Last Meal(s)

First, an apology - I am sorry I am so overdue in posting this entry.  I blame work, plain and simple.  If you’ve been following me you know I’m in the middle of travel season – actually I just passed over the halfway mark and have only four more weeks on the road (can I get a woo-hoo?) – time flies when you’re having fun (haha)!  This week you’ll find me in the Music City aka Nashville.

I thought I would give everyone a little break from the college advice theme of most of my postings and focus on what life on the road is like. By now something funny would have happened to me – so far, I managed only once to leave something behind in a hotel (my makeup).  Luckily my drive to Nashville on Monday took me through Chattanooga so I could pick it up on my way.  Last year, I was followed by a photographer while I visited high schools in Charlotte.  I was featured in an article about regionally based admissions officers for The Chronicle of Higher Education.  I had my 15 minutes of fame and was a minor (admissions) celebrity! There is still time to left in this travel season for something unusual to happen.  

Perhaps you’ve taken the time to read my profile and already know a little about me aside from my position within the GW admissions office or the fact that my kid is also a high school college-seeking senior.  One of favorite relaxing (well, sometimes relaxing) things to do is to cook.  Of course, like other moms I am the main chef in our house but they luck out because I enjoy cooking and try my best to serve them wonderful meals from time to time.  I titled this blog entry Last Meal(s) because October is the cruelest month for me and I will be able to sleep in my own bed for only one week the entire month.  And that means my family will be fending for themselves meal wise.

During my last week at home, I attempted to focus on cooking hoping to make enough food that they would have leftovers when the resident chef was away.  My plan started to fall apart when I remembered that food trucks were coming to our area.  I know food trucks are all over DC and other major urban areas (I follow several on Twitter) but they don’t come to the suburbs too often.  My daughter and I enjoyed the grilled vegetable wrap and lemon orzo salad from the Hail Caesar truck and the Korean fish tacos from Yumbii truck.  Unfortunately, we got too full to get the gelato from Honeysuckle truck. I can’t wait until they come back to our little corner of Atlanta.  Since I love grilled cheese sandwiches I hope I get lucky and find the The Big Cheese Truck on GW’s campus when I’m there in November.

For the foodie (or in my case the semi foodie), travel can be a lot of fun.  It’s a great way to get to know a new city by going to restaurants that are well known.  In Charleston, I dined with two of my favorite college counselors (Amanda Murrell from Ashley Hall and Karen Kimberly from Porter-Gaud) and we went to the nationally acclaimed Hominy Grill.  It’s a popular place with delicious Southern favorites and inventive use of Southern ingredients.  I had a yummy sandwich called BLAAT – it was a vegetarian version of the BLT made with Portobello “bacon”, arugula, avocado, and yellow tomato.  It was so good that I recreated the sandwich at home with great success!

Before I left for Nashville, I also made a batch of Poblano Shrimp Corn Chowder.  This soup is from one of our favorite spots in Atlanta, Taqueria del Sol.  When I saw the recipe in my local paper I was skeptical if I could recreate this creamy, sweet, slightly spicy soup at home.  And I must say my version tastes just like the original! 

http://www.accessatlanta.com/atlanta-restaurants-food/from-the-menu-of-866584.html

Last eve, I went to Hog Heaven after seeing it featured on FoodTV program the Best Thing I Ever Ate.  Five Ingredients Fix host Claire Robinson grew up in Tennessee and she did this segment on the turkey sandwich with the special white BBQ sauce.  Now, I am not a fan of BBQ (yeah, I know I live in the South) so when I told my husband what my dinner plans were - he texted me “lucky”!  And that Turkey Sandwich was pretty yummy!  

I guess if I was a true foodie I would have taken a picture of that sandwich with a few bites out of it but I think that's kinda gross thing to do.  You'll just have to take my word for it, come visit Nashville and go to Hog Heaven!