October Instagram

How is it November already? HOW?! 2013 is almost over! October (apparently) came and went in a whirlwind of food and travel. Here's what it looked like.

The very FIRST week of October I spotted Christmas decorations for sale already in Target. Even though it doesn't mean what it used to (since I don't work in retail anymore), it still gave me a shiver of exhaustion.

I would however, totally buy that Santa. Too adorable.

I had a BIG career challenge this month, my bosses went out of town and left me and the Sous Chef of Biscuit Love to run a wedding event in the boonies. I was super worried the whole time whether I was doing a good job, but everything went wonderfully and the ceremony was gorgeous!

I got really wrapped up in school projects this month, here we were practicing fruit and vegetable carving. Clearly this is my calling.

We have a catering project for school that's due in November, it involves planning menus, cooking food, and table decoration. As a blogger, I fixated on the visual aspect of the project and sort of got carried away with my prop shopping.

Still totally usable and kitchen safe, right?

Recipe testing for our catering project it went pretty well until I somehow melted the top to a ink pen in my oven (wtf?!). That made me feel really professional!

My brother turned 22 on October the 9th, he requested muffins instead of a cake this year (?). I included some Lego block candles because they were his favorite once upon a time...

We tried out quite a few new restaurants this month. We went to Burger Republic in Lenoxx Village to have dinner with my boyfriend's parents.

Fondue Tots 

Banana Split Milkshake

The  "Eat The Farm" and Bacon Mac and Cheese

Later in the month we tired out a Greek Lunch place called Kouzina Cafe,  I had the falafel gyro, it was sooo good but HUGE!

I also tried out a brand new food truck in town Churro Queens! 

Things have been slowing down a bit on the truck lately now that we're getting into the fall and winter, but we've been to a lot of fun events.

Attack of the Scarecrows at the Franklin Farmer's Market. All the vendors displayed themed scarecrows. This one was ours, modeled after our head chef and  notorious cookbook hoarder, Karl.

Square dancing with Yazoo brewery at Bells Bend Farms. This event was SO much fun, every one had such a good time, and the music was awesome too! The only bad part was that the temperature suddenly dropped down to 40 degrees while we were out there! I was really glad I was working so close to an oven and a fryer. Cold or not though those people keep on drinking and dancing.

Halloween was a bit of a bust this year, with Tornado speed winds and thunderstorms all night. Lucky for me my running club has a costume night  that day before the storm hit so at least I got to dress like a goober in public ( which as I'm sure you're aware, is one of my favorite pastimes). I went as Fionna from Adventure Time.

Only people with kids of a certain age even really knew who I was supposed to be, but I didn't care!

And that was the month of October!

If you want to follow me on Instagram I'm madame_magar

It's Sunday I'm In Love

My ability to care about anything else has hit an all time low, I am way, way too caught up in this food truck life. I'm in the last few weeks of my last semester of culinary school and I don't care, self set blog posting deadlines keep coming and going and I haven't done a wonderful job of keeping them up, but this day job of mine has become way too much fun.

This job came along at just the right time for me. I've always been so obsessed with rules and schedules and meticulous details and this chaotic changeable work situation is so very much the opposite of all that. The very nature of taking this job on a food truck has put me in the position to take work when there is work to be done regardless of notice and it's done wonders for my uptight Capricorn sensibilities.

Just a little Saturday night square dancing

Working the truck has been a bit like having a wild, no good, motorcycle riding boyfriend, that you can never pin down to set up a date. He just shows up at all hours of the day or night, randomly, asking if you want to go out in an hour (or worse, right now), and your instinct is to say "no boo, plans are necessary" and yet you know that if you say yes and go that you will without fail have a marvelous, unforgettable time.

So you make a choice, do you say no, stay home, and get a full night's sleep? Or do you roll with it, buy yourself some leather boots, pull all-nighters, and learn the time saving benefits of drinking coffee in the bathtub? Some weeks I say to myself that this is too much, it can't possibly last, and that I will die young from lack of sleep, but every Sunday morning I find myself with stories to tell.

