History in the Making

What a cheesy title. Well, get over it. I think there is a certain degree of cheesiness required in life. The reason I chose this cheeeeeesy title is because I had a lot of rad 'firsts' this week. I know, the cheesiness is just amplified now because if you dig deep enough, everyone has or does a 'first' something every day. Is that history? I guess so. But I live in the south, people. So my firsts are cool. And now I am blogging about them.

1. Went to the last Harry Potter midnight showing of my life.

And was tired enough (and had to work soon enough after) that I didn't even dress up.

Notice the cool shirt. Haha I love TN.

2. Went to my first Baseball game! And I loved it. I just felt like saying Gooo Amurrica the whole time. My friends here all tease me for my slightly extreme patriotism and general over-enthusiasm for life. Well I was excited, needless to say.

The Nashville Sounds beat the Albaquerque Isotopes (I know! And I thought I was nerdy!) in a double-header.

And I had to have a picture with the lovely David!

3. Went Canoeing on the Harpeth with all of our friends from the Program. It was soo fun! Bola and I pretty much rocked it (once we got the hang out how to row and steer).

And what you can't see is my knee gushing blood after I hit it pretty hard on a rock...

So Bola carried me back from the parking structure. What a good teammate.

4. We even stopped at the very southern Cracker Barrel for lunch afterward.

And we didn't forget about Goo Goo Clusters and Moon Pies, both made in TN!

5. And today after church I made some delicious basil grape Focaccia Bread with a recipe adapted from the recipe on this food blog.

The grapes burst a little bit when they cook. Good touch. Next time I'll try Olives.

And it was delicious.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Gooder'n Grits

If only I had the accent to go with this southern phrase. Well, accent or not, until yesterday I did not know what gooder'n grits meant, because I had never had grits. But let me tell you, they are GOOD! These grits tasted like corn butta and salt and they had super good texture. Yummmm...

The grits were from the cutest southern cafe and country store outside of Bellevue called the Loveless Cafe. Never was an old country cafe so quaint, food so fried, and biscuits so crispy and amazing as at the Loveless Cafe. I have the nicest postdoc in my lab, he and his wife took me for out for this southern experience.

Southern Fried Catfish, Fried Okra, Hushpuppies and Grits

Perhaps the best homemade preserves and definitely the BEST biscuits I have ever had!

So if you didn't know before, you realize now I am a food enthusiast... Ok, I am kind of obsessed with food. I love trying new foods and trying to make new foods too. Lets be real, I very often browse foodgawker in my spare time. Best website ever.

Anyway, so for the fourth of July me and my friends from my program went to Broadway (Nash Vegas) which was closed off for the Music City 4th of July Festival. There was great music, including Darius Rucker and some really good a capella group. It was great fun. And the best firework show I have ever seen.

Oh, and SOO MUCH FRIED FOOD. Southern cookin' for ya.

Buuttt... don't worry. I still miss California sometimes, so I drive out to Nolensville Pike where the Mexicana tiendas are. I can't go a whole summer without tostadas con queso fresco and Tapatío!