Last Meal

Saturday was our last day in the mid-South (I think that's what they cal the Tennessee/Kentucky region) and we kept up our eating regimen.

First up was a trip to the Readyville Mill.  My mom read about this great place in Relish magazine (it comes with the newspaper) and we knew we had to visit.

It is an old grist mill dating back to 1812.  It has now been restored and still operates.

The coolest thing is that they still grind corn and flour and use it in their restaurant!  

So flour that was ground that morning is used in biscuits that we were served at breakfast.  The biscuits are made with part whole wheat and part white flour and they were heaven (side note: I don't think I've eaten as many biscuits ever as I did on this trip!)

I read the menu online and totally thought I'd go with pancakes.  But we talked to someone in the woodworking shop outside the mill and she suggested a blueberry french toast casserole and tomato pie.  We decide to take her suggestion and got the Blueberry Cheesecake French Toast Strata (really with a name like that, why wouldn't you order it?!)

And the Tomato Pie.  I know it sounds funny but it is amazzzzzzing!  It like a tomato gallette with the yummiest, flakiest crust and lots of cheese.  I even liked the grits!

The food was very tasty and everyone was SO friendly!  I think they were a little surprised that we came all the way from California but when we see good food, we go for it!  They brought us out biscuits and answered all of our questions and everything was just fantastic!

The grounds are also a great place to get married.  It was a little hard to picture on this cold, grey morning but I bet once the flowers and trees are in bloom this place would be perfect for a country chic wedding!

Next up was another typical Tennessee thing: moon shine tasting!

We heard about Short Mountain Distillery from the hotel we were staying at and thought what the heck, how many times am I gonna try moon shine?

Moon shine is made similarly to whiskey except it's not aged.  It's made with rye and sugar cane in copper vats.  I had once heard a rumor that moon shine made wrong will turn you blind.  This comes from too much iron in the moon shine and that's why copper pots are used.

All in all, it was a fun experience!  I guess kinda the Tennessee version of wine tasting?

Our last stop on the trip was the Hermitage.  This was the home of Andrew Jackson.  If anyone knows my mom and me then you know we love history!  We visited a couple of presidential libraries and this seemed similar.

Jackson built his home in the early 1800's.  His first home on the estate was a simple log cabin before he built this lovely home as it looks today.

The house is done in the Greek Revival fashion as was common for the time period.  Americans liked the Greek Revival style as they felt that they descended from the similar democratic thoughts as the Greeks and sought to emulate the Greeks in other ways as well.

And the state count continues...

Next stop on my three state weekend trip was Alabama!

We drove over the border to the little town of Ardmore which straddled both Tennessee and Alabama.  Not too much in this part of Alabama...pretty much little po dunk towns.

I guess this bar couldn't decide who to support.  But the only for sure thing you knew to root for were the gold fish races held at the bar! 

We then quickly headed back into Tennessee!

Out next stop was Lynchburg, home of Jack Daniel's. Here is the iconic Jack Daniel on the rocks. Note this statue is larger than life size: Jack (his original name was Jasper – no wonder he changed it!) was only 5'2”.

Jack Daniel Tennessee whiskey is made in the same way it's been made since the beginning. The ingredients are corn, rye and barley. What makes Tennessee whiskey unique and different from bourbon or other whiskeys around the is that it is filtered through charcoal the take out impurities. Jack Daniel also only uses water from the spring that flows on the property and uses mostly local ingredients.

Jack Daniels is stored in oak barrels that are handmade on the property. The barrels are charred on the inside to give the whiskey a nice flavor. It's also interesting to note that their barrels are only used once and after that are sold to other companies (Tabasco buys the largest amount of barrels.)

Their barrels are stored in big barrels houses from about 6-8 years. Each level of the barrel house ages the whiskey in a different way due to the heat changes in the different levels. All of these barrels are combined to create the unique taste and the perfect combination that is determined by color and taste – nothing computerized about it. Must be a tough job to taste Jack all day :)

We also felt we had to eat a Moon Pie since they are an iconic Southern/Tennessee treat. They are made locally in Chattanooga.

We tried a chocolate one.

And a vanilla one. They are all made with marshmallow and graham cracker and dipped in either the chocolate or vanilla coating. They were a tasty sugary treat!

Next up was dinner. We thought it might be a trouble finding a place in the South that served a meatless meal (after all this was a Friday in Lent and everywhere we'd eaten had been heavy on the pork side.)

