Indian Dining at Taj...

Friends and neighbors are often our source of new cullinary experiences in East Tennessee. We love to explore and we're always looking for leads. In this case, Joel and Holly, also new to the area, told us that they'd been delighted to find a restaurant serving quality Indian Cuisine.

So, when Laurie and I were out running errands the other day, we decided to drop in and have lunch at "Taj". It turned out to be a good decision...and as we entered the restaurant, we encountered the savory scent of Indian cuisine. We had a coupon from "Lifestyles" so we ordered from the menu. We did note that a nice looking buffet was available for a very reasonable $7.95 per person plus beverages. Maybe the next time...

We're not sure what to call this wafer thin bread that was served as soon as we ordered dinner. It's not like the nann, (Indian breads), that we've normally encountered. It's not mentioned on the menu so we'll just have to ask about it the next time. In any case, it came with 3 dipping or spreading sauces...all very good.

I ordered a Kingfisher Indian beer but when Laurie tried to order a Vodka & Tonic Tall with 2 Limes, it seemed that we'd encountered a bit of a language barrier. Instead, we learned that the bartender was off and the waiter/manager didn't know how to mix drinks... So she ordered a glass of Chardonnay instead.

For an appetizer, we ordered Paneer Pakora...described as homemade cheese patties dipped in chick pea flour and fried. While they were shapped more like cheese sticks than patties, they had a nice mild flavor and they weren't heavy like fried cheese is in most restaurants. It didn't come with any sauce for dipping...but we still had some of the 3 sauces that came with the 'cracker bread' so we were happy campers.

For her entree, Laurie ordered the Chicken Ragon Josh...(left of photo)...chunks of chicken cooked in a rich almond sauce with a blend of fragrant spices. It had a nice little spicy bite to it and Laurie really liked it.

I ordered the Lamb Vindaloo...(right of photo)...lamb cooked in highly spiced sauce, (I ordered it Hot), cooked with ginger, onions, tomatoes, lemon, chili and special herbs with potatoes. It was very good! We especially like the light and flavorful rice, (top of photo), that Taj serves with these dishes... It all worked very well together.

There is no doubt that we will return to Taj! It was a great change of pace and the food was very nice. Taj is located at 8520 Kingston Pike in Knoxville, TN. Their website is: http://www.tajfineindiandining.com/. (Note: The menu on the site is not current but it is representative of their offerings) Phone: 865-670-2878.

Railroad Depots - Photo Album

Here are a few more photos of railroad depots that we've taken on our road trips...



This is the Brodhead Wisconsin passenger depot. It was built in 1881 by for the Mineral Point Branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad. (The Milwaukee Road) The depot now serves as a museum displaying historical railroad memorabilia as well as items portraying the history of Green County.



This depot is adjacent to an active rail line and it also is home to a vintage 1941 Milwaukee Road caboose as well as a 1950 Fairbanks-Morse H10-44 Locomotive that was built in Beloit Wisconsin.


This spectacular depot is just one of 3 depots that I know of in Springfield Illinois. This Romanesque beauty was built in 1897-1898 for use by several railroads. Dominated by the Illinois Central Railroad, other railroads using the depot included the Baltimore & Ohio as well as the Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis Railroad. Passenger service to this depot was discontinued in 1971. The building has been completely restored and it now serves as the Visitor Center for the Lincoln Presidential Library.

This is the former Grand Trunk Western Railroad passenger depot in Lapeer Michigan. It was built in 1906 and it's one of 21 active railroad depots in Michigan.

This is an active station with 2 Amtrak trains daily, one headed to Port Huron MI, (11:09 pm), and the other headed west to Chicago (6:45 am).

A portion of this nicely restored depot may also be rented for special events through the city of Lapeer.

Richard Smith's Guitar & Dining Out...

When neighbors, Ed and Marion, mentioned an upcoming appearance by Richard Smith and his wife, Julie Adams, at a local Maryville TN theater, we decided that it would be something different to do and we'd never been to this theater together. It didn't hurt that Richard is a renown master guitar player! He's a former National Fingerstyle Champion, who at the age of 11, appeared with Chet Atkins on stage at Her Majesty's Theatre in London. Richard was born in England and initially learned to play from his father.



