Strawberries Romanoff (and a Bake Sale!)

In Courtney's post about this dessert, she mentioned La Madeleine, and from that moment, I knew I would be making this. Throw in my quart of delicious local strawberries from our CSA and the fact that I already had all of the ingredients on hand, and I knew this would make a special treat for a weeknight.

The first time I had strawberries Romanoff was at La Madeleine, and it was a bite of someone else's order. The cream was much thicker and more tangy than I anticipated. It's not too sweet but is the perfect accompaniment for those glorious strawberries. I even whipped up the sauce in the morning and stored it until later, making it a great make-ahead dessert for a party.

Strawberries Romanoff
source: Cook Like a Champion
Serves 2

Ingredients
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons brandy or vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced if large
freshly grated nutmeg

Directions

Mix the sour cream, brown sugar and brandy together in a small bowl.
In another bowl, whisk the heavy cream until it thickens slightly, then add sugar. Continue whisking until cream is fluffy.
Gently fold whipped cream into sour cream mixture.
Place strawberries in serving dish of your choice, top with sauce and freshly grated nutmeg.

Coming up this Saturday, Lindsay from Love and Olive Oil wrangled a bunch of Nashville-area food bloggers together to do a flood benefit bake sale. All proceeds will benefit Second Harvest Food Bank. The Green Wagon in East Nashville (1100 Forrest Ave) has been kind enough to take us on, so we will be there from 1:30-4 pm with our delicious treats. I'll be making these delicious peanut butter cookies. All treats will go for $2. So if you're in the area, come on by and spend some money!

Eat Out for Nashville - Monday, May 17th

I'll admit, one of the things I complain about the most with regards to Nashville is the food. The vast expanse of restaurants in Houston completely spoiled me, and I definitely have my Tex-Mex cravings. However, the somewhat smaller food scene that comes with a smaller city also means that I have had the opportunity to be a part of it from attending the Iron Fork competition to regularly commenting on the Nashville Scene Bites blog to getting to know other Nashville food bloggers and writers. That kind of thing didn't happen in Houston. As a part of that, the restaurant scene has come together to help support flood victims and rebuild our city with Eat Out for Nashville this coming Monday.

When you eat out at any of the participating restaurants this coming Monday, they will donate 50% of their proceeds to the Tennessee Emergency Response Fund of the Community Fund of Middle Tennessee. This is a great way to help that only requires that we do what we all have to do anyway - eat. You can help our great city without even tearing up floorboards or ripping up carpet. Doug Hogrefe of Amerigo, who is so community-minded and generous, helped get this off of the ground, but many other restaurants have signed on. For more information, follow @EatOutforNash on Twitter or go to http://eatoutfornashville.org. Check there often as more restaurants are being added every day!

So who is with me in eating out for Nashville this Monday?

Here is a list of currently participating restaurants:

Amerigo-West End

1922 West End Avenue

Nashville, Tennessee 37203

(615) 321-6024

Amerigo-Cool Springs

1656 Westgate Circle

Brentwood, Tennessee 37027

(615) 377-7070

Baja Burrito

722 Thompson Lane
Nashville, TN 37204
(615) 383-2252

Burger Up

2901 12th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37204-2509
(615) 279-3767

The Garden Brunch Café (breakfast and lunch only)

924 Jefferson Street
Nashville, TN 37208
(615) 891-1217

Holland House Bar and Refuge

935 W. Eastland Ave.
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 262-4190

Lazzaroli’s Pasta

1314 5th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37208-1600
(615) 291-9922

