Nashville

Have you ever tried Shawarma? It’s a Middle Eastern dish made with thinly sliced meat (usually chicken, lamb, or beef) that is deliciously seasoned. My family ate it multiple times when I was growing up because we had close friends who were from the Middle East.

Mr. Handsome and I recently visited Assembly Food Hall in the new 5th + Broadway building and were pleased to find a unique restaurant that quickly become a favorite, Istanbul Shawarma. Located in the heart of Downtown Nashville, across the street from both the Ryman Auditorium and Bridgestone Arena (home of Nashville’s NHL team, the Predators), the Assembly Food Hall offers a variety of delicious foods from Nashville and beyond. I was thrilled that my husband wanted to venture outside his comfort zone and try Shawarma. And he liked it!

First off, I must apologize for my less frequent posts over the past month. Both our kids came down with the dreaded RSV, which has been especially bad this year. Quite a few of the kids we know, both here and in other states, had it at the same time as ours did, and a friend who is a PICU nurse in Nashville said that her floor is filled with young kids on ventilators. It’s heartbreaking!

While Littlest Buddy’s chest congestion and fever were at their worst, I was thanking God that this outbreak didn’t happen last year when he was a newborn. I was also thinking back to my decisions to keep him away from others until he was eight weeks old and to wear a mask myself when I had to go out in public and filing them in my mental list of things to do again when we have another child, even if COVID isn’t a threat at that point.

After our children healed, we had visitors, followed by Thanksgiving craziness, and then more visitors. Needless to say, it was a busy few weeks for us, but things are calming down now.

And now for my post about spices. Have you ever been to a spice shop? If you haven’t, I will warn you that it can be a dangerous place, especially if you like to cook or bake. There are just so many interesting blends, and the aroma of the shop is irresistible. We have a spice shop with two locations in Nashville, and they both happen to be near great coffee shops, which makes me visit them more often than I otherwise would.

I enjoy browsing, but I (usually) hold back and only buy certain spices from the spice shop. My favorite is their chili powder. It’s so good that I won’t make chili with any other brand. I also enjoy their basil, parsley, and oregano because they don’t cost much more than conventional, but they taste SO much better. I used to buy herb plants during the summer and freeze enough for the winter, but these taste just about as good without all the extra time.

Do you have a spice shop in your area? If so, what spices do you buy there?

First off: To all of my American readers, how was your Thanksgiving?

One of my favorite places in the Nashville area is Cheekwood, a beautiful outdoor garden and historic mansion. They have wonderful programs for kids, classes for adults, and seasonal displays. A few weeks ago, we made our annual trek to the Cheekwood pumpkin festival, featuring their famous pumpkin houses.

I have a friend whose oldest child is the same age as Little Buddy (only days apart), and this was my third year going with her. (I suppose it’s officially a tradition now!) Of course the kids loved the pumpkins the most, but I was especially intrigued by the white mums. Have you ever seen white mums? I hadn’t. 

This weekend, Mr. handsome heard Christmas music playing at a store and informed me that it’s too early for holiday tunes because it’s still fall. While that might officially be true, the temperature dropped from 70s to 40s last Friday, and most of the leaves have fallen, so in my book, it’s winter. 

That being said, I did want to share some photos from our trip to a pumpkin farm before the weather changed. There are a handful of pumpkin farms in the Nashville area, but we were excited to find one that had a huge corn maze with checkpoints (called the Nashville Fall Festival), so we made the trip out there.

We enjoyed the picturesque sunflower field and a hayride with Mr. Handsome’s family, followed by lattes (pumpkin spice for some and plain for the rest of us). 

Unfortunately it started raining as we started the corn maze, so we set the kids up indoors with Grandma and Grandpa and ran through the maze before the downpour began. 

In your opinion, when does fall end? Have you ever gone though a multi-checkpoint corn maze? 

Since Little Buddy was born, I have had fun searching for his clothes at children’s used clothing stores and consignment sales. Very few of his outfits have been purchased new because I find it painful to spend double or triple on something that he is only going to wear for one season.

For the past year, many of Little Buddy’s clothes have come from a friend with boys who are two and four years younger. She buys her clothes new, mostly from Carter’s, but keeps them in great condition. When her youngest son grows out of them, she sells them to me, usually for about $50 per season.

I then pick up any other items that I need at my go-to used clothing stores. Both are located in Franklin; one is called Once Upon a Child, and the other is called Kid to Kid.

Each store has it’s pros and cons. Once Upon a Child is double the size and has great toys and larger items, but the quality of the clothes and shoes tends to be lower. Kid to Kid has a smaller selection (almost no selection when it comes to shoes) but the quality is usually higher. They are only three minutes away from each other, so I am able to hit up both in a single shopping trip.

Do you buy used clothing for kids? If so, what stores do you shop at, or do you prefer consignment sales?

Cheekwood is one of our favorite spots in Nashville. It isn’t far from the center of the city, and it’s such a beautiful place to walk around.

During the fall, Cheekwood has a pumpkin exhibit for children. This year, it was even bigger than last year. Little Buddy and I visited with one of his friends. Even though it was the end of October, it was a scorcher (the last hot day of the year). Being pregnant, I was pretty miserable, but my friend understood how I was feeling because she was further along than I was. We were both determined to make it fun for our boys, and I think we succeeded.

The pumpkin house (pictured at the top of the post) is a kid favorite. This year, Cheekwood had a new feature that was simple but a huge hit among the toddlers: piles of pumpkins to climb on. What fun!

The one downside of Cheekwood is that it’s very hilly, so a great place to visit if you are wanting a gentle workout. Not so great if you’re pregnant and pushing a stroller. But we knew ahead of time and came prepared with plenty of water.

As a reader of our blog, you have probably heard us mention Cheekwood before. It’s an outdoor garden in Nashville, complete with a historic mansion built by the family who previously owned the estate. We have been to Cheekwood to see Christmas lights, the Chihuly exhibit, and the tulip festival.

This month, we took Little Buddy to Cheekwood for the Nature POP! exhibition. Sean Kenney, LEGO sculpture extraordinaire, scattered a few dozen of his works across the grounds for guests to find. He used more than 800,000 LEGOs to build his creations.

We thoroughly enjoyed wandering through the gardens and marveling at all the beautiful sculptures. The dog is made up of 39,800 bricks and took the artist 155 hours to build.

The woodpecker is made of 32,650 bricks and took 124 hours to build.

I found the lion to be the most impressive because it’s all one color, but yet the artist was able to create incredible definition in the face. It consists of 45,150 bricks and took 167 hours to build.

The mama and baby polar bears were also pretty incredible. They are made of a whopping 112,450 bricks and took Kenney 389 hours to construct.

Although it appears small, the dragonfly is made of 66,655 bricks and took 502 hours to build.

We also saw gardeners, a mother and baby duck, and a bunch of fluffle of colored rabbits.

Which LEGO sculpture is your favorite?