Laurie’s Birthday Celebration!

As we’ve gotten older, birthdays have become fairly low key.  Let’s face it, we’re really celebrating the fact that we’re still around and enjoying life…

Nevertheless, Laurie’s ‘low key’ birthday celebration is an annual 2 – 3 month affair…with presents/objects of desire or ‘want’ being fair game along the way.  On her birthday in early December, we typically go out to a restaurant of her choice.  This year, we ate at home on her actual birthday and celebrated with this moist mini-cake from our local Fresh Market. (https://www.thefreshmarket.com/)

The reason that we didn’t go out for a special dinner was that Dawn Marie was flying in to Knoxville the next day and she wanted to take Laurie out to dinner for her birthday.   

Fortunately for me, I was allowed to come along… Of course, the best part about this story was that Dawn Marie flew into Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport and she suggested that Laurie pick someplace really nice in nearby Maryville Tennessee for her birthday dinner! 

The obvious choice to frequent diners like ourselves was The Foothills Milling Company.  We’ve been there several times over the past few years and we think that it’s probably the best restaurant in the Knoxville metropolitan area!

Laurie started out with this lovely Goat Cheese Tart with caramelized onions, Benton’s bacon and a cornbread crust. ($12.00) She was a happy birthday girl!

This appetizer was ‘the bomb’ in a good sense!  It was a flavor avalanche!  The HBC Sandwich consists of pecan wood smoked pork collar, Benton’s bacon and Amish cheddar cheese on sourdough toast, all topped with a fried local farm egg and warm jalapeno cream. ($13.00)

This was the highpoint of my total meal!  I could have eaten 2 or 3 of these and skipped the rest of the food…although it was all quite nice too.

Information regarding Benton’s famous Bacon and Hams can be found at http://bentonscountryhams2.com/.

What would a special birthday dinner be without a nice bottle of cabernet from the Cosentino Winery in California?! ($36.00) (http://www.cosentinowinery.com/)

Tasting notes: Deep crimson in color with sweet and spicy notes of fresh herbs and cloves on the nose.  On the palate, intense flavors of fruit with hints of black pepper.  Ends with great structure and long finish.

Laurie and Dawn really liked this wine…but as red wine and gout don’t co-exist well, I stuck with a beer!

For my entrée, I ordered the Cedar Planked Salmon. ($32.00) The Scottish salmon was marinated and roasted on a cedar plank and it was served with mashed Yukon gold potatoes and roasted asparagus.  I don’t know what the marinade was, but this was an excellent and tasty slab of salmon!  (If you look closely, you will see the embers still burning on one end of the plank...) 

Dawn Marie decided to have the Foothills Meatloaf as her entrée. ($29.00) This meatloaf is stuffed with braised short rib meat and it’s served with tomato chutney, truffle macaroni and cheese plus baby green beans.

Of course, much of the time one’s opinion of an entrée is a matter of personal taste.  Dawn didn’t really care for this meatloaf but she must be the exception because this is a perennial item on the Foothills Milling Company’s menu.  They must sell a lot of it!   

Our birthday girl chose the Surf and Turf for her special meal. ($37.00) Her medium rare Angus beef tenderloin steak came with a shrimp and crab topping and it was served with creole white wine cream, potatoes and baby green beans.  Laurie was very happy with her choice!

Our server took this photo of our little group at the table with our entrées in front of us…

This was our birthday girl’s special dessert!  We didn’t sing to Laurie as it would have been embarrassing in so many ways… (I personally have one of the worst voices that ever tried to carry a note!) 

I’m not sure what any of the desserts were named as I didn’t pay for the meal and therefore I don’t have the detailed receipt to work from.  Foothills Milling Company doesn’t post a dessert menu on their website…but they should!  All of the desserts were excellent…and mine…this last one pictured above…was also huge!  Don’t worry, I managed to force myself to finish it!

Thanks to Dawn Marie, Laurie had a terrific birthday dinner outing!  Service was outstanding and our waiter was quite knowledgeable.  One of the owners, Tommy Vaughan, stopped by and chatted with us as well.  Foothills Milling Company is located at 315 Washington Street in Maryville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-977-8434.  Their website is found at: http://foothillsmillingcompany.com/default.asp?ID=1. 

