Dine Around Memphis: International Edition

DF and I like going out to eat at new and different restaurants. If I was making a list, I'd include it among our hobbies. You could probably project all kinds of psychological dimensions on this, like it's because neither of ate at restaurants very often as children...so now we're making up for lost time :)

The last edition of Dine Around Memphis was more domestic-focused. Lately we've been checking out various international flavors. It's a little harder to find "exotic" restaurants here than in Seattle. (There is a serious shortage of teriyaki in Memphis, too.) But if you do a little research, you can find some good choices.

Here's just a sampling of where we've been in the last week or so. (I really do cook at home sometimes, promise! Actually the week before this, we hardly went out at all.)

Sunday - Indian buffet at Mayuri. I LOVE Indian buffets. They are one of my favorite types of restaurants. I like to try a little bit of all the different dishes, because I like almost all Indian food and it's rather boring to have to pick just one. Mayuri's butter chicken is totally delicious. Definitely worth taking a Lactaid to eat it :)  They had some type of cabbage dish this time that I also really liked - bonus - it had lentils!

Monday - in honor of St. Patrick's day, we had Chinese food. Ha ha! This is our tradition actually, starting a few years back. We used to live close to an Irish pub in Seattle, so we walked over there on St. Patrick's Day only to find out they were charging a $10 cover just to get in the door. We were like, "um, no thanks!" and proceeded down the street to our local Chinese establishment. And after that, it became a tradition! This year we did happy hour at P.F. Changs. Not quite as quaint and local, but still pretty tasty.

Tuesday - BBQ. Ok, that's not exactly international. But what would a week of dining in Memphis be without it? Germantown Commissary is da bomb! I got chicken and beans. Their beans are really good. They don't have jalapenos in them like some other BBQ places. And their prices are really reasonable. I mean, $5.45 for half a chicken - who can beat that?!

Wednesday - dinner at church. It was taco salad night. Does that count as being international?

Thursday - the first day of spring is Persian New Year/Nowruz, so I decided we needed to eat something semi-Persian. Yelp directed me to the cumbersomely-named Mediterranean Pita Sandwich & Grill. Oh my word, Memphians who read this blog, you have GOT to try this place. Yes, it is kind of strange because it's half grocery store/half restaurant, and we were the only patrons there, but it is really good! I had the vegetarian platter because it had all the things I love - grape leaves (dolmas), falafel, hummus, and baba ganoush. This restaurant is kind of randomly hidden in the corner of a strip mall so they probably don't get much foot traffic. But seriously, it is worth the drive. Also DF was happy that they don't put onions on their gyros.

Doesn't this all sound tasty? Three cheers to Memphis for being exotic and delicious!

Volunteering: New Territory

Memphis is a youthful city - we ranked #9 on a Forbes list of "Future Cities" due to the percentage of population under age 14. The 2010 census found 26% of Memphis residents were under 18. If we can support and nurture these young people to develop essential skills, they have great potential to help turn the tide of some of the negative factors Memphis is dealing with. Unfortunately, though, the city faces a number of issues that affect children, and education is one of the big ones.

I have neither the historical understanding nor personal experience to attempt to explain the Shelby County School District to my non-Memphian readers. Let's just sum it up by saying that the school district has some problems, and there are places where children are really struggling due to a variety of factors. I've recently begun volunteering with a program for some kids who need help. 

To preserve the privacy of everyone involved, I'll call it Calvin School. This particular program is implemented by a non-profit organization in cooperation with Calvin (at least, that's my understanding so far!) I'm helping out with a reading program that uses curriculum structured to help students improve reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension. Not all the students at Calvin participate, just those who have been identified as needing the most help with reading. 

At first I was a little worried, since I haven't actually worked much with native English speakers - my background is more in English as a Second Language. All the students in this program except one are native English speakers. But as we went through the training materials, I realized that a lot of my ESL skills actually could be applicable. 

When I went to the school for the first time this week, my GPS sent me to a new part of the city I hadn't visited yet. I made some initial anthropological field notes, but I'll withhold them from publication until I've been able to observe in more detail. Also I didn't actually get to meet any of the kids yet! I did training last week, and they're out on Spring Break now. This gives me an extra week to brush up on my phonics skills!

