Impromptu bargain basement staycation in Music City.
But we sort of inadvertently did that last weekend. My mother-in-law decided to drive up for a visit late Saturday afternoon. She's been remodeling her kitchen (in an older house, where there are bound to be problems) and now they're having to get all new pipes or something and they've found out their shower was about to fall through the floor or something, I don't know. It's complicated and stressful and she wanted to escape that headspace for a little while.
She arrived right about the time Chris was supposed to meet a bunch of friends for a tour of Turtle Anarchy Brewery in Franklin. We checked with her and she seemed not to mind spending some time with Jonah so that both of us could go. We raced through the Western Williamson County countryside, which is lovely and the roads we took sometimes followed the Old Natchez Trace, which has prehistoric origins. Two lane roads that seem like tunnels through huge hardwood trees with a historically registered dry stacked stone wall on one side and the Harpeth River on the other.
We got there just in time to get an extra ticket for the tour. They're a really small brewery. And when you've seen one brewery, you've pretty much seen them all. Unless they're doing something really different, like New Belgium's carbon neutral brewery or whatever it is they're doing. I think they generate all their own electricity or something. Knowing them, it's all powered by some dude on a bike hooked up to a giant generator. They're cycling enthusiasts. They have a bike themed traveling circus called Tour de Fat, which is a lot of fun if it ever comes to your city! But I digress.
Anyway, it was at least nice to ask the brewer a couple of questions about their plans to expand and new, experimental batches in the works. "What's that oak barrel for?!" When they're that small, they can do lots of fun stuff with little overhead. They've always got some pet project.
From there, we hung out and got a pint and then headed to another really great, really small brewery in Franklin, Cool Springs Brewery. They're probably the same size, but they've just recently acquired an offsite facility to start doing some sour stuff (so as not to infect the house brewery with the bacteria inadvertently. I mean, I wouldn't mind if all their beers had brett in them, but it's not for everyone).
We got a pint there but we couldn't wait around for food. We left and grabbed some of the most delicious burritos ever at Oscar's (or maybe we were starving, but they really were delicious burritos and every time I go there, I practically shout, WHY DON'T WE COME HERE MORE OFTEN!? p.s. - please open one in Bellevue. Yes, we have no bananas burritos.) We needed to get home because I had late night tickets to burlesque where both my former teachers were dancing. We had to change clothes, get a bed set up for my mother-in-law, get Jonah to bed and then get to Belmont in like an hour and a half.
It was very speak easy like, in the attic of Bongo Java on Belmont Blvd. (Fun fact: Betty Page went to college right around the corner at the Peabody campus of Vanderbilt.) Because they don't sell alcohol, it was an "uncensored" show (we have some weird laws). There were jokes about underboob all night and it was hilarious. Shan told me she loved seeing my hair down but realized why that would totally not work for class and I promised Freya I'd be back in classes soonish. She said, "you better." Maybe next semester I'll do 201 again. It's a little odd to hug your dance teacher while she's wearing nothing but pasties and a rhinestone merkin, but it goes with the territory, I guess.
We went home, way too tired from our workouts and running around drinking beer all night and totally forgot our late night tradition of stopping by Cafe Coco to get some junk food and coffee and laugh at hipsters until we were crawling into bed, exhausted.
As a "thank you for being receptive to having our kid dumped off on you yesterday", we took my mother-in-law out for breakfast at the Loveless Cafe which is right down the street from our house and kind of a tourist destination so we never go. On a Sunday morning, when everyone else is at church, you're seated immediately which makes it worth it. Chris and I both got their pulled pork barbecue with eggs served over corn cakes and hashbrown casserole, which is pretty much a mound of food. Jonah got enough pancakes and bacon for an adult, which is what they call a "children's plate." We each took roughly half our food home (and ate it for lunch) and were still completely stuffed. Martha headed home right after that.
Later that evening we heard our friends Jim and Joan from Huntsville were in town after a Midwestern States beer run. Seriously, they take beercations. That's a word I can support a little bit more. They had been at a new taproom and beer store on 8th called Craft Brewed and Chris barely caught them as they were leaving so he could pick up his "order" with them. See, they travel around and post to Facebook to see if anyone wants any regional/rare beers outside our distribution area. They pick them up, swing back through on their way home and you settle up your tab. It's kind of hilarious. Modern day bootlegging.
From there they were headed to Cool Springs Brewery. So we all went down there. Again. For the second time in one weekend. I got a different beer this time though and Derrick, the brewer there brought us out some "not yet ready" stuff (a coconut porter which was delicious and a brett saisson without the brett added yet) as well as some of the leftover, small batch of Scorpion King (a beer brewed with scorpion chiles, which are supposedly the hottest chile on earth, but I hear that all the time about so many different chiles, it's really hard to care anymore). It was hot. Definitely hotter than the Chilly Willy I had the night before (a jalapeno stout or porter or something, I don't remember). But it wasn't just tear inducingly hot like I was lead to believe it would be by one of our party. The homebrewed Hab Another (habanero beer) by Chris Brammon years ago was probably the hottest beer I've ever tried. You measure servings of that stuff in single digit milliliters. But whatever, it's not a pissing contest. That comes later.
Determined not to dine out for yet another freaking meal that weekend (this is seriously abnormal for us), we skipped ordering dinner and went home to make cheddar cheese waffles with fried chicken, drizzled with homemade barbecue sauce and sriracha, topped with dill pickles and jalapenos. Finally got my freakin' waffles! With style.
For all the dining out and bar drinking (hello, happy hour specials and meals that feed us twice and free childcare!), brewery touring (groupon, 50% off) and burlesque seeing (tickets were only $12), we honestly didn't spend much all weekend. So hurray for staycations! But I still freakin' hate that word.