Just livin' life

Life has been chugging along over here in Memphis but nothing too exciting has happened to inspire a blog post. We're making friends, getting involved with volunteering, and our calendar is filling up. It's great!

This weekend we're heading to Gatlinburg, TN to check out the changing leaves, so stay tuned for some (hopefully) snazzy photos once we get back.

Dine Around Memphis

Memphis is home to the super-hip Hog & Hominy restaurant. It has received glowing reviews from the likes of the NY Times and GQ, not to mention local publications as well. The food is a combination of Southern + Italian that is rather unique. DF and I went to check it out on Saturday night a little before 7pm, and we only had to wait about 15 minutes for a table (they don't take reservations). We waited at the back bar, which you access by going through a door that is also a bookshelf, and which has picnic tables and board games to accommodate the patrons. Clever!

All the waitstaff were dressed like hipsters. Seriously! Their uniform appears to be a plaid shirt of any color/style, jeans, and a long black apron. Most of the male workers had some facial hair. But they still said "y'all" and were friendly. I guess it's like a hipster vibe with Southern hospitality :)

For dinner, we got collard greens, meatballs, and Roman gnocchi. Everything was tasty but hard to describe. Also I forgot to take pictures. Guess y'all just need to come to Memphis to try it!

It reminded me of Red Haven restaurant I went to in Lansing, MI earlier this year with the locally-sourced fancy food vibe, except H&H wasn't as pretentious. I give it 4.5 stars! It lost half a star for being too noisy. Seriously, DF and I could barely hear each other across our 2-person table.

Sunday's dinner was at restaurant #2 - Pyro's Fire Fresh Pizza. Pyro's is basically like a Chipotle that makes wood-fired pizzas instead of burritos. Apparently it's known as a "high end fast casual concept" restaurant. You walk past a line of ingredients and tell the worker exactly what you want on your pizza. Then they stick it in the oven and it (allegedly) comes out in 4 minutes. Ours was more like 10 minutes, but that is still pretty quick for a customized pizza, and they've only been open a week.

Memphis is the first location - the founders have a vision to make this a chain throughout the mid-south. After only 1 visit, I can't predict if they'll be successful or not. They let you have as many toppings on a pizza as you want for the same price ($8.30 for an 11 inch pizza). Seems like customers could take advantage of that. But I'm sure these guys did their market research before establishing a price point.

Here's what the pizza looks like when it comes to your table. It was tasty!
 

Do what?

I've encountered another Southern expression. It takes a few different forms, including "do what?," "what now?" and the ultimate, "do what now?" Here's an example of how this phrase is used.

Salmonista: I wasn't sure if people liked dark or milk chocolate, so I brought both.
Southern friend: Do what now?

In the context of this example, what was Southern friend saying?

A) What should I do with the chocolate?
B) Why did you bring two kinds of chocolate but no sweet tea? What kind of crazy Yankee are you?
C) Pardon me, I didn't catch what you said. Could you please repeat it?

Answer: C

I really don't get this expression. The most common version is "do what?" and whenever I hear it, I'm left scratching my head. Usually I did not use the verb "to do" in the preceding sentence. If I had, I would understand such a response.

Hypothetical example

Salmonista: Oh man, I have to do so much trigonometry homework tonight!
Southern friend: Do what?

See, this seems like a reasonable response. Maybe she couldn't tell if I said "geometry" or "trigonometry." So saying "do what" is asking "what are you going to do?" Even if Southern friend hadn't heard my whole statement, at least she caught that I had to do something.

But if I'm not talking about doing anything, then why would a person ask, "do what?" Why don't they say, "what?" or "huh?" or "what's that?" or "pardon?" or "speak up, darlin'!"

I can't explain it, so I'm comforted to know I'm not the only person wondering...

Music Time

Fall continues to be lovely in Memphis, so we're still taking advantage of outdoor activities around town while they last.

Saturday was the first annual Bluff City Oktoberfest. It billed itself as being nothing like a typical Oktoberfest...ok...we gave it a chance anyway and stopped by on Saturday afternoon to listen to a bunch of the live bands play some "Newgrass" tunes. The weather was gorgeous, the crowd was happy, the brats were free. In the background, the Mississippi river lazed by. This was pretty much how I imagined our lives would be when we moved here!!

The guy in the middle is playing the dobro. The girl on the right played the washboard complete with horns, bells, and a slide whistle. It was awesome :)

Sunday, we attended the last free concert of the season at the Levitt Shell. It was a cool band/singer with a mix of blues, jazz, R&B, and soul. Groovy, baby! The show didn't start until 7:30pm (after the sun had set) and the temperature dropped to the low 60s. I've lost my NW toughness and was wrapped up in a blanket after about 30 minutes. 

There were a lot of groupies!

And finally, in Salmonista news, I decided to take up an instrument of my own. Before we'd even ever thought of moving to the South, back when we lived in Seattle, I made it my New Year's resolution to learn to play the fiddle. I got into bluegrass music a few years ago and just thought it would be cool to be able to play a mad fiddle tune. So I took lessons for a little less than a year before we moved. Last week I decided it was time to stop procrastinating so I found myself a local teacher, rented a violin, and now I'm ready to get back in the saddle (so to speak).

Will I be playing at a local festival someday?? Ha ha, I doubt it!!