Currently, TripAdvisor has recorded 476 reviews for this restaurant and 89% of the reviewers gave it an ‘excellent’. 

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to help us belatedly celebrate Laurie’s birthday!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

The Road Home after Our Thanksgiving Visits

After our family visits in St. Louis Missouri and Omaha Nebraska, we stayed overnight in Mount Vernon Illinois as we made the long trek home to East Tennessee.  Once we crossed the Kentucky/Tennessee state line, we decided to take some ‘back roads’ through part of Tennessee rather than follow the quicker but boring Interstate System…

These are views of part of the Springfield Town Square Historic District in Springfield Tennessee.  Most of the buildings in this hilltop town square were built between 1890 and 1925.  A total of 34 buildings are included in this National Register of Historic Places Historic District.

The first photo shows the architecturally interesting Chandler-Murphy Family Store Building, ca. 1899.  The 5 little ‘windows’ at the top are really hooded decorative vents… 

The ‘buildings’ at the center of the second photo is really one- two and a half story brick building painted to simulate 2 separate structures.  The 6 small circular windows under the matching brick cornice reveal the truth.   For some reason, perhaps for those little windows, this building is called the Hen House Building and it was constructed ca. 1900.

Springfield Tennessee is the County Seat for Robertson County and the courthouse is the centerpiece for the Town Square Historic District.  It is listed separately in the National Register of Historic Places.  Robertson County was established in 1796 and the first courthouse, a log structure, was built here in the town square.  A second courthouse was built in 1819 and it was replaced by the center portion of this imposing structure in 1879.  The wings of the structure were completed in 1930.

Robertson County has about 70,000 residents.  One local attraction is the Bell Witch Cave which is allegedly haunted.  To learn more about the cave, go to http://bellwitchcave.com/.  To learn about the only legal hanging that ever took place in Robertson County, (a slave killing his ‘master’ with an axe after being whipped), you can read the full story at http://tngenweb.org/robertson/history/waltonhanging.html. 

What the heck…it was time for lunch so we stopped at this Waffle House in White House Tennessee.  Rarely does a road trip go by when we don’t stop at a Waffle House for breakfast or lunch!

As usual, service was efficient and the grill cook was the key to a smooth operation.  I will say that the stress of the Holidays may have been taking a toll as we weren’t greeted when we came in and some of the employees seemed unhappy with life…very unusual for a Waffle House.

Laurie had an Egg and Cheese Melt Sandwich with coffee and a side of crispy hash browns.  The hash brown potatoes were done perfectly!

Waffle House was founded back in 1955 and the company now has over 1,500 locations, all of them open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Curiously enough, the company’s founders, Joe Rogers and Tom Forkner both passed on during 2017... Joe was 97 and Tom was 98!

I had a Double Cheeseburger with a side of hash browns.  For the first time I realized that I could smother my hash browns with sausage gravy!  Hooray!  It was a winner for sure… I just sprinkled a bit of Tabasco over it and perfection was achieved!

The Waffle House website is found at https://wafflehouse.com/.

Moving on down the road, I came to a screeching stop so Laurie could check out this nice little herd of Painted horses…her favorite critter on earth!

She got out of the car and went over to see the horses…and this particular horse seemed enamored with her as he galloped over to see her!  They spent quite a bit of time talking, with Laurie giving out some hands-on petting and kissing as well!

While Laurie was busy with the horses, I noticed some cattle in a pasture up on a hill across the road.  They looked different than most cattle that we see in Tennessee so I zoomed in for a better view…

Yup…Texas Longhorn Cattle in Tennessee!  The Texas Longhorn is known for its characteristic horns which can extend to over 5 feet 9 inches from tip to tip for bulls and 6 feet 9 inches for steers and sometimes even exceptional cows. 

In 1927, the breed was saved from near extinction by members of the United States Forest Service who collected a small herd to breed in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.  They were cared for largely as curiosities for many years but the breed’s longevity, resistance to disease and ability to thrive on marginal pastures quickly revived the breed as beef stock.  Texas Longhorns with elite genetics can often bring $40,000 or more at auction with a record of $380,000 being set for a cow and heifer calf last March at auction in Fort Worth Texas.

