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Written by Jessica Meehan
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009 |
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Saturday night I finally had dinner at Easy Bistro in
the heart of beautiful downtown Chattanooga (yes, I'm a little biased,
that's where I grew up). I had been there for drinks before but had had
nothing from the menu besides a few bites of a friend's cobbler (it was
delicious, however). Even from the one visit, I was already smitten.
The drinks are fabulous, but the atmosphere is even more amazing. The
design is a clean,modern look with a feminine touch and warmed by
candle light. It might not be to everyone's taste (cough,cough men) but
it definitely was to me and my girlfriends. If the atmosphere doesn't
get you, the food will. Utilizing local ingredients in many of their
dishes, everything I sampled was phenomenal. The menu is heavy on
seafood and red meats, however they have amazing sides and had some
great veggie pasta dishes. I ordered the spring pea risotto with
Parmesan, made in a mint broth (vegetarian friendly, yay!). It was
awesome, and just filling enough without being overpowering. I was
worried a plate of risotto with only a few ingredients wouldn't do it
for me, but I was definitely wrong. 
- My
friend Kathryn, whose birthday we were celebrating ordered the ravioli, which was a potato ravioli in a mint broth (seriously you can't go
wrong with the mint broth) with baby vidalias, asparagus, and more peas
(can't go wrong with the peas either!). I might have enjoyed her
ravioli more than my risotta. It was made with wontons so it wasn't too
pasta-y and heavy. It had no ricotta, which I don't really like and
many raviolis contain as a staple ingredient. Once again, Easy didn't
need heavy seasoning and lots of ingredients to make a fresh, flavorful
dish.
We ended our dinner with homemade strawberry shortcake that was
perfect. Fresh whipped cream was sandwiched between a warm from the
oven biscuit and strawberries. It was the ideal ending to the meal and
was great with the champagne and white wine we were having to celebrate
Kathryn's 25th. 
If you make it to Chattanooga, or are a local that wants an
atmosphere that's not so local, but food thats a sophisticated take on
Southern favorites (try the creamy grits on the side...delish!), then I
highly recommend Easy Bistro. -Jess
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Written by Jessica Meehan
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Monday, 13 April 2009 |
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 "Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero
He's our powers magnified
And he's fighting on the planet's side..."
Anyone else familiar with this theme song, or am I just making
myself look young (or old, for all you Generation Y'ers out there)?
Yes, its Captain Planet's song, the cartoon super hero who punishes bad
guy villain polluter types. Seemed kinda absurd in the early 1990s but
now the E.P.A. is looking for real life Captain Planets...like you!
"Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder
Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!
'The Power is Yours!' "
Yes, the E.P.A has begun publishing a list of environmental bad guys,
and ladies (as the case appears to be) for common, everyday folks like
ourselves to be on the look out for. The list was first published in
December, but as you can imagine, is getting longer by the day.
Regulations as getting stronger for environmental offenders as the US
government, as well as governments around the world, take environmental
issues much more seriously. But these offenders didn't just throw them
gum into the sewer. No, these are MAJOR crimes against nature. Some
examples of crimes that qualified people for the list include smuggling
ozone-destroying coolants, building secret pipelines to drop pollutants
into a Mississippi River tributary, dumping contaminated grains into
the ocean, and smuggling oxygen containers onto a plane which
consequently crashed, killing 110 people in 1996.
Big crimes here, people. With crimes like this you wonder what took
them so long to pull this list together, right? So you should
definitely be on the look out for these real life "bad guys". It might
be your closest chance to being Captain Planet, or any other super hero
you fantasize about being.
-Jess
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Written by Jessica Meehan
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Thursday, 09 April 2009 |
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Yes, its the middle of the work day - but this is more important! Rachel Pally is having yet another sample sale (hey, I'm not complaining) featuring the label's Pre-spring ’09, holiday ’08, fall ’08, and all previous collections (including cashmere) at 50-80 percent off retail. Heck yea! The sale is going on as we speak people! But fear not, its all day today (until 7 PM), tomorrow 10-6, and Sunday 11-5. If you miss all of those (shame on you) there will be another sale next weekend.
It's all taking place at 2301 E. Seventh St., between Anderson & Santa Fe Sts., ste. c100, Downtown.
Lunch break, anyone? -Jess
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Written by Jessica Meehan
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Tuesday, 07 April 2009 |
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We were making tracks on Sunday afternoon. After spending a couple hours at Barboursville Vineyards, my crew and I moved on down to King Family Vineyards. I've been to King Family many Sunday afternoons because they have polo matches regularly on Sundays. It's fantastic to sit outside on a blanket with friends, food wine, and a picnic and watch polo. I'm excited for polo to start up again at the end of this month! 
Since we were all familar with King Family's wines, we bought a bottle (because we didn't have enough already) and sat outside with the multitudes of other people, babies (there were so many crawling around!), and dogs. The day was perfect, the rolling mountains in the background could not have been more idyllic. This was the first sunbathing I think any of us had done all year! I just have to add one more picture of the breathtaking view from King Family. Although our bellies were full of grapey goodness, we continued on to Blue Mountain Brewery, which is just down the road from King Family Vineyards. I was in no way feeling up to tasting more alcohol, but luckily I had companions that were ready to try the 6 beer flight from the brewery. For only $5 you get the lovely beer sampler pictured here: Sooo pretty! We had all heard about how delicious the food was at Blue Mountain and how their menu was chocked full of local foods from around the area. Although we also were no where near hungry, we ordered LOTS of food, including nachos, spinach artichoke dip, a veggie and goat cheese pizza, and the "Brat" pizza, which was covered with local bratwurst, local apples, mozzerella, and a balsamic reduction (not too shabby, right?) The spinach dip was declared "the best in the area" by my group, as it had a great texture and a great garlicky taste. The thin crust pizzas were in a league of their own. The veggie pizza was not your typical veggie pizza but was chocked fully of delicious mushrooms, cilantro, goat cheese, and large chunks of yellow squash and zucchini. The brat pizza also proved to be extremely popular, and the balsamic reduction was such a great compliment to the apples, mozzerella, and sausage. This delicious and beautiful weekend was a perfect early Spring weekend. It's definitely going to be hard to top this weekend, but with all the wonderful local wineries, breweries, local foods, and activities, it will definitely have competition. -Jess
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If you haven't heard, honeybees are going the way of the dodo, if we don't do something fast to help them. Well the good news is that scientists are on the way to finding a way to help the honeybee colonies. And apparently all the little bees need is a shot of good ole antibiotics.
