Back in Memphis - but first, a Utah review!

I'm back!

I survived both flights, no humidity, 100 degree heat, 230,000 AP World History essays, being in a room with 500 other people all week, and a week of cafeteria food, so I'm calling it a win.

While I was there I also:

-Got off the plane so rested. Whatever my mom gave me to calm me down before my flight sort of made me hear colors. But I wasn't scared so I guess it worked.

-Ate at Dairy Delight with my cousin. It's this tiny restaurant in Tooele that my aunt loved, and I always get the same thing: Ranch Burger (two patties, american cheese, ranch, and pickles), fries, and fry sauce. If you don't know what fry sauce is, I'm sorry for you and your sad life. Get thee to the internet!

-Hung out with my awesome cousin, her husband, my other great cousin, my uncle, and the rest of my family. Which was super fun. Also my cousin Sam has a mattress topper that I think is made of unicorn hair. It was glorious.

-Ate at Cheesecake Factory. I know it's a chain, and I try to eat local when I can, but it's so good, and people who work at chains need customers too.

-Ate at a Mimi's Cafe for the first time since I worked there briefly in 2007. I don't miss working there, but I forgot how good their food was.

-Went to a billion malls. And discovered that Bare Escentuals has a physical store. And bought way too many lip glosses. I got this set, which I absolutely love:

And this single, which is a good red for summer, since lipsticks tend to get kind of heavy:

-We also went to Sephora with my cousin Sam's friend Jodi. Where I bought this (anyone seeing an obsessive trend here?): 

It's Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in "Risk it All." It's SUPER pink, but it look really great on. Now I have no more money. 

-Went to a Johnny Rockets, which is like a classier Steak 'n Shake. 

-Went to Nordstrom. Which I generally find overpriced. But we had fun. We had the nicest girl at the makeup counter, where Jodi was trying to find some blush. I told her that I use Nars Orgasm, "The Multiple" Stick. Which sounds dirty all on it's own. But it's a beautiful blush that I use all year.

Trying to be helpful, the girl at the counter gave Jodi this to take home and try:

Yeah, that devolved really fast. Many hours later, and in front of people, Jodi asked me whether I used it on my face directly or I put it on my hands first. You can guess where that went. 

-I was also kind of that yokel cousin who needed to paint her nails, so I did it (two coats even) with the Nars "Madness" tester. Which I will buy when I get money again: 

-On Thursday, I went out with my friend Erin for her birthday to this amazing sushi place we went to last year, Happy Sumo. Literally the best sushi I've ever had. I had the Surf and Turf (steak, tempura shrimp, all of it tempura fried) and the Bacon Crunch Roll (tempura shrimp, green onion, avocado, all rolled in bacon and tempura bits with a maple dipping sauce). I ate all the sushi (and the edamame, and the lettuce rolls, and the tempura peppers...): 

-We spent a lot of time in the hot tub. Because sitting in a hot tub is the exact opposite of sitting in a crowded room eating too much and reading mind numbing amounts of essays. 

-Erin and I went to the chalk art festival at the Gateway Mall:

-I had a great view from my hotel: 

-And drank a lot of Slurpees (I love 7-Eleven):

-And walked around Temple Square. I'm not a Mormom, but I think it is a beautiful place:

Where we saw two separate couples taking wedding photos, but I tried not to be a super creeper.

-Saw Man of Steel. Good. Not life changing, not genre changing, but good. And Henry Cavill is very pretty.

-And then, after a fun day with my cousin and a night out with my friend Bryan at The Bayou (tagline: Welcome to Beervana - so true...), I went to the airport, had a Provo Girl Pilsner, took another one of those amazing drugs, and flew home. 

When I got home, my roommate picked me up, the house didn't look like a frat house, and my cat was really happy to see me. Until I decided he needed a bath: 

So that was my last couple of weeks. I was actually about to leave my office when it started doing this outside: 

What you can't see is the wind going crazy. So I'm hanging tight for a minute. Going to see This is The End tonight, assuming I don't get blown away.

