Greetings for 2008

It's about time I finally ate or went somewhere noteworthy! The holidays didn't provide me with a lot of blog fodder, but a short trip to a small town in Tennessee visiting relatives did give me one cozy little restaurant to mention. The Elms Restaurant in Selmer, Tennessee has that southern style service that's missing in many places today. The waitresses know the patrons, they call them and everyone "honey" and sincerely care if the diners are happy. Between the warm sincere service and some simple, tasty food it's a welcome stop for lunch or dinner. Of note in my book were the fried cheese sticks since they were battered instead of breaded, which is my personal favorite.

Last week my husband and I were in Little Rock for one night, and after making a pass by Whole Hog Cafe and feeling too much sympathy for the employees to go in at 20 minutes to closing and order dinner, we ended up at Julie's. The restaurant had come with good recommendations from reliable sources. While I think it had the potential to be a good restaurant, it failed to deliver. The chef must have been quite paranoid about under cooking the shrimp as despite the good flavors I can imagine the bottom of my running shoes would be less rubbery in texture. The other items we had were merely ok at best, and the baked potato was baked and past its prime long before we arrived.

So for desert, my husband & I skipped out on the offerings at Julie's and opted for Krispy Kreme. I know it's just a donut chain but in this case it's worth mentioning. Yes, the donuts are good. Really good. It's the service that gets my attention. At this location the service has been fantastic every single time. While I haven't been in that often, it's been consistently good each time, good enough for it to stand out against the crowd of mediocrity.

I have plenty of trips planned for this year, including a Caribbean cruise I just booked this week. As I like to call it, "blog fodder" will be plentiful this year I hope. As always, I've resolved to take a little more time to enjoy my hobby of cooking this year, but I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for roads and eats along the way too.