Luckily I learned all about phonics when I was a kid. Now let's see if I can access those far recesses of my memory bank...ah ha! I knew the internet would help me :) If you scroll through that article, you'll see a chant I learned in elementary school about the sounds that letters make. I went a little something like this:

A block A block A A A

B beating heart, b- b- b-

C cracking nut, k- k- k-

D knocking on door, d- d- d-

and etc...

(full disclosure, that article was really long and boring, so I didn't read most of it. I hope it was saying it's in favor of reading!)

Riding in Memphis

My parents raised me like a good Oregonian to appreciate public transportation. Heck, I started riding the school bus in kindergarten! When I was in middle school, I rode the city bus across town, by myself, to help out at a day camp. During my study abroad excursion in Central America I hopped on and off all sorts of public transit. I did own a car from age 23-25, but as soon as I moved to DC I sold my little sedan and (usually) happily got around town via bus or Metro. The next 5 years I spent car-free until marrying into vehicle ownership. Even then, D.F. and I just had the one car and I took the bus to work. 

All that preamble to say, it's been a bit of an adjustment to live in Memphis, which is a really car-dependent place by comparison. We're actually fortunate to be within walking distance (0.5 miles) of a grocery store and other shops. Since I work from home, there's really no need for us to have two cars, but the bus system here has a kind of bad reputation, so I've been hesitant to try it. 

But today, necessity won out. I had to be at an appointment before D.F. would be home from work to give me the car. When I checked the bus routes online, I realized it was just a straight shot on one bus for me, so I figured what the heck, let's give it a try! 

The way that Memphians talk about the bus, I was expecting it to be a total sketch-fest of weirdness, but y'all, I gotta tell you, it was just about the most normal, uneventful bus ride I've ever taken. For real! I fully confess that I only have one data point, and for my study to be conclusive, I'd need to conduct further research. But I will testify that based on my limited experience, the bus seems totally fine to me. 

Here is what I observed on my 35 minute ride around 4:30pm:

• Passengers: mostly young African-American women. People playing on their phones, some chatting.
• Number of riders: lots! The bus was pretty much full, but almost everyone had a seat
• Timeliness: bus arrived to my stop 3 minutes after scheduled time
• Fare: $1.70 one way
• Driver's ability: drove safely, if a bit slowly
• Weirdos: maybe one, depends on how you define "weirdo." A young man was sitting up on a wheel well where I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to sit. But he didn't seem that weird, just like he didn't care about the rules.

By comparison, here is what I usually experienced in Seattle:

• Passengers: wide variety of age, gender, race. People playing on their phones, some chatting. Often homeless people with big carts and dogs, especially downtown. 
• Number of riders: during rush hour, totally crammed, standing room only followed by another bus that is half full, which passes you on the viaduct while you stare longingly at it from your sardine can
• Timeliness: good at picking you up on time, but then you'll get stuck in a huge traffic jam and be late arriving
• Fare: $3.00 one way during rush hour
• Driver's ability: drive like maniacs because they have to if they ever want to escape the aforementioned traffic jam
• Weirdos: HA HA HA! like half the bus! Someone will be trying to start a drum circle in the back, teenagers making out, tons of piercings everywhere, an old dude ranting about something...
• Bikes: no one was using the bike rack in Memphis today, but lots of people load their bikes in Seattle

Now before you think everything is rainbows and butterflies over here at MATA, I must tell you, it's not. Service is woefully inadequate for a city of this size. The bus I caught today was running every 30 minutes down one of the busiest streets in town. In rush hour! The comparable routes in Seattle run every 5-7 minutes during peak hours.

Route options: really lacking. Here is the system map, if you're interested. Look at those huge gaps between bus lines! And also note how the routes are set up, mostly, on a wheel-and-spoke system. Meaning, imagine that downtown is the center of the wheel, and all the other routes are spokes that go out from it. So if you want to go anywhere, you'll probably have to ride downtown, wait, transfer, and then head back out. And remember, each bus is only running a couple times an hour, so you might be waiting a long time.

