I Love Memphis

For the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing about the Waffle Shop at Calvary Church downtown. It’s a lunch-only, Lent-only tradition.
I met my friend Andre there this afternoon for lunch. We were seated by a volunteer hostess and asked to mark what we wanted for lunch on the orange paper menus. The menu options are [...]

The food at Alcenia’s is incredible – the green beans were perfectly seasoned, the macaroni was gloriously cheesy, and the catfish was very lightly breaded. The service was insanely affectionate – at one point, the owner, B.J. Chester-Tomayo, came over and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the head. Aww!

The tiny station to the extreme left of the FM dial is the city’s only volunteer radio station. There is a paid staff of three, but the majority of the work it takes to keep the station on the air is done by a cadre of volunteer DJs, programmers and fund-raisers. WEVL’s eclectic music mix comes from the DJs, who program their own shows. Anyone can volunteer to host a show (now’s a good time – the station has several time slots to fill).

The Old Forest is a huge 172-acre wooded area that is one of the only old growth forests left in Tennessee. There are some paved trails through it that are perfect for walking and biking. Even though the forest is bordered on one side by East Parkway, it’s a completely quiet, tranquil place.

It apparently doesn’t matter if you’re no good at holding a hula hoop around your waist in continuous motion. According to the Hooper Troopers, hoop dance is more about doing what you feel.
The Hooper Troopers formed two years ago when friends Lindsey Murphy, Adriene Holland, Megan Simpson and Abbey Pommer saw people at music festivals [...]

Memphis has been bitterly cold for the past week. Last night, we finally got some pay off in the form of an inch or so of slushy white powder.
Memphis is funny about snow days. They’re highly anticipated. Kids are excited, employees are freaked out about driving to work, and the grocery stores are packed with [...]

Here’s a good reason to love Memphis – there’s a restaurant called Carnival Food that serves (you guessed it) carnival food year-round, seven days a week.
Carnival Food has been open for about a month and is run by a couple that also has a food truck that they take to flea markets, fairs and carnivals.
You [...]

I love walking into places where everyone knows each other. The familiarity, even if I’m not quite a part of it, is totally comforting.
Caritas Village in the Binghampton neighborhood is one of those places. The name means “love for all people”, and boy, do they mean it. Founder Onie Johns has made a cozy coffee [...]

The vending machine is in a gold cage outside of Consignment Music on Park Ave. in East Memphis. It’s got a pretty good selection for a vending machine (though, they didn’t have ukulele strings, so I may be out of luck).

I know, I know. It’s cold, and riding a bike is probably not high on your list of fun winter experiences.
But in every Memphis winter, a few 70 degree days must fall. And spring (and the opening of the Greenline) is coming soon. Maybe you’re visiting Memphis without a car and you need a way [...]