Cruising east along state highway 25 through Tennessee in the general direction of the Knoxville, we arrived in town of Gallatin, the county seat for Sumner County.   This handsome old house is the home of the Sumner County Museum.  

The house was built ca. 1813 and it was purchased by William Trousdale in 1836.  Trousdale (1790 – 1872) was a soldier and politician.  He served as governor of Tennessee, was our United States Minister to Brazil, fought under Andrew Jackson in the Creek War, the War of 1812 and the Second Seminole War.  He also commanded the U.S. 14^th Infantry in the Mexican-American War.  For his actions at the Battle of Chapultepec, Trousdale was brevetted to Brigadier General by President James K. Polk.

The house was Trousdale’s home until his death in 1872.  After the last member of the family died in 1899, the home was deeded to the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and it now serves as a museum.  To learn more about the museum and local history, go to http://sumnercountymuseum.org/.     

Gallatin’s First Presbyterian Church is an American Presbyterian and Reformed Historical Site.  It is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  This is the oldest church building in Gallatin that has been in continuous use.  The congregation was organized in October of 1828 and the church was completed in 1837.  The sanctuary of the church was used as a hospital for Union Troops during the Civil War... 

As we moved along TN Hwy. 25 east, we came to a detour that forced us to go north on TN Hwy. 80, then east and then south on TN Hwy. 85.  Parts of Hwy. 85 were a bit twisty…and a sign warned trucks and RV’s to avoid the road.  Along the way we came to a viewpoint overlooking the Cordell Hull Lake/reservoir.  

The 87 foot high Cordell Hull Dam is located about 40 miles east of Nashville Tennessee near the town of Carthage.  The dam is on the Cumberland River and it was completed in 1973.  The lake covers about 12,000 acres.  The dam and lake are not part of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s extensive dam and reservoir system, but rather is operated by the United States Corps of Engineers.  It does generate up to 100 megawatts of electricity. 

Factoids:     

·         I didn’t know it but the United States Corps of Engineers operates about 300 dams and lakes across the country!  To view the list, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Category:United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers_dams&pagefrom=Melvern+Lake#mw-pages.

·         The Army Corps of Engineers was founded on June 11, 1775, making it 242 years old!  The organization employs 37,000 people and most of them by far, are civilians. 

·         The Army Corps of Engineers facilities produce 24% of all of the United States’ hydroelectricity!

      Just one more photo... Laurie took this picture of the 'super moon from our back deck and I thought that it was a dandy shot!

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a ‘back roads’ tour! 

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Off to in Ireland and a New Travel Experience!

Continuing with our September trip…Bonnie, Bill, Laurie and me took a short shuttle ride over to the Edinburgh Scotland International Airport so we could catch our flight to Dublin Ireland.

Laurie ensured that I take this photo of this sign near our gate in the terminal… We’d like to “Haste” back, that’s for sure!

At least 143 destinations are served by Edinburgh’s Airport!  This includes 8 airports in the USA.  This airport served 12,300,000 passengers in 2016, with Dublin ranking fifth (with almost 600,000 passengers) after 3 London airports as well as Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Laurie and I flew over to Scotland on American Airlines but for the short Edinburgh to Dublin leg of our trip, all four of us flew on an Aer Lingus twin engine propeller driven regional aircraft operated by Stobart Air.  This regional carrier flies to 18 different destinations for Aer Lingus…   

I’ve always liked high wing aircraft because passengers have a good view wherever they’re seated!  In addition to this ATR72-600, I’ve flown in a Short Skyvan, a de Havilland Twin Otter and a BAE 146…with the latter being a small 4-engine jet passenger plane.

Laurie took this photo from just under the wing right after taking off from Edinburgh.  At the right, you can see the new Queensferry Crossing Bridge over the Firth of Forth.  

Still over Scotland on our flight… Laurie captured this photo of a massive windfarm in the Scottish countryside.  I counted about 80 giant wind turbines just in this photo.  I’m all for renewable energy but one negative for wind farms is purely visual and the other is the problem of bird kills.  Wind turbines kill at least 140,000 birds each year in the USA…with some estimates 3 times that number...proving once again that positive change isn't always completely positive.

