Game Time!

If you are looking for a fun laid back night with your friends and new cool people stop by The Rec Room. 

It was an open industrial style space filled with countless games, beer, and live sports games.

First and foremost there was a giant projection of the Grizzlies game with a section of bleachers next to it. When you travel further into the Rec Room you find sections of couches with video games galore! You can reserve one of their Living Room's on their website.

And if you get thirsty they have drinks ready for you!

There was also no shortage of games. From connect for to ping pong to giant genga there was something for everyone. Take some time and try it out! 

Crawfish Time!

This past weekend was the Crawfish Festival in the Overton Square. The streets were blocked off and tables were set up so everyone could enjoy the sea creatures.

Crawfish: Crayfish, also known as crawfish, crawdads, freshwater lobsters, or mudbugs, are freshwater crustaceans resembling small lobsters, to which they are related 

In a slight change of plans I celebrated the Crawfish Festival at a friend's house eating homemade crawfish. I had never eaten a crawfish or even seen one in person before last night. The entire experience was great!

To cook the crawfish they are placed into seasoned water with a variety of vegetables (potatoes, garlic, mushrooms, corn on the cob).

I'm not going to lie, touching the crawfish was a lot for me. Tearing it apart to get the meat was even more. But it was all worth the effort. The food was amazing!!

If you get a chance to try Crawfish Festival 2016 you should take advantage it! Now get out and enjoy this fabulous Memphis weather!

Saturday Morning Exploration

Memphis always has a lot of events to explore and clearly Saturday's are my favorite days to go exploring.

First, I stopped by the Dixon Gallery and Gardens which are free on Saturdays between 10am to Noon. It is normally $7 to enter the gallery so there is no need to limit yourself to the morning.

There are a lot of  things to explore although I spent most of my time enjoying the beautiful gardens.

The Dixon is definitely a stop you should be making this Spring or Summer. It is absolutely beautiful. I hope you get out and enjoy this beautiful Memphis weather!!

A Day at the Park

Hello Again!

I have been back at it! I've been out and about so much in Memphis that I haven’t had time to focus on letting you in on all of my adventures. To begin a couple of weeks ago I spent my Saturday afternoon at Overton Park. It was one of the best Saturday adventures I have had in a while.

To begin, my friend and I wanted a place a place to just walk and explore with our afternoon so we stopped by the Cooper Young Farmer’s Market and then Overton Park. We found everything!

The Cooper Young farmer’s market was small and cute. There was a variety of really great, small businesses. There was an awesome wood worker with great original pieces. There were vendors selling coffee, grass raised beef, and organic herbs and produce from local farmers.  

Lastly, I stopped by a really great vendor that sold hand-made soaps. Cosgrove and Lewis Handmade Luxury Soaps presented a variety of wonderful ingredients used including lavender, charcoal, oatmeal, sandalwood, tea tree oil, among others! I bought two and they have smelled wonderful, felt great on my skin, and left my skin feeling smooth and moisturized. They also have really great prices. I think we bought four for $20. You should try them out. 

I find things like this just too darn adorable! 

Then we made our way over to Overton Park. We first saw all a set up of tables with people selling various items. There were spray paint artists, oil and paint works, pottery, cookies, and so much more.

Then we made our way around to the Mid-South Literacy booth. They had free children’s books available and plenty of families took time to stop and read in the park.

We then walked around and saw Overton Bark-the dog park. This is a great place to let your dog burn off some extra energy or maybe take a fellow dog lover.

Then we continued our walk to the Brooks Museum where they were having a chalk event. While we walked around and explored the chalk art work we discovered that the Museum was free. 

We took that opportunity to explore the This Light of Ours exhibit. If you haven't gone to explore this yet you are truly missing out. Seriously, it is awesome! Go see it ASAP. 

Outside of the Brooks Museum were Food Trucks!! Who doesn't love a good food truck? Normally if there is a large event in Memphis you will find food trucks nearby. Gotta Love Memphis!

Last but not least, I was looking at the statue at the entrance of the park. The monument is of E. H. Crump, an influential politician who made great strides for the City of Memphis.

As always if you are bored or looking for things to do look through the blogs listed in the resource tabs. Or just get out and drive around, park, and try something new. Talk to people, ask questions, and make new friends.

Go out and have an incredible experience in Memphis! 

Brunch: Paulette's

Greetings,

Saturday I tried something new: Brunch!

Brunch, breakfast combined with lunch, is served all over Memphis on Saturday and Sunday. I have always thought brunch seemed like the perfect dinning idea. I don't have to wake up too early, I can eat breakfast in the afternoon, and I can have unlimited alcoholic drinks before 5pm without judgement. Perfection!!