The reason both of the above are really important is that Memphis is a city with a lot of poverty. Owning and maintaining a car can quickly eat up a huge chunk of your income, especially if you're working a low-wage job. Activists are trying to raise awareness. Some people are talking about plans, at least. 

Leadership is another issue. MATA is currently searching for a new general manager, and although certain groups are calling for an outsider to come in and shake up business as usual, I get the impression that's not how things usually play out around town. Just in case the future leader reads my blog, I will now offer a few meager suggestions.

Fares: why is the fare $1.70? Who caries around dimes with them? Just make it $1.75. But as an aside, I noticed a lot of people using magnetic stripe pass cards, so maybe most people don't pay with cash and it doesn't matter.

Technology: I couldn't find any app like One Bus Away for MATA so I just looked up my trip on Google. When I arrived at my stop, a sign listed an email address and stop number, and it said you could text for an update on your bus's arrival time. I sent a text but got no response. If you want young, wired people to use your services, MATA, you've got to make it more user friendly.  

Stop spacing: MATA really needs to look at re-spacing their bus stops. There were blocks that literally had 2 stops about 100 feet apart. That is ridiculous, and it results in slow service.

And thus ends my naive bus post based on a single ride. I'll have to hop on again sometime soon to gather more data! 

Nashville!

Living in a land-locked state has its benefits, such as being within driving distance of several fun places to visit. Our most recent destination was Nashville, TN. It was a blast! Here's a summary of the high points.

Food/Drink
Southern food is alive and well in Nashville, and we thoroughly enjoyed the culinary stops on our tour. We hit up Peg Leg Porker, 55 South, and Loveless Cafe, and Merchants, just to name a few. Plus we stopped by the Yazoo brewery. Word to the wise: reserve your brewery tickets in advance. It was already sold out when we got there, so we consoled ourselves with a beer sampler :)

 Oops, I ate half my sandwich before I remembered to stop and take a picture!

 This pecan french toast from 55 South was sooooo delicious!

This was from a dinner made up of lots of snacks. First snack: fried sampler platter. It has okra, pickles, catfish, and shrimp. My favorite was pickles, of course :)

On the next stop, DF got a salad and I got a Jack and coke. Hey, I already ate lots of fried veggies!

History
(from oldest to youngest) President Andrew Jackson's home (the Hermitage), the Tennessee State Capitol building, and various sites related to the Battle of Franklin (Civil War).

The kitchen at the Carter House, one of the main places where fighting occurred during the Battle of Franklin

The Hermitage is undergoing some repairs and renovations. Hey, it's like 200 years old, what are you going to do?

Final resting place of Andrew and Rachel Jackson, along with some other family members

The view looking down the hill from the Capitol. Isn't it depressing how all the grass turns brown here in the winter? I've heard it will just magically green up some day...I suppose this must be true, as it was quite green when we arrived in late May.

During a heated dispute way back in the day, a shot was fired in the Capitol. Look, here's the evidence on the banister!

Music
What visit to Nashville would be complete without live music? We did the Grand Ole Opry one night and boogied at the honky tonks another. It was awesome to hear so many talented musicians, especially the fiddle players!

Friends
Thanks to Facebook, I knew that two of my West Coast friends now live in Music City. We got to meet one friend and her family and saw another's husband play a live show!

Sightseeing
I recognize we were doing sightseeing in general, but it's the best title for the category of visits to the Parthenon and Opryland Hotel. The hotel is amazing! It reminded me of a giant Vegas hotel, except without a casino. There are huge plants/trees inside, waterfalls, a river...so cool! The Parthenon is a full-scale replica of the Greek one. It was originally built in 1897 for the Tennessee Centennial Exhibition, but that first version was made out of plaster and quickly began to crumble. The permanent one was built in the 1920s after the citizens of Nashville clamored for it, since their city was known as the Athens of the South. Now, it's an art museum.

Yes, that is inside a hotel!

 A ceiling mosaic in the hotel lobby

The Parthenon...and more dead grass

Photos are only allowed on the second floor where there is this giant Athena statue.

