-stick-while-playing-a-4x4-beat. His antics livened up the more stiff performances of the other people in the band that no one knows their names. Unfortunately, Neko was not present, but their performance did not really suffer for it. AC Newman’s beard made up for it. I truly enjoyed myself and plan to purchase Challengers today at Grimey’s record sale. Rating: 4 out of 5 salty snaxxx.- Manley

*All photos courtesy of Jenny at J Anne Photography*