Blue Christmas in Memphis

Yours Truly sends you Happy Holiday wishes!  Hoping everyone had a Merry Christmas and plans for a HAPPY New Year!  It was a little blue in Memphis for Christmas since I was separated from my children and family but West and I made the best of it and had a fun time!
 
We started off by spending a quiet Christmas  Eve at the Casa Del West Downtown.  The plan was for me to make us a lovely lasagna for CE dinner and just have a quiet night.  During the Kroger shopping extravaganza earlier that weekend, I forgot to purchase a bell pepper.  So, West and I decided to take a little walk North on Main to the City Market in hopes that they might have one.  Our first stop along the way was to the Center for Southern Folklore.  They are a private non-profit organization dedicated to documenting and presenting the people, music and traditions of the region.  They have a shop and sell all types of art work, music, trinkets, etc.  They have bands that come in and play as well. 
 
The City Market was a SCORE and I secured a rather sad looking bell pepper but a bell pepper none-the-less!  Got a little aluminum pan too since there was a tragedy in my Pyrex cabinet the night before and I lost 2 pans!!  Now that was weird.  They were SHATTERED like maybe Big Foot had stepped on them or something!  I really think it's the vibrations from the Amtrak station across the street that shifts things around and it was just a matter of time before they fell or did whatever caused this tragedy.  But, it's all good.
 
Lasagna got prepared, baked, and most importantly....EATEN!!!  We settled in for a long winter's nap.  Christmas morning came bright and early.  We opened presents, all of which were very nice and well received!  I got West some ORANGE camo New Balance shoes....oh yes, every bit as sexy as I know you think they sound!

I was treated to some of the things I love most....perfume, lotions, bath gels, and makeup!!!  I also bought West a wonderful print from a gallery right down the street, D'Edge Art Gallery.  You can check it out on FB.  They have several artists who display their artwork but my favorite is George Hunt. West had seen this print recently and really liked it.  It's made a handsome edition to what we now refer to as our "Memphis Collection" of art work! 

Since it was just West and YT for the morning, we had made plans to go to Christmas Brunch at the Madison Hotel Eighty3. This was a really nice little restaurant. It was adorned with some really amazing artwork - all graffiti-like in nature.  Beautiful colors and textures!
 After perusing the menu, we both decided to have the Christmas plate special.  Man....what a treat!  Turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, candied carrots, and rolls.  Then for dessert....blueberry bread pudding!  It was quite possibly the best bread pudding Yours Truly has ever had!  It was moist, creamy, and had the best caramel sauce on top....delish!!!


We made our way back home and needless to say....I fell into the bed for a long nap!  I awakened to find that West had conducted the traditional de-decking of the halls on Christmas Day!  Our next destination...the Folks and Family Christmas!  This was YT's first Christmas with the West Clan and was I in for a treat!!!  Marilyn outdid herself and the dinner was DIVINE!!  Beef tenderloin, salmon, ham, spinach and strawberry salad, her to-die-for cheesy potato dish....then fabulous desserts!  Gary made a beautiful coconut cake, there was pecan pie, and I made my Mom's Better Than Sex On The Beach cake....it was just all so good!

Next came presents!  This was so much fun!  I'll not go into details but I'm very happy to report I have added several new cookbooks to my arsenal....particularly pleased that I received several Barefoot Contessa books! After a fun filled evening, we headed back downtown in the cold rain just praying it would not all freeze up by morning!  
So, the blues didn't last too long and now we are looking forward to ringing in a NEW YEAR in style!!  Here's wishing that everyone enjoys the rest of 2012 and remember...be nice to people....tell the ones you love how much you truly love them and until 2013....keep it safe out there!!  Until next time - Love, Yours Truly 

Updatin' In Memphis

Yours Truly has been a little busy lately and neglectful of my blog.  Let me catch ya up!!

West and I have gotten settled into the new place downtown and absolutely love it!!!  About once a week, we walk to dinner and enjoy our little neighborhood.  The last Friday night of each month is the Last Friday Trolley Art Tour.  All of the galleries are open, several have music and there is wine and snacks at most.  We have done this once and it was really fun!  Met several new people and saw some amazing art.

Last night we met West's buddies from college, Chip Grimm & Stephen DiMeglio, and participated in a Live Video taping at a place called Ditty TV.  It was streaming live online and the band was John Paul Keith and the 145's.  It was SO much fun! Their music is amazing...very high energy.  It's a little bit country, a little bit rock n' roll.  Little Americana....little Rock-a-Billy.

After the music, we went across to Ernestine & Hazel's where we met some more friends of Chip's, The Pittman's.  Super nice people!  The guys all shot a couple of games of pool and we all talked and laughed.  After the Pittman's left, we mossied across the street and down the block to Double J's.  There was an AWESOME band playing there, The Tommy Akers Band.  We ran into some other people we've met there and continued to keep the little party going!

It's not a party every night but we are taking advantage of this downtown living.  This past week we trollied and walked to do some Christmas shopping.  We stopped into a local place called The Blind Bear Speakeasy...which offered some wonderful selections indeed.  We split a few appetizers for dinner....creamy mac & cheese with lobster, warm pretzel bread with beer cheese and philly steak egg rolls.  Yum yum indeed.  But the beauty of it is we walked the mile home so I didn't feel too guilty with the nibblies!

So if all this talk of music and food has you ready for some adventure, come on to Memphis and see us!  So remember to be nice to people, and tell the people you love just how much you love them! 

Until next time,I remain Loving it in Memphis, 

Yours Truly.

Sweet Home....Ala....Memphis....

OMG....what an evening in Downtown Memphis! Yours Truly and her beloved, West, walked a block to do a little Christmas shopping...and Lo and Behold...across the street was Ernestine & Hazels. This is an amazing establishment where it has been written "Upstairs was once a noisy brothel; a couple of barflies have apparently turned out to be ghosts. And there you have it, just another all-American dry-goods-store-turned-watering-hole, where God knows how many broken hearts have been avenged and vendettas executed." 

This establishment is just 1 block north and across the street from where West and YT live...I have been just salivating to go in there since it is proclaimed to be "haunted"..."visited"...well, you get the point. So....YT and West...after a little trip to American Apparel....where YT happened to spy and procure a Raspberry Beret...the kind you find in a second hand store...we just directed our feet across the street and strutted right in.  This is a DIVE, with a capital D-I-V-E, bar of the truest nature....NO renovations whatsoever....But, did I mention? They have THE best juke box in all of Memphis-dom....so, we did our usual mosey'ing in....and as we were the only folks there  (besides Keenan the barkeeper) at the moment, we pretty much had the rule of the roost.  

So being Nosy Rosy that I am...and it was reputed to be "haunted"....I took a little venture upstairs ....yes, alone.  It was, admittedly, a little on the creepy side...and I did proceed with a sense of...caution.  
It was dark, shadowy and well....shall I say....creepy.  I did not linger...As I made my decent of the stairs...I was about 4 steps  from the bottom to the door out....the stairs above me....CREEKED....like someone was following me.....yes....the hairs on the back of my neck ....STRAIGHT OUT...,the adrenaline.....shot through me...and I got a COLD CHILL and could not find that door knob fast enough!!  That's all I got to say about that....Oh except I DID have one of their famous SOUL BURGERS...and they DO have the BEST jukebox in alll of Memphis-dom...

So, recovering from said weird experience, I send you all the invitation to COME TO MEMPHIS....we'll leave the light on....be nice to one another and tell the ones you love...that you love them!  Until next time, Love....Yours Truly