It's been a while since I've posted anything on my blogsite although I do check in on other bloggers that I've followed in the past. Nothing earth shattering here but I put together a couple of food related items with an appropriate beginning and ending.
We've (especially Laurie) have been getting up earlier than has been our habit over the past several years. As a consequence, Laurie captured this glorious sunrise coming up over Tellico Lake and the nearby hills.
Very recently we had enjoyed a late afternoon/early evening meal at our friends Larry and Bev's home. Larry is also a blogger and food is a specialty. (https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) We enjoyed the company and a great meal, including Royal Red Shrimp in brown butter, Salmon Cakes and Fresh Tomato Focaccia Pizza. (shown above) In this case my focus is on the Focaccia Pizza. It was delicious and I think that I ate at least 5 slabs of it... To see the recipe, just go to Larry's (Big Dude's) blog post as follows. You'll get to see the family dogs as well! (https://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/2025/08/fresh-tomato-focaccia-pizza-pups-new-cut.html)
Larry 'twisted my arm' and I ended up taking home a big chunk of the remaining Fresh Tomato Focaccia Pizza. So what came next? I sliced the top off a slab of the focaccia and dropped in a frying pan with plentiful butter, and then I heated both sides of the above 'slice'.
After it was browned a bit, I sprinkled a bit of parmesan on the tomato side of the focaccia pizza. Loved the color...before I took that final step prior to consumption.
I topped my slightly modified fresh tomato focaccia pizza with a couple of over-easy fried eggs. This was a very satisfying breakfast indeed! Thanks Larry and Bev...for having us over for dinner and for sending a classy leftover home with me.
One of our friends had referred us to the Abridged Beer Company in Knoxville. He told us that they served the best hamburger he's ever had in Knoxville! Since we both love a good burger and we were going to be in Knoxville anyway, we decided to stop in for an early dinner.
We started out with an appetizer, in this case it was the Fried Cornbread with House Jam and Honey Butter. ($11.00) This offering was quite tasty with crusty fried outside of these cornbread 'cakes' adding interesting texture and a nice bite of flavor. The honey butter and house jam worked too but I think I would have preferred a little more tang or pop with the jam.
Laurie ordered the Old Smokey Burger. ($17.00) It was comprised of a 7 oz. all-beef ground brisket blend, house aioli, tobacco onions, applewood smoked bacon, smoked provolone cheese, bourbon BBQ, and brioche jalapeno jam on a brioche roll. For her side dish she opted for the potato salad. She has repeatedly told me...and others...that this was the best burger she ever had.
My burger (no photo as it looked about the same) was simply the Abridged Burger. ($17.00) It was made up with the same brisket blend ground beef and house aioli plus fried brussels sprouts petals, white American cheese and applewood smoked bacon on the brioche bun. I skipped the caramelized onions as I don't care for onions.
I've decided that I'm more of a purist when it comes to hamburgers. My favorite burgers are comprised of a nice firm bun, quality beef and a slice of sharp cheddar cheese...with perhaps a smear of mayonnaise. Laurie likes more layers of flavor. Basically, I could barely taste the ground beef as it was overshadowed by the other ingredients. This was a decent burger or sandwich and the bun was top notch. The fries were too limp for my taste and $17.00 for a burger seems a bit high...perhaps justified by the layers applied to the sandwich.
Everybody has different likes and dislikes and, based on the crowd, Abridged Beer Co. is very popular. Abridged Beer Company is located at 320 North Peters Road in Knoxville Tennessee. Phone: 865-281-5449. You can check out their menu on their website which is found at https://www.abridgedbeer.com/.
And I'll sign off for now with this photo of our sunset last night. We've been having great weather this month.
Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...
Thanks for stopping by!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
