Lucy is the name of the sandwich I had today for lunch at The Tomato Head in Maryville.  I have always enjoyed every meal I’ve had at The Tomato Head.  The food always tastes fresh.  It tastes like someone cares.  Lucy is especially delicious.  It is a vegetarian sandwich with hummus, portobello mushrooms, red onions, carrots, spinach and walnuts.  I always get the small, as it ends up being the perfect size for lunch.  Just right!  I also choose the homemade wheat bread (you could have white if you prefer).  Kettle chips and a pickle on the side completes the meal.  Mmmmm… I’m ready for another one!

And if it continues, I don’t know if I can make it to court tomorrow morning.  We are under a Flood Watch and there are two low places on my way home that were already covered in a nice layer of water (and mud in one case).  I am ready to plead one client out so I would really like to be in court tomorrow morning.

Speaking of clients, please don’t get mad at the attorney who tells you that you don’t have a case.  It is not their fault you don’t have a case.  And at least we are honest enough to tell you that you don’t have a case instead of taking your money and fighting for a case we know we will lose.  We aren’t all money-grubbing-pigs.  OK, that had nothing to do with the rain…

I have only been at my job for a week and a half and I already have five clients, each with different issues, but all within the Criminal Defense realm.  I also hope to extend into Domestic Relations and Juvenile work as I become more comfortable with the local court system.  So if you are looking for a lawyer in Maryville, TN or anywhere in and around Blount County, send me an email.

I arrived at the Broadway Parking Garage with my Dad shortly after the gates opened.  It was obvious which were the popular locations based on the massive lines that were already in place.  Dad and I decided to move through the left side first, until we reached the dessert booths, then backtrack and move over to the right side.  I kept track of everything, since I am such a big foodie, and because we would be voting on Favorite Food, Favorite Beverage and Best Presentation later on in the evening.

On to the food:

Aubrey’s

Aubrey’s offered Oven Roasted Prime Rib and Grilled Shrimp on what seemed to be a scoop of some risotto-type dish.  There was also supposed to be a Chocolate Turtle Cake, but we never saw it.  The rub on the Prime Rib was great and tasted like it involved some peppercorn.  It was also cook pretty close to perfect, so Aubrey’s gets bonus points for good taste and proper cooking for the masses (a sold out crowd of 500).  The Prime Rib was also my Dad’s choice for Favorite Food.

Dad enjoying Aubrey’s Prime Rib

The Miles Family 411 Restaurant

The 411 offered up diner delights – Fried Pickles, Fried Mushrooms and BBQ Pork Mini Sandwiches.  I skipped on the sandwiches, because of my pork allergy, but reveled in the just-right breading on the Fried Mushrooms.  The Fried Pickles were good, but an acquired taste for many people.  Dad and I both gave the Fried Mushrooms a thumbs up, but only I appreciated the Fried Pickles.

Foothills Catering

Foothills Catering showed to be a more sophisticated booth than many other the options available at the Taste of Blount.  Note to organizers, put them next to Foothills Milling Company or The Oaks next time.  I think they would be in like company and better appreciated.  Some of the people arriving to this booth after visiting Domino’s and the 411 seemed to be a bit disoriented by the Tropical Tuna Bites.  Besides the Tropical Tuna Bites, Foothills Catering provided us with Spiced Lamp Pita Points with a Mango Salsa and Asparagus wrapped in Parmesan Encrusted Phyllo Dough.  While I found all of these samples to be delectable, my Dad was put off by the seared tuna in the Tropical Tuna Bites and anything with asparagus.  He did mention that if you only ate the part inside of the phyllo dough, it was good.  I delighted in the Spice Lamb Pita Points with a Mango Salsa and it was my choice for Favorite Food.

 McAllister’s Deli

We chose not to eat at McAllister’s Deli because I have eaten their multiple times and I need to conserve my stomach space.  However, I am a sucker for their Famous Sweet Tea.  Dad and I both grabbed a cup of that nectar of the gods and it was a landslide winner for Dad’s Favorite Beverage.

