Checking In Once Again - Mostly Food

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

A Bit of Italian Food Plus

...continuing with Bill and Bonnie's visit.  Another meal out, this time it was Italian.  Back in May I'd written a post for the blogsite about a new Italian Restaurant in close proximity to our home.  It was promising and, since both Bonnie and Bill really like Italian food, we got dressed up before we headed out the door!

Laurie's sister Bonnie and her husband Bill, ready to head out for dinner...

Yours truly and Laurie (my better half), also ready to head out for dinner.  And yes, I did dress up for dinner.  The man in black with a collared shirt... I generally avoid restaurants where I have to wear long pants.  If its over 50 F, I wear shorts!  It's one of the 'privileges' of retirement...

                          

This is the Fork and Vine in Lenoir City Tennessee.  They now have a permanent sign that replaced that white temporary signage shown in this earlier photograph.  To see my earlier post regarding this restaurant, you can go to https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5617317794624015781/711400631634636564.  As you will note on the faded signage below that temporary sign, this location was previously called Joe's Italian Cuisine.

My bad!  A couple of posts earlier I'd negatively credited the first charcuterie board to the wrong restaurant, "Water into Wine".  In reality, the first board shown above (termed a Salumi Board) was enjoyed at "Fork and Vine" prior to the arrival of our salads and entrees.  At $15.00 it was indeed a good deal and the quality was there as well.  The second charcuterie board is the one that should have been 'credited' to our experience at "Water into Wine".

FYI, Fork and Vines Salumi Board contained an assortment of meats and cheeses plus roasted red pepper hummus, sliced ciabatta bread and tangerine chili olives.  For the record, I'm not a real fan of charcuterie boards but many people are including Laurie, Bonnie and Bill.  I don't dislike them but I'd prefer focusing on the main courses or more singular appetizers...

Another Fork and Vine appetizer was their Drunken Mussels. ($15.00) The mussels were swimming in an amazing vodka and white wine sauce, with basil, garlic, tomatoes, and banana peppers.  They were also accompanied by sliced ciabatta toast points with herb butter.  Bread and herbed olive oil came with the meals and seconds were provided at no cost.  The bread was invaluable for soaking up the mussels delectable sauce...

The only negative was that too many mussels hadn't opened up during the cooking process.  It should have been caught in the kitchen.

Laurie ordered a side 'Julius Caesar' salad with her entree.  Salads with an entree are $5.00 vs $12.00 for a dinner sized Caesar salad.  Laurie really enjoyed her salad.

For her entree, Laurie ordered the Vodka Di Gallo.  The fresh Creste di Gallo pasta came with a pink vodka cream sauce, onions, basil and mushrooms.  Laurie added blackened 'colossal' shrimp to her main course. ($8.00) With the shrimp, her meal cost $24.00.  Other add-on options included chicken, meatballs or Italian sausage. ($6.00) Laurie completely enjoyed her entree...and would order it again.

Bonnie also ordered a side salad with her entree. ($5.00) It came with mixed greens, tomato, red onion, carrots, cheese and croutons.

FYI, a total of 9 starters or appetizers are on the menu at Fork and Vine as are other salads...including dinner salads.

Bonnie ordered the 1809 Risotto...with creamy parmesan risotto, mushrooms, seared scallops and herb broccolini. ($28.00) The base of the cream sauce is a lemon wine cream.  Bonnie enjoyed her entree and Laurie gave a big 'thumbs up' on the risotto.

As for Bill's entree, somehow we missed taking a photo of his 'seafood entree'.  It was the Ciopinno Lenoir with mussels, clams, shrimp and fish simmered in at robust tomato based broth. ($24.00) It was served with grilled Ciabatta bread and Bill also added a Caesar salad to accompany his meal.  He was happy with his choice for dinner and he completely cleaned his plate!

As for yours truly, I started my meal with a bowl of Italian Wedding Soup. No photo yet again. ($9.00/cup $5.00) It was very nice broth and it was loaded with little meatballs, spinach and pasta pearls. 

I had a hankering for pizza so I ordered Fork and Vine's Wood Fired Pepperoni Pie. ($16.00) As per the menu it was made with fresh house made pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and 'loaded with pepperoni'.  Since my favorite pizza is a combination of Italian sausage and pepperoni, I asked that sausage be added to the toppings.  No problem...same price too.  It sure looked good!

