Recently in Knoxville::Living Category
It looks like I'll be signing off as the resident "Knoxville for newbies" blogger. Some of you already know I've been pretty much invisible on this front for the last month or so anyway. Sorry for the dead time. Now you know why.
So here's the scoop. My company has relocated us to the Chicago area and it looks like Elmhurst may be the perfect spot for us to land.
We'll be pulling out of town this weekend if all goes well and should be settled into some place by the end of next week. I'll be sure to post pictures, trip stories, snafus and anything else which may be of interest.
For now, wish us luck or pray for us - whatever thing you do and PLEASE include praying that we sell our house in Knoxville.
This evening I was strolling the West Town Mall - just for fun... OK - it really wasn't for fun - I was helping my nearest and dearest shop for clothing. Anyway, just a few steps before the Brooks Brothers store - right at the place my stomach usually starts turning in anticipation of the hideous southern preppy, seersucker, navy sport coat assault on the senses that is Brooks Brothers - my whole evening got a little bit better.
So I wet myself a bit. I'm not ashamed. We're getting a freaking Apple store!!! No details on the time table yet, but there's a construction wall with a nice, big Apple logo printed on it.
After a bit of checking, I turned up a couple of other sites who've been speculating about this. Mat on Macs scooped this over a month ago after an article in the Knoxville News Sentinel. The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) had a post on the subject as well.
Technorati Tags: Apple, applestore, iPod, knoxville, mac, shopping, suburban, technology, tn
I've always been interested in the way people speak. The types of words they choose, the way they pronounce them and how fast they talk. On an individual level speech tells much about a person's background and personality. Speech is also affected greatly by the native (or sometimes current) region of the speaker. One of the things that I find very intriguing about the variety of accents is the history behind them. I previously posted a link to the PBS website for the show, "Do You Speak American?" This week I've come across two related sites that you might find interesting.
Technorati Tags: americaninventor, ethnic, pbs, people, language, speech
I'm taking a 10 minute (OK - nearly an hour) break from mowing my grass today. It's Saturday and it kills me that this is my life. In honor of the beauty of suburban life and as a tribute to mediocrity and bad lawn care everywhere I present:
My Crappy Grass
vs. My Neighbor's Grass
Technorati Tags: crap, crappy, funny, lawncare, suburbanlife, suburbs
A relative newcomer to the Knoxville scene; Taste of Havana has tons of potential. Wonderful flavors - hearty main dishes - rice and beans to die for. The meals are usually excellent - although occasionally inconsistent.
The baked goods (with the exception of the heavenly Cuban bread) leave a bit to be desired. Lack of good service help seems to be the root all the issues mentioned here.
Update: There has recently been a whole new crop of great servers at Taste of Havana. This helps the minor gripes I listed above. Taste of Havana should be on your "try this weekend" list!
A Taste of Havana
10420 Kingston Pk.
Knoxville, TN 37922-3261
(865) 693-4796
This afternoon I finally got around to trying Lemon Grass in Maryville (just 15 minutes from West Knoxville). It was a pleasant surprise. The exterior is plain and a bit dingy - and that's being nice. But we all know that's necessarily not a bad thing when looking for a good place to eat. Actually, the inside is pretty decent anyway.
Now for the important part - the food:
We had basil shrimp spring rolls, several types of sushi, beef salad and pad prik pork. Everything was excellent except the sushi - which was pretty mediocre - but I guess that's my fault for ordering sushi at a Thai restaurant. All the dishes were fresh and flavorful. The pad prik pork was actually nice and spicy, just the way I ordered it (not often the case in a few area establishments).
Service was prompt, professional and friendly.
Lemon Grass
912 W Lamar Alexander Pkwy
Maryville, TN 37801-4532
(865) 681-8785
It's been interesting to watch the development taking place at Turkey Creek on the West end of Knoxville: interesting and depressing at the same time. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see World Market moving in - it's like Pier 1 but cooler and with tons of cool snacks and cooking ingredients from all over the planet. At the same time though - I'm seeing a pretty disturbing trend, even for the suburbs. How many of the retailers slated to move in to the shipping center are already represented in Knoxville? Many of these places are already within a 5-10 mile drive from the new location (e.g. Bonefish Grille, Wok Hay, Stir Fry Cafe, etc.) I've been doing a little research to find out what's coming that we don't already have here. World Market is cool - but why not dream big? Apple Store? Urban Outfitters? What would you like to see?
Here's a list of what is already planned from what I can tell:
- World Markets
- Borders Books and Music
- Talbot's
- New York & Company
- Bed Bath & Beyond
- Belk
- Chico's
- Bonefish Grill
- Wok Hay
- Another generic Mexican restaurant
Any other information floating around out there? And what about this Northshore Town Centre? There hasn't been much buzz about who's moving in on the retail side?
Technorati Tags: blogs, burbs, dining, knoxville, shopping, suburban, suburbs, tenn, tennessee, tn
Consider the Tennessee Vacation Site your main destination for travel in the Volunteer State. I can't believe I'm writing this, but the site has scads of interesting content and a very solid and current design. This wasn't put together by I.T. weenies working for the state in their spare time. It's worth a look whether you live here, are planning a visit or just want to learn a thing or two about good site design. There's even a section called "My Tennessee Vacation" which allows the user to create a vacation profile to easily bookmark and retrieve event and destination info.
Technorati Tags: design, tenn, tennessee, tn, travel, vacation, web, webdesign
Great-looking nigiri!
A few rolls
The owner, sushi chef and super nice guy, Yuki
Japanese Kitchen Gohan Ya
11509 Kingston Pike
Knoxville, TN 37934
(865) 671-4404
Technorati Tags: blogs, dining, flickr, food, knoxville, photoblogging, photoblogs, photos, sushi, tenn, tennessee, tn
