So much to say, so much to say...

I have a lot to write about the conference I just finished attending, and my experiences there, but a quick funny link to another blog comes first:

Couch Fort Architecture

I've never seen a grading system I agreed with quite so completely.

Day 1 continued: The Patterson House.

Nothing like feeling very, very welcomed on my first day of a four-day visit to a Southern city! This was an uber-lovely place which I will illustrate with some photos, but honestly the dim lighting inside made it somewhat challenging to photograph. For better pics than I could get, see eGullet's summary (scroll down for pics).

It has been open for just under a year, and is the first craft cocktail bar in Nashville. Our bartender was one of the owners, and as both Carolyn and I are conversant in the area of craft cocktails we got to see and discuss some fabulous cocktailcrafting elements and had a lovely conversation with him over the course of the evening.

The bar/restaurant is in an up-and-coming neighborhood north of the Vanderbilt campus, not far from a cupcake shop and other such indicators of contemporary food trendiness. The entryway is a library with multiple bookshelves and a blue velvet curtain, and instructions on the rules of the house:

Second, this is one of the bars that owns one of the, say, two dozen Japanese spherical ice makers currently in the U.S. Our bartender was kind enough to show us a Youtube video, on his iPhone, on how the ice maker produces a spherical cube, which you can also see if you're curious at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6a77jsF9eQ (Hint: it's a copper mold and it presses the surrounding water away from the sphere.)

The two cocktails I tried were The Fox and the Forest (Lunazul Reposado tequila, with a float of Peychaud's bitters, a sprig of spearmint, and a few other ingredients I need to hunt down...) and Vincent's Ruin (Bulleit Bourbon, Lemon, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, La Muse Verte Absinthe, Lemon Bitters). Carolyn tried a Cooper's Bright (Plymouth Gin, lemon, St. Germain elderflower liqueur, grapefruit liqueur, and sparkling wine from New Mexico) and a Terra Rica (Inca Gold Pisco, pineapple, egg white, Aperol, and "spring bitters" which were homemade strawberry-rhubarb). Because we were there for a considerable amount of time and ate dinner as well, we also got tiny samples of a third cocktail on the house, the El Diablo (El Diablo Lunazul Reposado, Lemon, House Made Ginger Syrup, Briottet Cassis).

The food hardly took second place; there were lovely warm olives followed by Cuban paninis and then s'mores with local fresh strawberries that were, um, amazing. It was a very, very pleasant evening, and if any of our other conference plans fall through we just may visit again. If you're ever in Nashville, I encourage you to look the place up. It's an evening well-spent.

Nashville! Day 1.

I am in Nashville this week for the Christian Scholars Conference, which begins tomorrow morning. I give a paper on Thursday, and will be interviewing playwright John Patrick Shanley on Friday morning for a Nashville Public Radio program. They have promised to post a video of the interview on the show's website, and it will be cross-posted on the website of the academic journal Ecumenica. I will share links eventually as they become available, especially if I like the end results.

Today, however, I had the afternoon and evening to enjoy the city, and do nothing else much except rehearse my talk and review potential interview questions. I already found a fabulous coffeeshop with sandwiches, salads, and breakfast food, called Fido. (Imagine if the Walnut Cafe moved into the Laughing Goat, and you've got the vibe of the place, for all you hip Boulder readers.) The hotel we are staying at is just off the edge of the Vanderbilt University campus, so there are good vittles and amenities within a reasonable walking distance (20 minutes), and the free hotel shuttle will also be aiding further exploration. The hotel is pretty nice for a Holiday Inn, recently remodelled with good working treadmills which is key when it is 95 degrees out. And did I mention the humidity? I've conveniently forgotten about humidity living in Boulder County...until arriving today and watching my hair go BOING!

When I say "we" I mean myself and my friend Carolyn, whom I usually attend ATHE with and have blogged about in the past (we went to NYC last summer for ATHE with her husband Greg and another friend, and had an outrageously good time).

Tonight, we're going to a restaurant/bar called the Patterson House, which specializes in craft cocktails of various sorts (rickeys, sours, and other such 30's and 40's-era beverages). I'll provide a full bloggy report after the meal...