As you may remember, Laurie and I have been searching for great pizza ever since we moved to East Tennessee.  Sadly, we're still searching.  My pizza's crust was soggy, the pizza sauce was bland...to me it lacked any Italian seasonings...and 'bland' carried on to the sausage and even the pepperoni.  I took about half of my pizza home and 'dressed it up' a couple of days later.  I added more pepperoni (spicier than than the original), extra mozzarella cheese to help re-moisturize the pie and Laurie sprinkled on some basic Italian seasoning.  It was a much improved pizza with the changes we made...

Fork and Vine shows a lot of promise in a market basically devoid of quality Italian cuisine.  Other than the pizza...and the unopened mussels...we were quite happy with our experience.  We will return in the near future and try some other menu options.  Fork and Vine Restaurant is located at 131 Kelsey Lane (visible from US Hwy 321) in Lenoir City.  This restaurant is open from 11 AM until 10 PM Monday - Saturday and from 10 AM until 4 PM on Sunday.  Phone: 865-317-1098.  Fork and Vine's website is at https://fnvlenoir.com/.  They are also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/p/Fork-Vine-Lenoir-City-61568667290284/.

We did not eat out for every meal or even every day during Bonnie and Bill's visit.  Laurie took the above photo of myself, Bonnie and Bill enjoying a meal of ribeye steaks (medium rare), corn, sauteed squash, sweet and sour cucumbers and fresh bakery bread...plus a bottle of wine.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and for those in and from the USA, have a HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE JULY 4th!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

More Ready-to-Eat Entrees + Beauty

We are continuing to explore easy to prepare meal items.  In this edition, there were no losers among our selections, although we do have favorites.  Goal = meals with little, zero or minimal preparation... Snacks count too!

We bought this pack of 18 Stonefire Mini Naan Originals at Costco... As described by Stonefire Authentic Flatbreads, these mini naans are "delicious, fluffy, versatile and downright unforgettable, it's made to upgrade every meal, from breakfast wraps to midnight snacks".  Laurie and I concur and we've already used them with breakfast eggs, garlic dip, Bar-B-Que and more

Instant pulled pork!  The downside is that there isn't any 'bark' from smoking the meat.  The upside is that you have 2.5 lbs. of pulled pork to do with as you'd like.

Del Real's carnitas/pulled pork is not strongly seasoned so the good news is that you have multiple options with the 'right' addition of seasoning or sauces.

For this meal, Laurie paired some of Del Rio's pulled pork with one of Stonefire's mini-naans, adding a simple salad as her side.  She used BBQ sauce with her pork and she liked it a lot! 

We've enjoyed a couple other meals using Del Real's carnitas/pulled pork.  No surprise that I toasted a bun, covered it with shredded cheddar cheese, nuked it in the microwave and then slapped a couple of over medium fried eggs on top!  Great breakfast!  This product was purchased at Costco.

I don't know if its any healthier or worse than the salty snacks that we usually go for, but lately we have kept some sliced stick salami and pepperoni in the fridge...along with sliced sticks of cheese.  Cabot Creamery's 3 year naturally aged cheddar is one of our 'go to' cheese options. It has a distinctive flavor and it holds up well when sliced in 'sticks' or strips.  Yet another Costco purchase.

We have never found a garlic dip that was worthy of the name...until now!  Most anything labeled as containing garlic here in East Tennessee barely qualifies as 'garlicy' in our estimation.  A bit of Toom Garlic Dip and we knew that we had a cure for those pesky vampires.  I'll bet you can guess where we bought it!

Yes, this bag of Daphne's Beef and Lamb Gyro Slices was indeed purchased at Costco.  It contains 2 packages of meat.  I chose to heat up the meat in my frying pan with a little butter and pepper.  We both like a little char on our gyros.

It is hard to find gyros, (lamb and beef combined), anywhere here in East Tennessee.  We were very happy with the way that Daphne's gyros turned out.  Laurie plated her gyros on another one of those mini naans with mixed greens and cherry tomatoes.  The tzatziki sauce was very nice but lacked the garlic hit that we were used to back in Chicago.  We'll add garlic to the sauce/dip the next time.  The brand was Hannah's Tzatziki - Greek Style Yogurt Dip.

I thought that I'd end this post with a non-food photo.  That very pretty and delicate looking flower above is from a Spotted Wintergreen...a native wildflower that some bird...or more likely the wind, probably planted for us.  This small perennial evergreen herb is native to eastern North America and Central America.  Lucky for us, this plant is very tolerant of acidic soil and shade...both of which describe much of our backyard everyday.  The Creek Indians called it "pipsisikweu", which translates to "breaks into small pieces".  This was because it allegedly had the ability to breakdown gallstones.  Another use by Native Americans was to use it's leaf tea to treat rheumatism and stomach problems.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Home, Stuff and Food...