In 1999, Richard married Julie, a talented cellist. They've put a show together and they tour the country and beyond, playing their music and sharing a little repartee with the audience. It was especially nice to see them in a setting as intimate as the Palace Theatre...which seats roughly 200 patrons. Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed hold Richard and his talents in high esteem and, listening to Richard play 'the drums' on his guitar to a John Phillip Souza march or playing 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' and 'Dixie' simultaneously, their admiration is easy to understand!


For more on Richard and Julie, check out their website at: http://www.richardsmithmusic.com/. You'll even be able to listen to some samples of his talent...


Prior to the show at the Palace, Laurie and I, along with Ed and Marion, stopped in for dinner at Sullivan's Downtown. The restaurant is conveniently located right next to the theatre.


The restaurant has a nice feeling to it...with a warm decor and lighting. Seating is comfortable and there is plenty of room between tables.


Laurie started out with the House Salad. It included fresh mixed greens topped with almonds, smoked bacon, wontons and red onion with ranch dressing on the side.


I can attest to the fact that it was a very tasty salad! It was way too big for Laurie to eat on her own so she shared it with me...nice start to the meal...


For her entree, Laurie had the Randazzo Pasta. This is homemade penne pasta alfredo served with lightly breaded chicken breasts topped with sun-dried tomato pesto as well as Parmesan and Romano cheeses.


This was a very nice dish! Laurie really liked it and I tasted it too...yummy!


Ed had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin Tips served over rice pilaf with a Marsala mushroom sauce and a side of steamed vegetables.


Unfortunately, Ed could only muster an 'OK' when rating his meal. It just wasn't as flavorful as he'd expected.




I ordered one of Sullivan's Blue Plates. This is the Pot Roast...described as a tender choice cut of sirloin, slow roasted and served with it's own natural brown gravy. Blue Plate entrees come with 2 sides and I chose the 'real mashed potatoes with pot roast gravy' and the fresh broccoli with carrots. The beef and potatoes with gravy were very nice but the vegetables lacked much flavor.

Marion ordered the North Atlantic Salmon with a side of the baked creamed spinach. She reported that the salmon was very nice as was her side dish. The only issue we all agreed on was that the dish could use a little more imagination when being plated for presentation... It was sort of 'lost' on the big plate.

We will go back to Sullivan's... The food was very nice overall, service was fine and the pricing was right. Blue Plate entrees start at $10.95 with the highest priced specialty entrees, 3 different steaks, coming in at $19.95 each. The menu is fairly extensive, to include a number of sandwiches, plus there is a variety of appetizers available.

Sullivan's has two locations... The Maryville Tennessee location is at 121 West Broadway. It's open for lunch and dinner. A full service bar is available. Phone number: 865-681-3334. For more information, check out the website at: http://www.sullivansfinefood.com/.

Breakfast on the Menu!

Our friend Larry is always posting his great looking breakfasts on his blog site. (http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) Well, following our trip to Ye Olde Steak House, Laurie and I found ourselves with a bit of leftover steak to work with...


I 'butterflied' my remaining piece of New York strip and pan fried it with a little Worcestershire Sauce, butter and onion powder. Add 3 fried eggs easy over and a couple of slices of toast using VG Bakery's English muffin bread and this was one very tasty breakfast!


Laurie heated her very tender and flavorful piece of rib eye in the microwave...she wanted to minimize the effect of cooking it further. Add her toast, 3 eggs easy over plus a glass of OJ for good measure...nice!


While we love a good breakfast, usually we take the easy way out...cereal, a smoothie, toast & jam...something simple. This was a nice change and since it's been hard to find a really good breakfast in East Tennessee, we deserved this treat!


We buy the English muffin bread, great for BLT's!), at VG's Bakery. VG's Bakery is located at 11552 Kingston Pike, in Farragut TN (in the strip mall with Kohl's) Phone: 865-671-8077. For a look at their bakery 'menu', check them out at http://www.vgsbakery.com/.

Family Photo!

When I saw this photo on our daughter-in-law's website, I just had to post it for all to see!


This is our "Ohio Family", Amy and David II, along with our grandsons, David III and Emmett Lee. David III had his 10th birthday in December and Emmett Lee had his 7th birthday in November.


Both of our grandsons, are of course, very handsome and very intelligent! David III's photo was on the cover of his school's promotional brochure and Emmett was featured on the cover of a Things Remembered catalog.


The only problem is that it's a long drive from East Tennessee to northern Ohio...especially in the winter! The good news is that Spring isn't too far away...!

Carnivores At Work!!