Bluegrass in the boonies

Even my hours spent baking, away from all the action are blissful. I put on a spotify playlist in the empty commissary, get elbows deep in biscuit dough and sing and bake all night, (or morning, or afternoon) until 300 or 400 or 600 biscuits are buttery golden brown and wrapped. Then roll on out to the next chaotic shift of bluegrass parties in the middle of the woods, brushes with country stars ( just keep it cool, don't let on that you know), and the inside of more port-o-johns than any sane person should see.

The problem of course now is finding a way to break free from the snake charming skills of the 'no good boyfriend' to deal with things like swiftly approaching finals, blog post deadlines, etc. I know that somehow, some way I will find a balance...

All the same, it's very lucky I get paid to do this. Food Truckin is one hell of a drug.

August Instagram - Food Truck Life

I got an instagram account last month with an on the road photo blogging project in mind.  Now I don't quite have the iphone situation all figured out yet, but here's a look at life so far.

The first two weeks of August were pretty slow, the truck was off the road while my bosses took a way overdue vacation, so I had more time on my hands for the finer things in life.

Outside things were pretty exciting. We got a new Doctor!

I was freaking out! Were you freaking out?!

 And there was a blue moon. Also exciting - though of course it looked just the same.

My boyfriend and I started watching/binge watched/completely caught up on Breaking Bad, and in the madness I found myself suspicious of every chicken place ever...

(Wait, we don't count, right? I'm gonna say we don't count...)

Then of course came Tomato Art Fest.

By mid August it was time to work again.

 5am - time to make the biscuits. I made 400 that day.

Using the street art to remind me where I parked downtown!

All lined up at Live On The Green

 At Riff's Food Truck Jam. It's every Friday night and sooo much fun! There's beer, and bands, and free parking; it's Nashville's best kept secret!

Chef Karl's (super secret off menu) fried okra. It will blow your mind!

Perks of the business; you get to try food from all the other food trucks! Smoked pork tacos, yes yes YES!

And that was the month of August!

You can find me on instagram at Madame_magar

Tomato Art Fest 2013

The East Nashville Tomato Art Fest was just as amazing as I hoped it would be. I magically manged to go this year because the universe loves me and my bosses were on vacation this week (what?!?). Although I managed to miss the parade again (WHAT?!) I still got to do most of my favorite things while we were there, (woo!) and eat lots of awesome food. Here are the highlights.

The Costumes!

The guy in the tomato suit was my favorite, he was so enthusiastic!

I decided to do it up right this year and wore red and green from head to toe. I scraped up a shoulder length cherry red *cough*children's Disney princess*cough* wig, and wandered around all day with an apparently very visible bra line, (me = honey badger).

The Art!

As usual I wanted to take all of the art home with me, these last two are some of my favorites, but since most of the pieces ranged in price from $100-$500 I'll just have to enjoy these pictures I snuck with my iphone. Ugh! I have to bring more monies next time!

The Food!

We started with dessert first because that's how I roll. Earlier in the week Jeni's Nashville tweeted about a special green tomato frozen yogurt that would be on the menu for tomato fest and I was terrified/excited to try it. It had a taste that was completely unique, sort of sweet and savory at the same time, and the yogurt gave it a sort of sour cream-y/ cheesecake taste that was really interesting. I didn't taste tomato exactly, which as a relief in a way, though I could tell there was a zesty flavor there that was surprising. It had a sort of an intriguing, acidic bite, like a tart key lime pie. I really loved it.

For lunch we hit up our food truck friends at the Grilled Cheeserie, they also had a festival themed menu item, The Triple Tomater Melt; Italian blend cheese, local heirloom tomato, basil and tomato aioli on tomato bread, which really hit the spot. 

Not tomato-y but still delicious, we stopped by the Country Pop tent on our way out of the festival and tried their surprisingly tasty take on caramel corn. Country pop is made with a corn puff that's light and crispy (kind of like a Cheeto) and coated with a buttery, salty caramel coating that's heavily addictive. I was reluctant to try a sample when we first passed their tent but after that first taste I couldn't resist taking a bag of it home with me.

The Treasure!
As usual I had to stop myself from buying every treasure at every tent, filling my teeny apartment up with crazy knickknacks, but I was really tempted by the teapots and the soup can water cooler. 

I can not recommend this festival enough, it is too much fun, and the perfect place to visit if you want to feel like you're living in a cartoon. The museum, the people, the food, it's just such a good time. I'll definitely be coming back next year.