Tànsuŏ

Dan and I aren't usually at the forefront of getting to new restaurants.  We live south of Nashville, so driving up to the city involves a bit of planning.  But Tànsuŏ, the new restaurant concept from Maneet Chauhan and Chris Cheung, opened just a month ago, and its Chinese-American fusion of cuisine really enticed me.  I snagged a reservation on OpenTable, and we were off!  (Full disclosure: my husband is employed by a brewery that is backed by Maneet, but he has no sway in how I express myself in social media... I'm all about transparency!)

The restaurant exterior is pretty subtle; you'll see the valet before you notice it, probably.  It's right next door to Chauhan Ale & Masala House.  The decor of the place really struck me.  It had Asian lotus and abacus-inspired elements.  A couple of people on Yelp have found this to look cheesy, but honestly I found the overall vibe to be very sexy.  The size of the restaurant struck me too!  We were seated in a big, beautiful blue booth.

Our server recommended that we share two dim sum and an entree, but we didn't listen, and we ended up taking leftovers home!  Two dim sum and an entree is PERFECT for two people.  Everything is made to be shared, so I would listen to the server... they know what's up.

The fire cracker spring rolls were definitely worth ordering!  I loved the sauce that came with them.  They are very small, but packed with flavor and beef short rib meat.  We also had the toishan sui mai, pork dumplings with salted fish and soy sauce.  I was worried it would have a fishy flavor, but it was very tasty.  It's not the greatest dim sum dumpling I've ever had, but definitely yummy.  I would pick the spring rolls over the sui mai if I had to choose.  I wish they had soup dumplings and more dim sum like Din Tai Fung, which I can only get on the West Coast.

Fire Cracker Spring Rolls

Toishan Sui Mai

The two entrees that we ordered were of ample sharing size.  The peking pork chops could have fed three people, I'd say!  We also had the General Tso's chicken.  I was really torn wanted to try some of their rice dishes too, and I found that there were enough things on the menu that I want to try to merit coming back again.  Both dishes were saucy, crunchy, juicy...  my husband detests leftovers, but with this stuff he was asking for a doggy bag to take to work the next day!

Peking Pork Chops

General Tso's Chicken

I really enjoyed our meal at Tànsuŏ.  I left feeling full to the max, and the drinks were good to boot.  The wine list is carefully matched to the cuisine, as most places should do!  Husband enjoyed some Lagavulin too.  I think that people who are seeking "authentic" Chinese or dim sum will be disappointed in this place, the same way those seeking "authentic" Indian cuisine found Chauhan Ale & Masala house to be polarizing.  Same for those who think these types of cuisine should be inexpensive and not high-end experiences.

But as a half-Korean half-American girl, I have a passion for fusion and inspired flavors.  I love seeing people take a riff on flavors that they've come to love or grew up eating.  I think Chef Cheung has brought his NYC Chinatown upbringing to life in an delicious, upscale, sexy way.  There's a place in this world for authentic Chinese food, Panda Express, and Tànsuŏ, without cognitive dissonance.  Disagree with me if you wish, but I think this is what makes America's restaurant scene so tasty.

The Chef & I

A couple of former coworkers have been mentioning The Chef & I as a wonderful restaurant.  I'd eaten their food at catered events, but never visited their restaurant in Lenox Village.  Then I found out they have cooking classes for $75 per person, which includes a multi-course meal.  My friend B and I have been looking to bring some more fun to our girls' nights, so we signed up for a Nashville Brunch themed cooking class.

It was a dark and stormy night, no joke.  Brooke and I were the only students on that night, so we got a private lesson from Chef Liz, along with some delicious dinner.  Some of their other classes, especially knife skills, sell out very quickly, FYI!

The first dish we made was a sweet potato and veggie hash, with eggs to boot.  It was a good exercise in dicing!  I loved all of the colors from the veggies, and we definitely learned a thing or two.  I'm planning to make this dish again, when I have houseguests!

