The most imminent life change we are about to go through (me more directly) would be that I am starting back to school this coming Monday. After a three-year hiatus from tests and homework, I have decided to rejoin the realm of the classroom learner. For about the past four to five years, I progressively and earnestly became more and more interested in food, nutrition and the classic fundamentals of culinary arts and have a blog and journals filled with recipes to prove it. During my short internship with Southern Living magazine I was afforded the opportunity to get to see how the test kitchen worked and food has been my obsession ever since. About a year ago I decided that self teaching, a job as a baker at a local Nashville establishment, books and independent research were no longer enough to quell the desire for more knowledge on the subject and that led to the decision to start researching and saving for culinary school. In a digital world where anyone can be a self proclaimed “expert,” I have determined that I want to go through a more classical training to gain the knowledge that I crave and to become a credible member of the culinary society. Thankfully, due to courses transferring from my prior education, this process should only take about a year to complete.

Another big change for us is our recent undertaking with a local startup apparel company called 1907 Apparel. Scott is charged with doing what he does best by heading up the Creative Development side of things. He’s writing, brainstorming and making contacts with people to get the word out about this awesome company. I offer up my photographic services to the team as well. 1907 Apparel at its core is about helping build communities. Every purchase helps in one of three areas: Poverty, Education and Sustainable Agriculture. If you’d like to learn more about 1907 Apparel, their story and their products you can click here to learn more.

I believe it is important to note here that I have not given up on photography. I am still scheduling photography work in my free time and still love and enjoy it as an art form. Maybe someday I will be able to find a way to combine culinary arts with my visual journalism degree in ways other than our blog. Scott and I are also in the works of our own start up business here in Nashville and hope to bring details of this venture to you soon, but we will see what the future holds.

Despite all this, we still plan to continue posting to this site about our many adventures out-and-about Nashville, in the kitchen and in our travels. Scott is currently writing a piece about our recent trip to Fall Creek Falls and our fun and mishaps canoeing on the Harpeth river and I have peppers roasting in the oven as we speak. The format may change a little as I am hoping to spend more time sharing what I will be learning in school at the time, but the content will mostly remain the same. Just me and Scott,”lovin’ life, lovin’ each other.”

Of course, this isn’t true because Bethany Consentino lives in California, where it is always sunny and everyone’s happy, and she would very much like you to know that. It takes all of about, oh, 12 seconds into The Only Place to be thrust into Consentino’s love letter with the state. “We were born with sun in our teeth and in our hair,” she says. Whoa, California! What a place to be. “When we get bored we like to sit around, sit around and stare.” Oh. Yeah, The Only Place isn’t the place to go for deep lyrical introspection. But that’s not why people, me included, very much like Best Coast.

We very much like Best Coast because we very much like things like lakes and cars and summer and all the things that glossy guitars, fuzzy distortion, poppy vocals and upbeat ’60s-style melodies evoke. So, yeah, I guess this is the part where I have to say that Best Coast is simple summer music; Crazy For You, Best Coast’s 2010 debut, was 31:32 long. The Only Place clocks in at 34:44. So you can pretty much listen to every song the band has ever written in the time it takes to get through your basic Arcade Fire album (and you’ll be much happier by the time you’re done).

But it’s so obvious to just label Best Coast summer music and be done; can’t there be something more? Consentino’s relentless devotion to her formula seems at times ironic—these are songs anyone could write, sometimes just skeletons of songs that lurk deeper, really. The lyrics are words she could have written in a speedwriting test before bed. “We wake up with the sun in our eyes, It’s no surprise that we get so much done, But we always, yes we always, we always have fun, Yes we always, yes we always, we always have fun.”

In this sense, the ingredients behind the band’s success almost seem like throwaways. Consentino could be (and sometimes is) singing “la la la la la la la” and would still be just as effective as if she were opining on war. The thing is that it’s not worth talking about the lyrics, or the fuzz, or whether Best Coast is “lo-fi” or what that even means, or how the group’s second album is different than the first, or whether Consentino hides her voice behind the fuzz and glam. I don’t think they’re here for that. The music is so simple, so approachable, that it’s really only worth exploring in one sense: how it makes you feel. And isn’t that the point of all music anyway?

If Crazy For You was 31 minutes of a girl longing for summer and innocence and maybe a boy or two along the way, The Only Place is about longing to get all of it back. Though the lyrical depth doesn’t go much deeper than your typical rain gutter, that doesn’t mean the songs are lacking in impact; Consentino’s songs on The Only Place run the typical pop songstress gamut of love, home, family, expectations, and boredom that seem almost born out of Best Coast’s recent popularity. When she sings “I don’t want to be how they want me to be,” you can take it as a 20-something shirking the expectations on her generation, or on a singer flipping the bird to critics who at first disparaged Consentino for hiding behind her lo-fi sound and are now dogging on her for glamming it up a bit.