Now I needed to decide where I was going to have this awesome experience. In my research I found a list of MidTown brunch spots, Downtown brunch options, and Top 10 Brunch/breakfast lists. From these lists I decided to dine at Paulette's in Harbor Town. I had heard good things about Paulette's and I was excited to try it out.

 

The location is right across from the Mississippi River making it perfect for beautiful days to eat then walk down by the river. I actually loved seeing the fog covered river. It was incredibly beautiful. Fog and all!

Side Note: If you haven't taken time to go explore the River Side and Mud Island you are missing out.

Once inside Paulette's I found a small, quaint restaurant. The waiting area was tiny and there was no host/hostess to greet my friend and I as we arrived. Eventually, someone gave us a signal to wait as they rushed to attend to their tables. I was slightly confused by the delay because only two of the tables had customers. In all fairness, I know from experience a business can be understaffed compared to the unseen needs. So I will let that pass.

Once seated our waiter seemed exhausted, ill prepared to answer questions, and only semi interested in working, but we continued.

First we ordered drinks. The mimosas were $8 which is considerably higher priced compared to other restaurants brunch prices.

Instead, my friend and I went for the cosmos which were $9. They were a great color and decent in flavor. I probably wouldn't order the cosmos again.

I will say the food was amazing!

It started with Popovers and strawberry butter. The popovers were good and the butter was great. Really creamy and not too sweet.

I ordered a cup of Lobster bisque for $5.95. It was great! A smooth consistency, with a great flavor.

For my main course I ordered the create your own omelette with sausage, bacon, peppers, and cheddar cheese.

My friend ordered the Southern Eggs Benedict.

All of food tasted great! The plates averaged out to $11 per plate with a good amount of food. For the quality of the food alone I would recommend Paulette's for brunch. The great food and close proximity to the river make it a great brunch spot for the spring and summer.

If you have any suggestions for brunch locations to try please feel free to leave them in the comments! I'd love to know other great places to try!

Be on the look out for some Spring Break adventures!

An Amazing Saturday

Today was one of those beautiful days to explore the city. The temperature was warm enough to not need a coat. The sun was out melting all of the never ending snow and ice. And I got to spend time with my boyfriend.

1^st Stop:  TheBar-B-Q Shop on Madison in Midtown

This place was wonderful!!

I’m always a little skeptical of BBQ places because 1. I’m not the biggest fan of BBQ 2. People are confused about what great BBQ tastes like. When my boyfriend suggested it I was down to try it because he generally has great taste in food. And he was right! Everything was amazing.

The atmosphere was smaller, dark, and laid back. All of the servers were friendly and happy to ask if I needed anything. Great service is really important to me so this was awesome.

Then to top it all off the food was amazing! 

I had a pork sandwich on  buttery Texas Toast with sides of fries and baked beans.

My boyfriend had the half rack of ribs, dry, with backed beans, cole slaw, and BBQ spaghetti.

The seasoning on the ribs was the perfect blend of salty and smoky. When I tasted the rib the meat just fell off the bone.

The BBQ spaghetti was awesome. The sweet BBQ sauce complemented the pieces of pulled pork and noodles to create an interesting yet successful twist on a classic.

The sandwich was a thick pile of shredded pork with sweet sauce and cole slaw. The fries were crispy, and the baked beans were infused with the special Bar-B-Q  Shop sauce.  

The food came out hot and the portions were great. I think the secrete to the success is the special blend of sauce and dry rub. It was also reasonably priced with the total meal coming to about $35.  I would highly recommend this for a great lunch in Mid Town or to begin a wonderful night out.

2^nd Stop: Frost Bake Shop 

The frost bakery is a smaller bake shop on the corner of the shopping plaza at Laurelwood Plaza. It is cute, bright, and full of options. Cakes, cupcakes, pies, cookies. They have more combinations that you can imagine and I have yet to try a treat I don’t love.

 Their staff is always ready to great you with a smile and serve you one (or several) of their delicious sweets.

If you are ever in the neighborhood it is worth a try.

3^rd Stop:   The Booksellers in Laurelwood Plaza. 

 It is a cute book shop with includes all of your normal selection of books plus stationary, games, café, among other items. It was cute and worth the stop as random destination on our Saturday adventures.

4^th Stop: The last and final stop was to the Silly Goose Lounge.

This trendy night club is located in the heart of downtown. I was there from around 10:30pm-1:00am (I wasn’t feeling my best so I left early). The music was a blend of techno-pop. The crowd was diverse. The scene included several groups out having a good time. I didn't see a lot of dance but all of the groups seemed to be having a great time enjoying the music, drinks, and each other. They also had a small, well-furnished patio with beautiful heaters.The cover was $5 before 11pm and went up to $10 after 11pm. 

Overall, the experience was great and I plan to go back soon. And the second time I will stay later and have much more to report.

Be on the look-out for new adventures and places to check out! And if you have any places you would like to suggest feel free to leave them in the comments!