All the Way to Memphis

The BF and I took a much-needed trip to Memphis a few weeks ago, partially to celebrate my birthday, partially to see Big Star, and also just because we both needed some time away. It was a lot of fun, and the trip made me realize how much I miss living in Memphis (or just living in a bigger city, period). The city has changed and grown even more in the 7 years since I lived there, but thankfully I still know my way around.

We arrived on Friday and got settled in just as a huge rain storm started up. We just hung out in the hotel until it slowed down enough to not need a kayak to get anywhere, and then we decided to find some grub. We wound up at JG's Trattoria, which used to be Grisanti's, but now Judd Grisanti has transformed it somewhat into something a little more modern. Our meal started with a thick slice of Bruschetta topped with sun-dried tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and arugula, and then a cup of butternut squash/zucchini bisque with pesto, which sounds weird but was a delicious combination. Our main courses were manicotti (me) and Tuna Puttanesca (him). My manicotti was deliciously rich, with italian sausage, veal and ground pork, topped with lots of melty cheese and swimming in a red sauce that really would make you slap your momma. The BF's Puttanesca was equally good, the tuna seared perfectly. I'm just not that into olives and capers, so I didn't eat much of his dish.

Saturday I had to get up and run 3.5 miles on the treadmill as part of my 8K training, and it was hellish, to say the least. The exercise room was adjacent to the indoor pool, so the air was thick with chlorine and there was little air circulation in the room. I was determined though, and I did it with minimal walk breaks. Afterward, we made our way toward Brother Juniper's with the intention of having a nice breakfast and then doing some shopping at Tiger Books next door and wherever else our hearts took us. Bro. Juniper's has always been popular, but it seemed to be more popular than ever on this particular day, and there was a 45-minute wait. Since I had just burned a few hundred calories and the BF was ravenous too, that wouldn't work. We did hit up Tiger Books, though, since they were right next door, so that he could get a sweatshirt. (He's getting cold-natured in his old age.) Then we decided to try out the Blue Plate Cafe. I don't know why I never ate there when I lived in Memphis, but I wish I had. Our wait was minimal there and the food was amazing. Simple, country breakfast, but good. He had a fried bologna sandwich with hash browns, I had scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, hashbrowns, and we shared some biscuits and gravy. It was perfect.

After Blue Plate, we started our hunt for a turntable for me. I have been wanting one for quite some time now, seeing how I have this decent collection of LPs and nothing to play them on. We went to Shangri-La records, which is an awesome vintage record store. They didn't really have anything in our price range for a turntable, but I did buy an Echo & the Bunnymen album and Stevie Wonder's "Songbook" album. I could have stayed in there forever, they really do have just about anything you could want, plus tons of rare 45s and singles.

We decided to go out to the suburbs (gasp!) to Best Buy for a turntable. There just really wasn't anywhere else to go, and after stopping in some music stores where the BF nearly spent all his money on a Marshall amplifier/cabinet, we figured Best Buy really was our only option. We found something good there, and in the process, had the opportunity to check out BB's musical instrument section. In a word, it was kind of sad. It was as if they stuck a small Guitar Center on to the back corner of the big box store. The person who helped us did seem to know a lot about the turntables, but otherwise it just felt weird to think about buying a guitar or amp from this place.

We had wanted to go to the Rendezvous for dinner, but the BBQ Fest was going on the same weekend, and the night before our attempt to park downtown was foiled when we realized it was going to cost us $20. I wasn't willing to risk that again, and besides, I knew of another great BBQ joint in Midtown. The BBQ Shop was my 2nd favorite place to eat BBQ when I lived in Memphis, and they just happened to have won "Best Pulled Pork Sandwich" in the Memphis Flyer this year as well. We went before the Big Star show, were in and out in an hour, and it was some of the best BBQ we've had in a long time.

The show, the show. I will have a whole 'nother post about the show. Suffice to say, it was a great time in spite of the rain, and an experience I will never forget.

Sunday came too soon. We had lunch at Huey's, my favorite burger spot in M-town, hit up Whole Foods, where I got some Meyer Lemons and a free box of chocolates, and then hit the road. It was such a nice time, we really needed it. The BF and I travel so well together, I think we're really lucky. Travel is the ultimate test for a relationship, and we've taken several trips, long and short, in the 5 or so years we've been together. I am not sure we've ever fought on any of these trips. Growing up in a family where vacations were routinely cut short because of my parents' inability to get along, I count this as a major blessing.

This post is a bit retro since the trip was about a month ago, but hang tight - I'll catch up soon enough, including this year's trip with the fam!