Traveling

I love to travel. Unfortunately, I hate flying.

I'm going to grade AP exams next week, and I have to fly to get there.

Thus, I am far too stressed out to say anything clever.

Memphis Nosh: Local on the Square (Local Gastropub)

My friend AL and I decided to go to lunch today - it's too pretty out to sit in an office all day!

And we wanted some bar fries.

Bar fries, for the uninitiated, are Local's fries covered in blue cheese dressing, blue cheese crumbles, and bacon. So they're basically amazing.

We've been talking about bar fries for weeks, and today we finally made it. Best. Decisions. Ever.

I eat at Local A LOT (and drink there more probably). And it's always good. I'd never been at lunch before, and I will say that the lunch service is a little slower. Our waitress, Rachel I think, was great, but it took us awhile to get noticed at the host stand and there seemed to be a lot of confusion over sections and where food went.

(Also, just a weird side note, one of their kitchen employees almost hit our car with his while parking illegally, and the woman who did finally seat us wasn't dressed as a hostess, which is a huge departure from the regular night shifts when it's busier - this doesn't mean don't go there, it just means Memphis drivers are awful and sometimes people take a minute, but it was weird enough to comment on.)

However, once we were seated, things picked right up. I had the Short Rib Reuben, and AL had the Kickin' Chicken Club. My reuben had short ribs in this amazing, almost barbeque sauce, a huge slice of gouda, firecracker slaw, and chipotle aioli on rye bread. Absolutely amazing. I don't like a ton of slaw, so I took some of it off, and I got my aioli on the side because I'm weird like that, but it was so good. I don't usually even like reubens, but this was one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. AL's sandwich had lettuce, red onion, tomato jam, tabasco mayo, grilled chicken, bacon, and cheddar on a PRETZEL BUN. Angels actually sang.

For an upcharge, we got bar fries instead of regular fries as our side. They were, as always, so good.

That's my sandwich with my bar fries. And AL's bar fries in the background. The fries were cooked perfectly, and, as you can see by the fork in the picture, there was a ton of food. We each took some fries and half of our sandwiches home, so for lunch, it might be better to do what we've decided, which is to split a sandwich and get bar fries as an appetizer. Or gorge yourself on lunch. Or eat all you can and have leftovers. Delicious, glorious leftovers. 

I've gone to Local a lot - it's close to my house, everyone is super friendly, they have a great setup with a dining room and large bar downstairs and lounge and smaller bar upstairs. I actually, kind of embarrassingly, was there having a beer with my roommate last night.

He had the burger (I ate at Chiwawa while watching Princess Bride, so I had a Bud Light for second dinner), which I didn't get a picture of, but which I've had a billion times and love (AL pointed out that it does come a little more medium rare than medium, so tell them if you don't like your food to moo at you).

A few weeks ago I went on a Dishcrawl (on Twitter @dishcrawlmem) with Kirby, and our last stop (after Chiwawa, Le Chardonnay, and Bosco's) was Local. We had this beauty for dessert:

It's their bread pudding and something else. I can't actually believe I got a picture before I inhaled it. I have no shame. I rarely get dessert because I eat so much there, but this was worth the suffering. 

This is my favorite drink at Local, The Southern Belle. I like all their drinks, but this one is especially good. It's Hendrick's gin, egg white, lemon, pomegranate, and sugar. So it's classy/drunk in a glass. At $9 each, they're pricey, but I'm always willing to pay a little more for quality and good, local, thoughtful food and drinks. My bill today, with tip, was about $24, which is high for lunch, but I have another meal worth of leftovers and the patio, company, and amazing food were worth it. 

Local is open everyday from 11am to 3am, and they're located at the corner of Cooper and Madison, 2126 Madison Ave. You can also follow them on Twitter: @localgastropub. 

