Hello friends! Whew, I am recovering from an extended St. Patrick's Day weekend packed full of fun & activities. The little video clip above is of the bagpipers in our first ever Cooper Young St. Patrick's Day parade. Cooper Young is the historic Midtown Memphis neighborhood where Simon & I live. On Thursday morning, I took our doggy Riley and walked 1/2 block down the road to have a front row seat for the parade. It was pretty small, but I bet it will grow every year. It was over in about 20 minutes and that included chatting with people on the street, letting kids pet Riley, and general socializing. The parade was at 10am, so I passed on the suggestion from some people at The Celtic Crossing Irish pub to have a beer.
Here are a few more parade pictures, including Riley watching intently with his little gold beads on. He did pretty well, but didn't like the loud drum corps right in his face. He barked at them.
Here are a few more parade pictures, including Riley watching intently with his little gold beads on. He did pretty well, but didn't like the loud drum corps right in his face. He barked at them.
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After the parade, I picked up our friends from the airport. They left Michigan very early and arrived in Memphis by 11:30am on Thursday. All of their travels went smoothly. The hardest part was me finding a parking spot as we live a half block from the aforementioned Celtic Crossing Irish pub which was THE place to be for St. Patrick's Day shenanigans on Thursday.
We got situated and I took our friends out for a nice pint of beer at Young Avenue Deli and then on to Central BBQ so they could taste some famous Memphis barbecue (they are definitely not vegan). I had a few fries dipped in the different BBQ sauces, it was good to try all of the different types.
Thursday afternoon, I took our friends to Sun Studio. They did the tour and I waited in the cafe as I just did the Sun Studio tour a few weeks ago with Mum. I don't mind it every few years as I LOVE Memphis music history, but every few weeks is a bit much. They had a good time and got some fun tourist pics.
Simon arrived home from work and we went down to our favorite local pub, the Hammer & Ale for St. Patrick's Day pints. We arrived exactly when the big Breakaway Running pub run arrived, so had to wait in line, but everyone got beers and we even got to say Hi to our friend Bianca who was running with her friend Misti. This was another reminder to me that I need to get my tailfeather down to Breakaway Running and get cracking on some 5K training. That late May race is coming up soon! I plan to go there tomorrow morning and will blog a bit about that process.
We wrapped up Thursday with dinner at Mulan Asian Bistro right in our Cooper Young neighborhood and home for hanging out on our front porch as it was a beautiful warm sunny day and warm evening in Memphis. The weather was much appreciated by our Michigan friends.
We got situated and I took our friends out for a nice pint of beer at Young Avenue Deli and then on to Central BBQ so they could taste some famous Memphis barbecue (they are definitely not vegan). I had a few fries dipped in the different BBQ sauces, it was good to try all of the different types.
Thursday afternoon, I took our friends to Sun Studio. They did the tour and I waited in the cafe as I just did the Sun Studio tour a few weeks ago with Mum. I don't mind it every few years as I LOVE Memphis music history, but every few weeks is a bit much. They had a good time and got some fun tourist pics.
Simon arrived home from work and we went down to our favorite local pub, the Hammer & Ale for St. Patrick's Day pints. We arrived exactly when the big Breakaway Running pub run arrived, so had to wait in line, but everyone got beers and we even got to say Hi to our friend Bianca who was running with her friend Misti. This was another reminder to me that I need to get my tailfeather down to Breakaway Running and get cracking on some 5K training. That late May race is coming up soon! I plan to go there tomorrow morning and will blog a bit about that process.
We wrapped up Thursday with dinner at Mulan Asian Bistro right in our Cooper Young neighborhood and home for hanging out on our front porch as it was a beautiful warm sunny day and warm evening in Memphis. The weather was much appreciated by our Michigan friends.
Friday involved a trip downtown. We were trying to go on the Gibson guitar factory tour, but all tours were sold out by the time we arrived around 2pm. We showed our friends Beale Street and relaxed with some music and a drink on the patio at Silky O'Sullivan's as we had another warm sunny beautiful day on our hands.
For dinner, we went to Bari Ristorante in Overton Square. Simon & I had never been to this restaurant yet. They serve really good Italian food and they were very accommodating to my vegan requests. I had mixed olives for an appetizer and a plate of side dishes including roasted brussels sprouts, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes, and a fava bean puree with radicchio for my dinner. They served everything with no cheese for me. It was delicious.
We were 'Riding the Roo' Friday night, which is a bus with a big kangaroo sipping a martini that sits on top. This bus runs between our Cooper Young neighborhood and the equally fun and cool Overton Square neighborhood. It runs all night Fridays and Saturdays. You can ride for $2 each way or $5 all night. We did the all night pass, but kept missing the bus and just walking. We walked to the Slider Inn where we were really enjoying the music, atmosphere, beers, and conversation.
Our Roo driver found us on the way home and delivered us the Celtic Crossing where we entered our names in a drawing for a free trip to Ireland and capped off the night with the picture above. Fun times!
