Nashville Food Bloggers

We’re long overdue for another happy hour, so let’s make one happen later this month!

Please join us at Stoney River on May 23, starting at 5:30 p.m. We’ll be in their bar area with some of the booths reserved for our group.

Stoney River will offer their Rivertime happy hour specials:

$3 All beers
$5 Premium well drinks
$5 Wines by the glass
$6 & $7 Appetizers

This isn’t a formal event, just a casual meetup to get to know your fellow food bloggers while eating and drinking some great food.

Hope to see you all there!

May 23, 2012
5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Stoney River
3015 West End Ave.
Nashville, TN

Please RSVP if you can make it, so we can let Stoney River know how many to expect.

Nashville Lifestyles magazine would like to offer a special Nashville Food Blogger discount on Savor Nashville’s Celebrity Chef Dinner, scheduled for Saturday, May 19, 7 p.m., at the Hutton Hotel in Downtown Nashville.

Regular ticket prices are $150 per person, but you can purchase tickets to this multi-course meal prepared by James Boyce and Bruce Moffett, for just $100 per person, which includes wine pairings from Cultivate, a silent auction and live entertainment. Only 20 of these specially priced tickets are available on a first come, first served basis. Please indicate how many tickets you’d like in the comments below, including a contact email address, and Savor Nashville reps will be in touch with you personally to make arrangements.

For more information, visit www.nashvillelifestyles.com/savor

Friends,

I wanted to shoot all of you a quick note to let you know that my supper club for this year is starting again. If you don’t have any plans for dinner on Saturday, I’d love for you to join us!

WHEN: Saturday, April 14, 2012 @ 6 PM

WHERE: Nashville Farmer’s Market | 900 Rosa L Parks Blvd, Nashville, TN

MENU:

Snacks: Homemade Potato Chips | Tandoori Spice | Cucumber Aioli

Pairing: Bottle Carbonated Pimms Cup – Pimms Liquer, Thatcher’s Organic Blood Orange, Thatcher’s Organic Cucumber, Fresh Lemonade and Dark & Stormy – Cruzan Black Strap Rum, Ginger Beer and Lime Juice

1st Course - Roasted Cauliflower Soup | Bacon | Goat Cheese | Cilantro | Cumin Oil

Pairing: Block 9 Pinot Noir

2nd Course - Spice Crusted Shrimp | Ginger-Pea Broth | Spring Vegetable Salad | Garlic Chips

Pairing: Ferraton Cotes du Rhone Blanc

 
3rd Course - Indian Roast Chicken | Fenugreek | Mint-Cilantro Salsa Verde | Lemon-Mustard Seed Rice

Pairing: Dragon’s Kiss – SKYY Dragon Fruit, Thatcher’s Elderflower, Guava Puree, Prosecco

 
4th Course - Yogurt Panna Cotta | Saffron | Orange | Pistachios

Pairing: Muddled Mint Raspberry Old Fashioned – Knob Creek Bourbon, Orange Bitters, Raspberry, Fresh Mint

*Vegetarian Options available for all courses

$65 – Dinner with Pairings

$45 – Dinner

*Tax and gratuity included

If you can make it, please register here!

Thanks everyone. Hope y’all have a great weekend!

In case you haven’t heard, Riffs Fine Street Food is taking it off the street this weekend and into a pop up restaurant!

What: Riffs Pop Up Restaurant
Where: Top Secret Location
When: Saturday, March 17th; seatings at 5 pm and 8 pm

For all of the details and a teaser of what is to be expected, check out the post I wrote earlier this week about it.

The chefs have asked me to post a very special deal here on the Nashville Food Bloggers website. They can’t imagine the event without their favorite food bloggers there, so they’re offering a special discounted food blogger price of $75! Not just for yourself, but for your +1 as well. Seats are limited, so don’t miss out – make your reservation asap!

Contact (615) 669-8782 or email chefs@riffstruck.com

Hi all–you may have already heard about the upcoming Cupcake-palooza on March 24, but did you know that you can participate along with the bakeries? Here are the details (for the event as well as how to donate):

The event itself costs $15 per person ($5 for children). You get 10 tickets redeemable for cupcakes (5 for children).

Those who donate do not have to pay for entry, but can buy $1 tickets at the event. To donate, they ask that you make 10 to 20 dozen “G-rated” (no alcohol) cupcakes (or as many as you can). You will need to man your own booth to collect tickets. You can bring props to liven up your display and, of course, flyers and business cards to promote your site.

There will be a contest for the home bakers judged by food writers. There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners and prizes will likely include cookbooks and/or gift certificates.

Proceeds benefit Books from Birth, which is a wonderful cause. If you can and want to participate, contact joan [dot] brasher [at] vanderbilt.edu by Monday.

Courtney Dial Whitmore, one of Nashville’s very own, has written an incredible cookbook and is doing her very first book signing next weekend down in Cool Springs and would love for you all to come!