The Melting Pot

166 Second Avenue N.
Nashville, TN 37201
(615) 742-4970

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt

6900 Lenox Village Dr. Suite 6
Nashville, TN 37211

(615) 730-7855

Nuvo Burrito

1000 Main Street
Nashville, TN 37206
(615) 866-9713

O'Charley's

923 Bell Road, Antioch

100 E. Park Drive, Brentwood

2792 Wilma Rudolph Boulevard, Clarksville

202 North James Campbell Boulevard, Columbia

1401 Interstate Drive, Cookeville

2409 Highway 46 South, Dickson

1202 Murfreesboro Road, Franklin

1009 Village Green Crossing, Gallatin

912 Rivergate Parkway, Goodlettsville

212 Indian Lake Boulevard, Hendersonville

5500 Old Hickory Boulevard, Hermitage

4223 Ft. Campbell Boulevard, Hopkinsville

902 Murfreesboro Road, Lebanon

2367 Hillsboro Boulevard, Manchester

401 S. Mt. Juliet Road, Ste 125, Mt. Juliet

1006 Memorial Boulevard, Murfreesboro

2450 Old Fort Parkway, Murfreesboro

1108 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville

17 White Bridge Road, Nashville

110 Coley Davis Court (Bellevue), Nashville

820 Expo Drive, Smyrna

2000 Crossing Circle, Spring Hill

3535 Tom Austin Highway, Springfield

Paradise Park Trailer Resort

411 Broadway
Nashville, TN 37203

(615) 251-1515

The Patterson House

1711 Division Street

Nashville, TN 37203

(615) 244-7989

The Perch

117a Franklin Road

Brentwood, TN 37027
(615) 661-9008

Stoney River Legendary Steaks

1726 Galleria Boulevard, Cool Springs

3015 West End Avenue, Nashville

We Are Nashville

(photo courtesy of Hands on Nashville)

As some of you might know, Nashville and the surrounding area has suffered unprecedented flooding. All kinds of areas were affected, from tony white suburbs to poor, predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Since Monday, I have seen horrific picture after horrific picture and heard tragic story after tragic story. As I drove into town today to volunteer, the sight of the skyline rising triumphantly above the Cumberland brought tears to my eyes.

Even though I've only lived here for two years, I am immensely proud to call Nashville my home. To see the response of my friends and neighbors, known and unknown, is incredible. Jake Owen helped serve lunch to flood victims and volunteers. Taylor Swift donated $500,000 to the telethon. But there's also all of the other people who volunteered with me today at the Disaster Information Center, the ones collecting gift cards, diapers, and underwear, the ones who are gathering around their friends and family members who have lost everything. Nearly every other post on my Facebook is about people going to volunteer or notifying people how they can help or otherwise reminding everyone that we are all in this together.

And while those muddy waters were rising, the local media and alternative media outlets kept everyone abreast of the situation. Firemen and the police worked overtime to serve this community. Volunteers with boats help rescue people who were stranded, and our mayor and governor made responsible and wise decisions. The picture above is of volunteers who, alongside inmates, were sandbagging to save our last remaining water treatment plant.

The church where I just finished up my field education internship was destroyed by a tornado in 1998. Outside there's a sign with a quote from the rector at the time, Lisa Hunt, that says, "God was not in the tornado. God was in our response to the tornado." God has been in Nashvillians' response to the flood. Even Anderson Cooper said, "I've never seen a community pull together so quickly to respond to a disaster." Anderson, that's just how we roll. We are Nashville. We are a community of talented, caring, creative people. We are Nashville, and we are all blessed to live here.

Nashville is Drowning

The rain started Saturday morning. Heavy, drenching rain pouring out of the sky. I was down in Franklin pet and house-sitting for my parents. I left around 12:30 pm, driving slowly up I-65 back into town. Then I started hearing things about I-24 being closed, about surface streets in Franklin that I had just passed being flooded. We were supposed to go to a Derby party in East Nashville. I called over, and they reported that the roads were clear so we ventured over without any problems. After the horses ran, local news showed a house drifting down I-24. We left for another party, and the rain had stopped.

Sunday morning, I heard heavy rain outside. After checking Twitter, I came to the conclusion that I could not make it to church. I-40 was shut down going into town, and White Bridge was under water. We hunkered down and turned on the continuous local news coverage and watched the rain pour down outside. News images flashed on the screen of submerged cars and people being rescued from their houses on boats. This was the scene about a 1/2 mile from our house.

We're safe and dry, but many of our friends and acquaintances aren't. Many people did not have flood insurance because these areas have not flooded in 100 years. Right now one of the two water treatment plants is submerged and non-functional. The Cumberland River is still rising. The normal level is 19 feet. It is currently at 50 feet and is expected to crest around noon today at 51 feet. Water is in downtown Nashville flooding restaurants and businesses. MTA bus and train services have been suspended indefinitely

Nashville needs your help. We have not gotten the attention from the national media that we deserve. Recovery efforts need to be heavily publicized. Nashvillest has done a fabulous job using Twitter to keep everyone up to date. If you are in the Nashville area, you can go to Hands on Nashville to volunteer. Otherwise, donations can be made to the Metro Nashville Relief Fund or the Middle Tennessee Red Cross. Please help as you can.