Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Labor Day Weekend Part 2 The Food

Dabney and I had an interesting weekend in food. A lot of people grilled out Monday, but Dabney and I grilled out on Saturday. We made all kinds of foods on sticks. We some spam, pineapple and cherries. That was the starter and was very tasty. The main course was beef and chicken shish kabobs. I used a jerk sauce for the beef and made an Asian style citrus and garlic marinade for the chicken. We made up several skewers of the meat plus several skewers was tomatos, onions, peppers, and mushrooms. I also some made andouille sausage to be used later. Obviously that was a ton of food for the two of us and we had a lot of leftovers.

Sunday we had brunch at the Blue Monkey and then crepes and some sushi downtown at the Music fest. Which brings us to Monday leftover day. We had sausage, peppers, onions, and mushrooms. Dabney came up with the idea of sausage and grits. I made the grits with cheddar, Velveeta, butter,and heavy cream. Of course that combo of things could make just about anything taste good. I cooked the sausage, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and some bacon together and then served that on top of the cheese grits. It was incredibly good if I do say so myself.

I really did not try any new recipes this weekend, but I do feel like I was creative this weekend. I tried to do something different than the same ole, same ole. Now I need to figure out what I want to try this week.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Labor Day Weekend Part 1 Music


There were two themes in my Labor Day Weekend, music and food. Let's start with the music first. On Friday we went to Swanky's Tacos to see The Papa Top's West Coast Turn Around. It was a bit of weird night, because there was a not a lot of people there. Even though it was the not the usual crowd the Papa Top's were good form. They went through their usual selection of Honky Tonk favorites Dabney and I had a really good time.



The next musical day was the Memphis Music and Heritage Festival on Sunday.

The first band we saw Sunday afternoon was Two Way Radio. I have liked them ever since I saw them in Five Dollar Cover. They have a very unique sound that is a lot of fun. The singer and also keyboard Kate Crowder has a lot of energy and her positive vibe seems to be the driving force behind the bands powerful sound.

The next band we saw was Sonny Burgess & the Pacers. They were original rockabilly band that still tears it up on stage. It looks like they have been doing with this for awhile, but they had a good time playing and had receptive crowd including a few people dancing. They did the most up beat and peppy version of Folsome Prison Blues which I never really considered it a peppy song. Other than than that one slightly odd version of song they played a really good set.

After a sushi and Saki break the next band we saw Fitz's Ultimate Cooking Hookers. They are unique band that combines cooking and music. While the band plays a guy up at the front cooks up some great food that he gives out for tips. The cook maybe an Asian style chicken and rice. This being right in Dabney's wheel house she got some. Food and music combined in a great way.

Next was the second Papa Top's show we saw over the weekend. They opened with the regular non-peppy version Folsome Prison Blues which Chris always does well. This time had Chris Davis' twins dancing in front of the stage while the band played. The dancing was especially fun when the twins enacted the song Tiger by the Tail . It was kind of interesting seeing the Papa Top's in twice in one weekend.
The last act we saw was watching Jason D. Williams tear it up. It was a fairly short set but he scorched his way through an amazing selection of songs. He played with a great amount intensity and passion. The band had to really stay on top of things because they would start a song and would play bits and pieces of other songs and then come back to the original song. I had never seen Jason play before and was really impressed. All in all it was awesome day of music, food, and fun.