Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers! For those of you in the United States or those who celebrate American Thanksgiving abroad, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I made my 2nd ever turkey using a recipe from Trader Joe's that turned out incredible. I purchased the free range, organic turkey from Whole Foods - and it was worth the added expense! On this "Black Friday," we did not hit the malls. And watching video of people shoving each other for low cost televisions, I was glad I was nowhere near the mall. Is a cheap TV really worth it? Instead my family who is visiting from out of state and some of my Tampa friends partook in a private painting class at "Painting With A Twist." I chose the "Serenity Koi" painting in honor of my Asian heritage and because the painting did not look too difficult to master! We had a wonderful evening with snacks, desserts (my sister made the blueberry pie recipe in my prior blog post here) and a lot of wine. I indulged in my new favorite Zombie Killer Cherry Cyser - a cherry cider. My family and friends really got into the painting spirit and we all left with great paintings. What do you think of our koi fish?
On this day after Thanksgiving, I wish you peace and serenity - and hope no one shoves you or punches you trying to get an inexpensive TV. Happy Holidays!
Dear LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: For better or worse for my waistline, I am a dessert fan. I try not to keep sweets in the house because I find that any time is a good time to eat dessert. As my breakfast the other day was a piece of banana cream pie … I really need to keep away from the sugary delights. However I was at Publix supermarket the other day and this innocent looking bag of cookies caught my eye …
Boston Cream Pie in a Cookie??? Will wonders never cease? I had to try this cookie! I love Mint Milanos so these Milano Melts had to be just as good, right? Right? Wrong. The "Boston Cream Pie" filling was in a word … noxious. Extremely artificial tasting and sooooo sugary, they made my teeth hurt. And this is coming from someone who loves sugar! If you liked Oreo's Candy Corn Oreo cookies, you will love these Milano Melts. But if you're not a fan of highly artificial flavor and insanely sugary tastes, then skip these cookies. I gave the rest of the bag to a friend - her response "They are too sweet!" Sorry Pepperidge Farm, I'll stick with your Mint Milanos!
Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: My name is Lily … and I am in love … with tater tots. Seriously, there is rarely a tot I don't like. They are perfect little rounded cubes of potato-ey goodness. If you hate tater tots, chances are I probably will hate you. I'm sorry, but it's true. So when I see tater tots on a menu, I have to have them. This past weekend was a Two-Tot weekend. I went to two restaurants with tater tots on the menu. Had I died and gone to Tater Tot Heaven?? For LilyOnTheLam, I have done comparison posts on pot pies, strawberry shortcakes, pumpkin pies and other delights … so it is about time I did a "Tater Tot Duel" post. Ladies and Gentlemen … in this corner of the ring … the duck fat fried Tater Tots from Merchants Restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee …
The picture above is a half-order of duck fat tater tots with chipotle mayo, béarnaise sauce and good old classic ketchup. The chipotle mayo was my favorite. A chipotle ketchup would have been a nice addition as well. I enjoyed these tater tots, but when you tell me something is fried in duck fat I expect a lush, rich, slightly greasy mouthfeel. I am a fan of duck fat French fries, so for better or worse I know my duck fat fried foods. These tots were definitely missing that full-bodied, fried richness. They tasted like tater tots cooked in canola or vegetable oil. Clean and crisp tasting. If the menu had just said tater tots, I would have been really happy. But by saying "duck fat tater tots," I was somewhat disappointed with the flavor. Ladies and Gentlemen, in the opposite corner of the ring … Anise Global Gastrobar of Tampa, Florida's very own Truffled Tater Tots …
First off, I have to make a confession that I love anything that comes in its own basket. There's something "doll house cute" about a mini fryer basket full of truffle oil infused tots. Next, Anise Global Gastrobar serves these yummy little creatures with a lemon parsley creme fraiche that is AMAZING! The citrus and the richness go so well with the hearty indulgent truffled tater tots. The rich, lush mouthfeel that I was missing from Merchants' duck fat tater tots was here in the savory truffle oil tater tots from Anise Global Gastrobar. Total winner. Both orders of tater tots made my stomach happy, but if I had to pick a winner in this tater tot duel - I would have to give the prize to Anise Global Gastrobar. Between the yummy tot and the awesome dipping sauce, their truffled tater tots are insanely good.
If you have a tater tot recommendation, please comment below!
Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: Hope all is well! I was recently in Nashville, Tennessee for the first time. I have traveled extensively internationally and to many major cities in the US, however there's still a lot of places in this great old country of America that I have not visited yet. My mission over the next couple of years is to change that. Check Nashville off the list! The singer Kelly Clarkson was performing an acoustic benefit for charitable organization Musicians On Call at the Hard Rock Cafe Nashville. I had a 2nd row seat for the event. Which was amazing since it was a small venue. I basically could reach over and touch Kelly while she was singing. But I didn't try it, since I don't need any stalker restraining orders. There was a VIP cocktail party prior to the concert and I enjoyed meeting people from all over the US - including people who worked at the historic Opry. (As the bouncer said "you're the THIRD person from Florida tonight." Ahhh - never an original!) The concert was amazing - although emotional for Kelly as one of her dogs passed away that day and she had not yet, at that time, released the news that she was pregnant. Kelly donated her award show dress below to the Hard Rock Cafe in exchange for the Hard Rock donating $5000 to Musicians On Call.