What Best Coast is doing and experiencing isn’t new. But often we confuse newness and freshness in music—what Best Coast is doing is definitely fresh, and that’s a great thing, and it’s the reason why The Only Place was probably my second-most anticipated album of the year. (Where you at, Avett Brothers?!) So it’s not worth worrying about what the band is going to do to its sound going forward, or whether the lyrics are on a 3^rd grade level, or how we were expecting Crazy For You and have gotten something different. Best Coast is what it is. And maybe I’m overanalyzing a 30-minute pop album, but there’s something that resonates in good music. I’ve got memories tied to Best Coast, and we’re only two full albums into their discography. That’s got to mean something, right? I think Bethany feels it too. “When will I go home?” she sings. “Nowhere compares to home.”

Notes from Jess on the recipe: This is the perfect fun refreshment for a warm day. It’s not quite so loaded up with sugar as your average soda, but still has tons of flavor and natural sweetness. You can really use whatever kind of berries you like. For this particular one I used strawberries and blackberries because that’s what looked best at the market. But as we get later into the spring and earlier into the summer, all the berries are going to get more beautiful and sweet. If you want to make this an adult cocktail, add some rum or vodka to your glass. It’s fantastic!

This recipe calls for a particular kitchen gadget called a sieve. Basically, this is to ensure that the juice is very smooth and there are no seeds in the mix. Remember this is supposed to be more like a drink than a smoothie. If you don’t have a sieve, but have a mesh colander or a cheese cloth, that will work just as well. Make sure you remember to freeze a few berries ahead of time for an added treat in your drinks.

All-in-all this is a super easy, inexpensive and delectable summer treat that is great for kids and adults alike. The fizziness, without the caffeine, and the natural sweetness, without all the added preservatives and high fructose corn syrup, are the perfect accompaniment to Best Coast with its poppy sounds and distinct musical flavor. This drink and Best Coast take me to my happy place, and it’s the only place for me. The recipe is below. Cheers!

Basically, we sauteed a multitude of fresh chopped veggies just for a few minutes in a little oil and herbs. Then, in lieu of pasta or rice, which took too much time for our hungry bellies, we took some toasted bread, (we used french of course but you can use whatever you like) and smothered it with our veggies. Finished it off with some diced feta and olives and we were stuffed in no time flat. A perfect quick warm weather dinner for a family on the go, packed with nutritious foods that will keep you full.

Just use whatever you have in the fridge if you don’t have these items. This recipe is a great way to use up leftovers. It would also be good served chilled and spooned over the top of your toasted bread. Next time, skip the boxed macaroni and cheese when you’re hungry and need a quick meal. This is so much better! The recipe is below. Cheers!

No, I’m talking about the other gems—the markets, the special events, the less-publicized things-to-do that interest food and food culture lovers. Look hard enough and you can always find some sort of movie or discussion or talk somewhere in the city about a food issue, and we found a great one this week with “A Place At The Table,” the weekly dinner hosted by Martha Stamps, known for her work with Martha Stamps Catering and FEAST Together. “A Place At The Table,” hosted at West End United Methodist Church downtown, is a $10 per person weekly dinner held every Wednesday at 6. The food (as, you know, it’s hosted by the lady running Martha Stamps catering) is as excellent as it is earth- and vegetarian-friendly: This week’s menu consisted of chicken salad, roasted new and sweet potatoes, roasted asparagus, carrots, and mushrooms, and glazed carrot cake.

After the dinner there is a movie or a presentation or a talk of some sort relating to food, food culture, or, as in this week’s case, clean-earth initiatives. It was really interesting and completely worthwhile, and we left with a pretty sweet Swag Bag from Home Depot filled with light bulbs, power strips, reusable shopping bags, and other cool stuff.

There were probably close to 100 people at the church for dinner, and probably 40 or so stayed for the presentation. It’s very low pressure, and you don’t at all have to be a member of the church to attend. (We had never walked in the door before 5:55 p.m. Wednesday.) All in all, if you’re looking for a cool way to get out in the middle of the week, A Place At The Table is a really cool option by a lady doing a lot for sustainability in and around Nashville. It’s a hidden gem, alright—that was right under our noses the whole time.

For our first guest post we made a home version of a local restaurant’s dish in what 2 Dine For likes to call “Recipe Box.” Click here to read the whole story.

