Whole Foods turns 30 this month, so all the stores around the country are celebrating! 

Here in Nashville, we have two parties to choose from – one in Green Hills and one in Cool Springs. Well, actually, you don’t have to choose, you can do them both!

When: Friday, September 17th
              5 – 8 pm
Where: Whole Foods – Williamson
               1735 Galleria Blvd.
               Franklin, TN 37067
               615.778.1910

Barefoot Bandits will provide entertainment in a tent in front of the store, while Chef Lou grills up some tasty ribs that are sure to go nicely with the local Yazoo beer that’ll be on tap.  In addition to these awesome things, many local vendors will be on hand throughout the store offering samples of their handcrafted treats.

When: Saturday, September 18th
              2 – 6 pm
Where: Whole Foods – Green Hills
               4021 Hillsboro Pike
               Nashville, TN 37215
               615.440.5100

All throughout the store there will be free performances from local musicians and an abundance of free samples, including local popsicles (Las Paletas??), specialty chocolates, and mint juleps. There will even be free massages! I know where I’ll be on Saturday….

Not in Nashville? Don’t fret! Click here to find out about events happening in your area.

Even if you think you don’t like okra, please stay with me because I can pretty much guarantee this is not like the okra you’ve had before. When my friend Jennifer told me that this recipe was in a recent issue of Food & Wine mag, I was ecstatic! Actually, if you didn’t know me, you might have thought I was certifiably insane with the crazy smile that was plastered on my face.

Did you read my Atlanta post on Woodfire Grill? Do you remember Kevin Gillespie’s okra dish that was the best part of that meal? Do you remember that I said I would make that dish, even adding, “mark my words”? Well, here it is! It’s not exactly like what I had in Atlanta, but it was still pretty darn awesome. Warm and spicy. Crispy, not slimy.

Unfortunately, the suggested accompaniment was a complete and utter disaster. I followed the recipe instructions to the letter, but what resulted was, to me, nearly inedible. So take my advice- do not make the lentils in herb-arugula yogurt that Food & Wine suggests!

Next time I’ll try to get closer to the original Woodfire dish by serving the okra over local butter beans and french horn mushrooms with some crispy shallots on top. That would be perfection!

Skillet-Roasted Spiced Okra

Adapted from Food & Wine magazine, Kevin Gillespie

Ingredients:

3/4 tsp hot paprika
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/8 tsp turmeric
Pinch of cinnamon
4 tsp vegetable oil*, separated
1 lb small okra, halved lengthwise
Salt

Directions:

In a small bowl, blend the paprika with the cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cinnamon.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tsp of the oil. Add 1/2 the okra, cut side down, and cook over high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to moderate and cook until browned on the bottom, 4 minutes longer. Turn the okra and cook over low heat until tender, 2 minutes. Season with salt and sprinkle with 1/2 the spice mixture. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Remove from skillet and place on serving platter. Repeat all steps using the remaining 2 tsp oil, 1/2 the okra, and 1/2 the spices.

Drizzle the lemon juice over the okra and serve.

*the original recipe called for 2 Tbsp of oil, but my friend tested out the dish before I did and advised that it was a bit too oily for her, so I reduced the amount I used

Woodfire Grill’s Spice Roasted Okra
local butter beans and french horn mushrooms,
green bean salad, crisp fried shallots

If you’re looking for something fun (and free) to do tonight,  Chef Dan Maggipinto of Caffe Nonna will be conducting a demonstration using his Nonna’s Gourmet Foods  at the Le Creuset store in Green Hills.

What: Nonna’s Gourmet Foods Demo
When: Tonight, Tuesday, September 14th
7:30 pm
Where: Le Creuset
Hill Center
4107 Hillsboro Pike
Nashville, TN

For more details, click here.

Ta dah! Welcome to Eat-Drink-Smile.com! That’s right, I’ve retired the old blogspot address and purchased my own domain. It was time to upgrade and give you guys something shiny and new. So take a look around, click the buttons, take her out for a spin. Some of the upgrades include recipe printing function, a plethora of search options, and the ability to subscribe to posts via email. (For those of you reading this in Google Reader, now’s probably a good time to jump over to the blog so you can see what all the fuss is about!)

As you peruse the site, you might find a few things here and there that don’t look quite right. Some formatting went a little wonky in the transfer, so over the weeks to come I’ll be polishing it up and putting on a few finishing touches. Also, not all of the recipes have been converted to printer friendly versions yet, but rest assured, they will be soon.

All the credit for the new design goes to the very talented Lindsay of Purr Designs, who you might know better as my fellow food blogging friend, Love and Olive Oil. Not only does she have an amazing design aesthetic, her brain can somehow figure out all of this crazy coding that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to grasp! Thanks Lindsay for all of your hard work, patience in fielding my many questions, and explaining things in a way that I can actually somewhat understand :-)

Like I said before, change is good! At least that’s how I feel. What about you guys? Do you like it?!?

Stack of Ribbons Image by Ellie

image credit: Yarden Sachs

After eating so much on vacation last week, I really have no desire to eat much of anything this week. I need a breather. So this week I won’t be going out to restaurants and you won’t see me drinking a drop of alcohol.