It didn’t take long before we’d crossed the Irish Sea between the United Kingdom and Ireland…and then we saw the Irish coastline!

Ireland has a population of about 4,800,000 with an area of 26,133 square miles.  In comparison, Scotland has roughly 5,400,000 residents and an area of 30,265 square miles.  We’re from the state of Tennessee in the USA and about 6,650,000 people live in the state.  Tennessee encompasses 42,181 square miles. 

I had avoided traffic around Edinburgh and Glasgow while in Scotland.  I couldn’t dodge it in Dublin!  The drive from Dublin’s International Airport to our hotel, mostly along the M-50 multi-lane highway (motorway) was a touch challenging…and it wasn’t even rush hour!

The Sheldon Park Hotel was our refuge for our first night in Ireland.  This hotel, with 132 rooms, was the largest that we stayed in while we were in the country.  It was fairly close to the M-50 ‘motorway’ which was one of the reasons that I’d chosen it.  Staying away from the city center cut costs and simplified driving.  It was also a great location for our exit from the metropolitan area.

The Sheldon Park Hotel has a huge well-appointed lobby with a very large bar at one side.  There is a restaurant, a leisure center and conference area.  Our only problem was that we arrived early and it took quite a while for our rooms to be readied for check-in. 

Given the fact that we had a wait on our hands, we found a table in Minnie McCabe’s Bar and started our exploration of Irish ‘brews’!  We ended up drinking a fair amount of Smithwick’s Irish Ale when traveling around the country. Very good indeed! We had some snacks in the bar as well, but they weren’t particularly memorable.

Our room was large with 2 queen beds…

The bathroom was adequate for our needs…but I was faced with another of those dang high sided shower tub combinations.  Just getting in and out of these wet showers/tubs is risky business!

The Sheldon Park Hotel is located at 131 Kylemore Road in Dublin Ireland.  Phone: 353 1 4601055.  To see some photos and to learn more about this conveniently located large hotel and its amenities, you can go to http://www.sheldonpark.ie/en/.

Location, location, location!  The Sheldon Park Hotel is located just a couple of blocks from the Kylemore Stop on one of the Luas (Irish Gaelic for “speed”) light rail lines.  In the photo, Bonnie, Bill and Laurie are trying to figure out how to operate one of the automated ticket vending machines…

Now this tram/trolley ride may not be a new or interesting experience for many of you, but for me this was a chance to ride a modern light rail system...and into a major capital city outside the USA as well!

The Kylemore stop is on the “Red” Line.  There is a Green Line as well.  The Luas light rail system has 22.7 miles of track and 54 stations/stops along the way.  In 2016, Luas’s combined Red and Green Lines carried 34,200,000 passengers…for an average of over 93,000 per day!

Here is our tram arriving to pick-up a small crowd along with us.  It was Saturday night and most of the passengers were headed down to Dublin’s city center. 

This light rail system operates on a 750 V DC overhead power supply.  This silver 'Citadis' trams are manufactured by Alstom in La Rochelle France.  They reach a top speed of about 43 miles per hour wherever conflicts with other vehicles or pedestrians are unlikely.  These trams or trolleys cross through a lot of street intersections so cars and trucks can get in the way…

Our Luas “Citadis” tram car was roomy with some seating but, as you can see, it is primarily set up for standing room passengers.  Like with most big city forms of transportation, most riders don’t make eye contact.  The tram car was very clean and well maintained… 

The Citadis is a family of low-floor trams (streetcars) and light rail vehicles.  As of 2017, over 2,300 Citadis trams have been sold with ongoing operations with these railcars on all 6 inhabited continents.  In North America, operations are limited to Toronto and Ottawa Canada.

As you would expect, most of the areas that we passed through on the tram were residential or commercial, with little industry noted along the way.  I like trains and passenger rail service and, other than when we lived in Chicago, we’ve rarely experienced this mode of transportation.  This was an ‘adventure’ of sorts for all of us…

With a population of roughly 1,900,000, about the same as Nashville Tennessee, the Dublin greater metropolitan area is home to about 40% of Ireland’s population.  Although Dublin isn’t much larger than our state capital, there are major differences.  One fact that comes to mind is that Dublin was founded in the year 988 whereas Nashville was settled in 1779…a difference of ‘only’ 791 years!

