double restaurant review & book review

this past weekend, i ate well. home game weekends are always hard on the waistline (but not on the tastebuds) because the family comes in and we spare nothing when it comes to food! keep reading to see what i thought of two local knoxville restaurants as well as a book i recently finished!

• bistro by the tracks: since saturday was a special occasion (phillip's birthday), i made us reservations at a nicer restaurant following the game. like other aubrey's family restaurants, it did not disappoint. while pricier than most, the food was worth every cent. from their summer menu, i ordered the yellow peach tomato gazpacho and the wedge salad. both were delicious and a perfect light meal after a day in the heat with the bread served as well. the best thing, however, was what both my mom and grandmother ordered: the grilled pork chop, which came on a bed of greens and grits and with a gouda crust and whiskey peach sauce. i would highly recommend bistro by the tracks to anyone looking for fine dining in knoxville. the menu changes seasonally and the food is made with local ingredients! 
• gourmet's market & cosmos cafe: gourmet's is the perfect local breakfast and lunch spot. on sunday, we awoke early and headed to gourmet's for breakfast after hearing how good it was! the reviews are on point: even my simple oatmeal was out of this world! the coffee is hot, the eggs are fried and the grits are good. stop by there for lunch too, as their lunch menu looks deliciously good too! 
• the husband's secret by liane moriarty: a novel about three different women put in three different, but all difficult situations, moriarty keeps the pages turning. the characters and back stories of each are thoughtfully developed and the writing is exceptional. a page turner that is hard to review without giving too much away, i would recommend this book to anyone looking for a little bit of mystery, heartbreak and an ending that weaves everything together. the only thing i didn't like about the book was that it ended! 

so that's two restaurants off my "knoxville eats" list and one book off my reading list! happy monday y'all - the longest day of the week is over!

xoxo,

clp

artist spotlight: mary miller veazie

i am lucky to call such an amazing artist a close family friend; she is actually a part of our family. since mary miller veazie and her daughters moved back to murfreesboro, my family's life has been more colorful. caroline and ellie, her daughters, have become two of my very best friends. extremely talented, mary miller veazie is my first choice for hopefully a future blog series: artist spotlight!

based now in middle tennessee, mary miller veazie has painted and lived throughout the country. she is well-known for her commissioned portraits, but her landscapes, often done "en plain air" and still-life paintings are equally popular. according to her clients wishes, mary will paint in a controlled, formal technique or in a loosely impressionistic style. to keep her approach and technique fresh, she enjoys switching between painting disciplines and has created a body of work that reflects her love of combined landscape and figure painting. 

mary's portraits and paintings hang in home and galleries across the country. my family is lucky enough to have multiple "veazie" paintings in our home. i also have had the privilege to both model for her classes and take lessons from her. i personally love the painting she did of my dad kayaking the marsh in south carolina, as well as the still-life pomegranates hanging in our kitchen. for my 21st birthday, she painted an as-requested magnolia bloom that i am excited to hang in my new apartment (picture of it coming soon!). it is the perfect combination of abstract yet traditional and is more beautiful that i could have ever dreamed it could be. 

abstract: "implied horizon"

impressionistic: "between the lines" 

figurative portrait: "claire"

commissioned portrait: "charles jordan muse, architect"

her paintings are available through her etsy shop, saatchi art gallery and by contacting the artist herself. visit her facebook and her website for more information and to see more paintings! 

xoxo,
clp