All about FOOD!

My friend Shayla has told me a few times that she really enjoys the food portions of my blog, so hopefully she'll really appreciate this one!

I'm not in Nashville a lot but when I am, I like to try new restaurants I've never been to before. Gregg was in town this weekend and he really likes Thai food so I thought we'd try the new restaurant on 8th called The Smiling Elephant. I wanted to cater to my boyfriend's appetite for driving 7 hours to see me... but I also saw that it was a restaurant that Nicole and Keith frequent so I thought I'd take him along for some healthy celeb stalking. Sadly, we did not see The Urban's but we did eat some delicious Thai food.

 Pad Thai (not spicy enough for Princess Greggy - but he still cleaned his plate so I think it was okay)

We ordered dumplings for an appetizer but of course we devoured them before I thought of taking a picture. 

Gai Jee -- Of course I butchered the pronunciation of that name... Hi, can I get the Gaaaay Jeeeee. Basically just chicken and rice. Either way, I ate it up and loved it.

Overall: Two big enthusiastic thumbs up Smiling Elephant, fine holiday fun. Yeah, I just quoted the stoner from Clueless.


I love my job... however, there are a few downfalls with the job and one of them happens to be that I am never home. Never being home means I NEVER get to cook in my kitchen. While I'm not the best cook, I really enjoy learning new recipes and experimenting. That's one thing I am really looking forward to in my future when I'm not traveling as much (wow, I'm a loser).

I decided to take it easy tonight and make something fairly simple so I made Shrimp Fettucini Alfredo with a Goat Cheese Salad. It sounds easy and it WAS! And I even made the alfredo sauce myself! If I can do this, anyone can ;)

Ingredients:
1 pound fettucini pasta
1 tbs. butter
1 pound cooked shrimp - peeled and deveined
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup half and half
6 tbs. Parmesan cheese
1 tbs. chopped Parsley (I used Basil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large skillet, saute shrimp and garlic in the butter for about one minute. Pour in half and half; stir. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese in one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly. After all Parmesan is added, mix in parsley and salt. Stir frequently making sure it does not boil. Sauce will take a while to thicken.
3. When sauce has thickened, combine with cooked pasta noodles; serve hot.

 Mmm, making the alfredo sauce :)

 Chopping basil...

 ... peeled and deveined shrimp...

 The final product! 

An affordable dinner that was YUMM-O! I'm definitely making this for Gregg so he'll keep thinking I kind of know what I'm doing in the kitchen. :)