Loveless in Tennessee

$25, Gifts from the Loveless Cafe, 30 min S of Nashville

Heading down the I40 towards our 2 pm horse riding appointment, I spied a sign for the Loveless Cafe.   On the vague recollection that Frommer's touted it as Southern Home Cooking and all day breakfast, not to mention the kids complaints of starvation, we took the 5 mile detour off the interstate.  Sure enough, we found a charming house converted into a cafe/restaurant, and a gift store converted from 1940s motel rooms.

Settling in for lunch, the kids were less than adventurous with their food choices, sticking to tried and true grilled cheese sandwiches.  (On an aside, I thus learned that Danielle now knows how to make her own grill cheese, having learned from the internet.)  Me, I went with the traditional Southern breakfast: 4 oz of thick country ham, red-eye gravy, eggs, and grits.  I keep forgetting that grits are not, in fact, a type of hash browns, but more akin to cream of wheat made with corn.  Aka runny polenta.  The girls wouldn't even taste a spoonful of it, but I find grits oddly comforting.  And oh - the secret recipe biscuits and homemade preserves were delish, and I don't even like jam!

Thusly impressed, I couldn't help but delay our departure further with a visit to the Loveless gift shop, exiting with strawberry preserves, hot sauce, and local honey with honeycomb.  The latter will be saved for an upcoming Ottawa Girls' wine & cheese night.

With the overly long lunch stop, and having removed ourselves from the interstate to continue instead along country roads, we were "only" 15 minutes late for our 2 pm riding time.  In typical southern style, the guide and other riders didn't seem to mind the delay :-)

A separate but related purchase...

$12.99 each for two bottles of Bogle Petite Sirah

A lovely, rich, and smooth California red, which has been enjoyed on several occasions at Canvas and other Ottawa restaurants.  Despite multiple attempts, I have learned that it is not sold by the bottle by the LCBO.  I inadvertently discovered it at the less than restaurant price in the Nashville Discount Liquor store.  'Twill also be saved for the Girls' Night.

Tally:

• $25 Loveless
• $26 Bogle
• $20 Ryman Recording
• $50 Country Music Hall of Fame mementos (to be written by Gaby & Danielle)
• $24 Nashville Nightlife
• $10 Tin Foil & Bubble Gum
• $10 McD Chick-fil-A

 = $165 spent, $235 to go...