Call me if you go. :)

Memphis Nosh: Fun Weekend with Gus's, Tony Bennett, and Midtown Walgreens Adventures

Yesterday, my friend Kirby and I went to see Tony Bennett at the Memphis Botanic Garden's Live at the Garden Series. The concert was pretty great - he only performed for about 45 minutes, but he is 87 years old, and his voice is still amazing, particularly on "Cold, Cold Heart" and "Maybe this Time."

Our seats weren't actually bad - it's pick your own, with some tables and areas for people who pay more, but even the garden seating is good. Here's my awful photo:

It is kind of a hike from the parking lot to the garden, but if you go, suck it up and take lawn chairs and a cooler. It makes all the difference. The people in front of us had this amazing picnic basket set, like this one:

Before the concert, we went to Gus's on Mendenhall. I'm still in a fried chicken coma. 

Image via gusmendenhall.com

Gus's is, without a doubt, the best fried chicken I've ever had. We started with some tea and fried pickles (this location has chips, not spears, which are, in my opinion, a much better pickle to breading ratio), and each got the two piece white meat plate. I had mac n' cheese and fries, since beans are the devil's food and I'm not a huge slaw fan, while Kirby had beans and fries. 

Image via roadfood.com.

Notice that I only took one of these pictures myself, this one of my tea:

That's the problem with Gus's - I just want to eat it, not look at it. In my defense, I was also starving, and these are some giant pieces of chicken, so you want to get in there and immediately stab it so it's not molten lava grease and chicken when you throw caution (and dignity) to the wind and start snarling and gnawing it off the bone. Or maybe that's just me. 

There isn't even really a way to describe this chicken. It's spicy, but flavorful, greasy, but not too greasy (and that piece of white bread they give you is to soak up the grease - eat a piece of chicken, ball up a little piece of bread after, eat it, you're not as greasy anymore - but I've had many Gus's first timers ask me why there was no butter...), the tea is sweet enough without actually killing you, so the perfect Memphis style tea, and just weird enough that it's wonderful. The Mendenhall location is more convenient for me, but the downtown location is great too. I also love that this location does reusable cups, since it balances out the insane number of Central Barbeque cups I have in my cabinets. 

I only have two complaints about Gus's, and one isn't really their fault necessarily. Our hostess was not really into her job, which I get, since she's a hostess, but she is getting paid to be there, and she gets to work at Gus's, which is way better than anywhere I ever hosted at, so a little better of an attitude would have been nice (and, this is not her fault at all, but she sat us next to these people who were so not into personal boundaries). Second, let's talk about the mac n' cheese. 

I am a devotee of Central's mac. A little salt, a little pepper, some dry rub seasoning, dear lord. And I wanted some cheesy noodle deliciousness yesterday. But Gus's just doesn't do it. It's not really the right temperature, and way overcooked, and has an odd combination of melty cheese and not melted shredded cheese. It's not awful, and I definitely don't go to Gus's for the sides, but in a city where mac n' cheese is considered a vegetable side item and staple, it could be better. 

Other than that, great stuff. My total was about $13 for tea, 2 giant pieces of chicken, half of the fried pickles app we split, two sides, and that piece of napkin bread, and $16 with tip. It's fast and convenient too, which helps. 

And, on Saturday night, at 2 in the morning at the Walgreens on Union, I bought this guy, the most appropriately named nail polish for my life ever: 

Image is mine, but the nail polish is Essie's "The Girls Are Out" on www.essie.com. 

Because buying nail polish, ice cream, Diet Cokes, and toothpaste at 2 am, after having a 20 minute conversation with the security guard about the time he got hit in the back of the head with a 2x4 by his ex-girlfriend, is pretty indicative of having one's life together.

Fun weekend - tonight it's off to ¡Chiwawa! to watch "The Princess Bride" on their patio and eat some guacamole!

Domestic Peace

All three pets, Petunia, Campbell, and my cat Oliver, are asleep on my bed right now.

They're all getting along.

They're all being still.

No one is doing anything gross.

No one is trying to drink my Diet Coke.

They're all quiet.

Too bad there isn't any room for me.