Foothill’s Milling Company

While Dad waiting in the longest line ever for The Oaks Dining Room, I hopped in line for Foothill’s Milling Company and grabbed a Lamb Lollipop with Raspberry Chile Jam and a Vidalia Onion Goat Cheese Tart.  Sadly, I felt that the Lamb Lollipop was slightly undercooked, I loved the Tart.  Later in the evening they surprised us with a Chicken Taco (which I am sure had a fancier name than Chicken Taco) that had the best taco shell I have ever tasted.  Because of their showing at the Taste of Blount I will make sure to visit them in person after my European vacation.

The Oaks Dining Room and Bar

With the most beautiful setup of the evening, The Oaks rolled out the red carpet (literally) and made us all feel like a bride as we walked through the archway to reach their selections of Shrimp New Orleans Charleston Crab Cakes, Praline Cheesecake and BlueberryDream Tea.  The Shrimp and Crab Cakes were both tasty, but not mind blowing.  The BlueberryDream Tea was a tosser, but the Praline Cheesecake was the best dessert at the event.  And that is saying a lot since there were some dessert only booths!

The Palace Cafe & Uptown Catering

Originally I had planned on skipping The Palace Cafe.  With all the choices and the lines, I knew I was not going to have the time or the stomach space for something from each booth.  However, the line to Lemon Grass was so long that by the time the line reached The Palace Cafe booth Dad and I could just scoop up a Loaded Potato Soup without having to lose our spot.  The soup was good, but a bit too thick for my taste.  I also had a fun time trying to avoid the bacon.  Dad was practically licking the little plastic cup it came in – no complaints from him.  We did not try the Chicken Salad, but we did have the opportunity to taste the Strawberry Tea.  Although it seemed to have a hint of artificial flavoring, it was a wonderful thirst-quenching drink that I would order again if I were to dine at The Palace Cafe.  We returned later on in the evening when it was time for dessert to try their little brownie bites.  These showed up the Sweet Celebrations’ brownies.

Dad drinks the Strawberry Tea.

Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar

I have always wanted to try Lemon Grass, as I love sushi and would like to have a local joint I could visit on a regular basis.  Sadly, Lemon Grass will not be that place.  The sushi options were a California Roll, Spicy Crunchy Tuna Roll and a Chef’s Special Roll.  I skipped on the California Roll as they were being a bit stingy with what they handed out.  The other two rolls fell flat.  I would like to give them some leeway because they were serving the sushi on a warm evening so the sushi is obviously going to be effected.  They had a Seaweed Salad that was alright, but it was their Thai cuisine that shone.  The Masama Chicken was delicious, as was their grouper, but the Coconut Milk Shrimp stole the show.  Lemon Grass, I say stick with the Thai and work on that sushi.  I need a local  sushi joint.

Peerless Restaurant

What can I say about Peerless?  Even with your free appetizer coupon I still will not be a patron at your establishment in the near future.  Peerless placed their Filet Bites in their Grecian Salad.  The Filet Bites had an off-tasting marinade and I can make a much better Grecian Salad at home.

Food City

Food City was grilling out their meats and fishes right there at the event.  This means that they should not have been tough and over cooked.  But the Tuna Steaks were dry and the Sirloin Kebabs were burnt and tough.  I am sure Food City has perfectly fine meat and fish, they just need a better grill guy.

Vienna Coffee Company

Let me say right up front that I love Vienna Coffee Company.  Before this event I had already made my way through a whole bag of their Front Porch blend.  It is so smooth I don’t even need to use sugar in it.  I was delighted to see that they were their with Don Telmo Reserve coffee and the Iced Spiced Mocha.  Both were fabulous and Don Telmo won my vote for Favorite Beverage.

He drank the whole thing!

Sweet Celebrations

By the time we made it over to the dessert booths, half of everything was gone.  Our only options at Sweet Celebrations were the Lemon Buttermilk Tarts and the Espresso Cream Cheese Brownies.  Both of these failed.  The Tarts were more buttermilk than lemon and the Brownies did not seem to have anything to do with cream cheese or chocolate.  This would have given me doubts on the Kay’s-replacement, but I have been to their shop before and can say that the goods they offer there are much better than what they brought to the Taste of Blount.