For dinner, we went to Bari Ristorante in Overton Square. Simon & I had never been to this restaurant yet. They serve really good Italian food and they were very accommodating to my vegan requests. I had mixed olives for an appetizer and a plate of side dishes including roasted brussels sprouts, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes, and a fava bean puree with radicchio for my dinner. They served everything with no cheese for me. It was delicious.
We were 'Riding the Roo' Friday night, which is a bus with a big kangaroo sipping a martini that sits on top. This bus runs between our Cooper Young neighborhood and the equally fun and cool Overton Square neighborhood. It runs all night Fridays and Saturdays. You can ride for $2 each way or $5 all night. We did the all night pass, but kept missing the bus and just walking. We walked to the Slider Inn where we were really enjoying the music, atmosphere, beers, and conversation.
Our Roo driver found us on the way home and delivered us the Celtic Crossing where we entered our names in a drawing for a free trip to Ireland and capped off the night with the picture above. Fun times!
Saturday night, Simon & I already had tickets for the Spring Fling gig at Landers Center in Southaven, Mississippi. For my blog readers not that familiar with Memphis, Memphis sits in the very Southwest corner of Tennessee in a tri-state area. Only a few minutes drive to the West across the Mississippi river is Arkansas and just a few minutes drive to the South takes you into the state of Mississippi. Southaven, Hernando, Olive Branch, and a few other towns are technically in MS, but practically suburbs of Memphis. So, this concert venue was only about a 20 minute drive for us.
Spring Fling at the Flanders Center (Simon & I like to call it the Flanders Center because it makes us chuckle and think of Homer Simpson) included four alt rock bands: Bear Hands, Foals (from the UK), Silversun Pickups, and Cage The Elephant. A downright zoo for the Spring Fling! We listen to and really enjoy all of these bands, so it was pretty awesome to have great seats and 3.5 hours of excellent live music for $35 each. Great VFM as the Brits would say (value for money).
Here are a few pics from the gig. Even though our seats were only about 4 rows back from the floor, unless you are basically in the front row, all concert pictures look the same. To prove it, here are 3 pictures of 3 different bands. Can you identify any of them? Hint: Silversun Pickups has a bass player and vocalist who is female and was wearing a dress.
Spring Fling at the Flanders Center (Simon & I like to call it the Flanders Center because it makes us chuckle and think of Homer Simpson) included four alt rock bands: Bear Hands, Foals (from the UK), Silversun Pickups, and Cage The Elephant. A downright zoo for the Spring Fling! We listen to and really enjoy all of these bands, so it was pretty awesome to have great seats and 3.5 hours of excellent live music for $35 each. Great VFM as the Brits would say (value for money).
Here are a few pics from the gig. Even though our seats were only about 4 rows back from the floor, unless you are basically in the front row, all concert pictures look the same. To prove it, here are 3 pictures of 3 different bands. Can you identify any of them? Hint: Silversun Pickups has a bass player and vocalist who is female and was wearing a dress.
So, there we go. More music, food, drinks, and fun than you can shake a stick at, all packed into one holiday weekend in Memphis. On Sunday, we all just chilled out, slept in, had coffees at Java Cabana, and got our friends to the airport in the afternoon.
Yesterday and today I am chilling, cooking some delicious healthy homemade vegan food after all of the restaurant eating we did over the weekend, and getting ready for our next guests. My Mom and Stepdad arrive tomorrow evening for a few nights. They are stopping in to see us on their way home from visiting my Stepbrothers and Aunt & Uncle in Florida. It will be so good to see them. I really miss my Mommy! I hope to share a bit about that visit as well.
I am definitely engaging with my life in Memphis and we are enjoying showing our new home town to family and friends. I will be back soon with posts about family visits, more recipes that I have been developing for Flavor Mavens, and embarking on my 5K training.
Enjoy your Easter week!
P.S. I just figured out that I wasn't getting blog comment notifications after I changed my email address when we moved to Memphis in the fall. I went back and responded to some comments and will now be notified of new comments. I love the comments, feel free to comment any time.
Yesterday and today I am chilling, cooking some delicious healthy homemade vegan food after all of the restaurant eating we did over the weekend, and getting ready for our next guests. My Mom and Stepdad arrive tomorrow evening for a few nights. They are stopping in to see us on their way home from visiting my Stepbrothers and Aunt & Uncle in Florida. It will be so good to see them. I really miss my Mommy! I hope to share a bit about that visit as well.
I am definitely engaging with my life in Memphis and we are enjoying showing our new home town to family and friends. I will be back soon with posts about family visits, more recipes that I have been developing for Flavor Mavens, and embarking on my 5K training.
Enjoy your Easter week!
P.S. I just figured out that I wasn't getting blog comment notifications after I changed my email address when we moved to Memphis in the fall. I went back and responded to some comments and will now be notified of new comments. I love the comments, feel free to comment any time.
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