I'll admit I was unsure about Legendary (?) Joe's Place but it was good! Note the paper towel rolls instead of napkins. Let's just say it was laid back type of place but everyone there was sooooo nice! Truly, they gave us samples of things we'd never heard of before (white beans? corn nuggets?) and were just a delight to chat with.

We both had the fried catfish (a first!) I had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, hush puppies and cornbread. My mom had the same except she had the corn nuggets (corn but made into something like a tater tot...corn tot?) We also had the have sweet tea because what's a few more calories when you're eating everything fried?!

The dinner was yummmmmy! We were even talked into getting the chocolate pie (sorry it was devoured before a photo could be taken!)

And also a Piggly Wiggly. Those, like churches, are basically on every corner here in the South.

Gettin' lucky in Kentucky

So Tennessee was state #47 for me and Kentucky was state #48.  This part of the country is definitely different than the west but still lots of fun!  So highlights from Kentucky:

Our first stop was Horse Cave, KY.  I have grown up hearing so much about this place from my dad as it's kind of an ancestral home of the Crumps.  My great-grandfather was born here.

This was the cutest thing in town.

This was a funny little attraction along the side of the road.  A whole bunch tee pees just spread out.  Not actual tee pees but odd looking concrete structures.

I guess you can rent a wigwam for the night!  Oh the things you see along these little country roads...

We also drove through Bowling Green - home of the Corvette museum.  We did not stop.

Yeahhhh Kentucky!  Note: this was taken at the Mammoth Caves National Park visitors center - a really cool place!  Sorry there aren't any pics because a) nothing would show up if I took a picture underground and b) it's hard to take a picture outside of the cave.  I mean I could photograph the landscape and you could use your imagination to imagine the cave underground?

And this was the super cute bed and breakfast we stayed in.  It was built in 1810 and Abraham Lincoln's law parter was the first owner!  I LOVE history.

You're the only Ten I See...Ten Biscuits that is!

Bad pick up line, I know but I wanted to let ya'll (sorry that just slipped in there, I'm south of the Mason-Dixon line!) know I'm in Tennessee!  This is my 47th state I've visited and I'm headed to Kentucky and Alabama on this trip too.  Soooo that means one.state.left!!!  (Darn you Alaska for being so far away...)  Side note: my family has a pretty intense competition to see who can visit all 50 state first and currently I'm in the lead.  And hopefully I'm gonna win :)

Toto, I don't think we're in San Francisco anymore.  

Here are a few pictures from my adventures in Tennessee.  Disclaimer: they all involve food.  But c'mon what else would you expect?  My mom and I planned our trip around food and restaurants and literally rebooked a new hotel because it was closer to the delish breakfast spot.

First up, the Loveless Cafe in Nashville.  Don't even think twice, this is a MUST STOP!  My mom read an article back in Sac about it and we knew we had to stop.

Why?  Because breakfast is served all day, every day.  Enough said :)

Cute diner coffee mugs.

Starters of homemade biscuits and jams!  Like how some restaurants give you bread or chips and salsa, but so.much.yummier!  They make 7,000 biscuits a day!  Seven Thousand!  That's a lot of rolling:

And these were goooooood!  Biscuit making can be very controversial especially among Southerners but in my (California) opinion these were excellent.  So excellent we each had 5 :)

But still had room to be members of the clean plate club!  Ooopps, maybe I should show you the before well maybe, before.

Pulled pork barbecue and eggs and an ah-mazing (and filled with many, many calories #caloriesdon'tcountonvacation) hash brown casserole.  BBQ...it's not just for breakfast anymore.  It was  as tasty as you can imagine.

Then my mom got country ham (not covered in sugar like city ham), eggs, the same amazing potatoes and red-eye gravy.  I'll help you out, red-eye gravy is made of: ham drippings, brown sugar and coffee.  Unique but really good.  And we split everything!  (Seriously, my mom is the best to travel with because we like the same things!)

I just want to go back there and play corn hole in the sunshine!

Best phrase ever...make biscuits not war :)

I have eaten more pork on this trip that I have this whole year.

Yummmmm BBQ!

I am beginning to wonder...do these biscuits make my but look big?

Good ol' Southern cooking phrases: I love you like biscuits and gravy and We go together like ham and biscuits.  Amen!