We visited City House, a local Nashville favorite, and had their famous pork belly pizza with a farm fresh egg on top. If you live in Nashville and haven’t tried it, you must.

We flexed our at-home culinary muscles to attempt to recreate the wonderful dinner. We made our own pizza dough, used thick cut prosciutto, dried red pepper flakes, parmigiano reggiano, and a fresh egg on top. Almost as good as the original. Have I piqued your interest? Want the recipe? Well you’ll have to head over to 2 Dine For to get it. Be on the look out for our other upcoming guest posts as well. Cheers!

Some pastas and sauces can leave you feeling weighted down, but not this one. It’s light, refreshing and flavorful while filling you up enough so that you’re not hungry an hour later. The cannellini beans give the ravioli a nice meaty texture, butter and goat cheese add a richness, spinach brings a little freshness to the table and the acidity from the vinegar and lemon juice cuts through all that with a delightfully zesty one-two punch. A note on the pasta— I used a pastry cutter to finish off the edges, but it isn’t necessary. It just makes it look pretty!

Scott pointed out that the bean filling for the raviolis would be a perfect dip for crackers. Noted by the fact that I had to kick him out of the kitchen because I wasn’t going to have enough to finish the raviolis if I let him stay. It was the perfect meal for a warm spring day and we can’t wait to make it again. We may not even wait until we have left over wonton wrappers to make it next time.

The recipe is below. Cheers!

Every so often, in music, you hear about the transformational moments that grab people instantly. The Gamechangers: Sam Phillips had one when Johnny Cash picked “Folsom Prison Blues” in his studio (or at least he did in the movie). Four bars by The Beatles changed music. MJ transformed a generation with “Billie Jean” and a few moves, and Nirvana did it again a few years later. Outkast’s “B.O.B.” killed it, Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” had enough angst for thousands, and just a couple years ago, the words Gnarls Barkley were gibberish until the first few bars of “Crazy” grabbed an entire country for weeks. The moment you realize you have something is instant. You don’t need to hear the whole song. When there’s a Gamechanger, you know it fast.

Well, they aren’t MJ, and they aren’t The Beatles, but we might just be in the middle of another game-changing debut, with the Alabama Shakes, whose debut album “Boys and Girls” is out today, and their unique sound that’s part blues, part Grace Potter, part fuzz rock, part Janis Joplin, part Aretha Franklin, part…well, a lot of stuff. The Shakes—a foursome from Athens, Alabama, which is not much more than a Raceway and a Chick-Fil-A off I-65 in North Alabama—are grabbing people, and until today didn’t even have an album out. Born not far from the region that gave us the Shoals sound, Alabama Shakes cut their teeth (and their first LP) in Nashville just last summer. A couple months later they were on Conan. They were Paste magazine’s 2011 New Band of the Year, they’re on the cover of this month’s American Songwriter, and this summer they’ll be at Bonnaroo. That doesn’t happen without a sound that grabs people immediately.

They’ve got a good sound, a mix that works, but the reason for Alabama Shakes’ meteoric rise is all in front-woman Brittany Howard’s gravel of a voice. Howard is what grabs you—from the opening lines of “Hold On,” where her cry of “Bless my heart/bless my soul/didn’t think I’d make it to 22 years old” is both celebratory and pleading. She showcases range (“On Your Way”), emotion (“You Ain’t Alone”), and a timeless tone that sounds like something crackly that would come out of Motown (“I Found You”).

Alabama Shakes are good, but without her, they’re just another Southern group of guitarists trying to climb out of the Nashville slush pile. Howard is their golden goose: even without the voice, how many bands are comprised of three twentysomething white Southern guys and a dynamic African-American woman as the lead? The Alabama Shakes were different from everybody else before she even opened her mouth. When she does open her mouth, say, for instance, in the first few bars of “You Ain’t Alone,” try to compare it to someone who came after 1970. It’s not easy to find a contemporary.

OK, so everybody’s excited about Alabama Shakes, and rightfully so, but there’s always a music darling, isn’t there? What’s the old mantra: Everyone’s got 10 years to write their first album; you see how good they are in the one year it takes to write the second. So we’ll see, as we always do. For now, there’s enough momentum around the Shakes to make me kick myself for not going out to Record Store Day last summer in East Nashville, when they were just a foursome in a backyard playing a few originals. If the few months since are any indication, that would have been a heck of a story to be able to tell.