But next week? That’s a different story. Because it’s Nashville Originals Restaurant Week! That means there are 3 and even 4-course dinners at some of Nashville’s finest for only $20.10 or $30.10. No way I could pass that up. Now to just make the tough decision on where to go…..

Check out the menus here and make your reservations now before they all fill up!

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As you may or may not know, I am a planner. A researcher. An Excel spreadsheet lover. Before I leave for a trip, I spend hours upon hours devouring every bit of information I can possibly find relating to food and drink in that particular city. I gather. I analyze. I make a list of pros and cons. I budget. I analyze some more.

Our first stop for the evening was Bar Crudo, a seafood lover’s paradise that came highly recommended by the locals on both Chowhound and yelp. The menu is split into “Raw”, “Cold” and “Hot” sections, and many dishes can easily be shared, which worked perfectly for our group.

We started with the Crudo Sampler, which included our choice of 4 from the “Raw” section of the menu:

Butterfish
salmorejo, quail egg, jamon
(pictured below in upper left corner)

Arctic Char
horseradish cream, wasabi toiko, dill

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Hokkaido Scallops
sweet corn puree, piri piri peppers, spanish smoked salt

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Tombo Tuna
avocado mousse, chili lime vinaigrette, peaches

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and we couldn’t resist adding one more to the order:

Spicy Yellowfin Tuna
sriracha, soy sauce, ginger, green onion

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All of the fish was so fresh, and the textures and flavors so interesting and different, that it’s hard for me to say that I enjoyed one more than the other. They were all delicious and the perfect light start to the long evening ahead.

Next, we moved on to the “soup and salad” course…

San Sebastian Salad
tuna confit, asparagus, roasted red peppers, nicoise olives, manchego, tomato bread

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How is it that the vegetables in the Bay Area taste so much better, brighter, cleaner, fresher, everything-er?!? This simple salad was, well, simply beautiful in both taste and appearance.

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Seafood Chowder

fish, mussels, shrimp, squid, potatoes, applewood smoked bacon

Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of this dish, which turned out to be one of the best things I tasted not only on this night, but during the entire trip. I’ll actually go so far as to say that it is definitely THE BEST seafood chowder I’ve ever had in my life. I’m pretty sure if you were to ask any one of my travel companions they would wholeheartedly agree, as we talked about the chowder at least once every day of the trip!

Bar Crudo
655 Divisadero Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
415.409.0679

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Next stop- Nopa! Here’s where our plan sort of started to fail. You see, we all woke up at 4 a.m. Central time that morning in order to catch our 6 a.m. flight. When we arrived at Nopa it was 9 p.m. Pacific time, which means to our bodies and our minds, it was 11 p.m. already and we had been up for 19 hours.

Nopa is known for their creative cocktails, so I was determined to enjoy one. Here’s the funny thing- I was so deliriously tired at that point that I now have no idea what I ordered. It was good though, I do remember that much!

Despite the fact that our heads were about to fall into our plates, we ordered a starter and entree to share.

Baked Giant White Beans

tomato, feta, oregano, breadcrumbs

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Country Pork Chop

grilled peaches, green beans, and mustard seed vinaigrette

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It’s a shame that we didn’t have more energy for this meal, because the lively atmosphere made it the sort of place we would normally all like to hang. Not only that, I’ve heard their desserts are out of this world. Nopa, I’ll be back. And next time, I’ll be sure to take a nap before I come.

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Nopa

560 Divisadero St
San Francisco, CA 94117
415.864.8643

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Hi everyone! I’m finally back from vacation and have been so excited to share my experiences with you, but first I really need to unpack, do laundry, go grocery shopping and work out!! Actually, working out is the first thing on my list because I gained at least 5 pounds while I was gone! But before I tackle my to do list, I’m going to quickly post some photos! As you know, I was in a few different places last week, the first being San Francisco. This trip was primarily a girls’ getaway to the wine country, but we couldn’t be that close to the city and not spend at least one night there, so that’s what we did. Specifically, we had 24 hours.

Any of you that have been to San Francisco can probably understand how difficult it would be for a foodie like me to decide what to do in that short time span. So, I planned strategically. We would arrive on a Saturday morning, just in time to hit the Saturday farmers’ market. The best place to stay if that’s your primary focus? The Hotel Vitale, directly across the street from the Ferry Building where the market is held! (The photo above is actually from our hotel room window on the morning we arrived. If you click on it, you’ll be able to see the tents and throngs of people to the right of the building. That’s just a small portion of the farmers’ market)

We had less than two hours before the outdoor stands started shutting down, so there was no messing around. On my last trip a couple of years ago, I stood in the long line at Rose Pistola for breakfast. Well worth the wait, the egg, applewood smoked bacon, basil and mozzarella sandwich was amazing, but since our time was so limited on this trip, we opted to skip the long lines and instead walk the market sampling the fruits, vegetables, dips, cheeses and breads the vendors had to offer.

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And that was only the outdoor farmers’ market. We hadn’t even gotten inside the ferry building yet, where gourmet delights abound!

Chocolate from Scharffen Berger…..

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Unable to resist the allure of the ferry building, we went back the next morning for Blue Bottle coffee and a quick bite to eat before we hit the road to wine country.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part 2 of my 24 hours in San Francisco– our TWO dinners!