In my next posting about our trip to Ireland, we’ll be exploring downtown Dublin on a Saturday night!  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

The Frosty Mug – Mt. Vernon Illinois

Following our Thanksgiving family visits to St. Louis Missouri and Omaha Nebraska, I’d chosen Mount Vernon Illinois for our overnight stop on our  trek home…

After some research, I found some reviews for the Frosty Mug Bar and Grill in Mount Vernon.  It was a little bit of a drive from our hotel, but after all this is a local neighborhood joint…and it isn’t aimed at passing motorists blowing along on the expressway.

One of the reviews I read told of a potential customer’s frustration as they circled the building at night after not being able to locate the entrance on the street side.  They never did figure out how to get in and they also thought that the place looked ‘sketchy’ in any case…

We circled the building as well and finally determined that the entrance was at the far end of a semi-dark patio with picnic tables in the back… The potential customer just didn’t look hard enough!

The inside dining area of the Frosty Mug Bar and Grill was fairly busy, especially for the Sunday night after Thanksgiving.  It was no surprise that most of the customers were regulars! 

There were tables in the bar area as well.  The bar is separated from the main dining area by a half wall.

One curiosity at the Frosty Mug is the drive-up packaged liquor sales.  They actually prepackage your favorite drinks for you for a party or to just take home to enjoy in the peace and quiet of your own home…

Laurie and I really like neighborhood ‘joints’ like the Frosty Mug.  These types of places are usually very friendly and the prices are usually “right” too!

Was I smiling because I’d seen something that I wanted on the menu?  Perhaps… 

On this occasion, we skipped the appetizers.  However, for your information the 'usual' appetizers included jalapeno poppers, a variety of chicken wings, pickle chips as well as some BBQ Nachos.  Unusual items for a neighborhood bar and grill included a shrimp cocktail, mini tacos, pork rinds, and spinach artichoke Rangoon.  Prices ranged from $4.00 to $9.50 although you could opt for larger baskets of wings.

The Frosty Mug has a special going on with Bloody Marys for only $3.00 each!  The accompanying cheese and olives were almost a meal in themselves.  There is a drink special every day at the Frosty Mug.  How about a 34 oz. mug of domestic beer on Mondays for $3.00!

I ordered something that I had seen on a menu for over 20 years… This is what they call a “Horseshoe”.  It included 2 hamburger patties served open-faced on a thick slice of toast, then covered with French fries with a cheddar cheese sauce over the top.  I added bacon for a little extra flavor. ($8.75) While it was good…the cheese sauce lacked the “pop” that I remembered from my first ‘shoe’ experience. 

FYI…the Horseshoe open faced sandwich was invented in a hotel in Springfield Illinois and the last one I’d had was in a restaurant that occupied a Quonset hut in Springfield.  ‘Shoe’ cheese sauces apparently vary from chef to chef.  The sauce is generally derived from Welsh rarebit and common ingredients include eggs, beer, butter, cheese, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt and pepper.   I like Welsh rarebit but this sauce wasn’t much like it… 

Laurie opted for a half-pound cheeseburger with potato chips. ($7.25) “Sadly”, she couldn’t finish it and I had to come to the rescue!  It was a very nice cheeseburger…

Other sandwiches included pork tenderloin (breaded and fried or smoked), BBQ brisket, bologna or pulled pork and Italian beef.  The Horseshoe that I ate was the most expense sandwich on the menu.  A number of Baskets items and entrees are also available.

We liked the Frosty Mug and we’ll probably eat here again when we stopover in Mount Vernon.  Next time I’m having the fried pork tenderloin!  The Frosty Mug Bar and Grill is located at 1113 Salem Road in Mount Vernon Illinois.  Phone: 618-242-3372.  Their website is found at http://frostymugbarandgrill.com/home/1742543.

That’s it for now.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by to see what was for dinner!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave