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Making Nashville Home Again

Nashville Skyline from LP Field Stadium

It's been a little while now since my family and I have made our home in Nashville. I came down in March, ahead of my wife and two kids and they were finally able to move down in July when we found a rental house in Lebanon. Lebanon isn't quite a suburb of Nashville, but it's only about 30 miles east of downtown Nashville. I'm doing freelance work for a company creating buzz by specializing in social media and marketing based in Franklin, "A Small-Town Gem Near Nashville", which is and about 45 miles away from me. Luckily I get to work from home the majority of the time, but I'm usually making that drive about once a week. The nice thing is that I can usually make the trip in about an hour, which compared to how long it took me to get from the east side of Indy to our home on the south side is about the same drive time.

There's no denying, the city and the suburbs around it have definitely changed in the years since I lived here after college and before moving to Indianapolis to get married and start a family. I tried to convince my wife she should move to Franklin with me back then. I like to think I won that argument, it just took me 16 years to do it.

It's been a good move for us. It's brought us together as a family since we've all kind of had to start over with all-new friendships. I've got a number of friends still in the area, but I've yet to reconnect with many of them. I've extremely thankful for two that allowed me to live with them for the 4 months I was down here by myself. Their hospitality and generosity will not be forgotten. The friendships I have here have given us the help and support we've needed to get ourselves settled, but haven't overly influenced or restricted us from really establishing a whole new network of our own for our family.

We're all still settling in. Some of us faster than others. I've already been able to enjoy a variety of experiences, from seeing Joe Bonamassa in concert at the Ryman Auditorium, to catching a Pomplamoose concert with Kim at The Mercy Lounge. I get to go fishing frequently on Old Hickory Lake with my friend and when my son is willing to get up at 5:30am to go with us he's joined in as well. He and I have also gone zip-lining at Adventureworks in Kingston Springs with friends from Indy when they were in town. My daughter and I have taken advantage of some of the Nashville Greenways already as well. We've visited and hiked a variety of state parks in the area, all of which are free to access, we've seen and hiked Bledsoe Creek State Park and Fall Creek Falls and we'll visit Cedars of Lebanon and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park soon. And, you know it wouldn't be a post from me without talking about some great places to eat. Some of our favorites already are: Demos' in Lebanon, Courtney's in Mt. Juliet, Martin's BBQ, Snow White Drive-in, Taco Mamacita, The Loveless Cafe, Grays on Main in Franklin, Noshville, Bricktop's,  The Farm House, Barista Parlor, CREMA and The Pied Piper Eatery.

So, that's about it I guess. Probably not, but about all I'll share for now. Stay tuned. More to come later as we continue to explore and set down some southern roots.

Here are some interesting articles I just found this evening about Nashville. If you know me from my time in Indianapolis, you'll know I'm eager to experience all of these things and try these restaurants myself very soon!

It's not all perfect though! Like any city, they've got their own issues too...

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Have Kroger App Developers Ever Gone Shopping?

Kroger Mobile App

One of the newest apps I've downloaded for my phone is the Kroger mobile app. It's got some nice features, many of those that you'd expect from an app from a grocery store. What I'm wondering though is if the people who have developed the app (or more accurately perhaps, the higher-ups that commissioned the app to be built) ever gone grocery shopping themselves?

Our local Kroger store has recently undergone a huge upgrade, face-lift and expansion. I love all the changes! The only challenge is that they've moved just about everything around from where it used to be located and I spend far more time than I should looking for stuff when I'm on a normal shopping trip. For me a "normal" shopping trip is one where you've got a list with a number of items instead of just running in for a few items you need quickly.

The last time I was at the store my wife had sent me a list of things she needed via text. For this trip the list consisted of maybe 20 items. I found myself going back and forth across the store as I worked down through the list. I tried mentally to scan the list when I first looked at it so I could pick up items in some what of an organized fashion as I worked through the different departments. The additional challenge to this trip was working through my list and still being unfamiliar with the new layout of our store. Then it hit me.

Kroger has a mobile app. The mobile app allows me to put in my Kroger Plus card so I can track my fuel rewards. My wife and both use the Kroger Plus card so all of the points add up together. Remind me sometime to write about how we maximize our fuel point savings.

Why wouldn't the Kroger app allow my wife to install the app on her phone, build a list of things she needs and then that list be available on my own Kroger app? Now, that wouldn't be too tough by itself, but here's where the real Kroger magic could come into play. Now, what if Kroger could take that list and organize it in a way that I could walk into the store and work my way from one end to another in the most efficient way possible picking up all the items on my list as I go? The other obvious logic to me would be to pick up the frozen foods last so that they wouldn't be melting as I work through the rest of my list.

I think I should also be able to create a shopping list via the full website on my laptop. I'd imagine getting the weekly ad and viewing it online and then being able to build my shopping list from the online circular. As I think even more, what if the printed version of the weekly ad had QR codes for each item that I could scan and build my shopping list without having to type anything in. Or, maybe being able to scan UPC code on products I know I'm out of at home and add those to my list as I go throughout the week.

Is that too much to ask? It seems to me like it would be a fairly simple logic to produce? Hopefully someone from Kroger will read this and look at adding these features into their next version of the app.

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Family, Friends and Food Over Fire

Grillin' with McCormick Grill Mates

It’s that time of year. When dad’s get to enjoy the ability to cook a meal and be outside at the same time. It’s grillin’ time! Of course, I’m also the guy that will be grilling in the dead of winter, but that’s another story.

I absolutely love grilling! I think I’m pretty good at it and I honestly have a hard time if I’m somewhere and there’s a grill being used, if I’m not the person grilling. Selfish? Perhaps.

Recently I had the opportunity to combine my love for grilling and sharing some great food with friends and family, and also try out some new seasoning products from McCormick. You know McCormick; they’re the ones that have been making our food taste great for as long as I can remember. I used to sit at the kitchen table while my mom was cooking and use all those red and white tins of seasoning as building blocks and make great towers of flavor to the gods! I got to make use of a number of flavors of McCormick Grill Mates seasonings through a promotion from Crowdtap.

  • Grill Mates® Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade
  • Grill Mates® Slow and Low Memphis Pit BBQ Rub
  • Grill Mates® Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend
  • Grill Mates® Molasses Bacon Seasoning Blend
  • Grill Mates® Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ Sauce
Just about all of this meat came from my friend Darby’s farm, Simpson Family Farm. His pastured raised beef, pork and poultry is beyond organic in quality. He’d have all the labels to prove it if he wanted to hand the government a quarter of six figures in cash and control over what he can and can’t do with his farm. If you’re in the Indianapolis area, you should check out his website for free home delivery!

I marinated some chicken in the Spiced Brandy & Herb Marinade, I also added a little bit of orange juice and apple juice for some sweetness and acidity.

I put the Low Memphis Pit BBQ rub on some pork ribs and baked those for awhile, then threw them on the grill and basted them with the Brown Sugar Bourbon BBQ sauce to warm them up and give them a little bit of a char flavor.

We had beef burgers, pork chops, pork tenderloins and pork burgers with combinations of the Montreal Steak Seasoning and the Molasses Bacon Seasoning. The molasses bacon seasoning tasted great on the burgers for sure!

Here are some photos of the festivities and food that was enjoyed. I don’t know about you, but that grill top loaded with meat looks fantastic and I can tell you it smelled even better when it was all fired up and roasting those flavors together.

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So, the next time you’re going to get out of the house and roast some meat over an open flame, be sure and grab some McCormick Grill Mates seasonings. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed in the results and grilling is like anything else, with more practice you get better and better at it. And practice never tasted so good!