It was a great show - here's a quick snippet that I videoed from the event:
I also tweeted a picture of Kelly's drummer with the comment that he looks like the actor Taye Diggs. What I love about Twitter is that someone online who I didn't know forwarded the picture to the drummer's Twitter account and he favorited the picture. Talk about small world ...
Overall the concert was fantastic. The staff from Musicians on Call and the Hard Rock Cafe were great.
It was a lovely night that was part of a great first trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Keep posted to LilyOnTheLam.com as I will be posting more about my Tennessee trip in future posts! P.S. Turns out the Kelly Clarkson benefit concert and silent auction raised the most funds of any event Nashville's Musicians On Call has had. Congratulations! A great cause!
Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: Being a devoted lover of all things Autumnal for the past 937 years (I am VERY OLD), I have been writing about pumpkin products at Trader Joe's (check it out here and here). Well I am branching out in my pumpkin reviews -- all the way over to Whole Foods grocery store. I stopped by Whole Foods to get their amazing smoked Gouda pasta salad and some other items, when I spotted these little angels …
Whole Foods' own private label "365 Everyday Value" Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Sandwich Cremes. Oh yes! I snatched them off the shelf like a wicked witch making off with Hansel and Gretel. I was optimistic that these would be tasty but I had been disappointed before. I went home and turned on Bravo TV's Top Chef - New Orleans. In a weird coincidence, it was their Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese-themed episode. Evidently I inadvertently picked a snack that went with the Top Chef episode. I tried one of the Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Sandwich Cremes -- and WHAM! These cookies were GREAT! They didn't taste like pumpkin to me - more like gingerbread. The filling had a rich cream cheese flavor. It was like eating a gingerbread cupcake with cream cheese frosting - but in a crunchy cookie. I tried one of the cookie tops without the filling. It tasted bland. This cookie really needs to be eaten as it is - not pulled apart. The cookies were really tasty - so I had another and another. After eating more than I should, the cookies started to taste more and more artificial. Or maybe my body was just saying "STOP EATING SO MANY COOKIES!" So despite my not loving them after I ate too many, I would still recommend these cookies - just exhibit some portion patrol (unlike me!) and you'll be fine! If you like gingerbread and cream cheese, try these cookies. They definitely did not taste like pumpkin pie to me, but I still liked them nevertheless!
Dear LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers: I have the absolutely wonderful, "never going to take it for granted" privilege of being able to work from home. I love it and cherish every day I get to do it because I know one day I will have to go back to miserable cubicle-land and then I will die a little inside. So until then, I thank the Lord above and anyone else who has a hand in it and appreciate getting to do my work in my pajamas. When I did work in an office, I sat in a cubicle with a low wall. I felt like a bank teller. ("Would you like that in $5's or $20's, sir?") My colleague and I had been relegated to sit next to the accounting department. The woman 2 cubicles behind me received a shocking amount of personal calls throughout the day. She was chit-chatting on her cell phone at least once an hour every hour. I learned more about this woman's personal life than I ever cared to know. But the most wacky (and annoying) part was that this woman's ring tone was Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing." So about 7-8 times a day, I would hear "Sexual Healing" go off at about 1000 decibels. I rolled my eyes so many times a day, I was scared they would permanently stick up there.
Now don't get me wrong, I loves me some Marvin Gaye as much as any other red-blooded American woman - but as your ring tone? In your workplace? 7-8 times a day, every day? Evidently not everyone can be as classy (k-lassy) as I am by having the dog barking noises from the opening of the Jane's Addiction song "Been Caught Stealing" as their ring tone. (It's true - but 99% of the time my phone is on vibrate or silent, so most of the world doesn't get to hear my barking ring tone.)
So even though I love, love, love working from home and avoiding situations like hearing "Sexual Healing" all throughout my work day and when I am on conference calls, I do get a little stir-crazy/cabin fever by working from home. Today was a cabin fever day. It's Friday and I needed to go out to lunch! I wanted to go to the Greek Festival that is being held in South Tampa today through Sunday, but I was in an anti-social mood not suitable for trying to find parking in crowded South Tampa and navigating myself around a festival tent. Instead I went to basically the only chain restaurant I go to … good old Village Inn (in the North/Midwest - it's the same company that brings you Bakers' Square - which used to be Poppin' Fresh Pies … oh Pillsbury doughboy, how I miss you.) Village Inn is running a special on "Grilled Cheese Dippers" or what I term "fancy grilled cheese." I love a good grilled cheese and I love pretending I am fancy, so basically this might as well be called a Lily On The Lam Special.
I ordered the roadhouse dipper - which has cheese, an egg, bacon and sausage gravy. The menu says it comes with a green pork chili but mine came with a reddish cream-like sauce and saltine crackers. This may or may not have been the tomato basil soup that comes with the other two Grilled Cheese Dippers. It tasted tomato-y but I wouldn't call it tomato basil soup, so who knows. Mystery dipping sauce, I guess. I ordered the egg in the sandwich over medium. Which was a mistake. I cut the sandwich in half thinking I'd be breaking the soft yolk. Nope, it was in tact so when I took a bite a raging geyser of searing hot egg yolk went spurting out all over my shirt and all over the table. This egg had to have had a gallon of yolk! I was amazed at how much yolk was all over me and the table!
