The Scuttlebutt: December 2009

Happy Christmas to all who celebrate the season! Ours was full of food, drink, family, celebration, travel, more food and some much needed time away from work. We started on December 2nd by decorating the whole house with Christmas details. A week and half later, we hosted a tacky Christmas sweater party and I'm pleased to announce that all who were in attendance were dressed with superb tackiness and that my new recipe for mulled wine was a hit! The next day I was off to Rocheport for a day of wine, Christmas martinis and cookie decorating with the girls - quite a cheer-filled weekend.

We followed traditions 25 years old for Saint Louis celebrations - Christmas Eve with my dad's side, new pajamas from mom afterward, Santa on Christmas morning, family prepared brunch and then festivities at my mom's side. JAM packed. Next stop? Bowling Green, Kentucky. We left the dogs with my mom and dad, who took very good care of them, and went to Kentucky where the pace slowed down a bit. We spent some time with Matt's mom and stepdad, Tony, and his sister, nephew and dad. The pace slowed down, but the food sure didn't! Tony shared a little of his Mexican heritage with us through some of the delicious meals of authentic Chilaquiles and Enchiladas - delicious. On top of this, Matt wanted to hit up all of his old haunts in Bowling Green, which involved more eating that I like to admit. One that I will fess up to and talk about in more detail is our trip the The Loveless Cafe during our day trip into Nashville (about an hour away from Matt's family).

Oh, Loveless Cafe... About a year ago, Matt and I saw the owner of this fine establishment on the Food Network show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay. She's famous for her biscuits and Bobby was there to challenge her. The show served as pretty stellar advertising and while I'm a sucker for a good biscuit, the whole place seemed full of southern charm. We vowed to make a pilgrimage to chow down during one of our trips to Kentucky/Nashville.

We hunted it down on the last day of our trip. After an hour and 15 minute wait, we were seated. Starving, we threw down coats, purses, gloves and tackled the menu. While I was practically salivating over all of the country-style goodness they offer, a man in his late fifties walked by and leaned in to ask, "Are ya comin' or goin'?" When he found out we had just been seated, he asked another question. "Can we join you? We'll buy your lunch!" Well, before I could even say a word, Matt had agreed and Val and Ed Wicker sat down to share a meal with us. At first I was miffed. I thought these two fogies were going to ruin my Loveless experience, but I was wrong. Ed was very confident (arrogant) and VERY used to getting his way, but also charming as all get out. He definitely worked his magic on us as we ordered, talked about where we're from, what we do - they even tried to help us decide on a honeymoon location. I'm intrigued by them and continue to think about their story. From New Orleans, they are well to do Southerners who were engaged only one month after meeting one another. Less than a year after meeting they were married and have been happy every since. She's a 1st grade teacher. He's in financial planning. They have two kids, two grandchildren and a beloved black lab they adopted after Hurricane Katrina. After a delicious free lunch and an hour or so of chatting with these two, I was thoroughly pleased with my Loveless experience and recommend it to all travel through Nashville.