Sweet potato and veggie hash

I grated cheese for the next dish, shrimp and grits (cheesy grits!) and we ate some of the veggie hash as a first course.  While we ate, Chef Liz prepped the shrimp and grits, while we watched and took some notes.  I'm not the biggest fan of grits, but these tasted soooooo good with all the grated Havarti in there.  The shrimp had smoked paprika, and they were very flavorful.

Shrimp & Cheesy Grits

Our last dish was Nashville hot chicken and cornbread skillet cakes.  You can also make cornbread waffles with this one, if you have a waffle maker!  I love hot chicken, but I have always been too scared to fry chicken at home.  I guess it's the idea of hot oil that freaks me out.  So Chef Liz helped me season the chicken (we did half hot and half not), bread it, and fry it up like a champ.  (Note the chef's coat I got to wear, like a boss.)  I have to admit, it was a little intimidating, but ultimately we had some great chicken!

I loved the spicy plus sweet flavor once we added the syrup to the pancake.  Yum yum yum.  I was a little rough handling the chicken, so some of the breading came off, but such is life.  Still tasty.

The Chef & I also has a limited number of seats at the kitchen bar open when they serve dinner, so you can watch them make your food.  But I love getting hands-on experience, so the cooking class was absolutely perfect.  I'll go back to eat there someday, but I also want to keep up with their calendar of cooking classes, so I can learn as I indulge.

Purple Trail & Memory Planning

Thank you to Purple Trail for sponsoring this post and providing me with a beautiful planner!
Images (unless noted), text, and opinions expressed are all my own.

I love having a paper planner.  I've been journaling since I was a young teenager, and there's something about putting pen to paper and jotting down your lists, plans, and other things on a page.  I've read that it actually helps commit things to memory.  I feel like it brings you extra satisfaction to cross things off your list, or remember what happened on a particular day.

I have a tiny daily planner that I use, so when Purple Trail reached out to me about a new planner, I knew what I wanted: a memory planner.  A planner is a great tool to use as a diary.  You can add doodles, photos, and jot down daily happenings and memories.  It's way better than a notebook, because you can "micro-journal" in a way.

photo of planner from Purple Trail

Shopping for a planner on Purple Trail was FUN.  There are so many options!  I was touched to find that not only do they have wedding planners, but they even have LGBT-centric wedding planners.  I love the inclusiveness of their site!  I sorted to look at weekly planners, because I wanted a horizontal space to write down daily notes.  I fell in love with the blue handpainted floral of one of the planners, so I opened it up in Personalize/Design mode to make it mine.

It's super easy to design a planner in this mode.  I really liked that you can do so much customization, compared to other planner sellers.  There were also cover material options.  I chose a hard cover, spiral bound, so make the planner sturdy for year-long journaling.

My planner arrived quickly, and I marveled at the blank pages.  What would I do?  Since I was starting this journal in March, I was able to make the journal start on that month too.  Perfect for coming into things mid-year, right?  Also perfect if you want to do a school-centric one, starting in August or September instead of January.

The planner was beautiful!  I was so happy with the sturdiness of the cover, and how it felt.  It also had a folder and notes pages inside, which was really useful for keeping things I need to add in the journaling pages.

I decided to keep my weekly entries to a color scheme.  For the first week, I was pretty busy traveling for work and fun.  I printed a bunch of photos on 4x6 photo paper in my printer, cutting them out to paste into the planner with a gluestick.  I found inspiration on Instagram from others' memory planners.

I also decided that if I didn't have a lot to write on a page, I'd practice my amateur lettering.  I think I'm getting better!  It was also fun to jot down quotes and other things from books I'm reading, so I remember the best of what I've read.

I think that people believe they don't have time for this sort of thing.  After all,  you can stick your appointments and lists in your cell phone.  But for me, writing in a memory planner, or using a weekly paper planner, is a form of daily meditation.  Five minutes a day can bring a little peace, joy, and clarity of mind.  If you're looking for a planner to get organized for a wedding, teaching, school, or just life in general, I highly recommend Purple Trail.  The quality is fantastic, and I love how my memory planner is turning out!

Thank you to Purple Trail for sponsoring this post and providing me with a beautiful planner!
Images (unless noted), text, and opinions expressed are all my own.