Notes from Jess on the recipe:

When I first started thinking about what kind of food I would want to eat while listening to the Alabama Shakes, I started by thinking about where the music made me want to be. I decided I wanted to be sitting on the porch at my grandparents’ house on the lake. A hot evening, still light outside, quietly sitting in the porch swing with music playing in the background. Earthy and rustic with a hint of sweetness and heat. That brought me to cornbread with a ginger-lime marmalade. I mean what’s more appropriate than eating cornbread and marmalade at your southern-bred grandparents’ house out in the woods? Add the unexpected tartness of the lime and the satisfying heat from the ginger and you’ve got a match made in Food & Music heaven.

In the recipe, you utilize the lime’s natural pectin by cooking the pith in muslin or a cheese cloth. If you don’t have access to this, you can substitute with a box of pectin from the store. You might want to reduce the sugar amount in the recipe if you go that route though. Overall the marmalade is pretty simple. If you’ve never had a marmalade before, don’t expect it to taste like jelly. It has a delightful bitterness.

As for the cornbread, you can make any cornbread you prefer. Here’s my recipe if you don’t have one of your own:

Heat your oven to 450°F. While the oven is heating, place a greased cast iron skillet or oven-safe pan on the lower middle rack to heat up. In a bowl combine 3/4 cup corn meal, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp baking soda. Place 1/3 cup hot water in a separate large bowl, slowly whisk in a small about of the dry ingredients. Just enough to make a thick paste about 1/3-1/2 cup. Next add 3/4 cup buttermilk, whisking to combine. Then add 1 large beaten egg, whisking to combine. Add the remaining dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Finally, whisk in 3 tbs melted butter and 1 tbs melted coconut oil (can substitute vegetable oil). Pour into your hot pan and bake 20-25 minutes or until golden.

So the next time you’re in the mood for some sultry and soulful food and music, give this recipe and the Alabama Shakes a try. The recipe for the marmalade is below. Cheers!

Whenever whipping up a meal for one, it’s always a good idea to look and see exactly what you’ve got to work with. In this case, I had all the staples along with sweet peppers, a tiny yukon gold potato, eggs, spinach and a shallot as the paints on my palette (in a manner of speaking). Once analyzing what I had, it seemed a frittata would be the natural progression from there. Why? Because it’s easy to make, easy to prepare as an individual portion and definitely easy to eat. I mean, you can throw just about anything you’ve got into a frittata and I was too tired and too glum to be eating alone to do anything much more extravagant. So frittata I ate.

It was quite a lovely dinner I might add. My dining companion was my dear fluffy friend the cat and I enjoyed my frittata along with some fresh grapes and pears drizzled with honey. For entertainment, I finished up a little paperwork and then indulged in the ever-s0-cliche chick-flick. It was fun. Now…Can I have my husband back please?

You can easily add whatever you like to your frittata. Bacon or cooked sausage, zucchini or salsa, you can’t go wrong with ingredients you love. I even sprinkled a little shaved parmesan over the top for good measure. If you need to make this for more than one person, just add extra ingredients and finish cooking it through by baking it off in the oven instead of flipping. The recipe is below. Cheers!

Spinach wilts fast and cooked peas only need to be reheated, so just add a little extra flavor in the form of garlic and hot sauce and you’re good to go. The potatoes take a little longer to cook, but the effort on your part is minimal. Toss in a little olive oil, vinegar, herbs and spices, roast, stirring once while cooking. Boom! Dinner’s ready. Make this into a He Made/She Made by throwing a little ham on the plate or crisping some bacon to the pan when melting the butter for the peas and spinach.

Mixing leftovers together is the perfect way to use up what you have in the fridge. You don’t have to throw anything away, while breathing new life into last night’s dinner. The recipe is below. Cheers!

Part II- Cinnamon Apples on Shortbread with Peanut Butter Sauce

After a busy and hot day out and about, you need a meal that’s both light and filling. As a pre- Avett Brothers concert meal, we enjoyed this wonderful little salad. A mixture of fresh local greens and vegetables and a farm fresh egg. The veggies were light and refreshing while the egg gave us the protein we needed to dance the night away (Foodie side note: Avett Brothers cellist Joe Kwon has a blog called Taste On Tour and it’s an awesome read).

We made a light dressing out of our olive oil we brought with us, honey and lemon from the farmer’s market. I also used a little of the tomato wine vinegar we purchased from the market in the poaching liquid. Our eggs came from Haven Hill Farms in Mobile, which we also used the next morning to make breakfast.

These recipes take little effort to whip up. All in all, we made four meals for two people for less than $30. On vacation, I’d say that’s a good deal. And we still ate at all our favorite restaurants, plus a few new ones. So next time you go out of town, why not make a few easy-to-throw-together meals, to keep from breaking the bank and to get an entirely different viewpoint on local food. The recipe is below. Cheers!

And incase you were wondering…the concert was awesome!

Click here for a printable version of the Recipe Card
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