Marble Slab Creamery

While I was hoping to have some Fudge Brownie Delight, they only had the Strawberry Shortcake that late in the evening.  Luckily, I am glad they did.  I would not have chosen the Strawberry Shortcake normally but it was a party in my mouth.  Great strawberries and ice cream with some lovely shortcake tossed in.  Delicious!

Lenny’s Subs

We did not sample any of the actual subs from Lenny’s, but Dad chose to taste all of their cookies.  He reports that they were all good and you should try one too if you are over at Lenny’s.

That concludes my review of the 7th Annual Taste of Blount. It was a very enjoyable event with live music from Swank’s Jazz Club and mouth watering treats from all over Blount County.  Many booth were left out because of my reasonably sized tummy, but I believe I hit the highlights. In case you were interested in the winners of the contests, they are:

Favorite Food:

1st Place: Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar

2nd Place: The Oaks Dining Room and Bar

3rd Place: Foothill’s Milling Company

Favorite Beverage:

1st Place: McAllister’s Deli and Vienna Coffee Company (tie)

2nd Place: The Oaks Dining Room and Bar

Best Presentation:

1st Place: The Oaks Dining Room and Bar

2nd Place: Lemon Grass Thai Cuisine and Sushi Bar

3rd Place: Sweet Celebrations

So how do we benefit from this kind of site? What makes it better than the options that are already out there? Flickr already has a Blount County group if you are interested in Blount County photography.  And I don’t know about you, but I don’t need to see any more pictures of grandbabies (which currently seems to be the most popular subject on Spotted)!  What I am hoping to see is The Daily Times getting involved.  “We Spotted” has a section for upcoming events and I would love to see that put to use as a convenient location for all Blount County upcoming events.

But does The Daily Times benefit from Spotted?  Possibly.  First there is the additional opportunity for advertisement.  Then there are the Terms of Use.  The Terms of Use state:

If you post content on the site (User Content), you remain the owner but grant to Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, worldwide fully sub-licensable right to use the User Content and to reproduce, modify, publish, create derivative works, distribute and display such content throughout the world in any media, whether now known or hereafter created or developed.

While this is no surprise (other photo sharing sites make similar disclaimers), could it be possible that user submitted photos might be used in The Daily Times, thedailytimes.com or blountcountyvoice.com?  Newspapers solicit their subscribers for photos and this makes available another avenue of photo submission.

I am very interested to see if Spotted takes off.  Let’s also hope that The Daily Times makes it a site worth using, by contributing its own content to the site in the future.

Speaking of Bar studying, I completely bombed the practice MBE that I took on Friday.  I mean below average raw score bombing.  I feel like I need to be cracking down even harder since I only have four weeks left until the big day.  I am now only 3 lectures behind the in-class study schedule.  I was about 1 1/2 weeks behind when I started.  I just need to practice more questions and focus on some concepts that continuously trip me up.

And finally, the House Hunting.  It is on a semi-hold right now. The Husband left today for three weeks (possibly more) in Argentina for his job.  While I can still keep looking, no firm decisions can be made until he gets back to look at the house too.  The way the market is moving along, I that any house I find will go flying off the market anytime soon.

We did go to three open houses today before he hopped on his plane.  They were mainly disappointing.  It is a combination of not finding what we want and then finding houses that people didn’t take good care of.  I mean, if you are having an open house, the least you could do is clear off the cobwebs from the side entry, toss out the dead plants and put a screw into the loose railing so no one falls down the stairs to the basement.  I mean, you are trying to sell your house, right? *sigh*  We did see one house that was taken care of and was below our price range, but it also meant it was too small for us.  At least we are starting to understand more what we will and will not accept as far as size and condition are concerned.  So the hunt, on a smaller level, will continue.  The massive assault on the real estate of Blount County will occur in August.  I will be done with the Bar, the Husband will be in the country and I want to be settled in a home before Thanksgiving!