This weekend I went to Nashville for the first time. One of my friends from grad school, Julia, moved there after we graduated. Another friend from school, Katherine, and I jumped in the car and went for a fun-filled visit.
We arrived late Friday night and STARVING. Julia had pizza ready to go on the grill. It was my first time eating homemade grilled pizza and I loved every bite!
Grilled pizza with zucchini, squash, and mushrooms
Saturday morning we had a special treat – Julia took us to her local CSA for the weekly pick up.
Madison Creek Farms was a neat little farm filled with some of the most scrumptious-looking produce I’ve ever seen. The owner, Peggy Lynn Marchetti, was one cool lady – she is obviously passionate about the clean food she grows AND she farms in dangly earrings. Rock on.
Peggy also writes a blog! Check her out @ The Female Farmer.
I'd never seen peas on the plant before!
Lettuce so beautiful I wanted to roll in it. And eat it. In that order.
I'm ruined - I'll never be satisfied with Publix berries again.
My awesome friends - Katherine and Julia
Gorgeous flowers - does anyone know what kind it is?
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Local Mexican place, Baja Burrito, came highly recommended. It was just as good as advertised. If you go, don’t skip the pineapple salsa!
Chipolte chicken burrito in a bowl
We also did some very successful shopping. I found TWO new dresses!
All that hard work shopping deserved ice cream from a shop called Hot & Cold in Hillsboro Village. They sell Jeni’s Ice Cream, which is hands down the best ice cream I’ve ever had.
After the saint behind the counter patiently allowed me to sample every flavor, I settled on scoops of Bangkok Peanut (peanut butter and toasted coconut with cayenne pepper heat at the end – YUM) and Riesling Poached Pear (literally tasted and had the texture of a pear).
Note: Jeni’s can be found at various places around the U.S. In Atlanta, you can pick up a pint at Star Provisions.
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All that deliciousness didn’t ruin our appetite for dinner. Julia took us to one of her favorite places, Margot Cafe & Bar.
The menu changes daily based on what’s fresh, but it is always a French-Italian-style cuisine. I’m assuming it is always good… ’cause this was incredible.
The host seated us at a table right by the open kitchen. I was unnaturally excited.
That's Margot!
We split appetizers:
- Warm olives with roasted fennel and oranges – the fact that the olives were served warm really set this off
- Sugar snap peas with mint and ricotta salata – mint sauce with this was genius
- Crunchy sourdough bread
The main was so incredible that I forgot to take a picture of my gorgeously prepared entree – a grilled artichoke stuffed with spinach and parmesan and served over basmati rice.
Dessert barely lived long enough to be pictured – a cheesecake with polenta crust and strawberries.
We finished up a little after 11p and hit the honky tonks.
Beer flight at Flying Saucer
Rockabilly band at Robert's
Keeping it classy, livin' the High Life
I may be little too old to close down a bar… but damn if it isn’t still fun every once in a while. 😉
The Sunday drive home went pretty quickly. Katherine and I drove together and I had fun quizzing her about her 5 marathons. She’s almost convinced me to try it.
At the very least she inspired me to come home and bust out this killer run:
- Distance: 8 miles
- Time: 1:07:20
- Pace: 8:40
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Thanks for a stellar weekend, Julia and Katherine!
How was your weekend? Did anyone else get shut down a bar? 🙂