Other Stuff
Being good southerners, we went to church on Sunday (First Presbyterian) where we found out that people dress up A LOT, like everyone was wearing a suit, except us. Aaaaawk-ward! But the building is cool and old, so that was a plus. The town of Franklin is quite charming and has done a great job of modernizing while still preserving history. We ate at the Aquarium restaurant and I took an outrageous amount of fish pictures.

And last but not least, Nashville has a Trader Joe's. Hip hip, hooray! I stocked up on all my favorite non-perishable snacks and am trying not to devour them all at once now that we're home.

It was a great trip! There's still so much more to do there...hmm, maybe we'll have to make a return visit someday :)

Seahawks Fever!

This past week, I've really wished I was still living in Seattle. Sure, it was fun to watch the Seahawks dominate the Superbowl while in a room of Broncos fans here, but it would've been even better in Hawks territory. The dreams that came true! Spontaneous celebrations! The parade! 

I've been semi-paying attention to the team for the last couple of years, so I don't consider myself a total bandwagon fan. But I will admit to becoming more ardent in my devotion since our move south. Insert something about culture shock, homesickness, blah blah blah.

Really, though, how can you not love the Seahawks? If you are still on the fence about them, watch this entertaining video and you'll see the light :)

Traipsing Through Virginia

Work took me to DC and Virginia last week. I always enjoying visiting my old stomping grounds. I just wish it wasn't usually in the dead of winter. Single digit temperatures + a 1/2 mile walk to the meeting location = frozen face. Actually, I employed all my best cold weather gear and body heat conserving techniques. No frostbite here!

The Virginia portion of the trip included a ridiculous amount of driving. I can complain about it since I'm the one who planned my schedule :) That little rental Ford Focus added 800+ miles to its odometer in 5 days and I'd basically forgotten how to use the gear shift in our car by the time I got home.

Cold temperatures continued throughout my travels, but the only time I ran into snow trouble was in Southwest Virginia. For those who don't know, my job involves working with high school exchange students. I was going to visit a student who lives in a house up on a hill just over the WV state line. There's a fair bit of snow up in the mountains of West Virginia this time of year! As I was slowly creeping up the driveway, I had to go up a slight hill, and gravity wasn't interested in that happening. I'm sure all sorts of physics factors were at work - low friction coefficient on icy slush, the mass of the car, reduced velocity, the aforementioned gravity...the end result was the car sliding backwards. So, I applied the brakes gently. Then two 16 year old exchange students, who I suspect have never driven a car before, attempted to guide me to a safe resting place. The stood by the car shouting such helpful directions as "More! Now straight! No, more!" The one standing in front of the car said "towards me!" as I was traveling in reverse...

Somehow we managed to maneuver the vehicle around with its front pointed back down the hill, and I was able to inch down the mountain without further problems. It was pretty entertaining :)

And now, a couple photos from my flights.

Arriving as the sun sets, with a slight blanket of snow below.

Departure Day: deep freeze has set in. This is the frozen Potomac River with the Lincoln Memorial on the right

Frozen Mall + river. In just a few short months, this place will be teeming with cherry blossoms and signs of spring!

Someday I'll try to convince D.F. to write a guest post about our visitors from a couple weeks back - he was the main tour guide, as I had to work. Or I'll take notes and ghost write for him :)

Visitors!

DF and I are getting ready to host his dad and step-mom for the next few days here at our cozy apartment. Hooray for visitors! We did have a friend who came and stayed overnight back in June, but since then no one has made it to Memphis. We're trying to think of all the best sights that they need to see during their visit, and perhaps we'll hit some that are off the beaten path.

While we were out in the Northwest last month, we experienced some excellent hospitality. I should have taken notes so I'd be prepared to be a hostess! Let's see, at my parents' house, the motto seemed to be "feed 'em till their pants don't fit anymore." I mean, it was Christmas and all, so there was an overabundance of goodies that needed to be eaten... :)  My cousin showed us some educational internet videos. Up in Seattle, a friend introduced us to a hip restaurant. And of course, there were plenty of board games to be played.

So if I take lessons learned there, I should feed my guests well, expand their minds, and try to cater to their hobbies. Oh yeah, and clean sheets and towels are always nice. Ok, I think I'm ready!