After looking at my photos, I either had to label this post as "Miscellaneous" or, as I ended up doing, "Home, Stuff and Food".  I also considered "Angry, What to Do, Scary and Experimental".  In any case this post is an mix...a mongrel...with a variety of different issues and challenges. 

Home ownership is an investment, a significant cash drain and a source of frustration.  Our home was built in 1999.  Our neighborhood is built on rock...mostly limestone.  Issues arise with older homes.  Example: When one of our HVAC units needed attention, the good news is that despite its age, the problem was resolved for a relatively modest sum of money.  However, the owner of the HVAC company told me that a replacement unit for this particular Air Conditioning/Heat Pump, would cost $7,900.00!  Nuts!  

Anyway, back to the photo shown above.  We have a home inspector/builder who is doing some work for us.  Unrelated to his work he spotted some beginning separation of some foundational cinder blocks at one corner of the house and suggested that we should have someone come out and fix it to keep it from getting worse.  We checked around and contracted with AFS (American Foundation Service) to fix the problem.  It was not inexpensive!  In any case, despite specific warnings from my better half, the AFS crew not only made a mess, but they also severed our sprinkler system's main line.  We had a 2-story fountain until they figured out how to turn the system off.  Now we have mud everywhere with the broken line directly under that rock.  Laurie is all over AFS to have the repairs made, with a meeting with them scheduled today as I compose this post.  Aggravation!

On to more "fun", this time related to our upcoming garage sale.  

We keep finding things that we forgot we had and that we've been carrying around for many years now.  One recent 'find' was this Mrs. Stevens Candies Antique Christmas themed round tin box that is just packed with embroidery thread or floss, as it's sometimes referred to.  Pricing it for the sale is going to be a guesstimate at best. 

When I first moved to East Tennessee, I did a bit of fishing.  Before that, Laurie and used to take fishing vacations to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and up into northwestern Ontario in Canada.  It was a cabin in Michigan with a fishing boat...cook your own meals, etc.  In Canada, it was an all-inclusive deal...cabin, meals, guide with a boat and, in one case even a float plane fly-in to an isolated lake. (The pilot was no more than 19 years old)

So now our fishing days are over... How to price this this tackle box full of all kinds of gear and a plethora of lures for our garage sale?  

The same question applies to this tackle box and an even greater assortment of lures!  Then we also have a couple small tackle boxes, a small suitcase with more gear in it including a couple of reels...and let's not forget the 8 fishing rods with reels all ready to go fishing!

Next we have a family related note to report on... Unless you live under a rock by now you have heard about the tornado that came through St. Louis Missouri.  Major damage at the iconic Forest Park and the St. Louis Zoo.  The core group of Laurie's family lives in the St. Louis metro area.  Her sister Bonnie and Bonnie's husband Bill rode out the storm in a parking garage near their home.  This was to avoid hail damage to their new Subaru.  They live about 3 blocks from the area where the heaviest tornado damage was evident.  Even so, they were without power for almost 72 hours.  They transferred perishable foods to coolers or to the refrigerators/freezers belonging to their kids.  Laurie's other sister, Karole and her husband Bob were in Kansas City when the storm hit St. Louis.  When they returned home, the power was still out and they had to throw away all of their perishables.  Scary...but lucky compared to some.  No major issues...just threats of major storm damage here in East Tennessee. 

Now onto some food items...

We continue to try out/test the 'fast food', prepared food items from Costco.  We're looking for winners that we can rely on.

Caribbean Food Delights Jamaican Style beef patties/turnovers in a flaky cornmeal crust were not spicy...not by anyone's definition.  The 'ground beef' had a mushy texture with close to zero flavor.  No amount of the 4 different sauces we tried could save this product.  This is not a 'food' product that we would ever purchase or eat again.  I rarely throw food away, but I made an exception with this item!  Bye Bye!

The next item on the prepared food menu was this 'new item' that we bought at Food Lion.  This Shrimp Penne Pasta comes in individual servings.  Laurie liked it quite a bit and I thought that it was a decent meal.  There were enough shrimp in each of our dinners, one could pick up the bacon flavor and the pieces of jalapeno gave it a modest little pop of heat...just enough that you knew it was there.  To me it was a bit like an upscale mac 'n cheese with shrimp.  It had enough going for it that we will purchase it again... There was plenty of food for almost any level of appetite.