A few days ago, Laurie and I, with Larry (http://bigdudesramblings.blogspot.com/) and his wife, Beverly, decided to go out to dinner at Ye Olde Steak House on Chapman Highway in Knoxville. Larry & Bev hadn't been there in years and we had it on our list of restaurants for us to try. Ye Olde Steak House is family owned and has been in business since 1968.

This is definitely a place for carnivores! The menu includes a 20 oz. Porterhouse, a 20 oz. New York Strip, a 20 oz. slab of Prime Rib, an 8 oz. Filet and a 10 oz. Rib Eye.

This is Laurie's Rib Eye with a side of Woodshed Potatoes. The potatoes are described on the menu as "peppery skillet fried potato rounds with smothered onions". Laurie loved her medium rare steak as well as the potatoes! She described the steak as "excellent".

This is Larry's 20 oz. Porterhouse Steak, also with a side of the Woodshed Potatoes. Larry commented that the steak was "very good", but he thought that the potatoes lacked the flavor he'd expected.

The menu's other beef entrees also include Steak on a Skewer, a Ground Beef Tenderloin and a King Steak Burger. Sides include a house salad with a couple of homemade salad dressings, a baked potato or baked sweet potato, a broccoli casserole, French fries, hot buttered mushrooms, grilled onions, grilled onions with mushrooms and two steamed vegetable dishes.

The only person at our table that didn't need to be on a diet was Beverly...but she is following a rather strict regime in an effort to lose a few pounds. She ordered the Charcoaled Shrimp appetizer and the Steamed Vegetable Medley for her dinner. The good news is that she reported that the shrimp were very good!

Other appetizers on the menu include fried cheese sticks, fried mushrooms, fried "Colossal" onion rings, fried Jalapeno peppers and a shrimp cocktail.

Just to be 'different', I ordered the New York strip with a baked potato. The flavor of the steak was good and it was medium rare as ordered, but I thought that it was a little tough, even for a strip steak. The potato was average but they had some nice bacon pieces on the table that I used to 'dress it up'!

Other 'non-beef' items on the menu include a charcoal shrimp dinner, grilled swordfish, stuffed flounder and a charbroiled chicken breast. Any number of entree combinations are also available.

We'd definitely come back to Ye Olde Steak House. I would just order the Rib Eye the next time! The setting is rustic and the family actually 'works' the dining room. The restaurant has been voted the #1 Steakhouse in Knoxville for many, many years. Beer and mixers are available. There is a $2.00 per person set-up charge if you want to bring your own wine or liquor.

Ye Olde Steak House is located at 6838 Chapman Highway in Knoxville. The phone number is 865-577-9328. Their website may be found at: http://yeoldesteakhouse.com/.

Snow in East Tennessee...

When we woke up on Monday, 1/10/11, we were greeted by 6 to 7 inches of snow. Hey...we moved to East Tennessee from Chicago to get away from this stuff! Notice that there were no tire tracks in the snow on our street, and this photo was taken mid-morning.

We are on a through street with several homes in either direction but it was 2:10 PM before the first vehicle passed our house! The good news is that it was a snowplow... I decided that I would need to at least unclog the head of our driveway if we were going to be able to get one of our cars out in the next couple of days. Fortunately, we had decided to bring a snow shovel with us when we moved from the north land. Between Laurie and I, we cleared the driveway enough so errands could be taken care of...

Here's a photo of our mailbox after the storm. Even it looks cold! We're beginning to wonder about our luck with the weather. When we moved to East Tennessee in the summer of 2009, it turned out that it was the wettest summer on record for the area! That was followed by the 6th coldest winter in recorded history for the area.

(The only good news is that we only had about 4" of snow all winter!)

Then we followed up with a summer which proved to be the highest recorded average temperature...ever! Following that, this past December proved to be the coldest December in recent history. Now we'd love to have just average East Tennessee weather for the next couple of years!

This is our house the morning after the storm...a pretty photo but we wouldn't mind it if we never had the opportunity to take another snow photo! Snow is an interesting phenomenon in this area. Everything shuts down...schools, offices, banks, etc. Just the mention of possible snow triggers a mild panic. A 6" snow fall in Chicago wouldn't hardly warrant a mention unless it happened at rush hour!

This is a view of the lake and the mountains from our up-stairs window. Slate gray, but still a heck of a lot more attractive than Chicago in the winter!

Thanks to Laurie for these and almost all of my Blog photos. She adds a bit of quality to the site that I admit I seem unable to capture. Have a great day!