Memphis

Man, sometimes it's good to get away! It's been a crazy couple of weeks for us with the boyfriend's magazine going to the printer this week (and me proofing it before it was sent for a few hours... geez) and a few big projects I was working on. So, we decided a weekend getaway to Memphis was in order. Since we're both design people and promote our city, we're always looking for ways to improve visitor experiences, restaurant ideas, and new guides to get design inspiration. There's a part of Memphis called Cooper Young, similar to our Fondren, so we knew we'd hang out a lot there. 

First on our agenda was Soul Fish. So good!

Catfish, sweet potato fries, cole slaw, hush puppies

Soul Fish interior

There are some neat shops along the streets of Cooper Young, including this interesting cat adoption store. Yes, cat adoption store called "House of Mews."

Of course, we had to go to the river front. Here's a view of the I-55 bridge from Riverside Park.

Being in Tennessee, a beer run was also on our minds. We made a trip to Whole Foods and stocked up on the good stuff for us and some of our friends. The store's beer buyer was really nice and loved to hear all about us and what we do for Raise Your Pints.

That night, we headed downtown to Huey's for brews and burgers. Of course, we got beers you can't get in Mississippi - Ghost City seasonal and Fat Tire.

One of the big draws for Huey's is that you can get any burger made with a beef patty, turkey patty, or black bean patty. We both opted for the black bean burger.

Black bean burger with pepper jack cheese and guacamole

After a filling meal, we walked around downtown and made it to the roof of the Peabody (which we sneaked onto... there was a rehearsal dinner going on in the Penthouse and the roof was supposed to be closed for the party).

View of the river at night

View of the river in the morning

Walking around that night, we spotted this place we knew we'd be back for breakfast called Cockadoo's. It was out of this world.

Iced latte

Everything sounded so good. We ordered pancakes, turkey bacon, sweet potato hashbrowns, and a BBQ pulled pork omelet (NOT my choosing, but it was actually really good).

We sat in the loft, so you could look over the front of the restaurant.

We had our sight set back on Cooper Young, mostly because my drummer of a boyfriend knew he wanted to go to the Memphis Drum Shop!

Where, of course, you could find him playing "Amazing Grace" on the steel drum.

We also knew we couldn't leave Memphis without some proper BBQ and the best place to go is Central BBQ. Considering the line out the door to order, we knew we were at the right place. Knowing we were leaving TN soon, we had to get more Fat Tire brew in before we left, right?

Still somewhat full from breakfast, we split the pork plate, which was plenty of food. Just the way I like barbecue. 

We had such a wonderful time in Memphis! Hope all of you on spring break have a great week...

Weekend

Another great weekend, albeit, a busy one!

We spent more time on the roof Saturday night photographing a few friends of ours for the boyfriend's magazine (new issue comes out in March). We had a perfect, beautiful sunset to work with!

Right after that, we went to the Jackson Medical Mall for Taste of the U, a fundraiser for UMMC. There were tables everywhere with food to try. This is the booth that won the event: 

Willy Wonka with all kinds of cake pops, candy, etc. There was so much food!

Last night, we ventured over to Brent's for the Oscar Watch Party in support of The Help and had dinner with our friend, Chane. If you don't know, Brent's is the soda fountain featured in the movie.

Also, the little twin girls that played Mae Mobley were there. They were really cute and seemed to be soaking it all in.

Here's to another great week!

Roof

I love looking back at some of my old blog posts. The other day, I came upon one I wrote when I found out I was going to intern at Jackson Free Press four years ago (If you haven't been following me that long, I had a great experience there and got national attention for some research I did on the governor at the time, as well as some regional/national awards for our domestic violence stories. I still freelance for them from time to time. MY how things have changed since then). In the post I used a photo of Fondren Corner. I had to chuckle for a couple of reasons. A: I realized my boyfriend took that picture (scary coincidence - I didn't know him then).

B: One of my favorite places in the entire city has become the rooftop at Fondren Corner. From the roof you can see all of the hospitals, Veterans Memorial stadium, downtown, and a good bit of Fondren. With this great, mild weather we've been having, it's been perfect to meet the boyfriend after work and take dinner up to the roof.

With Fondren Corner so close to Rainbow Co-op (where we are members) and McDade's, most of the time we go "French" and buy dinner right before we actually eat dinner. Last night was a perfect mix of chicken, hummus, strawberries, and wine.

Perfect way to unwind from the day!

Bayou Teche Mardi Gras Beer Dinner

This past Monday, after a somewhat lazy President's Day off work, the boyfriend and I walked over to Sal and Mookie's to meet my cousins, Cary and David, and our Raise Your Pints friends for Bayou Teche Brewery's Mardi Gras Beer Dinner. 

Cary and I had talked about the dinner a week or so before and knew it was something we wanted to all check out together. The menu looked incredible:

I'm going to go ahead and admit, I was so excited about the beer/meal pairings (all shared family style), my photos are a little after the fact, but we did eat well!

Fettuccine with mussels

Salad with tomatoes, apricots, mozzarella

Crawfish Etoufee

We had a great time and a lot of laughs...

Cary said she enjoyed it too!

We had a great time and we hear they'll be back again next year. Can't wait!

Valentine's Day

You know, there are some things that I imagine women love hearing. "You're beautiful," or "You mean the world to me." Well, I heard the magic words last night after work: "Take your time and come around six. Romantic dinner in yoga pants?"

Yes. Those magic words. So, I went home, cleaned, hung a piece of art I've been meaning to hang, and went to the boyfriend's house... in my yoga pants.

So, I arrive at Fondren Corner and this is what I walk in to:

Salmon, rosemary shrimp, crabcake, basmati rice, and sweet and sour green beans. Great cocktail with an Argentinian wine Fondren Cellars wanted to try out on us, New Age.

I had given him his gift Sunday because I couldn't wait (a beautiful large platter from circa. that he had been wanting and homemade chocolate covered strawberries), but he gave me these beautiful earrings (also from circa.).

And a dozen roses, which I took home and arranged. Love having flowers around!

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day, whether with your loved one or thinking about them.

Surprise Valentine

The boyfriend has had something up his sleeve for weeks for Valetine's Day and he wouldn't tell me what it was. So, last night, we got in the car and I had no idea where he was taking me. If you know anything about me, you know it was killing me. 

Where'd we end up? At cooking class at the Viking Cooking School!

Just look at the menu:

Even though I'm not the biggest beef fan, I joked before we walked in that I hoped it was one with steak. I was happy to see it on the menu.

Two couples worked at each table and we'd watch them demo before going and doing it at our own table:

This is how it came out:

I couldn't finish it all and I was sad about it. Everything was WONDERFUL.

I had such an awesome time. Happy (early) Valentine's Day to all of you!

A-Team

I hate to brag, but I gotta. Just go ahead and call the boyfriend and I the A-Team (as in AWESOME). 

I've been searching all day for an iPhone tripod mount so that I can live stream a press conference in the morning (of which he'll be taking photos for). After going to a couple stores, I texted the boyfriend about my lack of luck. Not 20 minutes later I get this picture:

He Macgyver'ed his own mount. 

And that is why I keep him around.