Egg yolk does not come out of fabric well with just water and a napkin, let me tell you! I went home and pre-treated it and then put it in my brand new washing machine -- which decided to break. I've only owned it for a month! Grrr! Anyway, after the baptism by egg yolk, I actually got to enjoy my fancy grilled cheese. It was very good. The dipping sauce ("not green pork chili") was good, but extremely rich - and since the sandwich is rich enough as it is, I really didn't use the sauce. Which I realize goes against the whole dipping concept. Overall I would say this was a very tasty sandwich and I'd like to try their other 2 "Grilled Cheese Dippers." Just be careful for any yolk geysers! I have to say I was quite content with my Roadhouse Dipper and a diet Coke (which I so rarely allow myself to drink anymore that each time I do, it's like a religious experience.) I have been so busy with work that to take a moment and just sit with a sandwich and my thoughts was extremely relaxing to me. Until a couple was seated in the booth next to me. I could feel waves of tension rolling off the man and woman. They were a younger couple - perhaps 27 years old? Attractive. The girl was very slender and she sat leaning forward with her arms wrapped around herself - body language for emotional protection - and in doing so her body became all sharp angles from her bones sticking out of her tiny, skinny frame. They each had a steno notebook. They were here on a mission. Evidently they had been in relationship counseling and had been given homework. They were now here at Village Inn to discuss their homework results over pancakes. Side Note: If you're going to go through anything emotional, I highly recommend a side of pancakes to go with it. I wonder if their relationship counselor had recommended the starchy treat? The assignment had been to write three things that bothered you about the other person, three things that you think you could do better and then to write an action plan between the two of you on how you could both work together better. I could see their steno notebooks. Have you seen in prison movies where a prisoner is only allowed a small amount of paper, so they write as tiny as they can to maximize the paper? Well each of them had insanely tiny chicken scratch but on pages and pages and pages of their steno pads. Good lord, how many bad things did they write about their significant other??? I am no psychiatrist, but I have to think that starting with "these are the three things I hate about you" before doing the "here are things I need to work on this relationship" is just starting the conversation on the wrong foot - a one way trip to Defensiveness City. For the record, I did not want to eavesdrop on the relationship couple sitting next to me. I also did not want to listen to the guy on the other side of me who apparently was doing a one-man show called "I am SOOOOOOOO FABULOUS and you all can worship me!" But since I was eating my grilled cheese and not stuffing my ears with it, I couldn't help but listen. The relationship counseling couple started off with their complaints about each other. At first they were using a lot of "I feel" and "When you do this, I feel that" type language that is so endemic in couples counseling. But sure enough when you start off a conversation listing all the things that bother you about the other person (they didn't stick to the "top three" rule), angers started to flare and the communication went into "And YOU DO THIS and YOU DO THAT" accusatory bitch-fest mode. I wanted to tap them on the shoulder and say "Reboot - start off talking about yourselves and what you plan to do to do better first -- and stop ruining my field trip away from my home office and this delicious grilled cheese!" But I didn't. There was so much tension in the air, I would be scared someone would stab me with a butter knife. I already missed a shooting at the Home Depot parking lot by 30 minutes this week - I didn't need to court death again. However with remarkable good timing, when the anger was really seething the waitress came over with two gigantic plates of berries and whipped cream laden pancakes as big as my head. Is it possible to be angry with pancakes in front of you? The couple stopped talking and grimly started cutting their pancakes. I wanted to shout "STOP DISRESPECTING THOSE WONDERFUL PANCAKES! SMILE AND APPRECIATE THEM!" But I guess if you cannot appreciate your significant other, you probably can't appreciate pancakes either. I wanted to lean over and say "you are both young and attractive - this looks like a lot of work and a lot of anger to be dealing with -- perhaps you're just not well-suited for each other? Maybe time to cut your losses and find someone who makes you smile over pancakes?" But again - none of my business and I didn't want a fork to the forehead, a butter knife to my spleen or boiling hot coffee thrown in my face. I don't have a grand resolution to this story. I left while the couple was chopping into their pancakes with silent, searing spite. For me, it was a good day - the weather is wonderful in Florida right now, it's Friday, I had time to go out for a delicious (albeit not low calorie) lunch. I have a lot of fun weekend plans coming up. I received some good news at work. All win, win, win. All I could think about before encountering this couple was how much I had to be thankful for and how good life can be. But I left the Village Inn with an egg yolk-stained shirt and a somewhat sad heart listening to this couple tilling the soil of their bitter garden in the name of trying to save their relationship. I drove home thinking "Life is short - don't lead with three reasons why you hate -- lead with the positive first. Or at least a positive plan of action." But sometimes it's just a heck of a lot easier to get a really good grilled cheese (or mighty stack of pancakes) then to be kind to the people you love the most. Happy Friday, LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!
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