Courtney is the editor and founder of the popular party planning website pizzazzerie and is a well-known stylist and writer in the field of party design and décor. Her expertise has been seen in Ladies Home Journal, Pawsh Magazine, Get Married Magazine, MarthaStewart.com and more. She is also a writer for several online food and lifestyle publications including The Huffington Post, SHE KNOWS, Hostess with the Mostess, and Tablespoon.

What: Push-Up Pops Book Signing by Courtney Dial Whitmore
When: March 10, 2012, 3:00pm
Where: Barnes & Noble, Cool Springs
What: Signing, Samples + Freebies for all!

“Push-Up Pops are the perfect treat for any occasion. This is a must-have book for all party lovers!” – Tori Spelling

“Filled with dozens of easy to follow recipes, Push-Up Pops layers your favorite flavors with pure fun to create adorable, individual tasty treats.” – Bakerella

“Whether you’re an experienced pastry chef or a home baker, you’ll fall in love with Courtney’s fun interpretation of Push-Up Pops… These are a great activity to make with your kids and will be a hit at any party!” – Amy Atlas

For more info on the book, visit the website.

Porta Via Italian Kitchen will host a viewing party for the season finale of Top Chef: Texas tonight from 9:00-10:00 p.m.  The full kitchen, including the pizza bar, will be open and they’re offering two-for-one draft beers.  This event is open to the public, but was created with Nashville Food Bloggers in mind.  Reservations are not required, but if you’re interested in attending please drop me a note so I can be sure there’s ample seating: amandasaad (at) andrewsagencypr (dot) com.

Whether you’re Team Paul or Team Sarah, hope to see you there!

The Nashville Food Bloggers are invited to Roast, Inc. for a private coffee “cupping” event on Sunday, February 26th. Owners Lesa and Brad Wood will demonstrate the single-brew method, considered among the coffee elite to be the superior brewing method because it eliminates overexposure to heat and minimizes the amount of time between brewing and drinking.

The Woods will teach brewing technique for several single-brew systems, including French press, siphon pot, pour-over and Clever. If you haven’t yet been to Roast, this is the perfect opportunity to see what you’ve been missing out on! Their coffee, which you’ll get to sample, is phenomenal. The Woods buy their beans directly from small family-run farms primarily in Central and South America, Indonesia and Africa, and roast them onsite.

They can only accommodate 25 of us, so please RSVP as soon as possible to ensure you snag one of the spots!

They’ve also mentioned that we are welcome to make this a breakfast potluck if we’d like to bring our favorite breakfast dishes along to enjoy with the incredible coffees! Leave a comment if you think that is something you’d like to do!

Who: Nashville Food Bloggers & Roast Inc.
What: Coffee Cupping Event
When: Sunday, February 26th, 2012 at 9 a.m.
Where: Roast Inc, 4825 Trousdale Drive

Perl Catering and Lisa Mays are teaming up for a wine dinner on 2/20 at Sky Blue Cafe. Here are the details from Robert Spinelli (not sure if there are vegetarian alternatives for the 2nd and 3rd courses) :

We are excited to announce the first in a series of wine dinners to be held at Sky Blue Cafe in East Nashville. perl Catering will be teaming with Lisa Mays of winewithlisa.com to bring together a family style meal on February 20th. The menu for the first event is listed below.

perl Catering & Sky Blue Café Wine Dinner
Feb. 20th 6-9pm
Featuring 100% Italiano Wines
$69/person + tax & gratuity
Limited seating available
For reservations call 615 479-4649

Antipasto Platter of marinated vegetables, local cheeses, pate, crackers & homemade accompaniments
Gougeres
Seeded Rolls & Corn Muffins

1st Course
Salad of mixed greens with graham cracker/walnut crumble, Noble Springs Goat Cheese Croquette,
watermelon radish & mustard vinaigrette
Conte Riccati Brut DOC Prosecco, Veneto

 2nd Course
Ricotta Gnocchi with Whispering Creek Oyster Mushrooms, Roasted Shallots & perl Bacon in
Truffled Parmesan Cream Sauce
2008 Iuli Barbera del Monferrato Superiore ‘Umberta,’ Piemonte

 3rd Course
Pan Seared Scallops over Golden Flannel Hash of sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes, golden
beets, fennel & onion with hot pepper relish
2010 Fattoria San Lorenzo Il Casolare’ Verdicchio IGT Organic, Marche

Dessert
King Cake
Chocolate Mocha Hazelnut Crunch Cake
2009 Giallo Dolce IGT Moscato, Trentino

Hey everybody – Lisa Shively, the Publisher of The Local Table magazine (a free, local, quarterly pub featuring the food and farmers of middle TN) is hoping to set up an aggregator of sorts on The Local Table website featuring local food bloggers. The details are still being worked out but she’s hoping to have something up and running by early March to coincide with the spring edition. The site gets the heaviest web traffic (around 100,000 visits a month) right after a print edition comes out.

If you feel the subject matter is a good local fit for your blog (and I know for most of you it would be), this would be a great way to get additional eyeballs to your site. Plus I like the idea of supporting a local entity doing cool stuff like Lisa’s magazine.

If you’re interested, please comment below and/or email me (annakate.tefft@gmail.com). Thanks!