I didn't take a photo of the pack of thin sliced salmon that we'd purchased from Costco so I can't tell you the brand name.  Actually it was a twin-pack of salmon...almost too much salmon for two people to consume in a relatively short period of time.  On more than one occasion we had salmon in a swirl and salmon on crackers or thin sliced bread with and without crackers and capers.  Then I finished off the second packet of the salmon with the above breakfast entree.  My very enjoyable and satisfying breakfast consisted of a thin slice of rye toast, smeared with cream cheese, topped with 2 or 3 thin slices of salmon and topped with an over easy egg.  This is one time that I didn't use Tabasco with my fried egg. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

A Favorite Restaurant Re-opens!

It was well over a year ago when we learned that a close by and the most reliable American style restaurant in the area had sold their property to the local hospital and they were closing.  The good news is that they also promised to build a new restaurant to replace the earlier one...

It was open for a few weeks before we decided to try it out.  I personally like letting new restaurants have a little time to 'get their act together' and for the initial rush of customers to slow down a little...before we check them out. 

One of our friends from Maryville Tennessee drove down to Loudon County Tennessee for a visit.  It had been a while since we'd gotten together but we knew that he really liked the Aubrey's Restaurant in Maryville so our first foray to this local chain's new location in Lenoir City Tennessee was a natural.  When we arrived, the parking lot was crowded with vehicles...a good sign for the restaurant as it was almost 1 PM and the early lunch crowd had moved on.

Aubrey's was quite busy but it is a large restaurant and they can serve a large number of diners at any given time.  The 'open' industrial ceiling style that is so popular now is now worn out from my point of view.  It does save cost though.  Like the previous Aubrey's in Lenoir City, there are a lot of windows.  Actually the floor plan and the overall 'look' of this new restaurant is very similar to the one that was sold to the hospital. 

As with the previous location, the bar with additional dining is just to the right after patrons enter the restaurant.  Again the layout of this area hadn't changed much design-wise.  The one notable difference is that there are partial glass partitions separating the bar area from the lobby space.

The kitchen and service area is located to the left of diners as they are led to their seats.  It is more open than it was in the former building.  This transparency gives customers the feeling that the restaurant has nothing to hide...

Now on to the food!

   

All three of us treated our lunch as if it were the evening meal so we ordered substantial items and we all took food home with us for later consumption.  

Laurie ordered the Seafood Pasta, shown above. ($16.00) It consisted of shrimp, Pacific white fish, sugar snap peas, red onion and bowtie pasta with cream sauce.  I was a little surprised as she normally goes for the Haystack Pasta with grilled chicken, sauteed mushrooms, linguine, parmesan and mushrooms in a cream sauce.  However, she was very happy with her choice.  FYI, there are two other pasta options on the menu. 

                              

Our friend Glen ordered his usual, which also seems to be his favorite.  This is Aubrey's Fish + Chips and, as you can see, it is a generous platter of food.  This entree includes plenty of nicely breaded fried fish plus those thin sliced fried potatoes...which are a meal in themselves.  He was very happy with his fish!

The Fish and Chips is a house specialty.  Other specialties include North Carolina Catfish, Boston Scrod, Barbeque Ribs and a Chicken Finger Platter.  All specialties come with one side...and there are 15 different sides to chose from...

There was one more specialty on the menu and it was my choice for lunch.  This is Aubrey's Buttermilk Fried Chicken...a double battered buttermilk marinated chicken breast, which is deep-fried and then smothered with homemade white gravy. ($17.00) I chose the 'smashed Yukon golds' as my side.  I actually took about half of the potatoes and 40% of the chicken home for leftovers.  This entree always was my favorite and it still is...

Aubrey's menu also includes a section entitled "Favorites" with 8 options, plus there are 8 different sandwich offerings plus soup and salads (5 are dinner salads)...and I also skipped over the 7 small plates or appetizers and we managed to avoid the 5 dessert choices.

Aubrey's is a regional chain operating in East Tennessee. They currently have 16 locations stretching from Bristol to Cleveland.  The Aubrey's Restaurant in Lenoir City Tennessee is located at 375 Town Creek Parkway (right off US Hwy 321, very close to US Hwy I-75) Phone:865-412-4178.  Website: https://aubreysrestaurants.com/lenoircity/. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave